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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

 

Conjugial Love #103

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103. To this I will append two narrative accounts. Here is the first:

One morning before sunrise, I looked out towards the east in the spiritual world and I saw four horsemen seemingly flying out of a cloud that shone with the blaze of dawn. On the heads of the horsemen I saw curled helmets 1 , on their arms what appeared to be wings, and about their bodies light orange-colored tunics. Thus dressed, like racers they rose up on their horses and held the reins out over their manes, so that the horses went out at a gallop like wing-footed steeds.

I followed their course or flight with my eyes, with a mind to find out where they were going. Then suddenly three of the horsemen peeled off in three directions, to the south, the west, and the north, while the fourth pulled up after a short space and came to a halt in the east.

[2] Wondering at this, I looked up to heaven and asked where the horsemen were going. I received the reply, "To the wise in the kingdoms of Europe, people of polished reason and keen sight in analytical investigations who enjoyed a reputation for genius among their contemporaries. They are being summoned to come and solve the secret of the origin of conjugial love and its vigor or potency."

Those speaking from heaven also said, "Keep looking, and in a little while you will see twenty-seven carriages, three with Spaniards in them, three with natives of France or Frenchmen, three with Italians, three with Germans, three with natives of the Netherlands or Dutchmen, three with Englishmen, three with Swedes, three with Danes, and three with Poles."

Then, after two hours, their carriages appeared, drawn by ponies light bay in color with strikingly decorated harnesses. And traveling rapidly to an immense house visible in the border region between the east and the south, the riders all got out of their carriages around the house and boldly went in.

[3] Moreover I was then told, "Go on over and go in, too, and you will hear."

I went and entered the house, and examining it inside, I saw that it was square, with sides facing towards the four points of the compass. Each of the sides had three high windows containing panes of crystal, whose frames were made of olive wood. From either side of the frames projected walls in the form of rooms, with vaulted ceilings and containing tables. These walls were made out of cedar, the ceilings out of fine sandarac wood 2 , and the floors out of boards of poplar. Against the east wall - where I did not see any windows - a table stood, overlaid with gold, on which had been placed a miter covered with precious stones. This would go as an award or prize to the one who found the secret of the riddle to be presently put before them.

[4] As I looked around at the rooms formed by the projecting walls, which were like compartments along the windows, I saw in each of them five men from the same European kingdom, who were ready and waiting for the topic on which they were to render judgment.

Instantly, then, an angel stood in the middle of the palace and said, "The subject on which you are to render judgment is the origin of conjugial love and its vigor or potency. Discuss it and come to a decision. Then when you have reached a decision, write your opinion on a piece of paper and put it into the silver urn that you see placed beside the gold table. Also, sign it with the initial letter of the kingdom you are from. For example, if you are natives of France or French, write F. If you are natives of the Netherlands or Dutch, write N. If you are Italian, write I. If you are English, write E. If you are Polish, write P. If you are German, write G. If you are Spanish, write Sp. If you are Danish, write D. And if you are Swedish, write Sw."

With these words the angel departed, saying as he left, "I will return."

The five fellow countrymen in each compartment along the windows then considered this instruction, analyzed the subject, and after coming to a decision to the best of their ability to judge, wrote it down on a piece of paper, signed it with the initial letter of their kingdom, and put it into the hollow silver container.

Three hours later, when they were all finished, the angel returned to draw the pieces of paper out of the urn one by one and read them in the presence of the whole gathering.

Footnotes:

1. Probably morions or comb morions.

2. Literally, "thyine wood." See Revelation 18:12, where it has been variously translated.

  
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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 #386

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386. To this I will append the following account:

When I once looked about in the spiritual world, I heard what sounded like the gnashing of teeth, and like a thumping, too, intermixed with a harsh noise. So I asked what I was hearing, and the angels who were with me said, "There are clubs, which we call taverns, where people argue with each other. This is the way their debates sound at a distance, but close by they sound only like arguments.

I went over and saw cottages constructed of interwoven rushes, with clay for mortar. I wanted to look through a window, but there wasn't one. I looked for a window because I was not permitted to enter through the door, as light from heaven would then flow in and befuddle the people.

