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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 #459

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459. I will add here the following accounts of experiences, of which this is the first.

I saw at a distance five schools, which were bathed in light of different colours, the first in flame-coloured light, the second in yellow, the third in brilliant white, the fourth in light mid-way between that of midday and that of evening, the fifth hardly visible at all, since it was as if placed in the shades of evening. On the roads I saw some people riding horses, some in carriages, and some on foot. Some of them were running or hurrying, and these were bound for the first school, the one surrounded by flame-coloured light. On seeing them I was seized and driven by a desire to go there and listen to the discussion. So I quickly prepared myself and joined the group which was hurrying to the first school, and I went in together with them. There was a large gathering to be seen there, some moving to the right and some to the left, to sit down on the benches round the walls. In front I saw a low platform, on which stood the person who had the duty of presiding; he had a staff in his hand, a hat on his head, and clothing tinged with the flame-coloured light of the school.

[2] When they were assembled, he raised his voice and said, 'Brethren, to-day's subject for discussion is: "What is charity?" Anyone of you may know that charity in its essence is spiritual, and in its exercise natural.'

At once someone on the first bench to the left, where those who had a reputation for wisdom were seated, got up and began to speak as follows. 'My opinion is that charity is morality with faith breathed into it.' He supported his opinion like this. 'Is there anyone who does not know that charity follows faith, as an attendant does her mistress? And that a person, if he has faith, carries out the law, and so charity, so spontaneously that he is unaware that it is the law and charity which he lives by. For if he did know and so acted, thinking at the same time of obtaining salvation on this account, he would sully his holy faith with his self (proprium) and thus maim its efficacy. Surely this is in accordance with the dogma of people in our country?' Here he looked at those sitting beside him, who included some clergy, and they nodded assent.

[3] 'Yet what is spontaneous charity but morality, something we are all taught from childhood? This is therefore essentially natural, but it becomes spiritual when faith is breathed into it. Can anyone tell by looking at the morality of their lives whether people have faith or not? Everyone lives a moral life, but only God, who puts in and seals faith, knows and can tell the difference. I hold therefore that charity is morality with faith breathed in, and this morality coming from faith is in its inmost productive of salvation; all other is not productive of salvation, because it aims at merit. So it is a waste of effort to mix charity and faith together, at least if they are linked from within and not attached from without. Mixing and linking them would be like putting the footman who stands at the back into the carriage with the bishop, or like bringing the door-keeper into the dining-room to sit at table with the lord.'

[4] Next someone on the first bench to the right got up and said: 'My opinion is that charity is piety with pity breathed into it, and I support this view by the consideration that nothing else but piety coming from humility of heart could propitiate God. Piety prays continually that God may grant faith and charity; and the Lord says:

Ask and it shall be granted you, Matthew 7:7.

And since it is granted, both faith and charity are contained in it. I say that charity is piety with pity breathed into it, because all devout piety is pitying. Piety moves a person's heart to groan, and what is this but pitying? Admittedly this goes once the prayer is said, but it returns when the prayer is repeated, and when it returns piety is in it and so piety is in charity. Our priests ascribe everything conducive to salvation to faith, and nothing to charity; what then remains except piety pityingly praying for both? When I read the Word, I could not help seeing that faith and charity were the two means to salvation; but when I consulted the ministers of the church, I was told that faith was the sole means, and charity was no use. Then it seemed to me as if I was at sea in a ship being tossed about between two reefs; so fearing shipwreck, I climbed into the lifeboat and sailed away. My lifeboat is piety; and what is more, piety is useful for all purposes.'

[5] He was followed by someone from the second bench on the right, who said: 'My opinion is that charity is doing good both to the upright and to the criminal. I support this view like this. What is charity but goodness of heart? A good heart wishes well to all, upright as well as criminal. The Lord said too that we should do kindnesses to our enemies. If therefore you take your charity away from anyone, does not charity then become to that extent non-existent, and thus you become like a man who has lost one leg and walks by hopping on the other? The criminal is just as much a human being as the upright man; charity looks on everyone as human, so if he is a criminal, what has that to do with me? Charity behaves like the heat of the sun, which gives life to both harmful as well as harmless animals, to wolves as much as to sheep. And it makes bad trees grow just as much as good ones, and thorns as much as vines.' On saying this he took in his hand a fresh grape, and said: 'Charity behaves like this grape; cut it open and all that is in it is lost.' Then he cut it open, and its contents were lost.

