In a letter from Swedenborg to the Duke of Hesse, he says, " in your gracious letter you ask how I at tained to be in society with angels and spirits, and whether that privilege can be communicated from one person to another. Deign then to receive fa vorably this answer. The Lord, our Saviour, had foretold that he would come into the world: and that he would establish there a New Church. But as he cannot come again into the world in per son, it was necessary lie should do it by means of a man, who should not only receive the doctrine of this New Church in his understanding, but publish it by printing; and as the Lord had prepared me for this office from my infancy, he has manifested him self before me, his servant, and sent me to fill it. This took place in the year 1743. He afterwards opened the sight of my spirit, and thus introduced me into the spiritual world, and granted me to see the heavens and many of their wonders, and also the hells, and to speak with angels and spirits, and this continually for 27 years. I declare in all truth that such is the fact. This favour of the Lord in regard to me has only taken place for the sake of the New Church, the doctrine of which is contained in my writings. The gift of conversing with spirits cannot be transmitted from one person to another, unless the Lord open the spiritual sight of that per son." From the time he was thus called of the Lord he devoted all his time and substance to writing and printing his theological works. In order to have his works printed he travelled to Holland, France, and England. In this latter country he died on the 29th March 1772. The principal theological works of Swedenborg are the Arcana Ccelestia, in 12 vols, 8vo. True Christian Religion, 2 vols. 8vo. Heaven and Hell, one vol. 8vo. Conjugal Love, 1 vol.
8vo. Divine Providence, I vol. 8vo. Apocalypse Revealed, 2 vols. 8vo. Apocalypse Explained, 6 vols. 8vo. The Last Judgment, 1 vol. 8vo.
Divine Love and Wisdom, 1 vol. 8vo. Besides these there are many smaller works ; but they ap pear only intended as introductions to the others, or as abridgments of their contents. In these works the following doctrines are developed. I. That there is but one God, one in essence and one in person, in whom there is a Divine Trinity like soul, body, and operation in man, and that the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is that one God. 2. That the humanity derived from the virgin was succes sively put off, and a Divine humanity put on in its stead : and this was the glorification of the son of man. 3. That redemption consisted in the subjuga tion of the powers of hell, whereby man was deliv ered from the bondage of evils and falses, and that it was thus an actual work on the part of the Lord, for the sake and happiness of man. 4. That faith alone does not justify and save man: but he must have faith, charity and good works, and thus, by the actual union of will and understanding, knowing, loving and doing the commandments, be come regenerated. 5. That the sacred scripture or Word of God is divinely inspired in every par ticular, and contains a natural, spiritual, and celes tial sense, and is thus applicable to angels in heaven, as well as to men on earth: and that the letter of the Word is in every part purely correspondential: and therefore the science of correspondence, or the analogy between natural and spiritual things, is the key whereby the Word is opened in its genuine spiritual sense. 6. That man enters immediately after death into the spiritual world, leaving his body, which will never be reassumed: and continues to all eternity a man in a human form, with the pos session of all his faculties. Death is therefore a continuation of life: and according to man's pre vailing love, such is his state hereafter. The love of the Lord and the neighbour constitutes heaven; and the love of self and the world constitutes hell: for heaven and hell are not places, but states. 7. That the last judgment spoken of in the New Testament, was effected by the Lord in the spiritual world in the year 1757; it being a judgment upon those in the world of spirits who had been of the former church: the good were then elevated to heaven, and the evil cast down into hell. Thus the way was prepared for the second advent of the Lord, which was a coming not in person but in the power and glory of his Holy Word, and a new spiritual influx being communicated, a New Church would thereby be established. This is signified by the old heaven and the old earth passing away, and the new heaven and the new earth being formed.
These are the leading doctrines contained in Swe denborg's Theological Works. But three of his principal works are chiefly designed to explain the scriptures in the spiritual sense, and in these, to gether with several of his large works, there are interspersed, Memorable relations of things seen and heard in the heaven of angels and in the world of spirits. Swedenborg on all occasions unhesita tingly declared that he had intercourse with the spiritual world: and many facts are related by those personally acquainted with him to prove the truth of his assertion: but he himself always refers alone to the nature of his writings and the things eon tained in them as sufficient to prove to any one that he was so favoured of the Lord. A short time previous to his decease, he was asked by the Rev. Thomas Hartley, Rector of Wynwick, if all he had written was strictly true, he replied "I have written nothing but the truth as you will have it more and more confirmed hereafter all the days of your life; provided you always keep close to the Lord, and faithfully serve him alone, in shunning evils of all kinds as sins against him, and diligently searching his Word, which from beginning to end bears testimony to the truth of the doctrines I have delivered to the world." In a letter to the king of Sweden, Swedenborg says, "I have already in formed your majesty, and beseech you to recal it to mind, that the Lord our Saviour manifested himself to me in a sensible personal appearance; that he has commanded me to write what has been already clone and what I have still to do: that he was afterwards graciously pleased to endow me with the privilege of conversing with angels and spirits, and to be in fellowship with them. I have already declared this more than once to your ma jesty, in the presence of all the royal family, when they were graciously pleased to invite me to their table with five senators and several other persons; this was the only subject discoursed of during the repast. Of this I also spoke afterwards to several other senators; and more openly to Count de Tes sin, Count Bonde and Count Hopken, who are still alive and were satisfied of the truth of it." During the life time of Swedenborg there were many emi nent men in Europe, who gave credit to his mis sion and were the warm advocates of his doctrines. Among these may be mentioned Dr. Gabriel An drew Beyer, Professor of Greek Literature and member of the Consistory at Gottenburg; Dr. Rosen, an eminent Clergyman of the same city; Mr. Robsam, Director of the Bank of Stockholm; Christopher Springer, Swedish Consul at the Port of London; Dr. Messiter, an eminent Physician in London; General Christian Tuxen of Elsincur, in Denmark; John Andrew Van Hopken, prime min ister to the king and secretary to the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences; Mr. CEttinger, Super intendent of the royal mines in Sweden; and the Rev. Thomas Ileartly, Rector of Wynwick in Northamptonshire, England. All these gentlemen were personally and intimately acquainted with Swedenborg, and their letters Ste. show their un doubting confidence in Swedenborg's spiritual com munications. The receivers of his writings are considerable in Europe and America. All his theological works have been translated into Eng lish, and many of them into German and French. We will conclude this notice with an extract from a letter of Count Hopken to General Tuxen. "I have known Swedenborg for two and forty years, and sometime since daily frequented his company. A man who like me has lived long in the world, and even in an extensive career of his life, may have numerous opportunities of knowing men as to their virtues or vices, their weakness or strength; and in consequence thereof, I do not recollect to have ever known any man of more uniformly vir tuous character than Swedenborg; always con tented, never fretful or morose, although through out his life his soul was occupied with sublime thoughts and speculations. He was a true philoso pher and lived like one: he laboured diligently, lived frugally without sordidness; he travelled continually, and his travels cost him no more than if he had lived at home. Ile was gifted with a most happy genius and a fitness for every science, which made him shine in all those he embraced. He possessed a sound judgment upon all occasions; he saw every thing clearly, and expressed himself well on every subject." R0011E.