300 BiograpJiy of Swedenborg. 



BIOGKAPHY OF SWEDENBOKG.* 



A new life of Swedenborg, with an account of his writings, in 

 two bulky volumes, might seem a somewhat perilous experiment 

 upon the taste of the public, and still more so when, as is the 

 case with Mr. White's labours, they can scarcely expect to be 

 accepted as representing the views of the small though ener- s 

 getic sect of which the celebrated Swede is the apostle and 

 prophet. As is the case with nearly all the biographical works 

 that are produced in these days, the present one has the faults 

 of diffusiveness and prolixity. It is written from a point of view 

 remote from that of philosophical criticism, and, in many 

 passages, almost equally so from that of faith in the pretensions 

 of its subject. Mr. White may, perhaps, object to the latter 

 part of this remark, and it is only fair to cite his concluding 

 words, in which he exclaims, " time only adds to the power 

 and clear shining of my author's fame/' and affirms that 

 although his claim is " an awful one/' " yet the more I study 

 his writings, and learn to disregard their extraneous encum- 

 brances, the more credible does the claim become." 



The popular idea of Swedenborg is simply that of a clever 

 man suffering from cerebral derangement, and taking the 

 visions of a disordered imagination for a positive insight into 

 the mysteries of the spirit- world. A little investigation into 

 the personal character and proceedings of the mystic philoso- 

 pher, as he is displayed in Mr. White's pages, will somewhat 

 modify this idea. Those who accept Swedenborg' s claims as 

 prophet and seer, will, of course, deny that he laboured under 

 chronic hallucination, or that cerebral derangement tinctured 

 and characterized all his speculations. On the other hand, 

 those who can see no reason for supposing the illustrious Swede 

 to have been supernaturally endowed, or enlightened, will 

 regard his case as worthy of careful study, upon psychological 

 and medical grounds, and will be induced to place him amongst 

 a class of persons who, in various ages of the world, have 

 exercised great and often enduring influence over their fellow- 

 men, and in whom the normal action of the intellectual powers 

 was modified, though not entirely dominated, by delusion and 

 disease. In many mystics a much greater excitation of the 

 moral and emotional nature was manifested than Swedenborg 

 displayed. In him, the rationalizing and philosophical element 

 predominated all through, and his visions revealed nothing 

 that was not in accordance with the general tenor of thought, 

 proceeding logically from the facts which he was acquainted 



* Emanuel Swedenborg : his Life and Writings. By William White. 2 vols. 

 Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. 



