erse, and presented as a gift to our prince; wherefore the
architectonic art is here in its essential perfection, and hence are
derived all the rules of that art which are known and practised in the
world." The angel further said, "You may possibly conceive that such
objects charm our eyes, and infatuate us by their grandeur, so that we
consider them as constituting the joys of our heaven: this however is
not the case; for our affections not being set on such things, they are
only contributory to the joys of our hearts; and therefore, so far as we
contemplate them as such, and as the workmanship of God, so far we
contemplate in them the divine omnipotence and mercy."

13. After this the angel said to them, "It is not yet noon: come with me
into our prince's garden, which is near the palace." So they went with
him; and as they were entering, he said, "Behold here the most
magnificent of all the gardens in our heavenly society!" But they
replied, "How! there is no garden here. We see only one tree, and on its
branches and at its top as it were golden fruit and silver leaves, with
their edges adorned with emeralds, and beneath the tree little children
with their nurses." Hereupon the angel, with an inspired voice said,
"This tree is in the midst of the garden; some of us call it the tree of
our heaven, and some, the tree of life. But advance nearer, and your
eyes will be opened, and you will see the garden." They did so, and
their eyes were opened, and they saw numerous trees bearing an abundance
of fine flavored fruit, entwined about with young vines, whose tops with
their fruit inclined towards the tree of life in the midst. These trees
were planted in a continuous series, which, proceeding from a point, and
being continued into endless circles, or gyrations, as of a perpetual
spiral, formed a perfect spiral of trees, wherein one species
continually succeeded another, according to the worth and excellence of
their fruit. The circumgyration began at a considerable distance from
the tree in the midst, and the intervening space was radiant with a beam
of light, which caused the trees in the circle to shine with a graduated
splendor that was continued from the first to the last. The first trees
were the most excellent of all, abounding with the choicest fruits, and
were called paradisiacal trees, being such as are never seen in any
country of the natural world, because none such ever grew or could grow
there. These were succe