Last Judgment (Cont.) (Chadwick) n. 83

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

83. XII THE QUAKERS IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD There are some spirits of the Enthusiast type who are kept apart from all others; they are of such gross insensitivity* that they believe they are the Holy Spirit. When the Quaker movement began, these were brought out of the surrounding forests where they wandered, and they battened on many people, inducing the belief that they were impelled by the Holy Spirit. Because they could sensibly feel the influence acting on them, that religious persuasion totally engrossed them, so that they believed themselves to be extraordinarily enlightened and holy. For this reason it was impossible to wean them from their beliefs. Those who have become convinced of them experience a similar state of enthusiasm after death; they are separated from others and banished to join their fellows in the forests, where seen from a distance they look like wild boars. Those who have not become convinced of these ideas are separated from the others and sent away to a desert-like district on the outer fringe of the southern quarter, where caves serve them as meeting places. *Literally 'of such a fat nose'. The phrase goes back ultimately to the Roman poet Horace (Epodes 12.3). Enthusiasts were those who believed they were personally inspired.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church