Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/237

the Lord's love and wisdom. It is this which moulds their features into forms of such exquisite grace. Their beautiful faces correspond to their beautiful souls, of which their faces are the true and faithful mirrors. And the more perfectly they receive the Lord's life, "so much the more perfect human forms do they become; and at length so perfect that their beauty exceeds all belief. Should one see them he would be amazed; for they are celestial loves and charities in form, which is the truly human form. The reason is, that the divine in heaven is the Lord; and they who receive from Him divine truths in good, are images of Him." (A. C. 9503). Again he says:

"The human form of every one after death, is the more beautiful the more he had interiorly loved divine truths, and lived according to them; for the interiors of every one are opened and formed according to his love and life. Therefore the angels of the inmost heaven are the most beautiful. . . I have seen the faces of angels in this heaven, which were so beautiful that no painter could ever impart to colors such animation as to equal a thousandth part of the brightness and life that appeared in their faces." (H. H. 459.)

And the objects in heaven which the angels behold, and in the midst of which they dwell, are similar to, yet far more beautiful and perfect in form and more abundant in number than, the objects seen on earth; but they are all spiritual