Hence the
universal heaven is regarded by the Lord as containing uses; and every
angel is an angel according to use; the delight of use carries him
along, as a prosperous gale a ship, and causes him to be in eternal
peace, and the rest of peace. This is the meaning of eternal rest from
labor. That an angel is alive according as his mind is directed to use,
is evident from the consideration, that every one has conjugial love
with its energy, ability and delights, according as he devotes himself
to the genuine use in which he is." When the three strangers were
convinced that eternal rest is not inactivity, but the delight of some
useful employment, there came some maidens with pieces of embroidery and
net-work, wrought with their own hands, which they presented to them.
When the novitiate spirits were gone, the maidens sang an ode, wherein
they expressed with angelic melody the affection of useful works with
the pleasures attending it.
208. THE SECOND MEMORABLE RELATION. While I was meditating on the arcana
of conjugial love stored up with wives, there again appeared the GOLDEN
SHOWER described above; and I recollected that it fell over a hall in
the east where there lived three conjugial loves, that is, three married
pairs, who loved each other tenderly.
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