Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 175
affection; yet this is true not of the words themselves but of
their sounds; on which subject something will be said in what
follows. That angelic language has nothing in common with
human languages is evident from the fact that angels are unable
to utter a single word of human language. This was tried but
they could not do it, because they can utter nothing except
what is in entire agreement with their affections; whatever is
not in agreement is repugnant to their very life, for life belongs
to affection, and their speech is from their life. I have been told
that the first language of men on our earth coincided with
angelic language because they had it from heaven; and that the
Hebrew language coincides with it in some respects.
238. As the speech of angels corresponds to their affection,
and their affection belongs to their love, and as the love of
heaven is love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor (see
above, n. 13–19), it is evident how choice and delightful their
talk must be, affecting not the ears only but also the interiors of
the mind of those who listen to it. There was a certain
hardhearted spirit with whom an angel spoke. At length he was
so affected by what was said that he shed tears, saying that he
had never wept before, but he could not refrain, for it was love
speaking.
239. The speech of angels is likewise full of wisdom because
it proceeds from their interior thoughts, and their interior
thought is wisdom, as their interior affection is love, and in
their speech their love and wisdom unite. For this reason their
speech is so full of wisdom that they can express in a single
word what man cannot express in a thousand words; also the
ideas of their thought include things that are beyond man’s
comprehension, and still more his power of expression. This is
why the things that have been heard and seen in heaven are
said to be ineffable, and such as ear hath never heard nor eye
seen.
[2] That this is true I have also been permitted to learn by
experience. At times I have entered into the state in which