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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

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #44

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44. It has been stated that from the people of every Church, at its end, is formed a new heaven and a new hell; and, since I gave an account in the preceding section of the heaven and hell formed from those who were of the Most Ancient Church, it seems well also to do so respecting these [of the Ancient Church]; for access has been granted me thereto, inasmuch as I have been permitted to traverse and observe the whole spiritual world, to the end that the New Church, truly Christian, may not be in thick darkness concerning heaven and hell, and concerning the lot of these after death according to the deeds of their life. These things are likewise in the little work on CONJUGIAL LOVE (n. 76).

CONCERNING THE HEAVEN FORMED FROM THESE

[2] "An angel came to me and said, 'Do you desire me to accompany you to the peoples who lived in the Silver Era, or Age, that we may hear from them respecting the customs and life of their times?' It was also said that they may not be approached except under the auspices of the Lord.

"I was in the spirit, and accompanied my guide, and came, first, to a hill on the confines of the east with the south; and when we were on its slope, he showed me a vast stretch of country, and we saw at a distance an eminence like a mountain between which and the hill on which we stood, was a valley, and beyond this a plain, and from this plain a gently-rising ascent.

"We descended the hill to cross the valley, and saw here and there, at the sides, blocks of wood and stone carved into figures of men, and of various beasts, birds and fishes. And I asked the angel, 'What are these? Are they not idols?'

"And he replied, 'By no means; they are representative forms of various moral virtues and spiritual truths. The peoples of that age possessed a knowledge of correspondences; and, as beast, bird and fish correspond to some quality, therefore, each carved figure represents and signifies some aspect of virtue or truth, and many together the virtue or truth itself, in a certain general extended form; these are what in Egypt were called hieroglyphics.'

[3] "We proceeded through the valley, and when we entered the plain, ho! we saw horses and carriages, the horses variously caparisoned and harnessed, and the carriages variously shaped; some being carved out like eagles, some like unicorns, and some like whales: we also saw some carts at the boundary, and stables round about at the sides. But, when we approached, both horses and carriages disappeared, and instead of them we saw men, in pairs, walking, talking together and reasoning. And the angel said to me, 'The semblances of horses, carriages and stables, seen at a distance, are appearances of the rational intelligence of the men of that age; for a horse, by correspondence, signifies the understanding of truth; a carriage, the doctrine of truth; and stables, places of instruction. You are aware that all things in this world appear according to correspondences.'

[4] "But we passed these things, and went up by the ascent. At length we saw a city, which we entereth; and, in walking through it, we observed its houses from the streets and squares. In the midst of it, were palaces built of marble, having steps of alabaster in front, and at the sides of the steps pillars of jasper. We saw also temples, made of precious stone of a sapphire and azure colour. And the angel said to me, 'Their houses are of stones because stones signify natural truths, and precious stones spiritual truths; and all those who lived in the silver age, had intelligence from spiritual truths, and thence from natural; for silver has a like signification.

[5] "While exploring the city, we saw here and there married partners, both husbands and wives. We expected that we should be invited somewhere; and, while this was in our mind (animus), we were called back by two into a house, which we entered; and the angel, speaking with them for me, explained the reason of our coming to this heaven, informing them that it was "for the sake of instruction, concerning the customs of the Ancients, of whom you are.

"They replied, 'We were from the peoples in Asia, and the study of our age was the study of truths, through which we had intelligence. This study was the study of our soul and of our mind. But the study of the senses of our bodies was the representations of truths in natural forms; and the knowledge of correspondences conjoined the sensations of our bodies with the perceptions of our minds, thus natural and corporeal things with spiritual and celestial, and procured for us communication with the angels of heaven.'

[6] "On hearing these things, the angel requested them to relate something about marriages among them. So the husband said,

'There is a correspondence between spiritual marriage, which is that of good and truth, and natural marriage, which is that of man and wife; and as we studied correspondences, we saw that the Church, with its truths and goods, can exist only with those who live in truly conjugial love; for the marriage of good and truth is the Church with man. Wherefore, all we who are in this heaven, say that the husband is truth, and the wife the good of his truth; and that good cannot love any other truth than that which is its own, nor truth love in return any other good than that which is its own; if any other were loved, the internal or spiritual marriage, which constitutes the Church, would perish, and marriage would become only external or natural, to which idolatry, and not the Church, corresponds.'

[7] "On his concluding these remarks, we were conducted into an ante-chamber, where were many designs on the walls, and little images cast as it were in silver; and I asked, 'What are these?' They said, 'They are pictures and images representative of the many qualities, properties and delights of spiritual things'; as were also the cherubim and palm-trees on the walls of the Temple at Jerusalem.

"After these things, there appeared at a distance a carriage drawn by small white horses; on seeing which the angel said, 'That carriage is a sign for us to depart.' Then, as we were going down the steps, our host gave us a bunch of white grapes with the vine leaves attached; and lo! the leaves became silver in our hands; and we brought them away for a token that we had spoken with people of the Silver Age."

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #185

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185. Here I shall add some more experiences, of which this is the first.

The spiritual world contains climatic zones similar to those in the natural world. There is nothing in this world which does not have its counterpart in the other, but their origins are different. In the natural world the varying seasons depend upon how far the sun is from the equator; in the spiritual world they depend upon how remote the affections of the will, and so the thoughts of the understanding, are from true love and true faith. Everything there corresponds to these two.

