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SWEDENBORQ, EMANUEL. 



SWEDENBORQ, EMANUEL. 



850 



to indicate tho least, with just such reservation as our experience of 

 the least necessitates, was designed to throw light on tho intimate 

 structure and occult offices of single organs the Ratne way indeutified 

 tho higher with the lower groups of organs the cranial with the 

 thoracic, and both with the abdominal viscera. Whatever is manifested 

 in the body is transferable to the braiu, aa the source of all functions 

 and structures. If the abdominal organs supply the blood with a 

 terrestrial nourishment, the thoracic supply it with an aerial, and the 

 brain with an ethereal food. If the first-mentioned organs, by the 

 urinary and intestinal passages, eliminate excrements and impurities, 

 BO the lungs by the trachea, and tho brain through the sinuses, reject 

 a subtler defilement. If the hearth and blood-vessels are channels of 

 a corporeal circulation, the brain and nerves, or spirit-vessels, are 

 !.- of a transcendent or spirituous circulation. If the contracti- 

 lity of the arteries and of muscular structures depends on the nervous 

 system, it is because that system is itself eminently contractile, and 

 impels forwards its contents in the most perfect manner. If the lungs 

 have a respiratory rising and falling, and tho heart a contraction and 

 expansion, so the brain has an animatory movement, which embraces 

 both the motions of the lower series. Thus every function is first to 

 be traced to its essential form in the bosom of its own organ, and 

 thence, through an ascending scale, to the brain, " which is eminently 

 muscle, and eminently gland; in a word, which is eminently the 

 microcosm, when the body is regarded as a macrocosm." (' CEcou. 

 li. A. ; ' ' Regn. Anim.') 



On the whole we may admit these works to be a grand consolidation 

 of human knowledge; an attempt to combine and re-organise the 

 opinions of all the schools of medicine since the days of Hippocrates. 

 The doctrines of the fluidists, of the mechanical and chemical physi- 

 cians, and of the vitalists and solidists, as well as the methods of the 

 dogmatists and empirics, and evea the miscellaneous novelties of the 

 present day, have each a proportion and a place in the catholic system 

 of Swed^-nborg. His works however are a dead letter to the medical 

 profession, or known only to its erudite members through the mis- 

 statements of Haller. (Haller's 'Bibliotheca Auatomica,' torn. ii. pp. 

 328, 329, Tiguri, 1777.) 



Swedenborg was in his fifty-eighth year when he published the last 

 of the foregoing volumes, and from this period ho assumed a new 

 character, of which he gave the following account: "I have been 

 called to a holy office by the Lord, who most graciously manifested 

 himself in persorrto me, his servant, in the year 1745, and opened my 

 sight into the spiritual world, endowing me with the gift of conversing 

 with spirits and angels." However repulsive such statements are to 

 the generality of mankind, they are not a priori objectionable to those 

 who admit the inspiration of the seers and prophets of the Bible : 

 after such an admission of the supernatural, each particular case of 

 the kind becomes a simple question of evidence. The event above 

 alluded to happened to Swedenborg in the middle of April 1745, at 

 an inn in London. The manner of its occurrence is recorded by M. 

 Robsahm, director of the bank of Stockholm, who was a trusted 

 friend of Swedeuborg, and had the narration from him personally. 

 (See Eobsahm's ' Memo-iron,' in Tafel's 'Swedenborg's Leben,' pp. 8 

 to 10, Tubingen, 1842.) From this period, Swedenborg entirely for- 

 sook the pursuit of science, nor does he once allude, in his works on 

 theology, to his former scientific labours. He still however took part 

 in the proceedings of the Diet, and in that of 1761 he is stated by 

 Count Hopken to have presented the best memorial on the subject of 

 finance. 



He returned from London to Sweden in August 1745, and immedi- 

 ately devoted himself to the study of Hebrew and the diligent perusal 

 of the scriptures. He continued to discharge the duties of assessor 

 of the Board of Mines till 1747, when he asked and obtained his 

 majesty's permission to retire from it ; adding also two other requests, 

 which were granted that he might enjoy as a pension the salary of 

 the office ; and that he might be allowed to decline the higher rank 

 which was offered him on his retirement. The materials for the sub- 

 sequent part of Swedenborg's biography are exceedingly scanty. He 

 was now either actively engaged in writing his theological works, or 

 was travelling in foreign countries to publish them. When he was at 

 home he had a house in the environs of Stockholm, with a large 

 garden, in which he took great delight. He frequently resided in 

 Amsterdam and in London. The highest personages in Sweden testi- 

 fied to the consistency with which he maintained the assertion of his 

 spiritual intercourse. On one or two occasions, they say, he gave 

 proof of his professions. Baron Giimm, after describing him as "a 

 man not only distinguished by his honesty, but by his knowledge and 

 intelligence," says of one of these occurrences, " This fact is confirmed 

 by authorities so respectable, that it is impossible to deny it; but the 

 question is, how to believe it." ('Mdm. Hist. Lit. et Anecdot., &c.,' 

 par le Baron de Grimm, torn. iii. p. 56, ed. London, 1813.) Itnmanuel 

 Kant sifted another of these stories to the bottom, and declared that 

 " Professor Schlegel had informed him that it could by no means be 

 doubted ; " and added, " they set the assertion respecting Sweden- 

 borg's extraordinary gift beyond possibility of doubt." (' Darstellung 

 des Lebens und Charakters Immanuel Kants,' Konigsber?, 1804.) 

 Swedenborg however laid no stress on such proofs,. " because," said he, 

 " they compel only an external belief, but do not convince the 

 internal." During his latter years, Bishop Filenius and Dr. Ekebon 



moo. DIV. VOL. v. 



instigated a prosecution against him in the consistory of Gottenburg, 

 whence it was transferred to the Diet. Dr. Ekebon denounced 

 his doctrines as "full of the most intolerable fundamental error*, 

 seducing, heretical, and captious ;" and stattd furthermore, that he " did 

 not know Assessor Swedenborg's religious system, and would take no 

 pains to come at tho knowledge of it." Swedenborg came out of 

 these trials with safety, unaccused by the Diet, and protected by the 

 king. Towards Christmas 1771, while in London, he had a stroke of 

 the palsy, from which ho never perfectly recovered. A report has 

 been circulated that he recanted his claims during his last illness, but 

 this is a mistake. M. Ferelius, minister cf the Swedish Lutheran 

 church in London, who visited him on his death-bed, and administered 

 the sacrament to him, wrote as follows (31st March 1780) to Professor 

 Ti iitgard of Greifswalde, " I asked him if he thought he was going to 

 die, and he answered in the affirmative; upon which I requested him 

 since many believed that he had invented his new theological system 

 merely to acquire a great name (which ho had certainly obtained), to 

 take this opportunity of proclaiming the real truth to the world, and 

 to recant either wholly or in part what he had advanced; especially 

 as his pretensions could now be of no further uso to him. Upon this 

 Swedenborg raised himself up in bed, and, placing his hand upon his 

 breast, said with earnestness, ' Everything that I have written is as 

 true as that you now behold me : I might have said much more had 

 it been permitted me. After death you will see all, and then we shall 

 have much to say to each other on this subject.' (Ferelius, ' Ueber 

 Swedeuborg's Ende,' in Tafel's ' Leben.') Swedenborg died at London, 

 in Great Bath Street, Coldbath Fields, on the 29th of March 1772, in 

 the eighty-fifth year of his age. His body was buried in the Swedish 

 church in Ratcliff Highway. 