[6] After this speech someone else got up from the second bench on the left and said: 'My opinion is that charity means looking after one's relatives and friends in every way, and this is how I support it. Is there anyone who does not know that charity begins with oneself? Everyone is one's own neighbour. Charity therefore advances from itself through degrees of nearness, first to brothers and sisters, from them to nearer and more distant relatives, and so the advance of charity is limited by itself. Those outside the group are strangers, and strangers are not inwardly acknowledged, so they are estranged from the internal man. But blood-relations and other relatives are naturally linked to one; and habit, which is second nature, does the same for friends, so that they become the neighbour. Charity joins another person to oneself from within, and so from without. Those who are not joined from within should merely be termed companions.

'Surely all birds recognise their kindred, not by their plumage, but by their call; and when they are close, by the vital sphere spreading from their bodies. This affection for their kin which brings them together is called instinct in the case of birds, but the same affection in the case of human beings, when directed towards one's family and people, is the instinct of truly human nature. What is it that makes us kin but blood? This is what a person's mind, which is also his spirit, feels and, so to speak, scents. The essence of charity consists in this kindred feeling and the sympathy it induces. On the other hand, however, absence of kinship, which also gives rise to antipathy, is as it were the absence of blood and so of charity. Because habit is second nature, and this too makes a sort of kinship, it follows that charity includes doing good to friends. Does not anyone who has been at sea and puts in to a port and is told that it is a foreign country, where he does not recognise the languages and customs of its inhabitants, find himself as it were out of place and feel no pleasure in love towards them? But if he is told that it is his native land, and recognises the languages and customs of the inhabitants, he feels as it were at home, and then he feels pleasure from love, a pleasure which is also that of charity.'

[7] Next someone on the third bench to the right got up, and speaking in a loud voice said: 'My opinion is that charity is giving alms to the poor and helping the needy. There is no doubt that this is charity, because this is what the Divine Word teaches, and its dictates admit no rebuttal. Giving to the rich and those with ample resources is nothing but boastful vanity, devoid of charity but motivated by imagining a reward. In this there can be no real affection of love towards the neighbour, but only a spurious affection which is acceptable on earth, but not in the heavens. It is need and want therefore which call for assistance, since here the idea of reward is excluded. In the city where I live, where I know who are upright and who are wicked, I have observed that on seeing a poor man in the street all the upright stop and give him alms; but the wicked, catching sight of the poor man to one side, go past as if blind to the sight of him, and as if deaf to his voice. Does not everyone know that the upright have charity and the wicked do not? A person who gives to the poor and helps the needy is like a shepherd who leads his hungry and thirsty sheep to pasture and to water; but a person who only gives to the rich and affluent is like a person who worships tin gods, and presses food and drink on those who are suffering from overindulgence.'

[8] Next someone got up from the third bench on the left and said: 'My opinion is that charity is building hospices, hospitals, orphanages and hostels, and supporting them with donations. I support this view by the fact that such acts of kindness and assistance are public, and surpass by miles private acts. Charity as a result becomes richer and more full of goodness, because the good deeds are numerous, and the reward to be hoped for according to the promises contained in the Word becomes larger. For as anyone prepares the ground and sows, so shall he reap. Is not this giving to the poor and helping the needy on a larger scale? Is there anyone who does not by this aim at approval by the world, and at the same time hope for praise and humble, grateful thanks expressed by those who are so supported? Does not this lift up the heart, together with the affection which is called charity, right to its peak? Rich people who do not walk in the streets, but ride, cannot notice the beggars sitting by the walls on either side, and hand out small coins to them; but they make contributions to enterprises which are of advantage to many people at once. Lesser folk, however, who walk in the streets and do not possess such resources, do the other thing.'

