5716. [It was said] that [the fact that] the cities are like this, and the houses are similar, comes from the people in the world who are in cities and houses there, and that these sorts of spirits there are situated in the other life as they were in the world, in similar houses; and that the interaction is a tight and material one, in accord with the mental images of the thoughts of the people in the world; but that now in this last time of the Church a different arrangement has come about, and a different interaction, thus one that is not so direct and tight, but more remote by [a series of] interactions.
5716. The reason there are such cities [as in the world], and similar houses, is owing to men in the world who dwell in cities and houses there; and because such ones are in them in the other life as in the world, and in like houses; also, because the correspondence is close and material, according to the ideas of the thoughts of men in the world. But now, in this last time of the Church, another arrangement takes place, and another correspondence: thus, through correspondences not so direct and close, but more remote.
5716. Quod urbes tales sint, et domus similes, est ex hominibus in mundo qui in urbibus et domibus ibi, et quod tales ibi sint in altera vita quales in mundo, in similibus domibus: et quod correspondentia sit arcta et materialis secundum ideas cogitationum hominum in mundo; sed quod nunc in ultimo hoc Ecclesiae tempore alia dispositio fiat, et alia correspondentia, ita non ita immediata et proxima, sed remotior per correspondentias.