ression to what is in their minds. At times I have had papers sent
to me, traced with written words precisely like manuscripts in the
world, and others like printed sheets; and I was able to read them in
a like way, but was allowed to get from them only an idea here and
there; for the reason that it is not in accordance with Divine order
for man to be taught by writings from heaven; but he must be taught
by means of the Word only; for it is only by means of the Word that
there is communication and conjunction of heaven with the world, thus
of the Lord with man. That papers written in heaven were seen also by
the prophets is shown in Ezekiel:

When I looked, behold a hand was put forth by a spirit
unto me, and a roll of a book was therein which he
unrolled in my sight; it was written on the front and on
the back (2:9, 10).

And in John:

I saw upon the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a
book written within and on the back, sealed up with seven
seals (Apoc. 5:1).

259. The existence of writings in the heavens is a provision of the
Lord for the sake of the Word; for the Word in its essence is Divine
truth, and from it is all heavenly wisdom, both with men and with
angels; for the Word was dictated by the Lord, and what is dictated
by the Lord passes through all the heavens in order and terminates
with man. Thereby it is adapted both to the wisdom of angels and the
intelligence of men. Thereby, too, the angels have a Word, and read
it the same as men do on the earth, and also draw from it their
doctrinals, and preach from it (n. 221). It is the same Word; but its
natural sense, which is the sense of the letter with us, does not
exist in heaven, but only the spiritual sense, which is its internal
sense. What this sense is can be seen in the small treatise on The
White Horse spoken of in the Apocalypse.

260. A little paper was at one time sent to me from heaven, on which
there were a few words only written in Hebrew letters, and I was told
that every letter involved arcana of wisdom, and that these arcana
were contained in the inflections and curvatures of the letters, and
thus also in the sounds. This made clear to me what is signified by
these words of the Lord:

Verily I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass away,
one iota or one tittle shall not pass away from the law
(Matt. 5:18).

That the Word in every tittle of it is Divine is known in the ch