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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

 

Interaction of the Soul and Body #19

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19. To these observations I will add this MEMORABLE RELATION. After these pages were written, I prayed to the Lord that I might be permitted to converse with some disciples of ARISTOTLE, and at the same time with some disciples of DESCARTES, and with some disciples of LEIBNITZ, in order that I might learn the opinions of their minds concerning the interaction of the soul and the body. After my prayer was ended there came nine men — three Aristotelians, three Cartesians, and three LEIBNITZians and stood around me; the admirers of ARISTOTLE being on the left side, the followers of DESCARTES on the right, and the favourers of LEIBNITZ behind. At a considerable distance, and also at a distance from one another, I saw three persons crowned, as it were, with laurel, whom I knew, by an inflowing perception, to be those three great leaders or masters themselves. Behind LEIBNITZ stood a person holding the skirt of his garment, who, I was told, was Wolff. Those nine men, when they beheld one another, at first saluted one another with courteous speech, and talked together.

[2] But presently there arose from below a spirit with a torch in his right hand, which he shook before their faces, whereupon they became enemies, three against three, and looked fiercely at one another, for they were seized with the lust of altercation and dispute. Then the Aristotelians, who were also Schoolmen, began to speak, saying, "Who does not see that objects flow through the senses into the soul, as a man enters through the doors into a chamber, and that the soul thinks according to such influx? When a lover sees a beautiful virgin, or his bride, does not his eye sparkle, and transmit the love of her into the soul? When a miser sees bags of money, does he not burn towards them with every sense, and thence cause this ardour to enter the soul, and excite the desire of possessing them? When a proud man hears himself praised by another, does he not prick up his ears, and do not these transmit those praises to the soul? Are not the senses of the body like outer courts, through which alone entrance is obtained to the soul? From these considerations and innumerable others of similar nature, who can conclude otherwise than that influx proceeds from nature, or is physical?"

[3] While they were speaking thus, the followers of DESCARTES held their fingers on their foreheads; and now withdrawing them they replied, saying, "Ah, you speak from appearances. Do you not know that the eye does not love a virgin or bride from itself, but from the soul; and likewise that the senses of the body do not covet the bags of money from themselves, but from the soul; and also that the ears do not devour the praises of flatterers in any other manner? Is it not perception that causes sensation? And perception is of the soul, and not of the bodily organ. Say, if you can, what causes the tongue and lips to speak, but the thought; and what causes the hands to work, but the will? And thought and will are of the soul, and not of the body. Thus, what causes the eye to see, and the ears to hear, and the other organs to feel, but the soul? From these considerations, and innumerable others of a similar kind, everyone, whose wisdom rises above the things of the bodily senses, concludes that there is no influx of the body into the soul, but of the soul into the body; which influx we call Occasional, and also Spiritual Influx."

[4] When these had been heard, the three men who stood behind the former groups of three, and who were the favourers of LEIBNITZ, began to speak, saying, "We have heard the arguments on both sides, and have compared them; and we have perceived that in many particulars the latter are stronger than the former, and that in many others the former are stronger than the latter; wherefore, if you please, we will adjust the dispute." On being asked, "How?" they replied, "There is not any influx of the soul into the body, nor of the body into the soul; but there is a unanimous and instantaneous operation of both together, to which a celebrated author has assigned an elegant name, by calling it Pre-established Harmony."

[5] After this the spirit with a torch appeared again. Now, however, the torch was in his left hand, and he shook it behind their heads; whence the ideas of them all became confused, and they cried out at once, "Neither our soul nor our body knows which side we should take: wherefore let us settle this dispute by lot, and we will abide by the lot which comes out first." So they took three pieces of paper, and wrote on one of them, PHYSICAL INFLUX, on another, SPIRITUAL INFLUX, and on the third, PRE-ESTABLISHED HARMONY; and they put them all into the crown of a hat. They then chose one of their number to draw, who, on putting in his hand, took out that on which was written SPIRITUAL INFLUX. Having seen and read it, they all said — some with a clear and flowing, some with a faint and indrawn voice - "Let us abide by this, because it came out first."

[6] But then an angel suddenly stood by and said, "Do not imagine that the paper in favour of Spiritual Influx came out first by chance, for it was of Providence. Because you are in confused ideas, you do not see its truth; but the very truth presented itself to the hand of him that drew the lots, that you might yield it your assent."

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture #103

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103. The existence of a Word among ancient peoples is clear also in the writings of Moses, who refers to it and quotes something from it in Numbers 21:14-15, 27-30; 21:14-15, 27-30. And the narrative portions of that Word were called The Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetic portions Oracles.

From the narrative portions of that Word Moses quoted the following:

Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah: “Waheb in Suphah, and the streams, the Arnon, and the channel of the streams which went down to the dwelling place of Ar and stops at the border of Moab.” (Numbers 21:14-15)

The wars of Jehovah in that book — as in ours — meant and described the Lord’s combats with hell and His victories over it, which would take place when He came into the world. These same combats are also meant and described in many places in the narrative portions of our Word — such as by the wars of Joshua with the nations of the land of Canaan, and by the wars of the judges and kings of Israel.

[2] From the prophetic portions of the Ancient Word Moses quoted the following:

Therefore the Oracles say: “Go into Heshbon; the city of Sihon will be built and established. For a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the possessors of the heights of the Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has made his sons fugitives, and given his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites. We finished them with arrows; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. And we laid them waste as far as Nophah, which [reaches] even to Medeba.” (Numbers 21:27-30)

Translators render the source as “those who speak in proverbs, ” but they ought to be called Oracles or Prophetic Utterances, as can be seen from the meaning of the word moshalim in the original Hebrew, which means not only proverbs but also prophetic utterances — as in Numbers 23:7, 18, 24:3, 15. In each of these verses Balaam is said to have uttered his oracle, which was a prophetic one (prophetic, in fact, of the Lord). His oracle each time is called mashal, in the singular. Moreover, the words quoted by Moses in these verses are not proverbs, but prophecies.

[3] That the Ancient Word was likewise Divine or Divinely inspired is apparent in Jeremiah, where almost the same words occur, namely:

...a fire has gone out from Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, which consumed the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe to you, Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished! For your sons have been taken off into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. (Jeremiah 48:45-46)

In addition to these references, a prophetic book of the Ancient Word, called the Book of Jashar or Book of the Upright, is also cited by David and Joshua. By David:

David lamented...over Saul and over Jonathan..., and he wrote to teach the children of Judah [the Song of] the Bow; is it not written in the Book of Jasher? (2 Samuel 1:17-18)

And by Joshua:

...Joshua...said...: “Sun, stand still in Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon." ...Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? (Joshua 10:12-13)

Moreover, I have been told that the first seven chapters of Genesis are found in the same Ancient Word, so completely that not the least word is missing.

  
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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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