323 Swedenborg Medal Issued by the Swedish Academy (1858)

On one side of a small medal, a man in Roman dress stops beside a sheer rock face, bearing a lighted torch in his right hand.

 

 

Above him is the Latin phrase “Quaerenti Defuit Orbis” (To the seeker, the world was found lacking). And below his feet: “Arcana Velo Sublato Adspexit Vates” (With the veil lifted the seer gazed upon mysteries). Underneath this is “MDCCLXXII” (1772, the date of Swedenborg’s death). Continue reading » » » »

313 The Society for Faith and Charity (1796-1830)

The minutes of the Society for Faith and Charity (a Swedish organization active from 1796 to 1830) are “a perfect gold mine, a big package of New Church History . . . The Society received money from England for the publication of the Writings, and there was for a time a lively correspondence which will produce bibliographical information of much interest. The matrikel (catalogue of members), handsomely bound in now faded silk, contains not only the names of members, in many cases in autograph, but also many dates and shows precisely how the movement was spreading” (Alfred H. Stroh. Letter quoted in New Church Life 1911, 404).

The Societas Pro Fide et Charitate was organized in 1796, chiefly for the purpose of publishing Swedenborg’s works in Sweden. The existence of the Society was kept secret because of Swedish persecution against New Church ideas Continue reading » » » »

308 Alnwick Grove Park

“I can remember that there was a good sized round pavilion for dancing, picnic tables, and one or two other buildings not as large as the round pavilion. The latter, I think was up the hill above the railroad, and the others were down nearer the Creek. Before my day I know that the young people of our Church came out from Philadelphia on the train for picnics. That was before any of us moved out here. The station was then called Alnwick Grove, but there were not many trains” (Freda Pendleton. Letter to Sylvia M. Fesmire. 14 January 1949. Academy of the New Church Archives, Swedenborg Library, Bryn Athyn, PA).

Alnwick Grove, a park along the Pennypack Creek just south of what is now the Bryn Athyn Post Office, between the stations then known as Alnwick Grove and Huntingdon Valley, was an early destination for members of the Advent Society in Philadelphia. Excursions occurred long before the Society’s formal decision to relocate to the area in 1893: “On June 19th [1880] the Academy held its third annual celebration in the picnic grounds near Alnwick Grove . . .” Continue reading » » » »