Then their humility, according to Swedenborg, is no less remarkable than their unselfish love. Notwithstanding their exalted wisdom, transcending by many degrees that of the wisest men on earth, they are not puffed up on account of it. They have no pride of intellect, no self-derived intelligence, no self-righteousness. They regard none of the goods or truths they possess as their own; but perceive and acknowledge and love to acknowledge that they are all the Lord's, and are his free and perpetual gift to them.
"Because the angels believe this, therefore they refuse all thanks on account of the good they do, and are displeased and recede if any one attributes good to them. They wonder that any one should believe that he is wise and does good from himself. Good done for the sake of one's self, they do not call good, because it is done from self; but good done for the sake of good, this they call good from the Divine; and this good, they say, is what makes heaven, because it is the Lord [for He is within it as its inmost principle. A. C. 1802, 3951, 8480]."—H. H, n. 9.
Again:
"He lives most, that is, most wisely and intelligently, most blessedly and happily, who is most confirmed in the belief that he does not live of himself; and this is the life of the angels, especially of the celestial who are the inmost or nearest to the Lord. . . . In heaven they are the greatest who are the least, and they are the wisest who perceive and think themselves the least wise; and they are the happiest who desire others to be most happy, but themselves least so. Heaven consists in desiring to be below all, but hell in desiring to be above all; therefore in the glory of heaven there is nothing at all of the glory of this world."—A. C, n. 2654.
