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Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings

This list of Memorable Occurrences in Swedenborg's Writings was originally compiled by W. C. Henderson in 1960 but has since been updated.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #11

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11. Which are in Asia. This symbolically means, to those who from the Word possess the light of truth.

Since, as we said before, all the names of persons and places in the Word mean things having to do with heaven and the church, so too does Asia, and likewise the names of the seven churches there, as will be apparent from considerations that follow.

Asia means those who possess the light of truth from the Word because the Most Ancient Church existed there, followed by the Ancient Church, and later the Israelite Church, and because the Ancient Word existed among them, and later the Israelite Word. For all light of truth comes from the Word.

To be shown that there were ancient churches in the Asiatic world, and that they had a Word which was afterward lost, and that there finally existed there the Word that we have today, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 101-103.

That, now, is the reason that Asia here symbolizes all those who from the Word possess the light of truth.

[2] Regarding the aforementioned Ancient Word which existed in Asia before the Israelite Word, this new information deserves to be reported, that it is still preserved there among peoples who live in Great Tartary. 1 I have spoken with spirits and angels in the spiritual world who came from there, who said that they possessed a Word, that they had possessed it from ancient times, that they conduct their worship in accordance with it, and that it consists of nothing but things that correspond. They said that it also contains the book of Jasher, which is mentioned in Joshua (Joshua 10:12-13) 2 and in the Second Book of Samuel (2 Samuel 1:17, 18) 3 , and that they have among them as well The Wars of Jehovah and Prophecies, books which Moses mentions in Numbers (Numbers 21:14, 15, 27-30) 4 .

Moreover, when I read in their presence the words that Moses took from those books, they looked to see whether they existed there, and they found them.

It was apparent to me from this that the Ancient Word still exists among them.

In the course of my conversation with them they said they worship Jehovah - some of them worshiping Him as an invisible God, some as a visible one.

Furthermore, they related that they do not allow foreigners to enter their midst, with the exception of the Chinese, with whom they cultivate a peaceful relationship, because the Chinese emperor came from them. They said, too, that their country is so populous that they do not believe any region in the whole world to be more populous - which is also believable on account of the wall extending so many miles which the Chinese once built to protect themselves from being invaded by them.

Inquire concerning the Ancient Word in China, and perhaps you will find it there among the Tartars. 5

Footnotes:

1. A vast region controlled by Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries, extending from eastern Europe over much of Asia. After the Turkish groups known as Tatars were conquered and assimilated by the Mongols in the early 13th century, the Mongol invaders of Russia and Hungary became known to Europeans as Tatars or Tartars, and their territory was depicted in maps as Great Tartary.

2. "Then Joshua spoke to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?"

3. "Then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son, and he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written in the Book of Jasher."

4. "Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Jehovah: 'Waheb in Suphah, the brooks of the Arnon, and the slope of the brooks that reaches to the dwelling of Ar, and lies on the border of Moab.'" "...Therefore the Prophecies say: 'Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be repaired. For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. But we have shot at them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. Then we laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.'"

5. I.e., among the descendants of the Mongols.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #77

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77. The third account:

The next day my angel guide and companion came again and said, "Prepare yourself, and let us go to the inhabitants of heaven in the west, who are some of the people who lived in the third period or copper age. The places where they live stretch from the south across the west towards the north, but not extending into the north."

So, having prepared myself, I accompanied him, and entering their heaven from the south side, we found there a magnificent grove of palm trees and laurels. We passed through it, and then on its western border we saw giants twice the height of ordinary people.

They interrogated us. "Who let you in through the grove?"

The angel said, "The God of heaven."

And they replied, "We are guards to the ancient western heaven. But go ahead and pass."

[2] So we passed, and from a watch-tower we saw a mountain rising to the clouds, and between us in the tower and that mountain we saw villages after villages, with gardens, groves and fields in between. We then passed through the villages to the mountain and ascended. And lo, at its summit was not a peak but a plateau, and on it a city widely extended and spread out. All of its houses, moreover, were made out of wood from resinous trees, and their roofs out of wooden planks.

I asked, "Why are the houses here made of wood?"

