In the middle of the night I was awakened from sleep and saw, fairly high up towards the east, an angel holding in his right hand a paper, which shone brilliantly in the light of the sun. There was something written at its centre in letters of gold. I could make out what was written as The Marriage of Good and Truth. The writing shone so brightly it spread in a circle far around. The circle or halo looked like the dawn when it appears in springtime.

Afterwards I saw the angel with the paper in his hand coming down. And as he came the paper shone less and less, and the writing on it, The Marriage of Good and Truth, changed from a golden to a silver colour, then to the colour of copper, and then to that of iron, finally to those of iron rust and verdigris. At the last stage the angel was seen entering a dark cloud, and passing through this to reach the ground. There the paper, although it was still held in the angel's hand, was no longer visible. This took place in the world of spirits, where all people are first gathered after death.

[2] Then the angel addressed me and said, 'Ask those who come here whether they can see me or anything in my hand.' A large crowd came, one group from the east, another from the south, another from the west and another from the north. I asked those coming from the east and the south, who were those who in the world had devoted themselves to learning, whether they could see anyone present with me and anything in his hand. They all said that they could see nothing at all.

Then I asked those who had come from the west and north, who were those who in the world had believed what learned men told them. These said that neither could they see anything. However, the last of these, who in the world had had a simple faith based on charity, that is to say, who had some degree of truth coming from good, said, when the previous group had gone away, that they could see a man with a paper. The man was smartly dressed and the paper had writing on it. When they looked closer, they said they could read, The Marriage of Good and Truth; and they addressed the angel asking him to tell them what it meant.

[3] He said that everything throughout the whole of heaven and everything throughout the whole world is nothing but a marriage of good and truth, since every one of them, both those that live and breathe, as well as those that do not, have been created from the marriage of good and truth, and so as to make this marriage. 'There is,' he said, 'nothing created to be truth alone, nor to be good alone; isolated good and isolated truth are nothing, but by that marriage they come into being and become such as is the marriage. In the Lord the Creator Divine good and Divine truth exist in their real substance; Divine good is the being of that substance, Divine truth is its coming-into-being. Its substance is also their actual union, for in Him they are infinitely one. Since the two are one in the Creator Himself, they are therefore one also in every single thing created by Him; and by this the Creator is linked in an everlasting covenant, like that of marriage, with all of His creations.'

[4] The angel went on to say that the Holy Scripture which came forth directly from the Lord is both in general and in detail a marriage of good and truth. Since the church, which is formed by the truth of its teaching, and religion, which is formed by goodness of life in accordance with the truth of teaching, are among Christians solely derived from Holy Scripture, it is evident that the church is in general and in detail a marriage of good and truth. (This may be seen in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 373, 483.) What has just been said about the marriage of good and truth applies in the same way to what can be said about the marriage of charity and faith, since good belongs to charity and truth to faith.

Some of the earlier groups who had not seen the angel and the writing were still standing close by, and on hearing this said in a low voice, 'Yes, that is so; we understand.' But then the angel said to them, 'Turn a little away from me, and say the same.' They turned away and said out loud, 'No, that is not so.'

[5] After this the angel talked about the Marriage of Good and Truth among married couples. He said that if their minds were so married, the husband being truth and the wife the good of that truth, they would both enjoy the delights of blessed innocence, and so the happiness angels have in heaven. In this state the husband's reproductive powers would be constantly as in the springtime of life, and so striving and succeeding in propagating his own truth; and his wife's love would make her constantly receptive of his truth. 'The wisdom the Lord gives to men finds no greater pleasure than in propagating its truths. And the love of wisdom that wives have in these circumstances finds nothing more welcome than to receive them, so to speak, in their womb, and so to conceive, carry and bring them to birth. This is what having spiritual children is like for the angels of heaven; and if you are prepared to believe it, this is the source from which natural children too come.'

The angel gave a greeting of peace and left the ground; and as he was carried through the cloud and rose into heaven, then the paper began to shine as before at each stage of the ascent. Then suddenly the circle of rays, which previously looked like the dawn, came down and scattered the cloud which had darkened the earth, and it became sunny.