I once heard beneath me something like the roaring of the sea; and I asked what it was; and one said to me that it was a tumult among those assembled in the lower earth, which is just above hell.  And presently the ground that formed a roof over them opened, and behold, birds of night flew forth through the opening in flocks, and spread themselves towards the left; and immediately after them there swarmed forth locusts, which leaped upon the grass and made a desert everywhere; and a little after I heard from those nocturnal birds a succession of screeches, and on one side a confused clamor, as if from specters in the woods.  After this I saw beautiful birds from heaven, which spread themselves towards the right. These birds were distinguished by gold-like wings with silvery streaks and specks interspersed; and on the heads of some of them there were crests in the form of crowns.

When I saw and wondered at these things there rose up suddenly from the lower earth, where the tumult was, a spirit who could take the form of an angel of light; and he cried out, “Where is he who talks and writes about the order to which the Omnipotent has bound Himself respecting man? This we have been hearing below through the roof.”

Once above ground he ran along a paved way and came to me, and instantly feigned himself an angel of heaven, and speaking in a tone not his own, said, “Are you the one who thinks and talks about order?  Tell me briefly what order is, and some of the things pertaining to it.”

[2] I replied, “I will give you the summaries of order, but not its particulars, because you would not understand them.” And I said, “(i.) God is order itself.  (ii.) He created man from order, in order, and into order.  (iii.) He created man‘s rational mind in accordance with the order of the whole spiritual world, and his body in accordance with the order of the whole natural world; and this is why man was called by the ancients a little heaven and a little cosmos.  (iv.) Therefore it is a law of order that man from his little heaven or his little spiritual world should govern his little cosmos or little natural world, just as God from His great heaven or spiritual world governs the great cosmos or natural world in each thing and all things of it.  (v.) It is a resulting law of order that it is needful for man to lead himself into faith by means of truths from the Word, and into charity by means of good works, and so reform and regenerate himself.  (vi.) It is a law of order that man by his own exertion and power should purify himself from sins, and not stand still, believing in his own impotency, and expecting God to wash his sins away in a moment.  (vii.) It is also a law of order that man should love God with his whole soul and with his whole heart, and his neighbor as himself, and should not wait and expect that God will in an instant put these loves into his mind and heart, as bread from a baker may be put into his mouth.” These with other like things.

[3] Having heard this, that satan with a soft voice within which there was craft, resumed, “What is that you say? That man must by his own power lead himself into order by keeping these laws of order? Do you not know that man is not under the law, but under grace; that all things are given him freely, and that he can receive only what is given him from heaven; and that in spiritual matters man has no more power to act from himself than the statue of Lot’s wife, or than Dagon, the idol of the Philistines in Ekron; and that it is therefore impossible for man to justify himself; but this must be done by faith and charity?”

To this I merely replied, “It is also a law of order that man by his own exertion and power ought to acquire faith by means of truths from the Word, and yet believe that not a grain of truth is from himself, but from God only; moreover, that man by his own exertion and power ought to justify himself, and yet believe that not a single point of justification is from himself, but from God only.  Is not man commanded to believe in God, and to love God with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself?  Consider and say how this could have been commanded by God if man possessed no power to obey and do it.”

[4] When the satan had heard this his countenance, from being bright at first, turned ghastly, and then black, and thus speaking from his own mouth he said, “You have uttered paradoxes on paradoxes;” and then instantly he sank down to his companions and was no more seen.  The birds on the left, together with the specters, uttered strange cries and threw themselves into the sea, which is there called Suph; and the locusts leaped in after them; the air was cleansed, and the earth was cleansed of those wild creatures; the tumult below ceased, and all, became tranquil and serene.

Second Memorable Relation:-

I once heard a strange murmur at a distance, and following in spirit the direction of the sound I drew nearer.  When I came to where it began, behold, it was a crowd of spirits arguing about Imputation and Predestination.  They were Dutch and British, with some from other kingdoms intermingled, and these at the end of each argument exclaimed, “Wonderful! wonderful!”

