printed in 1758.9
When King George II, now in heaven, heard of the Bishops’ rejection of
these works on earth, he reprimanded them in the afterlife for not accepting
“the Lord as God of heaven and earth” – i.e. as the Messiah – saying “Depart!
Alas, who can become so hardened against hearing anything relating to heaven
and eternal life?" (Apocalypse Revealed 716) It was this same King who stood
up at Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.
I can’t find any other link between Swedenborg and Handel’s Messiah, or
Jennens, although they were crossing paths in London around the same time.
What might account for the remarkable coincidence – providence in outmost
– of Wesley’s “strangely warm feeling” of conversion in 1738, of Handel’s
Messiah in 1741-2, and of Swedenborg’s eyes being opened in 1743? The Lord’s
closer presence might do it.
We know that the Last Judgment of 1757 was pending in the world of
spirits, between heaven and hell – the common “Grand Central Station” for
all who awake after death, where all human minds are now. Prior to the actual
Last Judgment, there is a stage called “visitation” when the Lord with the higher
angels draws “closer” to the world of spirits, but “gently.” (Apocalypse Explained
418) This is how the good spirits are drawn out and rescued. (Apocalyps