EU 151-152 - Wonderful Sanctuaries

EU 151 - 152
. . . their sanctuaries . . .
are constructed of trees, not cut down,
but growing in their native soil.
They said that on their earth there were trees
of wonderful growth and height.
These from their beginnings they arrange in order,
so that they serve for porticos and walks,
and by cutting and pruning the branches
when they are tender,
they fit and prepare them 
so that while they are growing
they may intertwine and unite
to make the base and floor of the sanctuary,
and rise on the sides for the walls,
and bend above into arches for the roof.
By these means
they construct the sanctuary with admirable art,
elevated high above the earth,
and they also prepare an ascent into it
by successive branches of the trees extending out
and firmly connected.
Moreover they adorn the sanctuary
without and within in various ways,
by bending the leafy bows into various forms.
Thus they build entire groves.
But what these sanctuaries are within,
I was not permitted to see.
It was only told me that the light of their sun
is let into them through apertures between the branches,
and is here and there transmitted through crystals,
by which the light falling on the walls
is variegated into colors like the rainbow,
especially the colors blue and orange,
which they love more than the rest.
Such is their architecture,
which they prefer
to the most magnificent palaces of our earth.

They said, further,
that the inhabitants do not live in high places,
but on the earth in low cottages,
for the reason that high places are for the Lord,
who is in heaven,
and low places for men, who are on earth.