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PREFACE.
PREFACE.
During the few past years many biographies of Swedenborg have been offered to the public. Dr. Tafel, of Tübingen, in 1839, collected into one volume the testimonies of Swedenborg’s personal friends, his letters, and various documents relating to him which were scattered through many volumes. This “Book of Documents” was translated into English, and edited by the Rev. J. H. Smithson, of Manchester, in 1841; and was again reprinted in America and re-edited by Professor Bush, of New York, in 1847.
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CHAPTER I.
CHAPTER I.
Authors are never wiser than when they trust to time for justice. The poor thinker, neglected by his age, unseen amid the glare of mere show and pageantry, need not fret himself. Time will roll on, the false and meretricious will sink into forgetfulness, while his true words will become accepted, and his thoughts the stars by which wise men guide their course across the dark ocean of life. It was the lot of Emanuel Swedenborg to be cast on a shallow, sceptical, and perverse age. Living a life of
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CHAPTER II.
CHAPTER II.
Having completed his university education, Swedenborg entered on his travels. In his journal, he thus briefly describes a four years’ absence from Sweden. “In the year 1710 I set out for Gottenburg, that I might be conveyed, by ship, thence to London. On the voyage, my life was in danger four times: first on some shoals, toward which we were driven by a storm, until we were within a quarter of a mile from the raging breakers, and we thought we should all perish. Afterwards we narrowly escaped so
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CHAPTER III.
CHAPTER III.
In the spring of 1721, Swedenborg visited Holland a second time, and chose Amsterdam as a place of publication for the following five little works:—“Some Specimens of a Work on the Principles of Natural Philosophy, comprising New Attempts to Explain the Phenomena of Chemistry and Physics by Geometry;” “New Observations and Discoveries respecting Iron and Fire, and particularly respecting the Elemental Nature of Fire, together with a new construction of Stoves;” “A New Method of finding the Longi
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CHAPTER IV.
CHAPTER IV.
In attempting to give the reader an idea of the contents and aims of this great work, within the compass of a few paragraphs, one feels extreme difficulty in knowing where or how to begin. It starts so many topics, is so full of the deepest scientific truth, speculates so boldly, and reaches to such heights of subtle thought, that we must necessarily confine ourselves to a very superficial view, and the enumeration of a few of its prominent features. As before said, the work occupies three large
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CHAPTER V.
CHAPTER V.
From 1734 to 1736, Swedenborg remained at home. In July, 1735, his father died; and a year after, Swedenborg went abroad, as he states in his diary, “for a sojourn of three or four years, to write and publish a certain book.” During his absence he resigned half of his official salary to his substitutes. His father having left him some money, he was the better able to do so. He journeyed through Denmark, Hanover, and Holland, and arrived at Rotterdam during the fair. Observing the amusements of t
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CHAPTER VI.
CHAPTER VI.
In the “Animal Kingdom,” Swedenborg referred solely to the human body, it being the microcosm, or representative of all inferior systems. In the “Economy of the Animal Kingdom,” he treats of the blood, and the organs which contain it; the coincidence of the motion of the brain with the respiration of the lungs; and of the human soul. The method pursued in this work is admirable. A careful series of extracts, containing facts from the best anatomists, is prefixed to each chapter, and thence is de
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CHAPTER VII.
CHAPTER VII.
The biographer of Swedenborg can feel no difficulty in distributing under proper heads the principal events of his life. It divides itself so distinctly into two parts, at this juncture, that, between his past and his future there is what he himself would call a “discrete degree.” In 1745, when the merely scientific phase of Swedenborg’s life closed, he had arrived at the mature age of fifty-seven years. As we have seen, he had, from early manhood, united an active and practical, with a deeply p
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CHAPTER VIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
We will now proceed, without circumlocution, to lay before our readers, in all its fullness, the claim which Swedenborg made, at this period, to open intercourse with the spiritual world, under the sanction and protection of the Lord. This assumption runs through the whole of his after life, and without a clear idea of its nature and conditions, we shall be unable rightly to appreciate aught else that follows. In one of his letters, he says, “I have been called to a holy office by the Lord himse
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CHAPTER IX.
CHAPTER IX.
Called to a high and holy office, Swedenborg set about preparing himself for the fulfilment of its duties. Leaving London in the beginning of July, 1745, he took ship for Sweden, where he arrived on the 7th of August. On this voyage, his spiritual intercourse was suspended. He lived quietly at home during 1746; probably in the performance and enjoyment of the settled routine of his Assessorship, and in earnest meditation on the heavenly arcana now fully opened to his view. In 1747, in order that
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CHAPTER X.
