Although angels do not manifest themselves to mankind by means of speech, nevertheless, so that I might understand how they, like we, express their thoughts in language and conversation, I have heard them speaking. However, I was then transferred into a state not unlike that of good spirits, so that I would realize that angels spoke through them, but in agreement with their ways of thinking. Their talking is quick, flowing smoothly like water, and while consisting in words, these are as if uninterrupted, or rather, in continuous mental images, like a stream of thought that comes down into words with me, but quickly. In short, it is like a river of mental imagery to which the words correspond but do not adhere. When I answered, I noticed that my own speaking was broken and disconnected by the words, having a different sound [than theirs], not flowing, and so, not heavenly. Consequently, I at once stood out as not being like them. Therefore, articulated angelic speech is the sense that simultaneously fills the words, in those [matters] which words are inadequate to express. 1748, 3 March.