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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 #279

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279. The third experience.

Seven years ago, when I was collecting the passages which Moses wrote drawing on the two books called The Wars of Jehovah and The Utterances (Numbers 21), some angels were present who told me that those books were the ancient Word; its historical parts are called The Wars of Jehovah, the prophetical parts The Utterances. They said that this Word was still preserved in heaven and was used by the ancients there, whose Word it had been when they were in the world. The ancients, among whom this Word is still in use in heaven, were in part from the land of Canaan and the neighbouring countries, for instance, Syria, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Chaldaea, Assyria, Egypt, Sidon, Tyre and Niniveh. The inhabitants of all these kingdoms had a representative form of worship, and thus a knowledge of correspondences. The wisdom of those times came from that knowledge, which endowed them with inward perception and communication with the heavens. Those who knew the correspondences of that Word were called wise and intelligent, and in later times soothsayers and sorcerers.

[2] But because that Word was full of the sort of correspondences which conveyed celestial and spiritual ideas distantly, so that many people began to falsify it, therefore by the Lord's Divine providence in course of time it vanished, and another Word was given written by correspondences not so distant; this was done through the prophets among the Children of Israel. This Word retains many place names, not only in the land of Canaan, but also in the adjacent parts of Asia; all of these meant matters concerning the church and its states. But these meanings were taken over from the ancient Word. That was the reason why Abram was ordered to go into that land, and his descendants through Jacob were brought into it.

[3] I am allowed to report this new piece of information about the ancient Word, which was in Asia before the Israelite Word existed. It is still preserved there among the peoples who live in Great Tartary. I have spoken with spirits and angels in the spiritual world who came from there. They said that they possess the Word, and have done so from ancient times; and they conduct their Divine worship in accordance with that Word. It is composed purely of correspondences. They said that it also contains the book of Jashar mentioned in Joshua (Joshua 10:12-13), and in the Second Book of Samuel (2 Samuel 1:17-18); they also have the books called The Wars of Jehovah and The Utterances, which are mentioned by Moses (Numbers 21:14-15, 27-30). When I read in their presence the words which Moses took from this source, they looked to see whether they were there, and they found them. This made it clear to me that they still have the ancient Word. During our conversation they mentioned that they worship Jehovah, some of them as an invisible God, and some as visible.

[4] They went on to say that they do not allow foreigners to enter their territory, except the Chinese, with whom they have peaceful relations, because the Chinese Emperor comes from there. 1 They added that they are so populous that they do not believe any region in all the world is more so. This too is plausible when one considers the wall so many miles long, which the Chinese in former times constructed as a defence against invasion by them.

Moreover I was told by angels that the first chapters of Genesis, dealing with creation, Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, their sons and descendants down to the flood, as well as Noah and his sons, are also found in that Word, and were copied from it by Moses. Angels and spirits from Great Tartary are to be seen in the southern quarter towards the east. They are separated from others by living on a higher level. They do not allow anyone from Christian countries to visit them, and if any do go up, they put them under guard to prevent them leaving. The reason for this isolation is that they possess a different Word.

Footnotes:

1. This may refer to the Yuan dynasty (13th-14th centuries) who were of Mongol origin; but perhaps the reference is to the non-Chinese Manchu dynasty who ruled China from 1644.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #56

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56. The second account:

One time, while speaking with angels in the spiritual world, I was filled with a pleasant wish to see the Temple of Wisdom, which I had seen once before. 1 So I asked the angels about the way to it.

They said, "Follow the light, and you will find it."

And I said, "What do you mean, follow the light?"

They said, "Our light grows brighter the closer we get to that temple. Follow the light, therefore, in the direction it grows brighter. For our light emanates from the Lord as the sun of this world, and so, regarded in itself, that light is wisdom."

In the company of two angels I then went in the direction that the light grew brighter, and I ascended by a steep path to the top of a certain hill which was in the southern zone, where I found a magnificent gate. When the guard saw the angels with me, he opened it, and behold, I saw an avenue of palm trees and laurels, which we followed. The avenue curved around and ended up at a garden, in the middle of which stood the Temple of Wisdom.

As I looked around in the garden, I saw some smaller buildings, replicas of the temple, with wise men in them. We went over to one of the buildings, and we spoke at the entrance with the receptionist there, telling him the reason for our coming and the way we had arrived. And the receptionist said, "Welcome! Come in, have a seat, and let us spend some time together in conversations of wisdom."

[2] I saw inside that the building was divided into two sections, and yet the two were still one. It was divided into two sections by a transparent partition, but it looked like one room because of the partition's transparency, which was like the transparency of the purest crystal. I asked why it was arranged like that.

The receptionist said, "I am not alone. My wife is with me, and though we are two, yet we are not two but one flesh."

To which I replied, "I know you are wise, but what does a wise man or wisdom have to do with a woman?"

At this, with some feeling of annoyance, the receptionist's expression changed, and he stretched out his hand, and suddenly, then, other wise men were present from the neighboring buildings. To them he said with amusement, "Our visitor here says he wants to know what a wise man or wisdom has to do with a woman!"

They all laughed at this and said, "What is a wise man or wisdom apart from a woman or apart from love? A wife is the love of a wise man's wisdom."

[3] But the receptionist said, "Let us join together now in some conversation of wisdom. Let the conversation be about causes, today the reason for the beauty in the female sex."

So they then spoke in turn. And the first speaker gave this reason, that women were created by the Lord to be forms of affection for the wisdom in men, and affection for wisdom is beauty itself.

The second speaker gave this reason, that woman was created by the Lord through the wisdom in man, because she was created from man, and that she is therefore a form of wisdom inspired by the affection of love. And because the affection of love is life itself, a woman is a form of the life in wisdom, while the male is a form of wisdom, and the life in wisdom is beauty itself.

The third speaker presented this reason, that women have been given a perception of the delights in conjugial love. And because their whole body is an instrument of that perception, the abode where the delights of conjugial love dwell with their perception cannot help but be a form of beauty.

[4] The fourth speaker gave this reason, that the Lord took beauty and grace of life from man and transferred them into woman, and that is why a man not reunited with his beauty and grace in woman is stern, severe, dry and unattractive, and also not wise except for his own sake alone, in which case he is a dunce. On the other hand, when a man is united with his beauty and grace of life in a wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, full of life and lovable, and therefore wise.

The fifth speaker gave this reason, that women were created to be beauties, not for their own sake, but for the sake of men, so that men's natural hardness might become softer, the natural solemnness of their dispositions more amiable, and the natural coldness of their hearts warmer. And this is what happens to them when they become one flesh with their wives.

[5] The sixth speaker offered this reason, that the universe created by the Lord is a most perfect work, but nothing is created in it more perfect than a woman attractive in appearance and becoming in behavior, in order that a man may thank the Lord for such a gift and repay it by receiving wisdom from Him.

After these and several other similar views were expressed, one of the wives appeared through the crystal-like partition, and she said to her husband, "Speak, if you wish."

And when he spoke, the life in his wisdom from his wife was perceived in his speech, for her love was in the tone of his voice. Thus did experience bear witness to the truth expressed.

After this we looked at the Temple of Wisdom, and also at the things in the paradise surrounding it. And being filled with feelings of joy on account of them, we departed and went along the avenue to the gate, and so descended by the way we had come.

Footnotes:

1. See The Apocalypse Revealed, no. 875 [4-8] (first published in Amsterdam, 1766).

  
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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.

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