16. The Privy councilors, the councilors from the chambers, and the magistrates stood around the table, and at the command of the prince folded their hands and together murmured a devout thanksgiving to the Lord. Then, at a nod from the prince, they reclined upon the couches at the table; and the Prince said to the new-comers, "Do you also recline with me; see, there are your places." So they reclined; and court attendants who had previously been sent by the prince to minister to them stood behind them. The prince then said to them, "Take each a plate from its circle, and then a dish from the pyramid." And they took them; and lo! new plates and dishes at once appeared in their place; moreover, their cups were filled with wine from the fountain gushing out of the great pyramid; and they ate and drank. [2] When they were moderately satisfied, the prince addressed the ten invited guests, saying.:
"I have heard that on the earth which is beneath this heaven, you have been called together to disclose your thoughts respecting the joys of heaven and eternal happiness therefrom; and that you have declared your views differently, each according to the delights of his bodily senses. But what are the delights of the bodily senses without the delights of the soul? It is the soul which makes them delightful. In themselves, the delights of the soul are imperceptible beatitudes; but as they descend into the thoughts of the mind, and from these into the sensations of the body, they become more and more perceptible. In the thoughts of the mind, they are perceived as states of happiness; in the sensations of the body, as delights; and in the body itself as pleasures. From all these together comes eternal happiness; but the happiness which comes from the last alone, is not eternal but temporary. It comes to an end and passes away and sometimes becomes unhappiness. You have now seen that all your joys are joys of heaven also, and are far more excellent than you could ever have imagined; but these joys do not affect our minds interiorly. [3] There are three things which flow from the Lord into our souls as one. These three as one, or this trine, are love, wisdom, and use. Love and wisdom exist only ideally, being solely in the affection and thought of the mind; but in use they exist really, being together in the act and deed of the body; and where they exist really, there they also subsist. And because love and wisdom exist and subsist in use, it is use that affects us; and use is to perform faithfully, sincerely, and diligently the work of one's function. The love of use and the consequent devotion to use holds the mind together lest it melt away and, wandering about, absorb all the cupidities which flow in from the body and the world through the senses with their allurements, whereby the truths of religion and the truths of morality with their goods are scattered to all the winds. But devotion of the mind to use, retains these truths, and binding them together, disposes the mind into a form capable of receiving wisdom from them; and then at the sides it banishes the mockeries and stage plays of both falsities and vanities. But you will hear more on these subjects from wise men of our society whom I will send to you this afternoon." After he had spoken, the prince arose, and with him the guests. After a salutation of peace, he then charged their angel guide to take them back to their apartments and show them every courtesy, and also to invite urbane and affable men to entertain them with conversation concerning the various joys of this society.
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