[9] On hearing this another on the same bench suddenly shouted him down and said: 'Still the rich ought not to rate the munificence and excellence of their charity higher than the pittance one poor man gives another. For we know that everyone acts in a manner appropriate to his station, the king to his, the judge to his, the officer to his, the courtier to his. Charity regarded in essence does not depend upon the rank of the person and thus on the gift he can confer, but on the depth of affection which motivates the charitable act. Thus the footman who gives a small coin may bestow his gift in fuller charity than the lord who gives or bequeaths a fortune. This too is in accordance with this passage:

Jesus watched the rich throwing their offerings into the treasury, and saw too a poor widow throwing in two pennies. He said, Truly I tell you that this poor widow has contributed more than all the others, Luke 21:1-3.'

[10] After these someone got up from the fourth bench to the left, and spoke. 'My opinion,' he said, 'is that charity is endowing places of worship, and doing kindnesses to their ministers. I support this view by the fact that a person who does so has a holy purpose in mind and that is what motivates his acts; in addition he sanctifies his gifts. Charity demands this, because it is essentially holy. Is not all worship in churches holy? For the Lord says:

Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. [Matthew 18:20.]

Priests who are His servants conduct that worship. I deduce from this, that gifts which are given to priests and to churches are superior to those which are handed out to other people and for other purposes. Moreover, a minister has been given the authority to bless, by which he sanctifies the gifts. And afterwards nothing so much broadens and cheers the mind as seeing one's offerings as so many sanctuaries.'

[11] Then someone got up from the fourth bench to the right and said: 'My opinion is that charity is the Christian brotherhood of old; and I support that view by the fact that every church which worships the true God begins with charity, as did the Christian church of old. So since charity joins minds, and makes one out of many, they called themselves brethren, in Jesus Christ their God. Since they were then surrounded by barbarous nations who made them afraid, they held their property in common. In this they rejoiced together and with one mind, and at their meetings every day talked about the Lord God their Saviour, Jesus Christ; and at their lunches and dinners they discussed charity, and this was the source of their brotherhood. But after their time, when schisms began to arise, culminating in the heinous Arian heresy, which for many people did away with the idea of the divinity of the Lord's Human, charity went out of fashion and the brotherhood fell apart. It is true that all who in truth worship the Lord and keep His commandments are brothers (Matthew 23:8), but brothers in spirit. Since at the present time no one is recognisable for what he is in the spirit, there is no need for them to call one another brothers. A brotherhood based on faith alone, much less on faith in any other God than the Lord God the Saviour, is no brotherhood, because charity, which makes it a brotherhood, is lacking in that faith. So I deduce that charity was the Christian brotherhood of old, but this in time past, not now. Yet I prophesy that it will come again.' When he said this a flame-coloured light showed through an east window, and tinged his cheeks. The gathering was astonished to see this.

[12] Lastly someone got up from the fifth bench on the left and asked permission to add a contribution to what the last speaker had said. When this was granted, he said: 'My opinion is that charity is forgiving everyone his faults. I got this opinion from the way people are accustomed to speak on going to the Holy Supper; for some then say to their friends, "Forgive me any wrong I have done," thinking that by this they have fulfilled all the requirements of charity. But I thought to myself that this is merely a painted picture of charity, and not the real form of its essence. For this saying is uttered as much by those who do not forgive as by those who make no effort to acquire charity; and such people are not included among those mentioned in the prayer which the Lord Himself taught: "Father, forgive us our faults, just as we forgive those who wrong us." For faults are like ulcers, which, if they are not lanced and healed, form a collection of pus; and this infects the adjacent areas, and creeps around like a snake, turning blood everywhere into pus. It is much the same with faults against the neighbour; unless they are removed by repentance and by living in accordance with the Lord's commandments, they linger and become embedded. Those who without repenting only pray to God to forgive them their sins, are like the citizens of a city smitten with plague, who go to the governor and say, "Sir, heal us." The governor will tell them, "What do you mean, heal you? Go to the physician and find out the remedies, buy them from the chemist, use them, and you will be cured." So the Lord will say [to those] who beg for their sins to be forgiven without really repenting, "Open the Word, and read what I said in Isaiah:

Woe to the nation that sins, weighed down with iniquity. When you spread out your hands, I hide my eyes from you; even though you pray time and again, I do not hear. Wash yourselves, put away the wickedness of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good. And then your sins will be taken away and forgiven, Isaiah 1:4, 15-18."'

