Last Judgment (Post) (Rogers) n. 304

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

304. [282.] Moravians or Herrnhuters in London, and Jews There

Moravians in London live in the furthest corner of the place leading out,* primarily to the side there; but when they travel in the city as in going to their chapel, they appear to proceed toward the center and from there a little way into the south and so to their corner. This occurs because they wish to appear to others as Christians, having a similar doctrine. After that they proceed from their corner into the west, where the priests who are caught up in faith alone are (as reported previously),** and from there they return. From their corner, which to them is like an inn there, they go out from time to time and descend into an underground chamber which extends deep beneath the west where the aforementioned priests are, and there they find their hell, from which they are not let out again, except some who are let out into deserts. They are not allowed to live near other people or anywhere else than where they do, because they form a society of interior friendship, which takes away the spiritual delight of others. They tell others that they live here and there, even at the center, but still they live in the aforementioned corner, which they have an idea of as being as though their inn. [283.] They appear when traveling to go toward the center because they persuade others that they are of the Anglican religion, and with the English they speak at first as though they were, saying that they differ only in regard to their rituals, which are like those of the Apostles. When they are asked why their preachers are attired in blue, they say it is because they like that color. They venture to say that they ought to be attired like English preachers in a black gown, because they are afraid of having their mysteries disclosed. They are most afraid of being honest and just for the sake of religion. They are altogether averse to this, because they are prone to evils of every kind, taking care only to keep these from being exposed, because their exposure would be damaging to their religious persuasion in the eyes of others. * See no. [292] above. ** See nos. [295], [297-300].


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church