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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

 

True Christian Religion #25

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25. At this point I shall insert the following account of an experience. 1

Once on waking from sleep I fell into a profound meditation about God; and when I looked up, I saw in the sky above me a brilliant, oval-shaped light. When I fixed my gaze upon that light, it moved to either side and occupied the surrounding area. Then suddenly heaven lay open before me, and I saw wonderful sights, and angels standing in a ring on the south of the opening, talking among themselves. Because I was fired with a desire to hear what they were saying, I was first permitted to hear the sound of their voices, which was full of heavenly love, and later their speech, which was full of the wisdom which comes from that love.

They were talking among themselves about the one God, being linked with Him and salvation by this means. What they said was beyond words to express; most of it could not be put into the words of any natural language. But because on a number of occasions I had been in company with angels in heaven itself, and then, being in a like state, I could speak similarly with them, I was now able to understand them, and pick up a few points in their conversation which can be rationally expressed in the words of natural language.

[2] They were saying that the Divine Being is one, the same, the very self and indivisible. They illustrated this by spiritual ideas, saying that the Divine Being cannot be reduced to several, each of which is the Divine Being, and still remain one, the same, the very self and indivisible. For each would think from His own Being from Himself, and in each case through Himself; if He then thought from the others and through them in agreement, then there would be several gods of like mind, and not one God. For unanimity, being a consensus of several with each one agreeing of himself and through himself, is not consonant with the oneness of God, but with a plurality. They did not say 'of gods', because they were unable to, since the light of heaven which governed their thought, and the aura which carried their speech, offered resistance.

They said too that when they wanted to say the word 'Gods', and each as a Person by Himself, as soon as they attempted to say this it was instantly replaced by one, or rather the sole, God. They added that the Divine Being is the Divine Being in itself, not from itself, because from itself supposes Being in itself arising from another prior one. Thus it supposes a God arising from God, which is impossible. Anything arising from God is not called God, but Divine. For what is God arising from God, or God born of God from eternity, and what is God arising from God proceeding by means of God born from eternity but mere words totally devoid of heavenly light?

[3] They went on to say that the Divine Being, which is in itself God, is the same; not the same in a simple way, but infinitely the same, that is, the same from eternity to eternity. He is the same everywhere, the same with each person and in each person; but all the changes and differences occur in the person who receives Him, and it is his state which causes this.

To demonstrate that the Divine Being, which is God in itself, is very self they said: 'God is very Self, because He is love itself and wisdom itself, that is, because He is good itself and truth itself, and thus life itself. If these things were not the very Self in God, they would be as nothing in heaven and the world, because none of them would be related to the very Self. Every quality gets its quality from the fact that it is the self which is its source, and must be related to it to have that quality. This very Self, which is the Divine Being, is not in any place, but with and in those people who are located in accordance with their ability to receive it, since neither place nor movement from one place to another can be attributed to love and wisdom, or good and truth, and life from them, which constitute the very Self in God, or rather are God Himself. Hence God is omnipresent. That is why the Lord says that He is in the midst of them, and that He is in them and they in Him.

[4] 'Because God cannot be received by anyone such as He is in Himself, He appears as He is in essence, as the Sun above the heavens of the angels; the radiation emitted by Him as light is Himself as regards wisdom, and as heat is Himself as regards love. That Sun is not God Himself, but the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom coming forth most nearly from Him, all around Him, and these appear to the angels as the Sun. He Himself is in the Sun as a Man; He is our Lord Jesus Christ, both as regards the Divine origin and the Divine Human; since the very Self, which is Love itself and Wisdom itself, was His soul from the Father, and so Divine Life, which is Life in itself. This is different in the case of any person; in him his soul is not Life, but a receiver of life. The Lord teaches us this too, when He said:

I am the Way, Truth and Life, John 14:6.

and elsewhere:

Even as the Father has life in Himself, so too did He grant the Son to have life in Himself, John 5:26.

Life in Himself is God.'

They added that those who are at all spiritually enlightened can perceive from these statements that the Divine Being cannot exist in several, because it is one, the same, the very self and thus indivisible. If anyone were to say that this plurality was possible, there would be obvious contradictions in the qualities predicated.

Footnotes:

1. This is repeated from Apocalypse Revealed 961.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #134

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134. At this point I shall insert more accounts of experiences, of which this is the first.

Once in the world of spirits I went into a church where there was a large congregation, and before the sermon they had a discussion on the subject of redemption. The church was square in plan without any windows in the walls, but with a large opening in the middle of the roof, allowing light from heaven to stream in, making the interior brighter than windows at the sides could have done.