[13] When the speeches were over, I held up my hand and asked permission, although I was a stranger, to give my opinion. The presiding officer put this to the meeting, and when it was agreed, I spoke as follows: 'My opinion is that charity is acting in every deed and employment from a love of justice combined with judgment; but from love that has no other source than the Lord God the Saviour. All that I have heard from those sitting on the benches on the right and the left are well-known examples of charity. But as the presiding officer of this gathering said in his introductory remarks, charity is in its origin spiritual, but in what is derived from this it is natural. Natural charity, if inwardly it is spiritual, appears to the sight of angels transparent, like a diamond. But if inwardly it is not spiritual, but purely natural, it appears to the sight of angels pearly, like the eye of a boiled fish.

[14] 'It is not for me to say whether the well-known examples of charity, which you have brought forward one after another, are inspired by spiritual charity or not. But I can say what the spirituality in it must be, for them to be natural expressions of spiritual charity. Their spirituality consists in their being done from a love of justice combined with judgment, that is, in a person looking to see, when he does something charitable, whether he acts from justice; and it is judgment which allows him to see this. For a person can do harm by kindnesses, and do good by things that look like doing harm. For example, harm is done by kindnesses if anyone supplies a hard-up highwayman with the money to buy himself a sword, although in asking he will not say this is his intention. Or if anyone helps him break out of prison and shows him the way to the woods, saying to himself, "It is not my fault that he robs travellers; I helped a fellow human being." To take another example: if someone feeds an idler, and takes care he is not compelled to work, saying, "Come into a room in my house and lie in bed; why tire yourself out?" anyone doing this is fostering idleness, Or again, if anyone promotes relations and friends of bad character to high office, in which they can set on foot many kinds of mischief. Can anyone fail to see that charitable deeds of this sort are not motivated by any love of justice combined with judgment?

[15] 'On the other hand, a person may do a kindness by acts which look like wrong-doing; for instance, a judge who acquits a wrong-doer because he weeps, utters pious expressions and begs to have his offence overlooked, on the grounds that he is his neighbour. Yet the judge in fact acts charitably, when he imposes the sentence prescribed by law, for by so doing he prevents him from doing further wrong and harming the community, which is the neighbour in a superior degree; and he sees to it that such a judgment is not a cause of scandal. Is anyone unaware that it is for their own good that servants are chastised by their masters, and children by their parents, for doing wrong? It is much the same with those in hell, all of whom love to do wrong, being kept shut up in prison and punished when they act wickedly, a punishment permitted by the Lord to reform them. This happens because the Lord is justice itself, and does whatever He does as the result of judgment itself.

[16] 'These facts allow us to see clearly why it is that, as I said before, spiritual charity arises from a love of justice combined with judgment, but from love from no other source than the Lord God the Saviour. The reason is that all the good of charity is from the Lord; for He says:

He who remains in me and I in him brings forth much fruit, because without me you can do nothing, John 15:5.

also:

He has all power in heaven and on earth, Matthew 28:18.

All love of justice combined with judgment has no other origin than the God of heaven, who is justice itself, and the source of all human powers of judgment (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15).

