Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 56
and forty and four” means all goods and truths in the
complex; 66
“measure” means what a thing is, 67
a “man” means
one in whom are goods and truths in general and in particular,
thus in whom is heaven. And as it is from this that an angel is a
man, it is said “the measure of a man, which is that of an
angel.” This is the spiritual meaning of these words. Without
that meaning how could it be seen that “the wall of the holy
Jerusalem” is “the measure of a man, which is that of an
angel”? 68
74. Let us now turn to experience. That angels are human
forms, or men, has been seen by me a thousand times. I have
talked with them as man with man, sometimes with one,
sometimes with many together; and I have seen nothing
whatever in their form different from the human form; and
have occasionally been surprised to find them such. And that
this might not be said to be a delusion or a vision of fancy, I
have been permitted to see angels when fully awake or in
possession of all my bodily senses, and in a state of clear
perception.
And I have often told them that men in the Christian world
are in such blind ignorance in regard to angels and spirits as to
believe them to be minds without form, even pure thoughts, of
66. “Twelve” means all truths and goods in the complex (n. 577, 2089,
2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913). Likewise “seventy-two,” and “a hundred
and forty-four,” since this comes from twelve multiplied into itself (n. 7973).
All numbers in the Word signify things (n. 482, 487, 647, 648, 755,
813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 5265).
Multiplied numbers have a like signification as the simple numbers
from which they arise by multiplication (n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973).
67. “Measure” in the Word signifies the quality of a thing in respect to
truth and good (n. 3104, 9603).
68. In regard to the spiritual or internal sense of the Word see the
explanation of the white horse in Revelation, and the appendix to the New
Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine.