3878. CONCERNING A STATE OF PEACE. There was a certain one above my head, that spoke with me. From the sound I perceived that he who spoke with me was in a state of sleep, and yet as if not in sleep. He inquired respecting this and that altogether like those who are broad awake, and with such prudence that one awake could not have discovered more, so that there was nothing indicating sleep except the sound alone. I perceived that good interior angels spoke through him, and he in that state perceived and produced [what they suggested]. I asked him concerning the state, telling what kind of state he appeared to be in, and that he spoke nothing else but what was good and true, and that he perceived whether there was anything different [from the good and true] which he would not admit or utter; thus that he was in the state of one who was awake; but because in a state of sleep he said that that was a state of peace. His delight thence arising I perceived from the fact of being myself in a similar state of love, for I am free from all solicitude and care respecting the future. Thus they are enabled to render [important] uses. - 1748, November 6.