Published to mark the Utree hundredth anniversary in 1988 of the birUt of Emanuel Swedenborg.

The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg are published by: The Swedenborg Society. Swedenborg House. 20-21 Bloomsbury Way. London WelA 2TH The Swedenborg Foundatioll 139 t:ast 23rd Street. New York. N.Y.lOOlO. U.S.A.

1

A SWEDENBORG SCRAPBOOK

SEMINAR BOOKS. LONDON.

A Swedenborg Scrapbook. Brian Kingslake © Copyright. Seminar Books 1986 Published by The Missionary Society of the New Church Swedenborg House, 20 Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2TH Distributed by New Church House 34 John Dalton Street. Manchester M2 6LE Set in 9/11 Benguiat by Gatehouse Wood Ltd, Sevenoaks Printed in England by John Whittingdale Ltd, Bishops Stortford

Designed by G. Roland Smith

First published 1986

ISBN 0 907295 16 9

Picture Acknowledgements

The pllblishers grateflilly acknowledge help in the provision of pictllres from: The Author, The National Missionary Board of the General Conference of the New Church, The Swedenborg Society, and Miss Kathleen Prince.

2

A SWEDENBORG SCRAPBOOK

Brian Kingslake

Part 1

Part Il

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

Part VIII

Part IX

Part X

Part XI

Part XII

Addendum

Birth and Family Surname

The Young Emanuel Swedberg

Assessor of Mines, Physicist, Anatomist

The Dawn of Spiritual Consciousness

The Homestead

A Pilgrimage

Communicating with Spirits

The Last Judgment

The Writings of the New Church

New-Church Day

Amsterdam Interlude

London Postlude

Wesley and Swedenborg

Death and Funeral

The Skull

ln Eternity

Chronological Table

4

A Swedenborg Scrapbook

INTRODUCTION

This is not just another biography of Emanuel Swedenborg. There are plenty of excellent ones already avaUable. (Over a hundred are Iisted in Uyde's Bibliography.) ln fact, much of what 1 have written here takes for granted that the reader is fairly famiIiar with the detaUs of Swedenborg's lite and work. If he isn't, 1 would refer hint to "The Swedenborg Epie" by Cyriel Odhner Sigstedt - an incredible achievement of biography, packed full of facts and information. Or to Signe Toksvig's equally brilliant study, "Emanuel Swedenborg, Scientist and Mystie", which specializes on bis inteUectual and psycbic development. Both of these fine works have recenUybeen reprinted, the first in England and the other in America.

For myself, 1 regard this Iitue Scrapbook as a companion to my own small volume: "Swedenborg Explores the Spiritual Dimension:" published by Seminar Books, London, in 1981 •

What 1 have done here is to shine a spoUight on a number of selected aspects and incidents of Swedenborg's lite which have particularly

interested me, and made my comments on them. 1 began with the notes 1 made for an address to the Swedenborg Society in London in celebration of Swedenborg's birtbday in January 1980 after which several people asked me to write them down on paper. As 1 typed out my notes, the material grew in bulk, as other points came to the forefront of my mind (but aU scrapbooks have a tendency to increase in bulk).

The resuIt is that Parts l, Il, and III have turned out to be largely biographicaI, as 1 traced bis development from birth to the age of 60 when he attained to full spiritual illumination and began to write the "Arcana Coelestia". If you are already familiar with this material, you can leap-frog over those parts (uniess you want to rcad them as a refresher­course) and begin with Part IV "The Uomestead", or Part V "'A Pilgrimage." AlI the rest of the book is non-chronological - a kind of Iiterary montage. And it is these latter pages that have given the book its name: A SWEDENBORG SCRAPBOOK.

1 could, of course, have covered a great deal more ground than 1 have done. Perhaps 1 shaU do, one day. But 1 believe that the points 1 have touched on here wiJJ enable the student of Swedenborg to get a c1earer view of the mind and achievements of that remarkable Servant of the Lord. 1 hope so, anyway.

Brian Kingslake 5

A section From the original church register where the birth oF Emanuel Swedenborg is recorded.

The entry reads as follows:

p.178 PARENTES. 1688 PATRINI INFANTES DIES BAPT.

Mag. Jesj'ler. Hr. Hofrad Nordenhjelm. Emanuel,

Swedberg. 1

F. Maria Sylvia. fodd d. 29 Jan. d. 2 Febr. H. Sara Behm. Gen. Auditeuren Fahlstrôm.

F. Ingrid Behm. Hr. Johan Rhenstierna. ' w'

F. Marg. Zachariae d·r.

PARENTS GOD-PARENTS CHILDREN DAY OF BAPTISM.

Dr. Jesper. Mr. COllncillor Nordenlljelm. Emanuel, February 2 Swedberg. Mrs. Maria Sylvia. Born Jan. 29

Wife: Sarah Aliditor General Fahlstrôm. Behm. Mrs. Ingrid Behm.