CHAPTER X.
It was about the middle of 1749, that Swedenborg made his first appearance as a theologian, by the publication of the first volume of the “Arcana Cœlestia.” At the beginning of 1750, we find his publisher, John Lewis, of Paternoster Row, announcing the issue of the second volume, in cheap numbers, both in English and Latin. The issue continued in volumes till 1756, when the work was completed in eight good sized quartos. His publisher states in one of his advertisements, that though he is “posit
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CHAPTER XI.
CHAPTER XI.
Of Swedenborg’s external life, during the composition of the “Arcana Cœlestia,” we know little. From his “Spiritual Diary,” we incidentally learn that he was in Stockholm on the 23d of July, 1756. A revolution had been attempted, and the leaders of the conspiracy, Count Brahe and Baron Horn, were executed on that day. Swedenborg writes of Brahe thus:—“Brahe was beheaded at ten o’clock in the morning, and spoke with me at ten at night; that is to say, twelve hours after his execution. He was with
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CHAPTER XII.
CHAPTER XII.
To the early reader of Swedenborg’s writings, few of his declarations appear stranger, at first, than his affirmation that the Last Judgment is past, that it took place in 1757. Yet although startling at first, it is a doctrine which, on closer acquaintance, readily comes within the grasp of reason and common sense; and we discover that all its early strangeness was owing to our having looked at it through the mist of prejudice and preconceived opinion. The treatise on the Last Judgment, (althou
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CHAPTER XIII.
CHAPTER XIII.
The treatise on Heaven and Hell is among the most charming of Swedenborg’s writings. Its subjects possess a universal attraction; for, what believer in the immortality of man has not, at times, longed to penetrate the awful mysteries of the unseen world? And there is nothing unreasonable in the desire. True it is, that, until Swedenborg came, any but the most general knowledge of the nature of the future life had been withdrawn from mankind since the days of primeval innocence; yet not from anyt
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CHAPTER XIV.
CHAPTER XIV.
1. The treatise on the White Horse mentioned in the Apocalypse, forms a tract of about twenty pages. It is an exposition of the spiritual sense of Revelation xix. 11-16. It is shown that by the heavens being opened, the White Horse, and its rider, are represented the Lord and his Word, and the quality of those to whom the internal truth of the Word is revealed. The particulars of the text are all gone into and expounded, and copious references made to the Arcana Cœlestia for fuller details. It i
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CHAPTER XV.
CHAPTER XV.
The trite observation that the lives of literary men are devoid of those incidents which make up a stirring and lively biography, applies with great truth to the career of Swedenborg. His quiet and unostentatious life afforded but few materials for anecdotes; hence we have but faint traces of his outward course. While writing the works we have just noticed, from 1747 to 1758, the principal portion of his time must have been passed in London. Few men in those days were capable of sympathy or comm
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CHAPTER XVI.
CHAPTER XVI.
In 1763, Swedenborg published, at Amsterdam, the following works:—1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord; 2. The Sacred Scripture; 3. Faith; 4. Life; 5. Continuation respecting the Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon; and 6. Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. We will now speak of these works seriatim. 1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, is a small treatise: but within its limits is concentrated so much light and ratio
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CHAPTER XVII.
CHAPTER XVII.
The treatise on the Divine Love and Wisdom, is a book which, when mastered, affords a key to the whole philosophy of the New Church, and to a rational understanding of all the writings of Swedenborg. When we say this, it will be easily understood that it is not a book to be read in a few hours, or hastily glanced over. Every page is pregnant with thought, and many of its paragraphs might be expanded into volumes. It is a book which, full of thought on the deepest subjects, demands an exercise of
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CHAPTER XVIII.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Still living in Amsterdam, Swedenborg published, in 1764, his work entitled “Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Providence.” Its purpose is to In the first place, it is shown that the Divine Providence is the government of the Love and the Wisdom of the Lord. This Providence has for its sole end the formation of a heaven from the human race, and thus has respect only to what is infinite and eternal. In the Divine sight, things temporal and natural are of no importance except so far as they con
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CHAPTER XIX.
CHAPTER XIX.
It is very trying to the biographer of Swedenborg that he can find so little to narrate of his outward life. Of his life in Amsterdam we have no particulars whatever. No Boswell was there to note down his sayings, describe his doings, his company, and conduct. But had even a Boswell been there, we fear he would have found but little to note. Quiet days in his study, calm reserve toward all around, musing, solitary rambles in the streets, would supply but few incidents for the pen of the biograph
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CHAPTER XX.
