pearl: her upper robe was scarlet, and underneath it was a stomacher of purple, fastened in front with clasps of rubies. But what surprised me was, that the colours varied according to her aspect in regard to her husband, and also according thereto were sometimes more glittering, and sometimes less; in mutual aspect more, and in oblique aspect less. When I had made these observations, they again discoursed with me; and when the husband spoke, he spoke at the same time as from his wife; and when the wife spoke, she spoke at the same time as from her husband; such was the union of their minds from whence speech flows and on this occasion I also heard the sound or tone of voice of conjugial love; inwardly it was simultaneous, and it likewise proceeded from the delights of a state of innocence and peace. At length they said, 'We are recalled; we must depart:' and instantly they appeared again conveyed in a chariot as before. The way by which they were conveyed was a paved way through flowering shrubberies, from the beds of which rose olive and orange trees laden with fruit. When they approached their own heaven they were met by several virgins, who welcomed and introduced them."

In connection with this subject it may be related that Swedenborg once said he had seen his allotted wife in the spiritual world, who was waiting for him, and who had been in this world a Countess Gyllenborg. The anecdote is merely traditional, yet it is one we like to believe.

CHAPTER 23.

Attacked by Dr Ekebom.

Visits France. Letter to

Hartley, and Hartley's opinion of Swedenborg.

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 thoughts sent only one copy to Sweden, to Dr Beyer, requesting him to keep it to himself, for true divinity in Sweden was in a wintry state.

Swedenborg's long preservation from attack and controversy, at this time came to an end. On the 22nd of March, 1769, Dr Ekebom, Dean of the Theological Faculty of Gottenburg, laid before the Consistory there a series of objections against Swedenborg's theological writings, laden with untruth, and full of personal in

vective. The Dean branded his doctrine "as in the highest degree heretical, and, on points the most tender to every Christian, Socinian." He stated further that he "did not know Assessor Swedenborg's religious system, and should take no pains to come at the knowledge of it." As for Swedenborg's chief works, he "did not possess them, and had neither read nor seen them." Swedenborg's written reply, transmitted from Holland, was mild and effectual. He cited his writings themselves, and proved that according to Scripture, the Apostolic Creed, and whatever was not self-contradictory in the orthodoxy of the churches, his doctrine was anything but heretical. But the self-acknowledged ignorance and prejudice of the Dean, were not to be removed by anything he might say. "Was not this," to quote Swedenborg's own words, “to be blind in the forehead, and to have eyes behind, and even those covered with a film. To see and decide upon writings in such a fashion, can any secular or ecclesiastical judge regard as otherwise than criminal ?”

About the end of May, or the beginning of June, Swedenborg left Amsterdam for Paris, "with a design which," in writing to Dr Beyer, he says, "must not be made public beforehand." We hardly understand the remark, except that he anticipated some difficulty with regard to the object of his journey,-the publication of another little work, entitled, "The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body," in the French capital.

On his arrival in Paris, Swedenborg submitted his tract to M. Chevreuil, Censor Royal, who, having read it, informed him that a tacit permission to publish would be granted, on condition, as was customary in the case of doubtful books, that the title should say, printed at London," or "at Amsterdam." This, Swedenborg's nice sense of truth and honour could not submit to, and he abandoned his scheme of publication in Paris. His enemies in Gottenburg then circulated a report that he had been ordered to quit Paris, which he in a letter to Dr Beyer denied as a direct falsehood, and appealed for the truth of his case to the Swedish Ambassador to France.

"Rumour also," writes Wilkinson, "has been busy with Swedenborg upon this journey. The French "Universal Biography" connects him with an artist, -Elie,-who, it is alleged, supplied him with money, and furthered his presumed designs. Indeed he has been accused of a league with the illuminés, and with a certain politico-theological freemasonry, centuries old, but always invisible, which was to overturn society, and foster revolutions all over the world. We can only say that our researches have not elicited these particulars, and that every authentic document shows that Swedenborg stood always upon his own basis, accepted money from no one, and was just what he appeared-a theological missionary, and nothing more.'

The short visit to Paris was terminated by his departure for London,

where, unfettered by censors, he published his little book-"The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body."

One of Swedenborg's warmest and most intelligent English friends, was the Rev. Thomas Hartley, A.M., rector of Winwick, Northamptonshire, -himself an author, and assistant translator of the first English edition of "Heaven and Hell." At this time he wrote to Swedenborg, fearing that he might be in want of money, and offering to supply his needs; also requesting an account of his past life and connections, as a means of refuting calumnies. In his reply, Swedenborg satisfied him on these points. He says to Mr Hartley, "I take pleasure in the friendship you express for me in your letter, and return you sincere thanks for the same: but as to the praises you bestow upon me, I only receive them as tokens of your love of the truths contained in my writings, and so refer them to the Lord and Saviour, from whom is all truth, because he is the Truth. (John 14. 6.)”

