2217. This all shows how crude still the mental images of angels are in comparison to the Divine ones of the Lord, which stream in and impart life, and the ability to think, which can be likened to the tissues and arteries incalculably many in number. For each combination of these is in turn made up of tissues and tiny vessels still more refined. What stream in from the Lord are the vital essences, for it is these that flow through the tissues and tiny vessels.
2217. Hence it may be manifest how gross still are the ideas of the angels in respect to the Lord's divine ideas, which inflow, and confer life and the faculty of thought. These may be likened to the fibers and arteries which are indefinite, for every composition thereof is only [made up] of fibers and vessels that are still purer and inflow from the Lord. These are the vital essences, to wit, those which flow through the fibers and vessels.
2217. Exinde constare potest, quam usque crassae sunt ideae angelorum, respective ad Divinas Domini, quae influunt, et dant vitam, et facultatem cogitandi, quae assimilari possunt fibris et arteriis 1
, quae indefinitae 2
sunt, nam omnis compositio earum est solum ex fibris et vasculis quae adhuc puriora; quae a Domino influunt, sunt essentiae vitales, nempe quae per fibras et vascula fluunt.
Footnotes:
1. ar initiale macula obscuratum in the Manuscript
2. imperfectum in the Manuscript