11. XI. THE WISDOM OF THE ANGELS OF THE THREE HEAVENS IS FROM THE LORD BY MEANS OF THE WORD, TO WHICH THE SENSE OF ITS LETTER SERVES AS A SUPPORT AND BASIC. I have heard from heaven that there was immediate revelation with the most ancient people on this earth, and that therefore they had no written Word; but after their times, when immediate revelation could neither be given nor received without danger to their souls, lest the communication and conjunction of men with the heavens should be intercepted and perish, it pleased the Lord to reveal Divine truth by means of the Word, which was written solely by correspondences. It is therefore of such a nature in the ultimate sense, that it comprehends within itself the wisdom of the angels of the three heavens. This wisdom does not appear in our Word, but yet it is within it, and how it is within it shall be briefly told. There are three heavens, one beneath another, and under them is the world. In the highest heaven is angelic wisdom in the highest degree, which is called celestial wisdom; in the middle heaven is angelic wisdom in the middle degree, which is called spiritual wisdom; but in the lowest heaven is angelic wisdom in the lowest degree, which is called spiritual and celestial natural. In the world, because that is below the heavens, is wisdom in the lowest degree, which is called natural. All these degrees of wisdom are in the Word which is in the world, but in simultaneous order, for successive order in its descent becomes simultaneous. Therefore that which is simultaneous becomes the complex of all its successive degrees.
The highest in successive order becomes the inmost in simultaneous order, the middle becomes the middle there, and the ultimate the ultimate there. Such a simultaneous order is the Word in the world. In its inmost is the Lord as a sun, from which Divine truth and Divine good, light and flame, radiate and propagate themselves through immediates even to ultimates. Next in that simultaneous order is the Divine celestial, such as is in the highest or third heaven, from which the angels there have wisdom. Then follows the Divine spiritual, such as is in the middle or second heaven, from which the angels there have wisdom. After that succeeds the Divine spiritual natural, and celestial natural, such as is in the ultimate or first heaven, from which the angels there have wisdom. The ultimate border of this simultaneous order is made by the Divine natural, such as is in the world, from which men have wisdom. This ultimate girds about, binds together, and thus contains the interiors, that they may not flow away; thus it serves also as a support. Such is our Word in the sense of the letter, in general and also in every part. When therefore this is read with reverence by man, then its interiors are unbound and unfolded, and each heaven draws therefrom its own, spiritual angels their Divine spiritual, and celestial angels their Divine celestial, from which they have their wisdom. That our Word is such has not only been declared and heard from heaven, but has also been shown and confirmed by much experience. The Divine let down by the Lord into the world, could not but pass through the heavens in their order, and exist in the world, so formed that it might in like order return through the heavens to the Lord, from whom it proceeded.
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