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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 #716

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716. To this I will append the following account:

I spoke with several English bishops in the spiritual world about the short works I published in London in 1758, namely, Heaven and Hell, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, The Last Judgment, The White Horse, and The Earths in the Universe. I had sent these short works as a gift to all the Bishops and to a number of magnates or lords. The bishops said that they had received them and looked them over, but that they did not regard them as having any merit, even though artfully written. And they said, too, that they had persuaded as many as they could not to read them.

I asked why this was, since in fact the books contain secrets concerning heaven and hell, and concerning life after death, and many more worthy of much merit, having been revealed by the Lord for people who will belong to His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.

But they said, "What is that to us?" And they poured out invectives against them as they had in the world. I heard them.

I then read in their presence these verses from the Apocalypse:

Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be made ready. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are spirits of demons that perform signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty... And they gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon. (Revelation 16:12-16)

Having explained these verses in their presence, I told the bishops that they, and others like them elsewhere, were the people meant by these depictions.

[2] A king, the grandfather of the king reigning today, 1 heard from heaven what I said to the bishops, and being somewhat annoyed, he said, "What is this?"

And then one of those bishops, who had not gone along with the others in the world, turned to the king and said, "These whom you now see with your own eyes, thought in the world, and so even now continue to think, of the Lord's Divine humanity as being that of an ordinary person, and they attribute all salvation and redemption to God the Father, and not to the Lord except as the occasioning cause. For they believe in God the Father, and not in His Son, even though they know from the Lord that it is the Father's will that they believe in the Son, that those who believe in the Son shall have eternal life, and that those who do not believe in the Son shall not see life. 2

"In addition, the charity done by the Lord through a person as though done by the person - this they cast out from having anything to do with salvation."

[3] Speaking further with the king, the bishop disclosed the hierarchy that many of the bishops continually aspire to and also take part in, which they establish by joining together and forming an alliance. They do this with all of their order through emissaries, messengers, letters and conversations, supported by their ecclesiastical and at the same time political authority. As a result they almost all cling together, like a single bundle of sticks. Moreover, it is in consequence of that hierarchy, too, that even though the aforementioned works for the New Jerusalem were published in London and sent to them as a gift, they have caused those works to be so shamefully rejected that they are regarded as not even worth a mention in their book catalogue.

Hearing this, the king was dumbfounded, especially on being told that the bishops thought as they did regarding the Lord, who nevertheless is God of heaven and earth, and regarding charity, which nevertheless is the essence of religion.

At that, by a shaft of light descending then from heaven, the interiors of their minds and faith were laid open; and when the king saw them, he said, "Depart! Alas, who can become so hardened against hearing anything relating to heaven and eternal life?"

[4] The king then asked why the clergy rendered the bishops such universal obedience, and the bishop said that it resulted from the power granted to every bishop in his diocese of nominating to the king only one man or candidate for a parish, and not three as in other kingdoms. Owing to that power, then, they have the ability to promote their supporters to higher positions of honor and larger incomes - each one according to the obedience that he renders.

The bishop disclosed also how far that hierarchy could go, and that it has progressed to the point that power is the essential goal and religion a formality.

He revealed, too, their passion for power, and when viewed by angels, they saw that it exceeded the passion for power of people in positions of secular authority.

Footnotes:

1. In 1766 when this work was published, the reigning monarch was George III, who in 1760 succeeded his grandfather, George II, as king of England.

2. John 6:40; 3:36

  
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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

 

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.

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