The angel answered, "Because wood symbolizes natural goodness, and the people of the third age on the earth were in this state of goodness. And because copper also symbolizes natural goodness, therefore the age in which they lived was named after copper by people of earlier times.

"There are also sacred halls here, built out of boards of olive wood, and in the middle of them is a sanctuary, containing in an ark the Word given to the inhabitants of Asia before the Word which the Israelites had. Its narrative books are called the Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetical books, Oracles, both referred to by Moses (Numbers 21:14-15,27-30).

"In the kingdoms of Asia it has now been lost, and it is preserved only in Great Tartary."

The angel then led me to one of the buildings, and looking in, we saw in the middle of it the sanctuary, all bathed in a brilliant white light. And the angel said: "The light comes from that ancient Asiatic Word, for all Divine truth shines with light in heaven."

[3] As we were going out of the building, we heard it had been reported in the city that two strangers were about, and that they were to be investigated to find out where they came from and what their business was here. Moreover, an attendant came running from the court and ordered us to appear for a hearing.

When we were then asked where we came from and what our business was here, we replied, "We passed through a grove of palm trees and then through the abodes of giants, the ones who guard your heaven, and afterwards through a stretch of villages. You may conclude from this that we have come here, not of ourselves, but thanks to the God of heaven. As for our business, the reason for our coming, it is to be instructed regarding your marriages, to find out whether they are monogamous or perhaps polygamous."

They replied, "What are polygamous marriages? Are they not forms of licentiousness?"

[4] Then the panel of magistrates there selected someone intelligent to instruct us in his own home about this matter. And when we arrived at his house, he called his wife to his side and said the following:

"The earliest or most ancient people were in a state of truly conjugial love, and they therefore experienced the strength and power of that love, more than any other peoples in the world. They are now in a most blissful state in their heaven, which is in the east. We have precepts from them regarding marriage which we have preserved among us. We are their descendants, and they have handed down rules of life to us, like fathers to sons, and the rules which have to do with marriage include this maxim:

Children, if you wish to love God and the neighbor, and if you wish to be wise and be happy to eternity, we advise you to live monogamously. If you depart from this precept, all heavenly love will escape you, and with it inward wisdom, and you will become outcasts.

"We have obeyed, like children, this precept of our fathers, and we have perceived the truth in it. The truth we perceived is that a person becomes heavenly and internal to the extent that he loves his married partner only, and that a person becomes natural and external to the extent that he does not love his married partner only. In the latter case, he loves no one but himself and the imaginations of his own mind, and he is foolish and stupid.

[5] "This is why all of us in our heaven are monogamous. And because we are, therefore all the boundaries of our heaven are guarded to keep out polygamists, adulterers and licentious people. If polygamists get in, they are cast out into the darkness of the north. If adulterers get in, they are cast out into the fires of the west. And if licentious people get in, they are cast out into the illusory lights of the south."

Hearing this I asked what he meant by the darkness of the north, the fires of the west, and the illusory lights of the south.

He answered that the darkness of the north was dullness of mind and ignorance of truths; that the fires of the west were loves of evil; and that the illusory lights of the south were falsifications of truth. "These last," he said, "are forms of spiritual licentiousness."

[6] After this he said, "Follow me to our treasure house."

So we followed, and he showed us some written documents of very ancient peoples, telling us that they wrote on wooden and stone tablets and afterwards on polished sheets of wood assembled into books, and that people of the second age wrote their records on parchments of animal skin. Then he brought out a parchment containing maxims of the earliest peoples transcribed from their stone tablets, including also the precept regarding marriage.

[7] When we had seen these records and others from very early antiquity, the angel said, "It is now time for us to go."

Then our host went out into the garden and took some sprigs from a tree, and, tying them into a bundle, he presented them, saying, "These sprigs come from a tree native or peculiar to our heaven, whose sap has the fragrance of balsam."

We took away this bundle of sprigs with us and descended by a way, over to the east, which was not guarded. And behold, the sprigs turned into shiny bronze and their very tips into gold, as a memento that we had been among a people of the third age, which is named after copper or bronze.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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