96 HEAVEN and HELL §180
cast out into the outer darkness” (Matthew 22 : 12 – 13 [ 11 – 13 ]). The wed-
ding house means heaven and the church by virtue of the Lord’s union
with them through his divine truth. This is why in the Word the Lord is
called the Bridegroom and Husband, and heaven and the church the
bride and wife.181 We can tell that angels’ clothes do not merely look like clothes but
really are because they not only see them, they feel them as well. Further,
they have many garments that they take off and put on, and they put
away the ones they are not using and put back on the ones they are. I
have seen thousands of times that they wear different clothes.
I have asked them where they got their clothes, and they have told
me that their clothes come from the Lord and are given to them, and
that sometimes they are clothed without noticing it. They have also said
that their clothes change depending on the changes of their state, that
their clothes are radiant and gleaming white in their fi rst and second
state, while in the third and fourth states they are somewhat dimmer.
This too is because of correspondences, because these changes of state
have to do with their intelligence and wisdom, discussed above in
§§ 154 – 161.182 For everyone in the spiritual world, clothing depends on intelligence
and therefore on the truths that constitute intelligence. Although people
in the hells do seem to be clothed, because they lack truths their clothes
are nothing but rags, dirty and foul, each individual in keeping with his
or her own insanity. They cannot be clothed in any other way, either.
The Lord allows them to wear clothes so that they will not appear naked.
Angels’ Homes and Houses
183
SINCE there are communities in heaven, and people living there the
way we do, they too have homes; and these vary depending on the
state of the life of each individual. They are splendid for people who are
especially deserving and less splendid for people who are of lower rank.
At times, I have talked with angels about homes in heaven, telling
them that nowadays hardly anyone would believe that they have homes