Today a number of those who were in heaven were longing to learn what heavenly joy is, and it was therefore granted them, by the mercy of God the Messiah, to feel heavenly joy to the deepest degree possible for them - even to the degree where they could not bear any more. They were actually of diverse character, so that the joy of one of them reached its deepest level (as he also acknowledged), but still was not as great a heavenly joy as some had. From this experience they were allowed to learn how great heavenly happiness is, and what heavenly joy is like, since their very deepest did not even come up to the least of the angels. What the deepest joy of some of them was like, it was granted me by the mercy of God the Messiah to feel in myself and thereby, to learn that those joys that were their deepest, were among the lesser joys. And what is amazing, the deepest joy of one of them, who declared it to be the very highest and the most heavenly, was actually nothing but coldness, which I was likewise allowed to feel plainly. So that they could bear those heavenly joys (as they supposed them to be, because they were their deepest ones), it had been provided by God the Messiah that they should be surrounded by an angelic field, lest they perish, and be dissolved. 1747, the 7th day of December.