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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

 

Survey of Teachings of the New Church #115

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115. The second memorable occurrence. Once an angel said to me, “Do you want to see clearly what faith and goodwill are, and therefore what faith separated from goodwill is, and what faith united to goodwill is? I will express it in visual terms for you.”

“Please do!” I answered.

The angel said, “Instead of faith and goodwill, think of light and heat, and you will see them clearly. Faith in its essence is truth that relates to wisdom. Goodwill in its essence is affection that relates to love. In heaven, truth related to wisdom is light and affection related to love is heat. The light and heat that angels live in are, in essence, exactly this. As a result, you can clearly see what faith is when it is separated from goodwill and what it is when it is united to goodwill.

“When faith is separated from goodwill, it is like the light in winter. When faith is united to goodwill, it is like the light in spring. The light in winter, which is a light separated from heat, is united to coldness; therefore it completely strips trees of their leaves, kills grass, makes ground as hard as rock, and freezes water. Light in spring, which is a light united to heat, causes trees to grow, first producing leaves, then flowers, and finally fruit; it also unlocks and softens the ground so that it produces grass, plants, flowers, and shrubs; and it melts ice, so that water flows from its sources again.

“The situation with faith and goodwill is absolutely identical. Faith separated from goodwill kills everything. Faith united to goodwill brings everything to life. This killing and this bringing to life are vividly visible in this spiritual world of ours, because here faith is light and goodwill is heat. Where faith has been united to goodwill there is a paradise of gardens, flower beds, and lawns; the more united faith and goodwill are, the more pleasing the gardens are. Where faith has been separated from goodwill, there is not even grass; the only greenness comes from thorns and brambles.”

At that point there were some members of the clergy not far away. The angel called them “justifiers and sanctifiers of people through faith alone” and also “arcanists.” We said the same things to the members of the clergy and added enough proof that they could see that what we said was true. But when we asked them, “Isn’t that so?” they turned away and said, “We didn’t hear you.” So we cried out to them and said, “Then keep listening to us,” but they put both hands over their ears and shouted, “We don’t want to hear you!”

Closing Thought from Jeremiah 7:2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11

Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah and proclaim this word there. “Thus says Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel: ‘Make your ways and your deeds good. Do not put your trust in lying words, saying, “The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these.” Are you going to steal, kill, commit adultery, and swear falsely, and then come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say “We are delivered” when you are doing all these abominations? Has this house become a den of thieves? Behold I, even I, have seen it,’ says Jehovah.”

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Conjugial Love #460

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460. 14. Resorting to a courtesan is preferable to promiscuous lust, provided that the arrangement is not made with more than one, or with a virgin or untouched woman, or with a married woman, and that it is kept separate from conjugial love. We have already indicated just above when, and for what men, resorting to a courtesan is preferable to promiscuous lust.

1. An arrangement with a courtesan must not be made with more than one, because with more than one a polygamous element enters, inducing in the person a merely natural state and dragging him down into a sensual one, to the point that he cannot be elevated into a spiritual state, which is necessary for conjugial love (see nos. 338, 339).

[2] 2. The arrangement must not be made with a virgin or untouched woman, because conjugial love in women is coupled with their virginity. From it comes the chastity, purity and sanctity of that love. Consequently, for a woman to promise and commit her virginity to some man is to give a token that she will love him to eternity. Because of that a virgin cannot with any rational assent pledge it except with the promise of a conjugial covenant. It is also the crown of her honor. Therefore to snatch it away without a covenant of marriage and afterwards reject her is to make a trollop of some virgin who might have become a chaste bride and wife, or to cheat some other man, either of which is hurtful. Accordingly, if anyone takes a virgin as a his courtesan, he may indeed cohabit with her and so introduce her into the friendship of love, but still with the constant intention of making her his wife if she is not unfaithful.

[3] 3. An arrangement with a courtesan clearly must not be made with a married woman, because that is adultery.

[4] 4. The love in resorting to a courtesan must be kept separate from conjugial love for the reason that these loves are different in nature and therefore ought not to be mixed together. For the love in resorting to a courtesan is an unchaste, natural and external love, while the love in marriage is chaste, spiritual and internal. The love in resorting to a courtesan divides the souls of the two and joins only the sensual elements of the body, whereas the love in marriage unites their souls, and as a result of the union of their souls, also the sensual elements of the body, until from being two they become as one, which is to say, one flesh.

[5] 5. The love in resorting to a courtesan enters only into the intellect and into such elements as depend on the intellect. But the love in marriage enters also into the will and into such elements as depend on the will, thus into each and every element of the person. Consequently, if the love in resorting to a courtesan becomes the kind of love found in marriage, the man cannot by any right withdraw from the relationship without violating the conjugial union; and if he does withdraw from it, and marries another, in the breaking of that union conjugial love perishes. A man should know that the love in resorting to a courtesan is kept separate from conjugial love by his not promising to marry the courtesan and by his not leading her on into any hope of marriage.

Nevertheless, it is preferable that the torch of love for the opposite sex be kindled for the first time with one's wife.

  
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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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