Emanuel Swedenborg's universalism showed in his work "Arcana Coelestia" and other published works. Part 2
(Part 1 is here)
6195.
"It was also evident that a man bound to hell can in no wise be loosed therefrom except through Divine means by the Lord;"
My comment: Does Swedenborg mean that it is possible to be loosed from hell also in the afterlife, not only from hell in the sinner's heart while being on earth? Why should he not have meant that? Hell is the same on earth as it is in the afterlife. Because hell is evilness, hell is sin. It is always a miracle by the Lord to be loosed from hell, whether here on earth or in the Spirit World. That my interpretation is correct, is shown by passages in Swedenborg's "Spiritual Diary" where he tells about instances in the Spirit World where damned souls in hell have been delivered from hell and taken to heaven. But this is a complex question. See my previous blogposts about Swedenborg.
6279.
"The Angel who redeemeth me from all evil. That this signifies the Lord's Divine Human by which is effected deliverance from hell, is evident from the signification of "angel," as being the Lord's Divine Human (of which below);"
6368.
"From the prey my son thou art gone up. That this signifies that from the Lord through what is celestial there is deliverance of many from hell, is evident from the signification of "going up from the prey," as being deliverance from hell (of which below); and from the representation of Judah, who is here "my son," as being the Divine celestial (n. 6363). That "to go up from the prey" denotes deliverance from hell is because man of himself is in hell, for his will and thought from his own is nothing but evil and its falsity, by which he has been so bound to hell that he cannot be torn away without violence. This tearing away and deliverance is what is called the "prey;" and because this is done from the Lord's Divine good, it is said that from the Lord through what is celestial is the deliverance of many from hell."
6441.
"Hence it is plain that by a "wolf" are signified those who seize, but here one who rescues from hell those who have been seized."
6489.
"The Providence of the Lord has been conjoined with foresight, and the one is impossible without the other; for evils are foreseen, and goods are provided. And the evils which are foreseen, are by the provident disposition of the Lord continually bent to good, for the Divine end of good reigns universally. Hence nothing is permitted except for the end that some good may come out of it; but as man has freedom, in order that he may be reformed, he is bent from evil to good so far as he suffers himself to be bent in freedom, and (if he cannot be led to heaven) continually from the most atrocious hell, into which he makes every effort to plunge, into a milder one."
My comment: From this text it is evident that Swedenborg believed that there is deliverance from hell in the afterlife. I don't think he meant only earthly hells, the hell in the sinner's heart, in this paragraph ("for the Divine end of good reigns universally", thus also in the afterlife hell). But salvation is gradual, it is not possible to enter heaven directly from the lowest hells, you have to walk the spiritual path, step by step, to heaven (mark Swedenborg's words "into a milder one"). This is what is meant by Swedenborg's words that "Where the tree falls there it lies" (Divine Providence, 277b), and "That every man after the life in the world lives to eternity, is evident from this, that man is then spiritual, and no longer natural, and that the spiritual man, separated from the natural, remains such as he is to eternity, for man's state cannot be changed after death." (here "eternity" must be interpreted in its archaic latin meaning [Swedenborg wrote in latin], which is like "eonian time", "age-abiding", and "cannot be changed after death" should be interpreted "cannot be changed immediately after death". If we would interpret this passage as meaning that no one in hell can be changed after death, then it should also apply to those in heaven, because Swedenborg speaks generally about "man", every man, and then development would be impossible after death also in the heavens, which plainly contradicts Swedenborg's other writings). Regarding the passage in "Divine Providence", which Swedenborg wrote quite late in his life, 1764, one must remember that in the same book Swedenborg stated that everyone is predestined to heaven and no one to hell (see part 1 of this series). The Swedenborgian organization "Swedenborg Foundation" also says about that book, on this page: "Swedenborg devotes an entire book to answering this question: Divine Providence. In it, he explains that the Lord’s goal is the formation of a heavenly community, bringing everyone—every human being on earth—into heaven." Just this book, "Divine Providence", and my quotes from it, speak against Swedenborgian pastor Lee Woofenden's theory that Swedenborg changed his mind about the eternity of the hells in his later life and writings, as he explains in a comment to this Reddit post. Woofenden should research the use of the latin word for "eternity" and "eternal" throughout history (I have done it in previous blogposts about Swedenborg on this blog), and see that Swedenborg could not have meant endless time.
8175.
"That the Lord alone sustains the combats of temptations, and conquers, is because the Divine alone can conquer the hells. Unless the Divine acted against them, they would rush in like a vast ocean, one hell after another, for the resisting of which man is of not the slightest avail; and the less so because in respect to what is his own, man is nothing but evil, thus is hell, from which the Lord then withdraws him, and afterward withholds him (see above, n. 1581, 1661, 1692, 6574)."
8226.
"...and from the signification of "to the strength of its flow," as being according to the general state and order in hell; for in the hells there is order equally as in the heavens,"
8237.
"For the Lord rules the hells also by means of angels, to whom an opportunity is given of seeing all things that come forth there, from the place where they are. This is done to the end that there may be order in hell also, and that one may not do violence to another beyond what is permitted. This office is given to the angels, and through it there is rule over the hells."
My comment: Swedenborg's hell is something completely different than the medieval torture hell, or Dante's hell. For Swedenborg hell is primarily sin, hell is evilness, not primarily suffering. Therefore hell begins already in this life in the sinner's heart. So Swedenborg use the world "hell". There is no change in this after death, we continue the same life as we have had before death. Swedenborg does not think that evil people suddenly begin to suffer in hell after they die. No, they just continue their evil life, and some do not even understand that they have died. This is because there is no revenge and punishment in God, according to Swedenborg, so we will choose the life after death that is most pleasant to us*, and evil people find pleasure in sin, evil and spiritual darkness, which is hell, it's not a place, and good people find pleasure in virtue and love and goodness, which is heaven, it's not a place.
This is the reason behind Swedenborg's conception of hell as an ordered civilization with rules and order, comprised of countless societies, with industries, schools and universities, everything guarded by heavenly angels, who watch over the devils so they live in relative peace with each other, holding back their evil nature.. In fact, there are hints that hell for Swedenborg is more like modern cities than heaven is, the Swedenborgian heaven is more like wild indigenous societies in the forests, or like the people of Israel in the wilderness during the 40 years there. Swedenborg believed in the idea of the "noble savage" (so according to personal communication from Swedenborgian leader Susanna Åkerman, Stockholm), and held the African people in very high esteem.
* "Swedenborg claims that hell is not a form of punishment, but rather where you go because it makes you feel comfortable." (from this article from 2021)
