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From Swedenborg's Works

 

De Verbo (The Word) #13

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13. XIII. How far indirect revelation made by means of the Word is superior to direct revelation by means of spirits.

It is believed that a person could be more enlightened and wiser, if he had direct revelation by talking with spirits and angels, but the reverse is true. Enlightenment by means of the Word follows an internal path, but enlightenment by means of direct revelation follows an external path. The internal path is through the will into the intellect, the external path is through the hearing into the intellect. A person is enlightened by the Lord by means of the Word to the extent that his will is governed by good. But by hearing he can be taught and so to speak enlightened, even though his will is governed by evil. What enters the intellect of a person who is governed by evil is not inside him, but outside, being only in the memory and not expressed in the way he lives. What is outside him and not expressed in the way he lives little by little disappears, if not earlier, at any rate after death. For a will governed by evil either rejects or chokes it, or falsifies and profanes it. For the will controls the way a person lives, and continually acts upon the intellect, and it looks upon what the intellect has from memory as extraneous.

On the other hand the intellect does not act upon the will, but only indicates how the will ought to act. If therefore someone knew from heaven all that the angels can ever know, or if he knew everything there is in the Word, and everything in all the teachings of the church, and in addition what the church fathers wrote and the councils laid down, and yet his will was governed by evil, he would still after death be regarded as knowing nothing, because he does not wish what he knows. Since evil hates truth, the person himself then rejects those things, and in their place adopts falsities which agree with the evil in his will.

[2] Moreover, no spirit or angel is given permission to teach anyone on this earth about Divine truths; but it is the Lord Himself who teaches each person by means of the Word. How much he is taught depends upon how far he receives in his will good from the Lord, and he receives the more, the more he shuns evils as sins. Also each person is in the company of spirits as regards his affections and the thoughts they inspire. In this company he is as one with them, so that spirits speaking with people draw on his affections to speak and are guided by them. A person cannot speak with other spirits, unless the communities to which he belongs are first removed. This happens only by reforming his will.

Since a person is in the company of spirits who share his religion, the spirits who speak with him confirm all the religious principles he has adopted. So the spirits of the Enthusiast sect confirm all the details of Enthusiast belief the person has adopted; Quaker spirits all the details of Quaker belief, Moravian spirits all the details of Moravian belief, and so on. This leads to confirmations of falsity which can never be eradicated. These facts make it plain that indirect revelation by means of the Word is superior to direct revelation by means of spirits. As regards myself, I was not allowed to learn anything from the lips of a spirit or angel, but only from the lips of the Lord.

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

The Bible

 

Genesis 5

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1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

2 Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

4 And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:

5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

6 And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos:

7 And Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters:

8 And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years: and he died.

9 And Enos lived ninety years, and begat Cainan:

10 And Enos lived after he begat Cainan eight hundred and fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:

11 And all the days of Enos were nine hundred and five years: and he died.

12 And Cainan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalaleel:

13 And Cainan lived after he begat Mahalaleel eight hundred and forty years, and begat sons and daughters:

14 And all the days of Cainan were nine hundred and ten years: and he died.

15 And Mahalaleel lived sixty and five years, and begat Jared:

16 And Mahalaleel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:

17 And all the days of Mahalaleel were eight hundred ninety and five years: and he died.

18 And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch:

19 And Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

20 And all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty and two years: and he died.

21 And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah:

22 And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

23 And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

25 And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech:

26 And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters:

27 And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: and he died.

28 And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son:

29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety and five years, and begat sons and daughters:

31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy and seven years: and he died.

32 And Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

   

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