Mr. Johan Rhenstierna. Mrs. Marg. Zachariae

daughter.

6

1

The CounciIIor l'Iordenhjelm who is registered as the first or the sponsors, was Pror. Anders Nilson Nordenhjelm (1663-1694), at the lime instructor to the erown prince (Charles XII).

l'ru Maria Sylvia was the wire or the officialing clergyman, Pastor Matthias Wagner, who was the rector or St James and chaplain to the court. She is entered here under her maiden name, as was the custom with ladies or the nobility who had married outside their rank.

Auditor-General Fahlstrôm (Baron Ludwig fahlstrôm, 1655­1721) was a childhood rriend or Jesper Swedberg; he afterwards became governor or the province or Westmanland,

l'ru Ingrid Behm was the sister or Sarah Behm, Emanuel's mother, and widow or Major Erland Erling.

Uerr Johan Wilhelm Rhenstiema (1659-1692) was a cousin or Emanuel's mother, and was a chamberlain at the court or the QlIeen-dowager, Hedwig Eleanora. His sister, Anna Maria, married Jesper Swedberg's eider brother, Peter, who, on being ennobled, assllmed the name Schônstrôm.

l'ru Margareta Zacharias daughter (TroiIa) was the dallghter or Zacharias Unosson Troillls, burgomaster or fahilln, and wire or Mikael J Strômberg. a merchant in Stockholm. She was probably one or the childhood rriends or Emanuel's parents.

The entry itselr was written by Jonas Anderson, the c1erk or St. James.

Emanuel Swedenborg. 7

Some Abbreviations

A.C

A.E.

A.R.

B.E.

E.U.

N.D.

Intercourse

L.J.

L.J.Cont.

L.J. Post.

N.C.

N.J.

5.0.

T.C.R.

=Arcana Coelestia

=Apocalypse Explained

=Apocalypse Revealed

=Brief Exposition of the Doctrines

=Earths in the Universe

=Neavenly Doctrine

=Intercourse between Soul and Body

=Last Judgment

=Last Judgment (Continued)

=Last Judgment (Posthumous)

=New Church

=New Jerusalem

=Spiritual Diary

=True Christian Religion

8

PART 1. BIKTU AND FAMILY SURNAME.

On January 29th 1980 1 addressed the Swedenborg Society in London. 1 began my remarks with the following resounding statement:

"fxactly 292 years ago today, on January 29th 1688, cheers rose from the throats of many, while cannons boomed and flashed over the snow of Stockholm, to celebrate the birth of fmanuel Swedenborg. H

Then, after a few moments hesitation, 1 corrected myself:

"WelJ, actually the cannon-shots and rejoicing were to celebra te the christening of the Iittle princess U1rica f1eanora, who happened to have been born at about the same time as Swedenborg! She, of course, was in the royal palace, whereas he was in the army barracks, his father being the Regimental Chaplain. H

"And in fact:' 1went on, "it wasn't exactly 292 years aga today, because the date January 29th in 1688 was calculated according to the Julian Calendar, whereas our present dating is according to the Gregorian Calendar. Prior to 1600 the Popes added or subtracted days and years to or From the calendar, as seemed necessary according to their lunar reckonings; but Gregory XIII settled the matter once and for ail in 1582

by dropping Il days. (September 2 was followed by September 14). Sweden changed gradually to the Gregorian dating round about 1740, whereas England did so by act of Parliament in 1752. So, by the dating now universally adopted by the Western World (barring questions of Daylight Savings, etc!) Swedenborg's birthday would fall on February 9th.

Even then 1 had not corrected ail the errors of my original statement. The child whose destiny we are considering was not named Emanuel Swedenborg but Emanuel Svedber~ his father being the Rev. Jesper Svedberg.

Let us devote a page or two of our Scrapbook to this matter of his surname. Jesper had adopted the name Svedberg in his college days, in accordance with the custom ofthe land-owning classes to take on the name oftheir ancestral home. His ancestral home was a farm named Sveden near Fahlun in Dalarna (Sved means "burnt landH, From the Swedish svedja, to burn.)

Jesper himself had presumably been born "Jesper Danielson,H after his father Daniel. It had been the custom in the working classes From time Immemorial for the child to take on the father's first-name and add "sonH (if a boy) or "dotterH(if a girl). Until recently it has been the same in lceland, where you get "Magnusson or Magnusdotte~;and it used to be the same in England where you got "Johnson" or "RichardsonH My father was•

Martin, so 1would have been "Brian Martinson·, and my daughter Margaret would be "Margaret Briandotter.HWe find the same, of course, in the Bible, where Ben or Bar

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means ~son of* (Simon Bar-Jonas, Nathaniel Bar­Tholomew).

