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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 #460

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460. The second experience 1 .

Once when I was looking around the spiritual world I heard a noise like the grinding of teeth, and also a throbbing sound, and mixed with them hoarse cries. I asked what this was. 'There are colleges,' said the angels with me, 'which we call places of entertainment, where they hold disputations. Their debates sound like this if heard from a distance, but from close by they are heard only as disputations.'

On approaching I saw some huts made of plaited reeds stuck together with mud. I wanted to see in through a window, but there was none. I was not allowed to go in through the door, because if I did light would flood in from heaven and cause confusion. Then suddenly a window was made on the right, and then I heard complaints that they were in darkness; but a little later a window was made on the left and that on the right was shut, and then little by little the darkness was dispelled, and they could see one another by their own sort of light. After this I was permitted to go in by the door and listen.

There was a table in the middle with benches round it; but it seemed to me that they were all standing on the benches disputing hotly about faith and charity. One party claimed that faith was the essential of the church, the other that charity was. Those who made faith the essential said: 'Surely faith guides our dealings with God and charity our dealings with men. Is not faith then heavenly and charity earthly? Surely it is by heavenly things, not earthly ones, that we are saved. Again, surely God can from heaven give us faith, because it is heavenly, while a person can give himself charity, because it is earthly; and what a person gives himself has nothing to do with the church and therefore does not save. Surely like this no one can be justified in the sight of God by so-called charitable deeds. Believe us, it is by faith alone that we are not only justified, but also sanctified, provided that faith is not polluted by the presence of merit-seeking deeds among the charitable ones.' They added many more arguments.

[2] But those who made charity the essential of the church hotly contested these arguments, claiming that it is charity, not faith, which saves. 'Surely God holds all men dear and wishes good to all? How can God do this except by means of men? Surely God does not grant only the ability to talk with men about matters that concern faith, without enabling men to do charitable acts? Do you not see how absurd it is of you to talk of charity being earthly? Charity is heavenly, and because you do not do charitable good, your faith is earthly. How do you receive your faith, except like a block of wood or a stone? "By listening to the Word" you will say. But how can the Word act on someone if he merely listens to it? How can it act upon a block of wood or a stone? Perhaps you are quickened without any awareness of it; but what sort of quickening is it, apart from your ability to say that faith alone justifies and saves. But you do not know what faith is, or what sort of faith is saving faith.'

[3] Then someone got up whom the angel talking with me called a syncretist. He took off his wig and put it on the table, but immediately put it back on his head, because he was bald. 'Listen,' he said, 'you are all wrong. The truth is that faith is spiritual and charity is moral, but they are none the less linked. The link is effected by means of the Word, as well as by the Holy Spirit, and by the result produced, which can indeed be called obedience, though man has no part in it; because when faith is introduced, a person knows no more about it than a statue. I have pondered the subject for a long time, and finally reached the solution, that a person can receive from God faith which is spiritual, but he cannot be moved by God to charity which is spiritual, any more than a block of wood can.'

[4] This speech was greeted by applause from those who championed faith alone, but with disapproval from those who championed charity. They said indignantly: 'Listen, friend, you are unaware that there is moral life which is spiritual, and moral life which is purely natural. Spiritual moral life is found in those who do good coming from God, but still as if of their own accord, purely natural moral life in those who do good coming from hell, and yet still as if of their own accord.'

[5] I said that the dispute sounded like the grinding of teeth, and a throbbing sound, with hoarse cries mixed with them. The dispute which sounded like the grinding of teeth came from those who made faith the sole essential of the church, and the throbbing came from those who made charity the sole essential of the church, the hoarse cries mixed with them came from the syncretist. The reason why they sounded like this at a distance was that they had all in the world engaged in disputes, and had not shunned any evil; consequently they had not done any good of spiritual lineage. They were also totally ignorant of the fact that the whole of faith is truth and the whole of charity is good, and that truth without good is not truth in spirit, and good without truth is not good in spirit, so that one makes the other.

Footnotes:

1. This passage is repeated from Apocalypse Revealed 386.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #486

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486. Predestination is the offspring of the faith of the church at the present time, because it is the product of a belief in man's utter impotence and lack of choice in spiritual matters. It results from that belief and also from man's, so to speak, lifeless conversion, that he is like a block of wood, and that he has therefore no way of telling whether the block is brought to life by grace or not. For it is said that one is chosen purely as an act of God's grace without any activity on one's part, whether derived from one's natural powers or one's reason. Being chosen takes place where and when God wills, that is, at His good pleasure. The deeds which follow faith as its evidences are to the eyes of one who reflects like the deeds of the flesh; and the spirit which brings them about does not display their origin, but makes them the subject of grace or good pleasure, just as faith is.

[2] These considerations make it plain that the dogma of the present-day church concerning predestination has emerged from this source, like a shoot from a seed. I can assert that it stemmed from that belief as an almost inevitable consequence; an event which first happened with the Predestinarians, starting with Gottschalk 1 , then with Calvin and his followers, and was finally established firmly by the Synod of Dort 2 . Afterwards it was imported by the Supralapsarians and Infralapsarians into their church as an ensign of religion, or rather like the head of the Gorgon or Medusa engraved on the shield of Pallas.

[3] But what more hurtful idea could be thought up, or what more cruel belief could anyone hold about God, than that some of the human race are predestined to damnation? It would be cruel to believe that the Lord, who is love itself and mercy itself, could wish a large number of people to be born destined for hell, or that hundreds of millions are born lost souls, that is, born devils and satans; and that the Lord did not of His Divine wisdom, which is infinite, and does not take care that those who live a good life and acknowledge God are not cast into the fire and everlasting torment. In fact, the Lord is the creator and saviour of all; He alone guides all and wishes no one's death. Could therefore anything more horrifying be believed or thought than that a group of nations and peoples under His control and gaze should be predestined to be handed over as prey to the devil, to fill his maw? Yet this is the offspring of the faith of the present-day church. The faith of the new church recoils from this as a monstrosity.

Footnotes:

1. A German theologian of the 9th century.

2. A conference held at Dordrecht in 1618-19 which condemned the belief of the Arminians, and upheld Calvin's doctrine of predestination.

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

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