The subject discussed was, “Why does not God impute the merit and righteousness of His Son to every man and all men created by Him and subsequently redeemed?  Is He not omnipotent? Can He not, if He will, make archangels of Lucifer, the dragon, and all the goats?  Is He not omnipotent? Why does He permit the unrighteousness and impiety of the devil to triumph over the righteousness of His Son, and over the piety of those who worship God?  To God what could he easier than to deem all worthy of faith, and thus of salvation? What need of more than a little word to do this? And if He does it not, does He not act contrary to His words, which are that He desires the salvation of all and the death of none? Say, then, from whom and in whom is the cause of the damnation of those who are lost?”

And then a supralpasarian-predestinarian from the Dutch said, “Does not this belong to the good pleasure of the Almighty?  Shall the clay complain to the potter that he has made of it a vessel of dishonor?” And another said, “The salvation of everyone is in His hand as a balance in the hand of a weigher.”

[2] There stood at the sides those who were simple in faith and upright in heart, and some with inflamed eyes, some who looked stupefied, some as If drunken, and some as if suffocated, muttering to one another, “What are these ravings to us? These men have been made foolish by their faith, which is, that God the Father imputes the righteousness of His Son to whom He will and when He will, and sends His Holy Spirit to give assurances of that righteousness; and lest any man should claim for himself the least share in the work of his salvation, he must be altogether like a stone in the matter of justification, and like a stock in things spiritual.” And one of these then thrust himself into the crowd, and said in a loud voice, “O madman! you are arguing about goat‘s hair. You are wholly ignorant that the omnipotent God is order itself; and that the laws of order are numberless, as many as there are truths in the Word; and that God cannot act contrary to these laws, because to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to Himself, and thus not only contrary to righteousness but contrary to His own omnipotence.”

[3] And seeing on his right, at some distance, the semblance of a sheep, a lamb, and a flying dove, and on his left the semblance of a goat, a wolf, and a vulture, he said, “ Do you believe that God by His omnipotence can change that goat into the sheep, that wolf into the lamb, or that vulture into the dove, or the reverse? By no means; for it is contrary to the laws of His order, of which, according to His words not a jot can fall to the ground.  How then can He impart the righteousness of His Son’s redemption to anyone who resists the laws of His righteousness?  How can righteousness itself do what is unrighteous, and predestine anyone to hell, and cast him into a fire, beside which the devil stands with torches in his hand to keep it burning?  O madmen! empty in spirit! your faith has led you astray.  Is it not in your hands like a snare for catching doves?”

Having heard this, a magician made of that faith a kind of snare, and put it upon a tree, saying, “You shall see me catch that dove.”

And presently a hawk flew towards it and thrust its neck into the snare and hung there; while the dove, seeing the hawk, flew away.  The bystanders were astonished, and exclaimed, “ Even this sport is a display of justice.”

The next day some came to me from this crowd who had believed in predestination and imputation; and they said, “We feel as if we were drunk, not with wine, but from what was said yesterday by that man.  He talked about omnipotence and also about order; and he concluded that as omnipotence is Divine so order is Divine, and even that God Himself is order; and he said that there are as many laws of order as there are truths in the Word, which are not only thousands, but myriads of myriads; and that God is tied up to His own laws in the Word, and man to his.  What then is the Divine omnipotence, if it is bound by laws?  For thus everything absolute is withdrawn from omnipotence.  Thus has not God less power than a worldly king who is a despot, and who can as easily change the laws of justice as he can turn his hands, and can act without restriction, like Octavius Augustus or like Nero?  When we had thought about omnipotence being tied up to laws, we felt as if we were drunk, or ready to swoon unless we quickly got some remedy; for in accordance with our faith we have been accustomed to pray to God the Father to have mercy on us for the sake of His Son; and we have believed that He could have mercy on whom He chose, and forgive the sins of anyone He pleased, and could save whom He would; and we dared not take away the least iota from His omnipotence.  We therefore regard it as impious to bind God in the chains of some of His own laws, because that would be contradictory to His omnipotence.”

