1731. For it was once again portrayed to me what their thought was like, apparent also from other things, namely, that they receive in simplicity what is being said, not particularly in an outer meaning, nor in an inner one, but still in a way that enables the angels to extract inward mental images from it. This is how the spirits were whose thought was shown to me at the time when I prayed the Lord's prayer. For the nature of any number of spirits and angels can be found out by the saying of the Lord's prayer, that is, what kind of mental images they have at that time. These have been portrayed to me now and then at such a time. The meaning these spirits perceived, therefore, was such that the angels were able to draw from it very rich mental imagery-quite gentle, and not closed up, as can be seen by a spiritual mental image, thus more or less halfway between the outward and the inward meaning of the words.
1731. For these were again represented to me as to the quality of their thought, and among other modes from this, viz. that they received in simplicity the things that were spoken, not indeed with a [very intelligent] sense either external or internal, but so that the angels could thence derive interior ideas. Such was their quality [as they appeared] while I uttered the Lord's Prayer, as their thought was then exhibited to me; for all spirits and angels, how many soever and of what quality soever they may be, may be known from the ideas they have when the Lord's Prayer is pronounced, and these were all along represented to me on those occasions. The sense, therefore, of these spirits was such that the angels could thence derive fuller ideas, as they were of a milder genius and not mentally closed, as was apparent to a spiritual idea, so that they are a kind of intermediates between an exterior and interior sense of words.
1731. Ii enim iterum mihi repraesentati, qualis eorum cogitatio est, tum ex aliis, quod nempe simpliciter excipiant ea quae dicuntur, non quidem cum sensu externo nec cum interno, sic tamen, ut angeli inde queant haurire ideas interiores: tales erant, dum orationem Domini oravi, quorum tunc cogitatio mihi exhibebatur, nam omnes quotcunque sunt, spiritus et angeli, quales sunt, ex oratione Domini, sciri possunt, quales nempe ideas tunc habent, quorum ideae, mihi passim tunc repraesentatae; horum itaque sensus erat talis, ut angeli inde potuerint haurire ideas pleniores, molliores erant, nec clausi, sicut idea spirituali constare potest, ita quasi intermedii inter sensum exteriorem vocum, ac interiorem.