For much of the night a multitude of spirits was around me, and afterwards a multitude of angels, flowing in accordance with a heavenly pattern that cannot be described to the human understanding; still less can it be described how they move, and speak with one mouth, or with a unanimous voice. This was so perceptible within me, and indeed for so long a time uninterruptedly, that as they speak, nothing could be more clearly witnessed: I saw the pattern, I felt the flow, I heard the unanimity of voice. Each spirit is, and affirms that he is, part of the multitude, thus all together and each one singly, or [all] collectively and [each] individually. From their flow, one can also sense whether they are as yet initiated to such an extent that they can reach a similar unanimity in respect to spiritual and heavenly truths as well; so that afterwards, there were perhaps tens of thousands of angels around me and indeed, for a long time, whose flow, while perceptible, was nevertheless of such a kind that I could not but assume that they were streaming in an inward heavenly pattern,* since I could not perceive any flow in a very inward pattern. Afterwards they told me that through the entire night, and several wakeful periods, they were doing nothing else but praising God the Messiah, and doing so with an innermost gladness of heart, so they had not wanted to be let out of that state. From this, one can gather that unanimity is the result of a harmonious configuration; besides other conclusions one could draw from it. [Cf. 289-89 1/2.] 1747, 16 December. * See 262, footnote 3.