S51 



SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL. 



SWEDENBORG, EMANUEL. 



852 



objects in the heavens being actually determined according to the good 

 affections of the angels; and the terrible appearances in the hells 

 being an outbirth of the evil and falsity of the infernals. Heaven 

 and hell are from mankind, and all angels and devils have once been 

 men, either on this or other planets ; for all the planets are inhabited, 

 Einco the human race, and the formation of heaven therefrom, is the 

 final end of creation. The Satan and Devil of Holy Scripture is not 

 a person, but a collective name of hell. The "last judgment men- 

 tioned in the Gospels " does not mean the destruction of the world, 

 which, like every divine work, has respect to infinity and eternity, and 

 will endure for ever, but " a judgment in the spiritual world, since all 

 who die are gathered together there, and since it is man's spirit which 

 is judged." This judgment commences for every individual imme- 

 diately after death. Judgment is carried into effect on a church when 

 its charity is extinct, and faith alone remains, and such judgment is 

 attended by a plenary separation of the good from the evil, that is, by 

 a formation of new heavens and new hells, and followed by the insti- 

 tution on earth of a new church. The judgment on the first Christian 

 church took place in the year 1757 (so Swedenborg asserts), and was 

 witnessed by him in the spiritual world, after which commenced the 

 descent from the new heaven of the new church and its doctrine, 

 signified by the Apocalyptic New Jerusalem. The particulars of the 

 faith of this church on the part of man are 1. "That there is one 

 God ; that there is a Divine Trinity in Him, and that he is the Lord 

 God and Saviour Jesus Christ. 2. That saving faith consists in 

 believing on Him. 3. That evil actions ought not to be done, because 

 they are of the devil, and from the devil. 4. That good actions 

 ought to be done, because they are of God and from God. 5. And 

 that they should be done by man, as of himself; nevertheless under 

 the belief that they are from the Lord, operating in him and by him. 

 The two first particulars have relation to faith ; the two next, to 

 charity ; and the last, to the conjunction of charity and faith, and 

 thereby of the Lord and man." Concerning the Word of God, 

 Swedenborg taught that in its origin it is the divine truth itself, 

 infinite in the Lord ; that in proceeding through the three heavens 

 it is accommodated to the recipiency of the angels by successive 

 veilings ; that in the highest heaven it puts on an appearance accom- 

 modated to angelic affections, and is there read in its celestial sense ; 

 in the middle and lower heavens it is clothed by forms adequate to 

 the intelligence and knowledge of the angels there, and is read in its 

 spiritual sense ; and in the Church it is presented in a natural and 

 historical form, which is adapted to the understandings of men on 

 earth. This last form thus contains and corresponds to a spiritual and 

 celestial form or meaning, which Swedenborg declares he was taught 

 by the Lord in the spiritual world, and which he unfolded at length 

 in his great work, the ' Arcana Ccelestia.' " The Books of the Word," 

 eays Swedenborg, "are all those that have the internal sense ; but 

 those which have not the internal sense are not the Word. The 

 Books of the Word in the Old Testament are the five Books of Moses, 

 the Book of Joshua, the Book of Judges, the two Books of Samuel, 

 the two Books of Kings, the Psalms, the Prophets Isaiah and Jere- 

 miah, the Lamentations, the Prophets Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, 

 Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, 

 Zechariah, and Malachi. In the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, 

 Luke, John, and the Apocalypse." Although the writings of Paul 

 and the other apostles are not in this list, and are described by 

 Swedenborg, in a letter to Dr. Beyer, to be " dogmatic (or doctrinal) 

 writings merely, and not written in the style of the Word;" yet in 

 the same letter he says, " Nevertheless, the writings of the Apostles 

 are to be regarded as excellent books, and to be held in the highest 

 esteem, for they insist on the two essential articles of charity and faith 

 in the same manner as the Lord himself has done in the Gospels and 

 in the Apocalypse." 



Swedenborg was a methodical man, and laid down certain rules for 

 the guidance of his life. These are found written in various parts of 

 his manuscripts as follows : " 1. Often to read and meditate on the 

 Word of God. 2. To submit everything to the will of Divine Provi- 

 dence. 3. To observe in everything a propriety of behaviour, and 

 always to keep the conscience clear. 4. To discharge with fidelity the 

 functions of his employment and the duties of his office, and to render 

 himself in all things useful to society." On these precepts he formed 

 his character. Count Hopken, prime minister of Sweden, says of him, 

 " I have not only known Swedenborg these two-and-forty years, but 

 some time since frequented his company daily : I do not recollect to 

 have ever known any man of more uniformly virtuous character." 

 Sandel says, " He was the sincere friend of mankind, and, in his 

 examination of the character of others, he was particularly desirous 

 to discover in them this virtue, which he regarded as an infallible 

 proof of many more. As a public functionary he was upright and 

 just : he discharged his duty with great exactness, and neglected 

 nothing but his own advancement. He lived in the reigns of many 

 princes, and enjoyed the particular favour and kindness of them all. 

 He enjoyed most excellent health, having scarcely ever experienced 

 the slightest indisposition. Content within himself, and with his 

 situation, his life was in all respects one of the happiest that ever fell 

 to the lot of man." Swedenborg was never married. He was about 

 five feet nine inches high, rather thin, and of a brown complexion : 

 his eyes were of a brownish-gray, nearly hazel, and somewhat small. 



