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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 #731

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731. 1 I once saw an angel flying under the eastern heaven holding a trumpet to his mouth with his hand, and sounding a blast towards the north, the west and the south. He was wearing a cloak which trailed behind him as he flew. He wore a sash studded with rubies and sapphires so that it flamed and shone. He flew head first, and alighted gently on the ground near where I was. On landing he walked upright on his feet, going in different directions, and then on seeing me came towards me. I was in the spirit, and in that state was standing on a hill in the southern quarter.

When he was near, I spoke to him and asked: 'What is happening now? I heard the sound of your trumpet, and saw you come down through the air.'

'I have been sent,' the angel replied, 'to summon the most famous for their learning, the most perceptive minds and the names most renowned for wisdom, who come from Christian lands and are in this region, to meet together on this hill, where you are now standing, and to speak their minds, stating what, when in the world, they had thought, understood and regarded as wisdom on the subject of heavenly joy and everlasting happiness.

[2] 'The reason for my mission is that some new arrivals from the world, who have been admitted to our heavenly community in the east, have reported that not a single person in the whole of Christendom knows what heavenly joy and everlasting happiness are, and so what heaven is. My brethren and colleagues were very surprised at this and told me to go down, make proclamation and summon the wisest people in the world of spirits, the place where all mortals are first gathered together on leaving the natural world, so that we can be informed by a number of voices, whether it is true that Christians are in such dense darkness and deep ignorance about the life to come. Wait a little while,' he said, 'and you will see the groups of wise men arriving here; the Lord will prepare a hall for their meeting.'

[3] I waited and after half an hour I saw two parties coming from the north, two from the west, and two from the south. The angel with the trumpet took them into the hall which had been prepared, and there they occupied the places assigned to them in accordance with the quarter they came from. There were six groups or parties; there was a seventh from the east, but the light rendered them invisible to the rest. When they were assembled, the angel revealed the reason they had been summoned, and asked the groups in turn to set forth their wisdom on the subject of heavenly joy and everlasting happiness. Then each group formed a circle with faces turned in towards one another, so that they could recall the ideas they had had about it in the previous world, discuss them, and after discussion could report on them.

Footnotes:

1. The passage 731-752 is repeated from Conjugial Love 2-25.

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

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.

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