While they were talking about redemption, a black cloud suddenly blew up from the north and covered the opening. This caused such thick darkness that people could not see one another, and hardly their hands in front of their faces. While they were standing struck dumb by this, the black cloud was split down the middle, and through the gap angels were seen, sent down from heaven to dispel the cloud in either direction, so that the church was filled with light again. The angels then sent down one of their number into the church to ask the congregation in their name the subject of their dispute, which had caused so dark a cloud to come over, block out the light, and spread darkness. They replied that they were talking about redemption, how this was effected by the passion of the Son of God on the cross, by which means He made expiation and rescued the human race from damnation and everlasting death.

To this the angel who has been sent down replied: 'Why do you say "by the passion on the cross"? Explain why you say it was by that means.'

[2] Then a priest came forward and said: 'I will give an orderly exposition of our knowledge and belief. These are that God the Father in His anger against the human race damned it and shut it out from the sphere of His clemency, declaring all its members condemned and accursed, and consigning them to hell. He was willing for His Son to take that sentence on Himself; the Son consented, and therefore came down, took human form, and allowed Himself to be crucified. He thus transferred to Himself the damnation of the human race; for we read "Cursed is everyone who hangs upon the wood of the cross." The Son thus by His intercession and mediation appeased the Father; and then the Father out of His love for the Son, and as the result of witnessing His suffering on the cross, was moved to pity, and decreed that He would forgive men, "but only those to whom I impute your righteousness. These I will turn from sons of wrath and cursing into sons of grace and blessing, and I will make them righteous and save them. Let the rest remain as previously decreed, sons of wrath." Such is our faith, and these things are what is meant by the righteousness which God the Father introduces into our faith, so that by itself it makes us righteous and saves us.'

[3] On hearing this the angel kept silent for some time, he was so astonished. But eventually he broke silence and spoke as follows: 'Can the Christian world have become so mad, and have abandoned sound reason for such ravings, as to deduce the fundamental dogma of salvation from those paradoxes? Is there anyone who cannot see that this is diametrically opposed to the Divine essence itself, that is, to God's Divine love and His Divine wisdom, and at the same time to His omnipotence and omnipresence? No decent master would treat his servants and maids like this; not even a wild beast would so treat its pups or young. It is unspeakable. Is it not contrary to His Divine essence to revoke the invitation given to every single member of the human race? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to change the laws of order established from eternity, which prescribe that each person should be judged by the life he leads? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to withdraw love and pity from any person, and more so from the whole of the human race? Is it not contrary to the Divine essence to be brought back to pitying by witnessing the Son's suffering, and since it is the very essence of God to pity, to be brought back to His own essence? It is utter wickedness to think that He could ever depart from it, for He is His essence from eternity to eternity.

[4] 'Is it not impossible to implant in anything, such as your faith, the righteousness of redemption, which in itself is a part of God's omnipotence, and impute or assign it to a person, and without any other means to pronounce him righteous, pure and holy? Is it not impossible to forgive anyone his sins, or to make anyone new, regenerated and saved, simply by imputing righteousness to him, which would be turning unrighteousness into righteousness, and cursing into blessing? Could one thus turn hell into heaven, and heaven into hell, or the dragon into Michael, and Michael into the dragon, and so put a stop to the battle between them? What would it take but to withdraw the imputation of your faith from one person and give it to another? In that case we in heaven would go in fear for ever. Nor is it consistent with righteousness and judgment for one person to take another's crime upon himself, so that the guilty should be held innocent, and the crime thus be purged. Is this not contrary to both Divine righteousness and human justice? The Christian world is still ignorant of the existence, even more so of the nature, of the laws of order that God introduced at the creation of the world; and that God cannot act contrary to order because that would be acting against Himself. For God is order itself.'

[5] The priest understood what the angel had said, because the angels up above poured down light from heaven. Then he gave a groan and said: 'What are we to do? Everyone nowadays preaches and prays and believes this. Everyone is saying "Gracious Father, have mercy upon us and forgive us our sins for the sake of your Son's blood, which He shed for us upon the cross." Then they pray to Christ: "Lord, intercede for us;" and we priests add, "Send us the Holy Spirit."'

Then the angel said: 'I have noticed that priests make ointments from a superficial understanding of the Word, which they smear on the eyes of those who have been blinded by their faith; or make up a poultice from the same source, which they place upon the wounds inflicted by their dogmas, but without healing them, since they have become chronic. So go to the man who is standing over there - and he pointed to me - he will teach you from the Lord that the passion on the cross was not the act of redemption, but the uniting of the Lord's Human with the Father's Divine. Redemption was the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens; and had the Lord not performed these acts when He was in the world, no one on earth, nor anyone in the heavens, could have been saved. He will go on to teach you the laws of order, which were imposed from the time of creation, by which people must live to be saved. Those who live by them are counted among the redeemed and called the chosen.'

After this speech windows appeared in the sides of the church, brightness flooded in from all four quarters, and cherubs were seen flying in a radiance of light. Then the angel was lifted up through the opening in the roof to rejoin his companions, and we went away in a cheerful frame of mind.

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

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