[17] 'This leads to the conclusion that everything said about charity from the seats to right or left - that it is morality with faith breathed into it, piety with pity breathed into it, doing good to the upright and to the wicked, looking after one's relatives and friends in every way, giving to the poor and helping the needy, building hospitals and supporting them with gifts, endowing places of worship and doing kindnesses to their ministers, that it is the Christian brotherhood of old, or forgiving everyone his faults - all of these are splendid examples of charity, when they are done out of a love of justice combined with judgment. Otherwise they are not charity, but only like watercourses cut off from the spring that feeds them, and like branches torn from a tree. True charity consists in believing in the Lord, and acting fairly and righteously in every deed and employment. Anyone therefore who at the Lord's bidding loves justice and executes it with judgment is an image and likeness of charity.'

[18] This speech was greeted with the sort of silence typically kept by those who are led by the internal man to see and acknowledge that something is so, but do not yet do so in their external man; I could observe this from their faces. But I was then suddenly carried up out of their sight, for from being in the spirit I re-entered my material body. A natural person, being clothed in a material body, is invisible to any spiritual person, that is, any spirit or angel, and so are they to him.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #962

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962. The second account:

Since the Lord has granted me to see marvels that exist in the heavens and beneath the heavens, I am obliged by command to relate something I saw:

I saw a magnificent palace and at its center a large chapel. In the middle of the chapel there was a table of gold on which lay the Word, with two angels standing beside it.

Placed around the table were three rows of chairs. The chairs in the first row were covered with a purple-colored silk cloth, the chairs in the second row with a blue-colored silk cloth, and the chairs in the third row with a white cloth.

Hanging high up over the table from the ceiling I saw a canopy glistening with precious stones, whose radiance shone like that of a rainbow when the sky grows calm after a rain.

Suddenly then I saw, sitting on the chairs, as many of the clergy as there were seats, all attired in the vestments of their priestly office.

On one side there was a vestry where an angel custodian stood, and in it lay a beautiful array of shining vestments.

[2] It was a council convened by the Lord, and I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Deliberate!"

However, they said, "About what?"

They were told, "About the Lord and the Holy Spirit."

But when they began to consider these, they found themselves without enlightenment and therefore prayed for it. And light then shone down from heaven, which illumined first the backs of their heads, next their temples, and finally their faces. With that they began, and as they were commanded, they considered first the Lord.

The first question proposed and discussed was who assumed the humanity in the virgin Mary.

One of the angels standing beside the table on which lay the Word read to them the following verses in Luke:

(The angel said to Mary,) "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest?." Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" And the angel answered and said..., "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore... that Holy One who is to be born (from you) will be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:31-32, 34-35)

The angel also read the verses found in Matthew 1:20-25, and with emphasis what is said there in verse 25. 1

He read in addition more verses from the Gospels, where in respect to His humanity the Lord is called the Son of God, and where from the perspective of His humanity He calls Jehovah His Father. And from the Prophets as well, where it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world, including among others the following two passages in Isaiah:

It will be said in that day: "Behold, this is our God... This is Jehovah; we have waited for Him; we will exult and rejoice in His salvation." (Isaiah 25:9)

The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of Jehovah; make straight in the desert a highway for our God... (For) the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together... Behold, the Lord Jehovih shall come with might... He will feed His flock like a shepherd. (Isaiah 40:3, 5, 10-11)

[3] The angel said moreover, "Since Jehovah Himself came into the world and assumed human form and by it saved and redeemed men, therefore in the Prophets He is called a Savior and Redeemer." And He read to them then the following passages:

Surely God is in you, and there is no other (God).... Truly You are God, who hide Yourself, O God of Israel, the Savior! (Isaiah 45:14-15)

Am I not Jehovah? And there is no other God besides Me. There is no just God and Savior besides Me. (Isaiah 45:21-22)

...I am Jehovah, and besides Me there is no savior. (Isaiah 43:11)

I am Jehovah your God..., and you shall acknowledge no God but Me; there is also no Savior besides Me. (Hosea 13:4)

...that all flesh may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 49:26, cf. 60:16)

As for our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name... (Isaiah 47:4)

Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. (Jeremiah 50:34)

...O Jehovah, my rock and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14)

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am Jehovah your God...." (Isaiah 48:17, cf. 43:14; 49:7; 54:8)