[2] Having said this, they looked at me and I at them; and I saw that they were bewildered, and I said, “I will pray to the Lord, and thence bring a remedy by an inflow of light on this subject; but at present only by examples.” And I said, “The omnipotent God created the world from the order within Him, that is, into the order in which He is, and in accordance with which He rules; and He impressed upon the universe and each and all things of it its own order, upon man his order, upon the beast its order, upon bird and fish and worm, and every tree and even every blade of grass, upon each its own order.  But to illustrate by examples, I will mention briefly the following.  The laws of order enjoined upon man are, that he should acquire for himself truths from the Word, and reflect upon them naturally, and as far as he can, rationally, and thus acquire for himself a natural faith.  The laws of order on the part of God then are, that He will draw near and fill these truths with His Divine light, and thus fill the man‘s natural faith (which is mere knowledge and persuasion) with a Divine essence.  In this and in no other way can faith become saving.  It is the same with charity.  But some particulars shall be briefly mentioned.  God, in accordance with His laws, is able to remit sins to any man only so far as the man, in accordance with his laws, refrains from them.  God able to regenerate a man spiritually only so far as the man, accordance with his laws, regenerates himself naturally.  God is in an unceasing endeavor to regenerate man, and thus save him; but this He is unable to accomplish except as man prepares himself as a receptacle, and thus levels the way and opens the door for God.  A bridegroom cannot enter the chamber of a virgin till she becomes his bride; for she shuts the door and keeps the key to herself within; but when the virgin has become a bride she gives the key to the bridegroom.

[3] God could not by His omnipotence have redeemed men unless He had become Man; neither could He have made His Human Divine unless that Human had first been like the human of a babe, and then like that of a boy; and unless afterwards the Human had formed itself into a receptacle and habitation, into which its Father might enter; which was done by His fulfilling all things in the Word, that is, all the laws of order therein; and so far as He accomplished this He united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him.  These are a few things, presented for the sake of illustration, to enable you to see that the Divine omnipotence is in order, and that its government, which is called Providence, is in accordance with order, and that it acts continually and to eternity in accordance with the laws of its order; nor can it act against them or change them one iota, because order, with all its laws, is Himself.”

[4] When this had been said a brilliant light of golden color flowed in through the roof and formed flying cherubs in the air; and with some of those present a glow therefrom was seen on the temples towards the back part of the head, but not yet on the front part, for they murmured, “We do not yet know what omnipotence is.”

And I said, “That will be revealed when what has been already said to you has become somewhat clear.”

Third Memorable Relation:-

I saw at a distance a number of persons gathered together with caps on their heads, some with caps bound around with silk- these had belonged to the ecclesiastical order; others had caps with borders ornamented with golden bands-these were civilians; they were all learned and accomplished.  I also saw others with turbans; these were not learned.

I drew near, and heard them talking together about the Divine power, as being unlimited, and saying that if it were to proceed according to any established laws of order it would not be unlimited, but limited; and would thus be a power, but not omnipotence.  “But who does not see,” they said, “that there can be no coercion of law that would compel omnipotence to do thus and so and not otherwise?  Certainly, when we think of omnipotence, and at the same time of laws of order in accordance with which it is obliged to proceed, our preconceived ideas of omnipotence fall like a hand when its staff has been broken.”

[2] When they saw me near, some of them ran up, and said with some vehemence, “Are you the man who has circumscribed God by laws, as by chains?  How insolent!  Thus also you have torn to pieces our faith, upon which our salvation is based, in the center of which we place the righteousness of the Redeemer, and over this the omnipotence of God the Father, and add as an appendix the operation of the Holy Spirit, with its efficacy depending upon the absolute impotence of man in things spiritual; so that he only needs to speak of the fullness of justification which is in that faith by virtue of God’s omnipotence.  But we have heard that you see in our faith nothing but emptiness, because you see in it nothing of Divine order on the part of man.”

