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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

 

Conjugial Love #270

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270. The third account:

Awakening one morning, I fell to thinking about some questions having to do with conjugial love, coming finally to this one:

In what region of the human mind is truly conjugial love seated, and in what region, therefore, coldness in marriage?

I knew that the human mind is divided into three regions, one above the other, and that natural love resides in the lowest region, spiritual love in the next higher one, and celestial love in the highest. I knew also that in each region there is a marriage of good and truth, and because good has to do with love, and truth with wisdom, that in each region there is a marriage of love and wisdom; moreover, that this marriage is the same as a marriage of the will and understanding, since the will is the recipient vessel of love, and the understanding the recipient vessel of wisdom.

[2] While I was deep in thought on this question, I suddenly saw two swans flying towards the north, and presently two birds of paradise flying towards the south, and then two turtledoves flying in the east. Following their flight with my eyes, I next saw the two swans veer their course from the north to the east, likewise the two birds of paradise from the south, until they met up with the pair of turtledoves in the east. Then together they flew towards a certain lofty palace there, rising in the midst of olive trees, palms and beeches. The palace had three rows of windows, one above another; and as I watched, I saw the birds fly into the palace - the swans through windows standing open in the lowest row, the birds of paradise through windows open in the middle row, and the turtledoves through windows open in the highest row.

[3] After I witnessed this event, an angel stood beside me and said, "Do you understand the things you have seen?"

"A little," I replied.

"The palace," said the angel, "represents the abodes of conjugial love as these exist in human minds. Its highest level - into which the turtledoves disappeared - represents the highest region of the mind, where conjugial love resides in the goodness of love together with its wisdom. The middle level - into which the birds of paradise disappeared - represents the intermediate region, where conjugial love resides in a love of truth together with its intelligence. And the lowest level - into which the swans disappeared - represents the lowest region of the mind, where conjugial love resides in a love of what is just and right together with its knowledge.

[4] "These degrees are also symbolized by the three pairs of birds - the two turtledoves symbolizing conjugial love in the highest region, the two birds of paradise conjugial love in the intermediate region, and the two swans conjugial love in the lowest region. The three kinds of trees surrounding the palace - the olive trees, palms and beeches - symbolize the same.

"In heaven we call the highest region of the mind celestial, the intermediate one spiritual, and the lowest one natural. And we conceive of them as being like apartments in a house, one above another, with steps going up from one to the next, like stairs. Moreover, on each level there are as it were two sets of rooms, one for love, one for wisdom, with a bedroom, so to speak, in front, where they come together in bed - love with its wisdom, or good with its truth, or to say the same thing, the will with its intellect. In such a palace, all the mysteries of conjugial love become visible as though in effigy."

[5] Hearing this, being fired with a desire to see one, I asked whether a person might go in and look at the palace there, since it was a representational one.

The angel replied that only angels in the third heaven could, because for them every representation of love and wisdom becomes real.

"What I have related to you I have heard from them," he said, "including as well the following, that truly conjugial love resides in the highest region, in the midst of mutual love in the chamber or apartment of the will, and at the same time in the midst of perceptions of wisdom in the chamber or apartment of the intellect; and these come together in bed in a bedroom that is located in front on the east side."

"Why," I asked, "are there two chambers?"

"Because," he said, "a husband lives in the chamber of the intellect, and a wife lives in the chamber of the will."

[6] At that I inquired, "If that is where conjugial love resides, where then does coldness in marriage reside?"

"It, too, resides in the highest region," he replied, "but only in the chamber of the intellect, with the chamber of the will on that level being closed off. For as often as it pleases, the understanding with its truths can ascend by a spiral stairway to its chamber in the highest region; but if the will with the goodness of its love does not ascend at the same time to its companion chamber, the latter remains closed, and coldness develops in the other, which is the coldness one finds in marriage.

"As long as such coldness to one's wife continues, the intellect looks down from the highest region to the lowest; and if fear does not hold it back, it also descends in order to warm itself there with an illicit fire."

Having said this, the angel wished to tell me still more about conjugial love from the depictions of it in that palace; but he said, "Enough for now. First investigate whether these concepts are beyond people's general comprehension. If they are, what is the use of saying more? On the other hand, if they are not, more will be disclosed another time." 1

Footnotes:

1. We find, however, no report of any further disclosures.

  
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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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