He was never seen to laugh, but always had a cheerful smile on his 

 countenance. "Many would suppose," says Ferelius, " that Assessor 

 Swedenborg was a very eccentric person ; but, on the contrary, he was 

 very agreeable and easy in society, conversed on all the topics of the 

 day, accommodated himself to his company, and never alluded to his 

 principles unless he was questioned, in which case he answered freely, 

 just as he wrote of them. But if he observed that any one put 

 impertinent questions, or designed to trifle with him, he answered in 

 such a manner that the querist was silenced without beinq; satisfied." 



(For further particulars the reader may consult Sandel's Euloyium 

 to the Memory of Swedenborg, pronounced Oct. 7, 1772, translation, 

 London, 1834 ; Documents concerning the Life and Character of E. 

 Swedenborg, collected by Dr. I. F. I. Tafel, Tubingen, and edited in 

 English by Rev. I. H. Smithson, London, 1841 ; Swedecborg, Diarium 

 Spirituals; Life of Swedenborg, with an Account of his Writings, by 

 Hobart, Boston, U.S., 1831; Tafel's Swedenborg's Leben; TJte New 

 Jerusalem Magazine, 1790-91 ; F. Walden's Assessor Svcdenborg's Levntt, 

 AdsikiUige Udtog of sammes slcrivlcr nogle blandede Tanker, tilligemed 

 Svedenborg's System i kort udfog, Kiobenhaven, 1806 and 1820; Lager- 

 bring, Sammandrag af Swea-Rikes Historia, 8vo, Stockholm, 1778-80; 

 Introduction, &c. to Swedenborg's Writings, by J. J. Garth Wilkinson.) 



THE SWEDENBORGIANS, as the people are called who believe in the 

 mission of Emanuel Swedenborg to promulgate the doctrines of the 

 New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in the Apocalypse, may 

 in this country be divided into two portions : one of which forms 

 the denomination known as such to the world; while the other 

 portion remains without visible separation from the communion of the 

 Established Church. The first public asssociation of the Sweden- 

 borgians took place in 1788, in Great Eastcheap, London; since that 

 time, societies have been formed in nearly all our large towns; until 

 they now amount to about fifty, of which the greater number are in 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire. On the Census Sunday, March 30, 1851, 

 there were fifty places of worship belonging to the New Church in 

 England and Wales, containing accommodation for 11,865 persons, 

 and actually attended by 4652 persons in the morning and 2978 in 

 the evening; but, as noted in the Census Report, it is maintained by 

 members of the Church "that the mere number of their chapels gives 

 a very inadequate idea of the prevalence of their opinions ; as many, 

 they say, ostensibly connected with other churches, entertain the pro- 

 minent doctrines of the New Church." The societies sead delegates 

 to an annual conference. In the United States of America the 

 members of the New Jerusalem Church are numerous and well 

 organised : they have three distinct annual conventions, of which that 

 for the Eastern States meets at Boston ; that for the Southern at 

 Philadelphia ; and that for the Western, at Cincinnati. In France the 

 doctrines of Swedenborg have excited much attention, partly through 

 the writings of his eloquent disciple Richer, of Nantes ; and through 

 the French translations of Swedenborg's works, which were executed 

 by J. P. Moet, and published by John Augustus Tulk. In Germany, 

 Swedenborg has long had isolated readers, like the learned librarian 

 to the King of Wiirtemberg, Dr. I. F. I. Tafel, knowu through Ger- 

 many for his editions of the original works of Swedenborg, for his 

 translations of the same, and for the elaborate works he has published 

 in their defence. In Sweden, bishops and doctors of the Lutheran 

 Church have favoured the claims of Swedenborg. Swedenborgianism 

 has also taken deep root in several of the British colonies. The non- 

 separatist Swedenborgians comprise many members, and even clergy- 

 men, of the Church of England. The Rev. Thomas Hartley, rector 

 of Winwick, in Northamptonshire, the Rev. John Clowes, rector of 

 St. John's, Manchester, and the Rev. William Hill, were the first 

 translators of the large works of Swedenborg. The Swedenborgians 

 have several public institutions, the most flourishing of which is that 

 entitled the ' Society for printing and publishing the Writings of 

 Emanuel Swedenborg, instituted in London in 1810,' which annually 

 prints and circulates a great number of his works. They have also a 

 London Missionary and Tract Society, and Tract Societies at Bath, 

 Birmingham, Glasgow, and Manchester. There are two Liturgies in 

 general use among the Swedenborgians : 1, The ' Book of Worship,' 

 .Boston, United States, embodying a very simple form of worship, 

 consisting chiefly of passages from the Scripture, and chants from the 

 Psalms; 2, The 'Liturgy of the New Church, prepared by order of 

 the General Conference,' London, which is used throughout this 

 country, and contains a more formal service than that adopted in 

 America. From the latter we may conveniently borrow the twelve 

 'Articles of Faith,' "condensed," as they are, "from the Writings of 

 Swedenborg, adopted by the General Conference, and recognised as a 

 standard of Doctrine by the whole body of Swedenborgians." 



" The Articles of Faith of the New Church signified by the New 

 Jerusalem in the Revelation are these : 



" 1, That Jehovah God, the creator and preserver of heaven and 

 earth, is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself and truth itself : 

 that he is one both in essence and in person, in whom, nevertheless, 

 is the Divine Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which are the 

 essential divinity, the divine humanity, and the divine proceeding, 

 answering to the soul, the body, and the operative energy in man ; 

 and that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that God. 



" 2, That Jehovah God himself descended from l\eaven, as divine 

 truth, which is the Word, and took upon him human nature, for the 