The cold zones of the spiritual world look much like the cold zones in the natural world. There are stretches of frozen land to be seen there, frozen lakes and a covering of snow. The people who come and live there are those who in the world had put their understanding to sleep through being too lazy to think about spiritual matters, and at the same time too lazy to do anything useful. These are called boreal 1 spirits.

[2] I once had a wish to see a district in the cold zone, where these boreal spirits live. So I was taken in the spirit northwards, to an area where all the ground was snow-covered and all the water frozen over. It was Sunday, and I saw the people, or spirits, of the same physique as people on earth; but on account of the cold they had lions' skins on their heads, with the face fitting over their faces; their bodies both front and back down to the loins were covered with leopards' skins, their legs and feet with bears' skins. I also saw many of them riding in carriages; some of them were in carriages carved to resemble dragons with their horns projecting forwards. These carriages were pulled by small horses with docked tails. They ran like terrifying wild beasts, and the driver holding the reins in his hands constantly drove them on and yelled at them to run. Eventually I saw that the crowds were converging on a church, which was so deep in snow it was invisible. But the guardians of the church were clearing away the snow and digging out a way in for the worshippers as they arrived. They got out of their carriages and entered the church.

[3] I was also allowed to see the inside of the church. It was plentifully lit with lamps and lanterns. The altar was of ashlar, and behind it was hung up a board, on which was written: 'The Divine Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are in essence one God, but three in person.'

At length the priest who was standing by the altar, after three genuflexions towards the board behind it, climbed into the pulpit holding a book in his hand, and began to preach about the Divine Trinity. 'How great a mystery it is,' he cried, 'that God in the highest fathered a Son from eternity, and through Him produced the Holy Spirit, the three of whom linked themselves by essence, but divided themselves by properties, that is, imputation, redemption and activity! But if we consider these things by the use of reason, our sight grows dim and a blot obscures our vision, such as affects anyone who gazes directly at the sun. Therefore, my listeners, in this respect let us keep the understanding subject to the dictates of faith.'

[4] After this he gave another cry and said: 'How great a mystery is our holy faith! This tells us that God the Father imputes the righteousness of the Son, and sends the Holy Spirit to effect by that imputation the rewards of justification. These are briefly the forgiveness of sins, renewal, regeneration and salvation. A person knows no more about the influence and action of the Holy Spirit than the pillar of salt into which Lot's wife was turned. Nor is he any more aware of His presence and state within him than a fish is in the sea. But, my friends, within our faith lies hidden a treasure, so hedged about and concealed that not a scrap of it is to be seen. Therefore in respect to this too let us keep the understanding subject to the dictates of faith.'

[5] He heaved a few sighs, and then cried out again, saying: 'How great a mystery is election! Anyone becomes one of the elect to whom God imputes the faith which of His free choice and purely of His grace He pours into any He wishes, whenever He wishes. When he receives the infusion the person is like a bare tree-trunk, but afterwards he becomes like a tree. But although the fruits, which are good deeds, hang from that tree, which may be taken to represent our faith, still they do not form part of it, so that the tree's value does not depend upon its fruit. However, since this, for all it is a mystic truth, has a heterodox ring to it, let us, my brethren, keep the understanding subject to the dictates of this faith.'

[6] After an interval, during which he stood as if trying to recall something from his memory, he went on to say: 'From the heap of mysteries I will extract just one more. This is that a person in spiritual matters has not a grain of free will. The leaders and champions of our rule say in their theological canons that in matters which concern faith and salvation, what are especially called spiritual matters, a person cannot will, think or understand anything, nor even prepare and devote himself to acquiring these things. So I hold for my part that a person cannot for his part on these subjects think rationally, or speak thoughtfully otherwise than a parrot, magpie or crow. So in spiritual matters he is truly a donkey, and only human in natural matters. But in this, my colleagues, as in other respects, to prevent the understanding attacking your reason, let us keep it subject to the dictates of faith. Our theology is a bottomless pit, and if you plunge your intellectual gaze into it, you will sink and perish in the wreck. But please listen to this: we are none the less enlightened by the Gospel, which shines out high above our heads; yet how painfully would it hurt, did not our hair and the bones of our skull keep it out and prevent it from penetrating into the chamber of our understanding.'

[7] At the end of this speech he came down from the pulpit, said a few prayers at the altar, and brought the service to an end. Then I went up to a group of people, including the priest, who were talking together. The people around said to the priest: 'You have our undying thanks for such a magnificent sermon, so full of wisdom.' Then I said to them: 'Surely you did not understand anything of it?' 'We strained our ears to catch every word,' they answered. 'But why do you ask whether we understood it? Are not such things likely to amaze the understanding?' The priest on hearing this added: 'Because you have heard and have not understood, you are blessed, for that is the source of your salvation.'

[8] Subsequently I talked with the priest and asked him if he had a degree; he replied that he held a master's degree. Then I said: 'Master, I have listened to you preaching of mysteries. If you know of them, but nothing of what they contain, you know nothing. For they are merely like bookcases locked with three bolts; and unless you open them and look inside, which will require the use of the understanding, you do not know whether the contents are valuable, worthless or dangerous. They may be snakes' eggs and spiders' webs, as described in Isaiah (Isaiah 59:5).'

When I said this, the priest gave me a black look, and the worshippers went off and got into their carriages, drunk with paradoxes, stupefied with inanities and plunged in thick darkness as regards everything conducive to faith and instrumental for salvation.

Footnotes:

1. Or 'of the north wind'.

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

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