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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 #82

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82. After this a man came rushing from the northern zone in a rage, and looking at me with a threatening expression and speaking in a heated tone, he said, "You are the one who is trying to lead the world astray by establishing a New Church, which you take to be meant by the New Jerusalem that will come down out of heaven from God, and by teaching that people who embrace the doctrines of this church will be blessed by the Lord with truly conjugial love, whose delights and happiness you exalt to the sky! Is that not something you just made up? Are you not just saying it as a snare and inducement to get people to go along with your new ideas?

"Tell me in short, however, what these New Church doctrines are, and I will see whether they hang together or not."

So I replied, "The doctrines of the church that is meant by the New Jerusalem are as follows:

"1. There is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that God is the Lord Jesus Christ.

"2. Saving faith is to believe in Him.

"3. Evils must be abstained from because they are of the devil and from the devil.

"4. Good deeds must be done because they are of God and from God.

"5. These good deeds must be done by a person as though he were doing them from himself, but he must believe that they are from the Lord in him and by means of him."

[2] When he heard this, the man's rage subsided for several minutes. But after some consideration, he again looked at me with a fierce expression, saying, "These five precepts - are they doctrines of the faith and charity of the New Church?"

And I answered, "Yes."

Then he asked me gruffly, "How are you able to demonstrate the first one, that there is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ?"

"I demonstrate it," I said, "in this way. Is God not one and indivisible? Is there not a Trinity? If God is one and indivisible, is He not one person? If He is one person, is the Trinity not in that person?

"That He is the Lord Jesus Christ I demonstrate by the following points: Jesus Christ was conceived by God the Father (Luke 1:34-35), so that in regard to His soul He was God. And therefore, as He Himself says, the Father and He are one (John 10:30). He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10-11). He who sees Him and knows Him, sees and knows the Father (John 14:7,9). No one sees and knows the Father but He who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18). All things belonging to the Father are His (John 3:35, 16:15). He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6), thus by Him, because the Father is in Him. And, according to Paul, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily (Colossians 2:9). And furthermore, He has authority over all flesh (John 17:2), and He has all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

"From all this it follows that He is God of heaven and earth."

[3] The man then asked how I demonstrate the second precept, that saving faith is to believe in Him.

"I demonstrate it," I said, "by these words of the Lord:

This is the will of the Father..., that everyone who...believes in (the Son) may have everlasting life. (John 6:39-40)

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16,15)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)"

[4] After that he said, "Demonstrate as well the third precept, and the ones that follow."

Then I replied, "What need is there to establish that evils must be abstained from because they are of the devil and from the devil, that good deeds must be done because they are of God and from God, and that these good deeds must be done by a person as though he were doing them from himself, but that he must believe they are from the Lord in him and by means of him? The Holy Scripture from beginning to end attests throughout that these three precepts are true. What else does it teach in sum but to abstain from evils and do good deeds, and to believe in the Lord God?

"And besides, there is not any religion without these three precepts. Religion has to do with a way of life, does it not? And what is that life but to abstain from evils and do good deeds. How can a person do these things and believe in them unless he does so as though he were doing them from himself?

"If you dismiss these precepts from the church, therefore, you dismiss the Holy Scripture from the church, and you also dismiss religion. And if you dismiss these, the church is not a church."

On hearing these things, the man withdrew and considered them. But still he went away in annoyance.

  
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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

 

True Christian Religion #696

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696. The fifth experience. 1

I once prayed the Lord to be allowed to talk with the disciples of Aristotle, and at the same time with the disciples of Descartes and those of Leibnitz, in order to learn what opinions they held on the interplay between the soul and the body. My prayer was answered by the appearance of nine men, three Aristotelians, three Cartesians and three Leibnitzians. They stood round me, the admirers of Aristotle on the left, the followers of Descartes on the right, and the supporters of Leibnitz behind me. A long way off, and separated by gaps, were to be seen three men apparently wearing laurel-wreaths; and the perception flowing in from heaven made me aware that these were the actual champions or founders of the schools. Another man stood behind Leibnitz holding on to the sleeve of his robe; I was told that he was Wolff 2 .

[2] The nine men on seeing one another began with polite greetings and conversation. But soon afterwards a spirit rose up from the underworld carrying a torch in his right hand, which he shook in their faces. This made them three by three to become enemies and they glowered at one another; for they were gripped by a desire to quarrel and dispute.

The Aristotelians, who were also Schoolmen 3 , began by saying: 'Anyone can see that objects flow into the soul by means of the senses, like anyone entering a room through the door, and that what the soul thinks depends upon the inflow. When a lover sees a pretty girl or his bride, does not his eye sparkle and transmit love for her to the soul? When the miser sees bags full of money, is not every one of his senses inflamed with longing from them, and as a result he transmits this to the soul, exciting a desire to possess them? When some haughty person hears himself being praised by another, does he not prick up his ears, and they transmit the compliments to the soul? The bodily senses are like fore-courts offering the only way in to the soul. These and countless similar examples must lead one to conclude that the inflow is from nature, in other words, physical.'

[3] On hearing this the Cartesians clapped their fingers to their brows, and now took them away to say: 'Dear, dear, you are speaking from appearances. Are you not aware that it is not the eye which loves a girl or a bride, but the soul? Likewise, the bodily sense does not desire the money in the bag of itself, but under the control of the soul. Likewise, neither do the ears in any other sense scoop up the compliments paid by toadies. Surely it is perception which produces sensation? And perception is a function of the soul, not of an organ. Tell us, if you can, what it is other than thought which makes the tongue and the lips speak? What is it but the will that makes the hands work? Thought and will are functions of the soul. So what is it but the soul which makes the eye see, the ears hear, and the remaining sense-organs feel, pay attention and notice? These and countless other examples allow everyone, whose wisdom goes beyond bodily sense-impressions, to conclude that there is no inflow from the body into the soul, but from the soul into the body. We call this incidental inflow, or spiritual inflow.'

[4] On hearing this three men, who had been standing behind the previously mentioned groups of three and were supporters of Leibnitz, raised their voices and said: 'We have listened to the arguments on either side and compared them, and we have noticed that on many points one party prevails and on many others another. So, if we may, we should like to settle the dispute.'

When they were asked how, they said: 'There is no inflow from the soul into the body nor from the body into the soul, but both activities take place concordantly and instantaneously. This has been elegantly named by a famous writer, who called it pre-established harmony.'

[5] On the conclusion of this debate, the spirit carrying the torch appeared again, but now holding it in his left hand. He shook it towards the backs of their heads, so causing the ideas of all of them to become confused, and they cried out: 'Our soul does not know, neither does our body, which side to take. So let us draw lots to settle the dispute, and we will support the view represented by the first lot drawn.'

So they took three slips of paper and wrote on one 'Physical Inflow', on the second 'Spiritual Inflow' and on the third 'Pre-established Harmony'. They put the three slips into a hat held upside down and selected someone to draw one. He put his hand in and grasped with his hand the one on which was written 'Spiritual Inflow'. When they saw this and read it out, they all said, some however with a clear and fluent voice, some with a dull and withdrawn voice, 'Let us support this, since it came out first.' Then an angel suddenly appeared standing by, who said: 'Do not believe that the paper favouring Spiritual Inflow came out by chance; it was contrived. For your ideas are so confused that you cannot see its truth, but the truth of itself presented itself to his hand, so that you would support it.'

Footnotes:

1. This section is repeated from Interaction of the Soul and Body 19.

2. Christian Wolff (Arcana Coelestia 1679-1754), a follower of Leibnitz.

3. The Medieval scholars who taught logic.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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