Suddenly, however, a window materialized on the right side, and I heard the people complain then that everything had gone dark. But shortly a window materialized on the left side, with the window on the right side closing, and then the darkness was by degrees dispelled, and they saw each other in a state of light. After that I was allowed to enter through the door and listen.

There was a table in the middle of the room, with benches surrounding it, yet the people all seemed to me to be standing on the benches, and to be arguing sharply with each other about faith and charity, the people on one side saying that faith was the principal tenet of the church, and on the other side that charity was.

Those who made faith the principal tenet said, "Do we not deal with God as regards faith, and with people as regards charity? Is not faith therefore something heavenly, and charity something earthly? Are we not saved by what is heavenly, and not by anything earthly?

"Furthermore, cannot God confer faith from heaven, because it is something heavenly, and must not a person confer on himself charity, because it is something earthly? What a person confers on himself is unrelated to the church and is therefore not saving. Can works that are called works of charity justify anyone in that case before God?

"Believe us when we say that by faith alone we are not only justified but also sanctified, provided our faith is not contaminated by hopes for merit that spring up from works of charity."

And so on.

[2] In reply, the people who made charity the principal tenet of the church sharply refuted them, saying that charity is saving, and not faith. "Does not God hold all people dear and will good to all? How can God do this except through the agency of people? Does God enable people to speak with one another only about matters having to do with faith, and not enable them to do things for one another that are matters of charity?

"Do you not see how absurdly you spoke about charity, saying that it is something earthly? Charity is something heavenly, and because you do not do the good pertaining to charity, your faith is earthly. How do you receive faith other than as a log or rock? You say that it is simply by hearing the Word, but how can the Word do anything simply by being heard, and how can it have any effect on a log or rock? Perhaps you are animated without being aware of it. However, what is that animation except to enable you to say that faith alone is saving? Yet what that faith is, and what saving faith is, you do not know."

[3] But one among them then arose, whom an angel speaking with me called a syncretist. 1 He took the cap from his head and placed it on the table, but quickly replaced it, as he was bald. He said, "Listen, you are all wrong. The truth is that faith is spiritual, and charity moral; but still they are conjoined, and they are conjoined by the Word, by the Holy Spirit, and by the effect these have, without the person's knowing. Indeed, the person may be said to be a compliant form, but one in which the person has no part.

"I have thought to myself a long time about this, and I eventually found that God can enable a person to receive a faith that is spiritual, but cannot move him to a charity that is spiritual without his being like a pillar of salt."

[4] When he said this, the people caught up in faith alone applauded, while those espousing charity booed. And the latter said with annoyance, "Listen, my friend, you do not know that a moral life can be spiritual, and that it can be merely natural - being a moral life that is spiritual in the case of people who do good from the Lord, though doing it as if of themselves, and being a moral life that is merely natural in the case of people who do good from hell, though doing it as if of themselves."

[5] I said before that the arguing sounded like the gnashing of teeth, and like a thumping, too, intermixed with a harsh noise. The particular arguing that sounded like the gnashing of teeth came from those who were espousing faith alone; the arguing that sounded like a thumping came from those who were espousing charity alone; and the intermixed harsh noise came from the syncretist. I heard their voices at a distance thus because they had all argued in the world, but did not refrain from any evil and so did not do any moral good that was spiritual. Moreover, they also did not know at all that the totality of faith is truth, and that the totality of charity is goodness, and that truth without goodness is not truth in spirit, and that goodness without truth is not goodness in spirit; thus that one must form the other.

The reason everything became dark when a window materialized on the right side is that light flowing in from heaven on that side affects the will. And a state of light returned when the window on the right side closed and a window materialized on the left side, because light flowing in from heaven on the left side affects the intellect, and everyone can be in the light of heaven as regards his intellect, provided his will is closed as regards the evil in him.

Footnotes:

1. An espouser of syncretism, a system of belief that attempts to reconcile differing religious and philosophic positions. The term was applied especially to the views of George Calixtus, a Lutheran theologian in the 17th century, and to his followers.

  
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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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