The following is a list of his theological works : -1, 'Arcana Coeles- 

 tia,' 8 vols. 4to, London, 1749 to 1756; 2, 'An Account of the Last 

 Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon;' 3, 'On Heaven and 

 Hell ; ' 4, 'On the White Horse mentioned in the Apocalypse ; ' 5, 

 ' On the Earths in the Universe ; ' 6, 'On the New Jerusalem and its 

 Heavenly Doctrine,' 4to, London, 1758; 7, ' The Four leading Doc- 

 trines of the New Church on the Lord, on the Holy Scriptures, on 

 Life, and on Faith ; ' 8, 'A continuation of the Account of the Last 

 Judgment;' 9, ' On the Divine Love and Wisdom,' 4to, Amsterdam, 

 1763; 10, 'On the Divine Providence,' 4to, Amsterdam, 1764; 11, 

 'Apocalypse Revealed,' 4 to, Amsterdam, 1766 ; 12, 'Delights of Wisdom 

 concerning Conjugial Love, and Pleasures of Insanity concerning Scor- 

 tatory Love,' 4to, Amsterdam, 1763 ; 13, ' On the Intercourse between 

 the Soul and Body,' 4to, London, 1769 ; 14, ' A brief Exposition of the 

 Doctrine of the New Church,' 4to, Amsterdam, 1769; 15, 'True 

 Christian Religion,' 4to, London, 1771. As a specimen of Swedenborg's 

 interpretation of the Holy Scripture, the reader may consult the 

 'Apocalypse Revealed;' for a concise view of his alleged experiences, 

 the 'Heaven and Hell' may be resorted to; for a view of that part 

 of his system which relates to the creation and government of the 

 universe, we recommend the perusal of the 'Divine Love' and 'Divine 

 Providence ; ' for his doctrine concerning the relation of the sexes, 

 and its eternal origin and perpetuity, and for his code of spiritual 

 legislation on marriage and divorce, see the ' Conjugial Love,' one of 

 the most remarkable of these works : finally, the student will find a 

 compendium of the whole of the theology of the New Church in the 

 ' True Christian Religion,' the last and perhaps the finest of the 

 writings of Swedenborg. The whole of these works, originally pub- 

 lished in Latin, have been translated into English, and some of 

 them have passed through several editions both in England and 

 in America. The translations are contained in about thirty octavo 

 volumes. 



Swedeuborg's theological manuscripts, which are preserved in the 

 Royal Academy tit Stockholm, are very voluminous. The following 

 have been published: ' Coronis ad veram Christianam Religio- 

 nem,' 4to, Lond., 1780; 'Apocalypsis Explicata,' 4 torn. 4 to, Lond., 

 1785,-86,-88,-89; 'Index Rerum in Apocalypsi Revelatarum,' 1813; 

 'Index Verborum, &c., in Arcanis Coelestibus,' 1815 ; 'Doctrina de 

 Charitate,' 8vo, Lond., 1840 ; ' De Domino,' 8vo, Lond., 1840 ; ' Canones 

 Novse Ecclesise,' 8vo, Lond., 1840; 'Adversaria in Libros Veteria 

 Testament!,' 7 vols. ; and his ' Diarium Spirituale,' which is an unre- 

 served record of his experiences, ranging over a period of sixteen years. 

 Of this extensive work seven parts have been published in ten volumes, 

 of which two volumes are a common index to the Memorabilia of both 

 the ' Diarium' and ' Adversaria ;' this is perhaps the most valuable of 

 Swedeuborg's works, as going far to supply data for a theological 

 biography of the author. 



Swedenborg did not lay claim to inspiration, but to an opening of 

 his spiritual sight, and a rational instruction in spiritual things, which 

 was granted, as he said, "not for any merit of his," but to enable him 

 to convey to the world a real knowledge of the nature of heaven and 

 hell, and thus of man's future existence. According to Swedenborp, 

 heaven and hell are not in space, but they are internal and spiritual 

 states, so that intromission into the spiritual world is only the opening 

 of an interior consciousness. The outward face of the spiritual world 

 resembles that of the natural world in every particular, and man's 

 spiritual body appears precisely similar to his natural body ; but the 

 difference is that all the objects of tho spiritual world represent and 

 change with the spiritual states of its inhabitants; the magnificent 



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