§188 angels’ homes 99
c. [Swedenborg’s note here refers the reader to the note in § 176 above.]
d. In the highest sense, “the house of God” means the Lord’s divine human in respect to divine
good, and the temple means the same in respect to divine truth. In a relative sense, they mean
heaven and the church in respect to what is good and true: 3720.
e. Jerusalem means the church where there is authentic doctrine: 402 , 3654 , 9166. The gates mean
an introduction to the doctrine of the church, and through that doctrine, to the church itself:
2943 , 4478 [ 4477 ]. The foundation means the truth on which heaven, the church, and the doc-
trine are based: 9643.
f. In the Word, more inward things are expressed by “higher,” and higher things mean more
inward ones: 2148 , 3084 , 4599 , 5146 , 8325. “High” means inner, and also heaven: 1735 , 2148 , 4210 ,
4599 , 8153.
g. In heaven, one can see mountains, hills, rocks, valleys, and plains just as we can in this world:
10608. Angels who are in the good of love live on mountains, angels in the good of charity on
hills, and angels in the good of faith on cliffs: 10438. Therefore mountains in the Word mean the
good of love: 795 , 4210 , 6435 , 8327 , 8758 , 10438 , 10608. Hills mean the good of charity: 6435 ,
10438. Rocks mean the good and truth of faith: 8581 , 10580. The stone from which rocks are made
also means the truth of faith: 114 , 643 , 1298 , 3720 , 6426 , 8608 [ 8609 ], 10376. This is why moun-
tains mean heaven: 8327 , 8805 , 9420 ; and why a mountaintop means the highest heaven: 9422 ,
9434 , 10608. Therefore the early people held their holy worship on mountains: 796 , 2722.
things that derive from the good, and also to experiences of perception
and recognition.c Since these correspond to the good and true things
they receive from the Lord, they correspond to their love and therefore
to their wisdom and intelligence, because love is a matter of what is good,
wisdom of what is both good and true, and intelligence of truth that
stems from the good. This, they tell me, is the sort of thing angels per-
ceive when they look at their houses; and this is why these sights delight
and move their minds more than their eyes.
So I could see why the Lord calls himself the temple that is in Jerusa- 187
lem (John 2 : 19 , 21 ).d I could also see why the New Jerusalem appeared as
a city of pure gold, with gates of pearl and foundations of precious gems
(Revelation 21 ): it is because a temple offers an image of the Lord’s divine
human; the New Jerusalem refers to the church that was going to be
founded; and the twelve gates are the truths that lead to what is good,
and the foundations are the truths on which it is based.e
The angels who constitute the Lord’s heavenly kingdom live for the 188
most part in loftier places that look like mountains above the ground.
The angels who constitute the Lord’s spiritual kingdom live in less lofty
places that look like hills, while the angels who live in the lowest regions
of heaven live in places that look like rocky cliffs. These things also stem
from correspondences, since the deeper things correspond to higher ones
and the more outward to lower ones.f This is why mountains in the
Word mean heavenly love, hills mean spiritual love, and rocks mean
faith.g