You, Jehovah, are our Father; our Redeemer from Eternity is Your name. (Isaiah 63:16)

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer...: "I am Jehovah, who makes all things, ...all alone, ...by Myself." (Isaiah 44:24)

Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth: "I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6)

Jehovah Zebaoth is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He shall be called God of the whole earth. (Isaiah 54:5)

Behold, the days are coming... when I will raise to David a righteous Branch, who shall reign a King... And this is His name...: JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5-6, cf. 33:15-16)

In that day... Jehovah shall become King over all the earth. In that day there shall be one Jehovah and His name one. (Zechariah 14:8-9)

[4] Having been convinced by all these passages, the clergymen sitting on the chairs unanimously said that Jehovah Himself assumed human form in order to save and redeem men.

But at that a voice was heard from a group of Roman Catholics who had hidden themselves in a corner of the chapel, saying, "How can Jehovah, the Father, become a man? Is He not the Creator of the universe?"

Then one of the clergymen sitting on the chairs in the second row turned and said, "Who assumed human form then?"

And from the corner the Roman Catholic responded, "The Son from eternity."

But he received the reply, "Is not the Son from eternity, according to your belief, also the Creator of the universe? And what is a Son or God born from eternity? How can the Divine essence, which is a single entity and indivisible, be divided, and one part of it descend and take on human form, and not at the same time the whole of it?"

[5] A second discussion regarding the Lord considered whether God the Father and the Lord were not thus one, as soul and body are one. The clergymen said that it followed as a consequence, because the father is the origin of the soul. And then one of those who were sitting on the chairs in the third row recited the following from the statement of faith called the Athanasian Creed:

But although (our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God) is God and man, nevertheless there are not two Christs but one...; indeed, being completely one... by the unity of His person. For as the soul and the body are one person, so God and man are one Christ.

The clergyman reciting this said that this is the accepted faith throughout the Christian world, accepted also by Roman Catholics. And they all said then, "What need is there of more? God the Father and the Lord are one, as soul and body are one."

Then they said, "This being the case, we see that the Lord's humanity is Divine, because it is Jehovah's humanity. And we see that one must turn to the Lord in His Divine humanity, this being the only way that one can approach the Divine called the Father."

[6] The angel confirmed this conclusion of theirs with still more passages from the Word, which included the following in Isaiah:

...unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given... whose name (is) Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)

Also in Isaiah:

...You are our Father; ...Abraham was ignorant of us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Jehovah, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. (Isaiah 63:16)

And in John:

Jesus... said, "He who believes in Me, believes... in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me." (John 12:44-45)

Philip said to (Jesus), ."..show us the Father...." Jesus says to him, ."..He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how then can you say, 'Show us the Father'... Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? ...Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me...." (John 14:8-11)

And finally the following:

Jesus said..., "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6)

When they heard these passages, the clergymen all said with one heart and mouth that the Lord's humanity is Divine, and that one must turn to Him in order to go to the Father, since Jehovah God, who is the Lord from eternity, by means of that humanity introduced Himself into the world and made Himself visible to the eyes of men and accessible. In like manner He made Himself visible and so accessible in human form to people in ancient times, but did so then by means of an angel.

[7] Following this they next took up a deliberation regarding the Holy Spirit. And they began by determining the idea many of them had of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, namely of God the Father sitting on high, so to speak, having the Son at His right hand, and the two sending out the Holy Spirit to enlighten and instruct mankind.

But then a voice was heard from heaven, saying, "We cannot abide that mental image! Who does not know that Jehovah God is omnipresent? Anyone who knows and acknowledges this must also acknowledge that it is He who enlightens and instructs, and that there is no intermediate God, distinct from Him, and still less distinct from two others, as one person is from another. Rid yourselves, therefore, of your earlier idea, which is an idle one, and accept this one, which is the right one, and you will see the matter clearly."