"I live on terms of familiarity and friendship with all the bishops of my country, who are ten in number; as also with the sixteen senators, and the rest of the nobility; for they know that I am in fellowship with angels. The King and Queen also, and the three princes, their sons, show me much favour. I was once invited by the King and Queen to dine at their table,-an honour which is, in general, granted only to the nobility of the highest rank; and likewise, since, with the hereditary Prince. They all wished for my return home, so far am I from being in any danger of persecution in my own country, as you seem to apprehend, and so kindly wish to provide against; and should anything of the kind befall me elsewhere, it cannot hurt me. But I regard all that I have mentioned as matters of little moment; for, what far exceeds them, I have been called to a holy office by the Lord himself, who most graciously manifested himself in person to me, his servant, in the year 1743; when he opened my sight to the view of the spiritual world, and granted me the privilege of conversing with spirits and angels, which I enjoy to this day. I am a Fellow, by invitation, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm: but I have never sought admission into any other Literary Society, as I belong to an angelic society, wherein things relating to heaven and the soul are the only subjects of discourse and entertainment; whereas the things which occupy the attention of our Literary Societies are such as relate to the world and the body. As for the world's wealth, I have what is sufficient, and more I neither seek nor wish for. Your letter has drawn the mention of these things from me, with the view, as you suggest, that any ill-grounded prejudices may be removed. Farewell! and from my heart I wish you all felicity in this world and in the next; which I make no doubt of your attaining, if you look and pray to our Lord.-E. Swedenborg." Dated, London, 1769.

Mr Hartley, in 1781, when far advanced in years, thus gives his opinion of Swedenborg :

'The great Swedenborg was a man of uncommon humility. He was of a catholic spirit, and loved all good men of every church, making at the same time all candid allowance for the innocence of involuntary error. However self-denying in his own person, as to gratifications and indulgences, even within the bounds of moderation, yet nothing severe, nothing of the precisian, appeared in him; but on the contrary, an inward serenity and complacency of mind were manifest in the sweetness of his looks and outward demeanour. It may reasonably be supposed that I have weighed the character of our illustrious author in the scale of my best judgment, from the personal knowledge I had of him, from the best information I could procure respecting him, and from a diligent perusal of his writings; and according thereto, I have found him to be the sound divine, the good man, the deep philosopher, the universal scholar, and the polite gentleman; and I further believe, that he had a high degree of illumination from the spirit of God, was commissioned by Him as an extraordinary messenger to the world, and had communication with angels and the spiritual world far beyond any since the time of the Apostles. As such, I offer his character to the world, solemnly declaring, that, to the best of my knowledge, I am not herein led by any partiality or private views whatever, being now dead to every worldly interest, and accounting myself as unworthy of any higher character than that of a penitent sinner."

Two others of Swedenborg's English friends were Dr Messiter and Dr Hampé, who had been preceptor to George I. From a letter of Dr Messiter's, we extract the following remarks on Swedenborg's

character:

"I have had the honour of being frequently admitted to Swedenborg's company, when in London; and to converse with him on various points of learning, and I will venture to affirm, that there are no parts of mathematical, philosophical, or medical knowledge, nay, I believe I might justly say, of human literature, to which he is in the least a stranger; yet so totally insensible is he of his own merit, that I am confident he does not know that he has any; and, as he himself somewhere says of the angels, he always turns his head away on the slightest encomium."

Swedenborg's stay in England at this time does not seem to have been longer than sufficed for the transaction of his business; for in September, 1769, he sailed for Stockholm, arriving there at the beginning of October. But we must now suspend the narrative of his life to offer a few remarks on his little works-"A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church," and "The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body."

66

CHAPTER 24.

Brief Exposition of the Doctrines of the New Church." and "The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body."

"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 attached to the Augsburg Confession. The disagreements between the tenets of the Old and New Churches are considered under twenty-five Articles, the heads of which we will condense and present to the reader.

The Churches which, by the Reformation, separated themselves from the Roman Catholic Church, differ in various points of doctrine; but they all agree in the Articles concerning a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, original sin from Adam, imputation of the merit of Christ, and justification by faith alone. The Roman Catholics, before the Reformation, held and taught exactly the same things as the Reformed did after it, in respect to these points; only with this difference, that they conjoined faith with charity or good works.

The leading Reformers, Luther, Melancthon, and Calvin, retained all the tenets concerning a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, original sin, imputation of the merits of Christ, and justification by faith, just as they were, and had been, among the Roman Catholics; but they separated charity or good works from that faith, and declared at the same time that they were not of a saving efficacy, with a view to be totally severed from the Roman Catholics as to the very essentials of the Church, which are faith and charity. Nevertheless the leading Reformers adjoined good works, and even conjoined them to their faith, but in man as a passive subject; whereas the Roman Catholics conjoin them in man as an active subject; and notwithstanding this, there is actually a conformity between the one and the other as to faith, works, and merit.

The whole system of theology in the Christian world, at this day, is founded on an idea of three Gods, arising from the doctrine of a Trinity of Persons, and when this doctrine is rejected, then all the tenets of the aforesaid theology fall to pieces. The truth of this must be apparent to everyone. The Doctrine of a Trinity of Persons, or three Gods, is the key-stone of Roman Catholic and Protestant theology; and when proved false, as it is false, the whole structure totters to its fall.