CHAPTER XX.
Every one who is acquainted with theological literature, knows that innumerable volumes of speculation have been written in attempted explanation of the Apocalypse. He is aware that expositors have differed about it from the earliest times; that Protestants have found Catholicism the subject of all its denunciations, and that Catholics have discovered that Paganism and Protestant heresy were in reality the matters alluded to; that sceptics have proved that it refers to none of these creeds, but
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CHAPTER XXI.
CHAPTER XXI.
In April, 1766, Swedenborg again visited England in order to observe the effect of his writings upon the English people. Of this visit we have no account, except in reference to its conclusion, in September of the same year, when he returned to Stockholm. Mr. Springer, the Swedish Consul in London, an old friend of Swedenborg’s, has left the following interesting record of some incidents connected with his return. “Swedenborg was about to depart for Sweden, and desired me to procure him a good c
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CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXII.
A wise man might well suspect the soundness of any system of morals which did not take into careful consideration the conjugial relation. Marriage—the most important event in life, the relation which occupies the whole thought of one sex, and the most serious regards of the other, the institution around which all that is highest find holiest in life groups itself, family, home, all that human hearts hold dear—must ever hold a prominent place in a true code of moral and spiritual laws. How then c
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CHAPTER XXIII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
In the spring of 1769, Swedenborg published at Amsterdam, A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church, “in which work,” he says, writing to Dr. Beyer, “are fully shown the errors of the existing doctrines of justification by faith alone, and of the imputation of the righteousness or merits of Jesus Christ.” He sent the little book to all the clergy throughout Holland, and to the most eminent in Germany; but, on second thought, sent only one copy to Sweden, to Dr. Beyer, requesting him t
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CHAPTER XXIV.
CHAPTER XXIV.
“The Brief Exposition of the Doctrines of the New Church” is an exposition effected by means of comparisons between the doctrines of the New Church and those of Catholics and Protestants. The work is avowedly only a sketch, and the precursor of a larger book—“The True Christian Religion”—a work of some years, which will shortly demand our attention. The Catholic doctrinals are taken from the records of the Council of Trent; and the Protestant from the Formula Concordiæ, composed by persons attac
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CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXV.
On Swedenborg’s arrival in Stockholm, he found that the long peace he had enjoyed from external interference and persecution was at an end. The first manifestation of hostility took place in the seizure of some copies of his treatise on Conjugial Love, at Norkjoping, which he had sent from England, intending to present them to his countrymen. The ground of their seizure was, a law prohibiting the introduction of any works into Sweden at variance with the Lutheran faith. The seizure having taken
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CHAPTER XXVI.
CHAPTER XXVI.
On the voyage to Amsterdam, the ship that carried Swedenborg being detained, by adverse winds, off Elsinore, General Tuxen, hearing that Swedenborg was in the offing, determined to improve the opportunity; and, taking a boat, went off to see him. Introduced by the captain into the cabin, he found Swedenborg seated in an undress,—his elbows on the table, and his hands supporting his face, which was turned towards the door,—his eyes open and much elevated. The General at once addressed him. At thi
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CHAPTER XXVII.
CHAPTER XXVII.
In the early part of 1771, Swedenborg published his “True Christian Religion, or, Universal Theology of the New Church;” and in August of the same year took ship, and left Amsterdam for London. Let us now turn to the consideration of his last great work,—a summary of the doctrines he was commissioned to teach. “The True Christian Religion, containing the Universal Theology of the New Church,” the last work published by Swedenborg, may be looked upon as the summary of his spiritual thought, his t
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CHAPTER XXVIII.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Swedenborg arrived in London, from Amsterdam, in August, 1771, and took up his abode in lodgings he had before occupied in the house of Shearsmith, a peruke maker, at 26 Great Bath street, Cold Bath fields. From Shearsmith we learn several interesting items of intelligence regarding Swedenborg’s habits and mode of life. The dress that he generally wore when he went out to visit, was a suit of black velvet, (made after an old fashion,) a pair of long ruffles, a curiously hilted sword, and a gold-
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CHAPTER XXIX.
CHAPTER XXIX.
On Christmas eve, 1771, a stroke of apoplexy deprived Swedenborg of his speech, and lamed one side. He lay afterwards in a lethargic state for more than three weeks, taking no sustenance beyond a little tea without milk, and cold water occasionally, and once a little currant jelly. At the end of that time, he recovered his speech and health somewhat, and ate and drank as usual. Mr. Hartley and Dr. Messiter at this time visited him, and asking him if he was comforted with the society of angels, a
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