[8] However, a voice was again heard then from the group of Roman Catholics who had hidden themselves in a corner of the chapel, saying, "What then is the Holy Spirit, which is mentioned in the Word by the Gospels and Paul, by which so many of the learned in the clergy say they are led, especially in our clergy? Who today in the Christian world denies the reality of the Holy Spirit and its operation?"

At that one of the clergymen sitting on the chairs in the second row turned and said, "The Holy Spirit is the Divinity emanating from the Lord Jehovah. You say that the Holy Spirit is a distinct person and a distinct God, yet what is a person that originates and emanates from a person but an operation that originates and emanates? One person cannot originate or emanate from another one by means of another, but an operation can. Or what is a God that originates and emanates from God but a Divinity that originates and emanates? One God cannot originate and emanate from another one by means of another, but a Divinity can. Is not the Divine essence one and indivisible? And because the Divine essence or Divine being is God, is not God one and indivisible?"

[9] Hearing this, the clergymen sitting on the chairs unanimously concluded that the Holy Spirit is not a distinct person or a distinct God, but that it is the holy Divinity originating and emanating from the one and only omnipresent God, who is the Lord.

At that the angels standing beside the golden table on which lay the Word said, "Good! You do not read anywhere in the Old Testament that the prophets were inspired by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word, but that they were inspired by the Lord Jehovah. And where the Holy Spirit is mentioned in the New Testament, it means the emanating Divinity, which is the Divinity that enlightens, instructs, vivifies, reforms and regenerates."

[10] After this the clergymen took up a second discussion of the Holy Spirit, asking from whom the Divinity called the Holy Spirit emanated, whether it did so from the Divine called the Father, or from the Divine human called the Son. And as they were discussing this, a light shone from heaven which enabled them to see that the holy Divinity meant by the Holy Spirit emanates from the Divinity in the Lord by means of His glorified humanity, which is His Divine humanity, comparatively as every activity in the case of a person emanates from the soul by means of the body.

This conclusion one of the angels standing beside the table confirmed from the Word by the following verses:

...He whom (the Father) has sent speaks the words of God, ...God does not give (Him) the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. (John 3:34-35)

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse... The Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might... (Isaiah 11:1-2)

Also verses saying that Jehovah put His spirit upon Him, and that the spirit of Jehovah was in Him (Isaiah 42:1; 59:19-20; 61:1, Luke 4:18).

When the (Holy Spirit) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father... (John 15:26)

He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:14-15)

...if I depart, I will send (the Counselor) to you. (John 16:7)

The Counselor is the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).

...the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:39)

After His glorification Jesus breathed on His disciples and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22).

[11] Since the Lord's Divine operation and His Divine omnipresence are meant by the Holy Spirit, therefore when He spoke to His disciples about the Holy Spirit whom God the Father would send, He also said:

I will not leave you orphans... I am going away and coming back to you. (John 14:18, 28)

And:

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

And just before He departed from the world He said:

Lo, I am with you always, even to the culmination of the age. (Matthew 28:20)

After he read these verses to them, the angel said, "From these and many other passages in the Word, it is apparent that the Divinity called the Holy Spirit emanates from the Divinity in the Lord by means of His Divine humanity."

At that the clergymen sitting on the chairs said, "It is the Divine truth."

[12] Lastly the clergymen formed this declaration, that "from the

deliberations in this council we have clearly seen and so acknowledge as a sacred truth that there is a trinity in our Lord Jesus Christ, namely, an originating Divine called the Father, a Divine humanity that is the Son, and an emanating Divinity that is the Holy Spirit. Thus there is in the church but one God."

[13] After these proceedings in that grand council were concluded, the clergymen stood up, and the angel custodian came from the vestry, bringing for each of those sitting on the chairs shining vestments, which were interwoven here and there with gold threads. And the angel said, "Take these wedding garments."

Then the clergymen were conveyed gloriously into the New Christian Heaven, the heaven with which the Lord's church on earth, the New Jerusalem, will be conjoined.

Revelation 22:21

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Amen.

Footnotes:

1. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins." So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which is translated, "God with us." Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. And he called His name JESUS. (Matthew 1:20-25)

  
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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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