Having heard this, I opened my mouth, and speaking with a loud voice, said, “Learn the laws of Divine order, and then lay open that faith and you will see a vast desert, and in it the long and crooked Leviathan, and round about it nets tangled in an inextricable knot.  But do as it is said Alexander did when he saw the Gordian knot, that he drew his sword and cut it apart and thus loosed its entanglements, and then dashing it upon the ground trampled its strands under foot.”

[3] At these words those assembled bit their tongues, wishing to sharpen them for invectives; but they did not venture, for they saw heaven opened above me, and heard from it a voice saying, “In the first place, control yourselves and listen to what the order is, according to the laws of which the omnipotent God acts.” And (the voice) said, “God, from Himself as order, created the universe in order and for order; and in like manner He created man, in whom He established the laws of His order, by virtue of which laws man was made an image and likeness of God; which laws, in brief, are, that man should believe in God and love his neighbor, and to the extent that he does these two things from his natural powers he constitutes himself a receptacle of the Divine omnipotence, and God conjoins Himself to man, and man to Himself.  Thence man‘s belief becomes a living and saving belief, and his doing becomes charity, which is also living and saving.  But it must be understood that God is unceasingly present, and continually striving and acting in man, even touching his freedom of will, but in no way violating it.  For if God should violate man’s freedom of will man‘s dwelling-place in God would be destroyed, and there would remain only God’s dwelling-place in man; which dwelling-place is in all who are on earth and who are in the heavens, and even in those who are in the hells; and this is the source of their power, their will, and their understanding.  But there is no reciprocal dwelling-place of man in God except in those who live in accordance with the laws of order set forth in the Word; and such become images and likenesses of God, and to them paradise is given as a possession, and the fruit of the tree of life for food; while the rest gather themselves about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and there talk with the serpent, and eat; but these afterwards are driven from paradise.  Nevertheless, God does not forsake them, but they forsake God.”

[4] Those with caps understood all this, and assented to it; but those with turbans denied, saying, “Is not omnipotence thus limited? and a limited omnipotence is a contradiction.”

But I answered, “There is no contradiction in acting omnipotently according to the laws of justice with judgment, or according to the laws inscribed on love from wisdom; but there is a contradiction in claiming that God can act in opposition to the laws of His justice and love, which would be to act from what is not judgment or wisdom.  Such a contradiction is implied in your faith, which is that from mere grace God can justify an unjust man, and can endow him with all the gifts of salvation and rewards of life.  But I will state briefly what God‘s omnipotence is.  From His omnipotence God created the universe, and at the same time introduced order into each thing and all things in it.  From His omnipotence God also preserves the universe, and unceasingly watches over the order of it with its laws; and when anything falls from order He brings it back and makes it whole again.  Furthermore, from His omnipotence God instituted the church and revealed the laws of its order in the Word; and when it fell from order He restored it; and when it wholly fell away He Himself came down into the world, and putting on omnipotence by means of the Human then assumed, He re-established it.

[5] From His omnipotence and omniscience God searches every man after death, and prepares the righteous, or the sheep, for their places in heaven, and establishes a heaven from them; while He prepares the unrighteous, or the goats, for their places in hell, and establishes a hell from them.  Both of these He arranges into societies or congregated bodies in accordance with all the varieties of their love, which in heaven are as many as the stars in the natural firmament; and He joins in one the societies of heaven that they may be as one man before Him.  In like manner He brings together the congregated bodies of hell that they may be as one devil; and He separates the latter from the former by a gulf, that hell may not do violence to heaven or heaven torment hell; for those who are in hell are tormented in the degree that heaven flows in.  If God from His omnipotence did not do this every instant, a savage nature would enter into men to such an extent that they could no longer be restrained by the laws of any order; and thus the human race would perish.  These and other such things would happen unless God were order, and omnipotent in order.”

Having heard this, those who wore caps went away with their caps under their arms, praising God; for in that world the intelligent wear caps.  But not so those who wore turbans, for such are bald, and baldness signifies stupidity.  The latter went away to the left, and the former to the right.

True Christian Religion - Containing the Universal Theology of the New Heaven and New Church #71-74
- E. Swedenborg 1688-1772

Index of Memorable Relations

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