Consider Jesper's male ancestry. His great-great­grandfather was named Otto. Otto's son Nils was called Nils Otteson. His son Isaak was Isaak Nilson, and so on.

otto

Nils Otteson

Isaak Nilson

Daniel Isaakson

Jesper Danielson

Emanuel ...7

By this reckoning, therefore, little Emanuel would have been named Emanuel Jesperson. Our Church wOüld not be referred to as Swedenborgian, but Jespersonian: and the Swedenborg Society would be the Jesperson Society!

This manner ofnaming children did not operate among the professional classes or the nobility. So, when Daniell Isaakson made a bit of money by reopening an old copper mine at Sveden, and sent Jesper to University, Jesper assumed the name Svedberg or Swedberg - a name adopted by his children. (When they pronounce il, it sounds Iike ~SVEE-RD BEY.)

Jesper Svedberg, Swedenborg's father. 10

While on the subject ofnames, l'II tum to a later page of my Scrapbook. Rev. Jesper Svedberg had risen to become Bishop of Skara - a very important position. IMeanwhile, King Charles XH was killed in battle, and the Iittle ginl 1spoke of - Princess Ulrika Eleanora - was crowned Queen. She started off her brief reign by ennobling 150 of her subjects, including the families of most of the bishops, probably to pack the House of Nobles in support of her rather shaky right to the throne, which should really have gone to the son of her deceased sister Hedwig - her nephew Charles Frederick. So, in May 1719, the Svedberg family name was changed to SWEDENBORG - the "en" in the middle being the definite article, and "borg" (meaning castle) instead of "berg" (meaning hill). Altogether a more aristocratie name!

The Queen did not, of course, ennoble the bishops themselves, as they were on a parity with noblemen in their own right. There were four "houses" in the Diet or Government: (1) Nobles, (2) Clergy, (3) Burghers, and (4) Peasants. Bishops, being automatically members of the House of Clergy, could not enter the House of Nobles. Their families, however, were commoners, unless specifically ennobled. So, when Bishop Svedberg's family were given the noble name of Swedenborg, Jesper retained his old name ofSvedberg, perhaps slightly changing it to SWEDBERG.

Sara Behm. Swedenborg's mother. 11

For the Bishop to adopt "Swedenborg" would have been tantamount to admiUing that he was not a nobleman already! Thus there were different surnames for father and family, for husband and wife.

To go back now to the Svedberg family in the Regimental Barracks in Stockholm in 1688. Emanuel's true mother was Jesper's first wife, Sara Behm. Emanuel was her third child, and alter him in due course came six more, making nine altogether. She then died ofa fever, aged only .30. Her eldest child Albert died with her. leaving Anna, the eldest daughter (who eventually married Bishop Benzelius) and Emanuel, the eldest surviving son, aged 8. Alter them were Hedwig, Daniel, Eliezer, Catharina, Jesper (Jr) and Margaretha.

Jesper (Sem) had now .been appointed by King Charles XI as Dean and Professor ofTheology at the University of Uppsala, sorne 40 miles north of Stockholm. Naturally he had to marry again, to get a new mother for his eight children; and alter careful consideration his choice fell on another Sara - Sara Bergia - a wealthy widow without children (most eligible!). He had never met her, but she had been represented to him as being of an amiable disposition.

Jesper tells his love-story in his manuscript autobiography. He arrived by coach in Stockholm two 9ays before the wedding, and was shown into a large room where a lady was seated alone, and he was lelt with her. He greeted her politely and they spoke together for a while, no doubt discussing the weather and the price of herring-roes. At last she asked; 'What

does the professor think of our Iittle plan?" He was surprised. "What Iittle p'lan?" "The one you wrote to me about." "What did 1write to you about?" "Aren't we to be bride and groom tomorrow?" "Ohl You must be Sara Bergia?" They shook hands, and soon were in a loving embrace - with mutual pleasure and contentment.

Sara Bergia became a good mother to Emanuel. Later, in the spiritual world, he met his two mothers, and loved them both equally. Her shares in several iron mines brought wealth to the family, making Emanuel financially independent, and able to publish the Writings at his own expense. We see the hand of Providence in this.

12

PART Il. TUE YOUNG EMANUEL SWEDBEKG.

Of Emanuel's upbringing we know Iittle. Jesper, in his thousand-page autobiography, is obsessed only with himself, and says IiUle or nothing about his offspring. Emanuel himselftells us that he used to play at ~holding

his breath" for long periods during moming and evening prayers, as an aid to deep meditation - a technique known in Yoga, and developed by Swedenborg later to an extraordinary degree for inducing his spiritual consciousness. (He says he couId hold his breath ~for a short hour.") Th'is fits in with bio­feedback experiments in the U.S.A., slowing down the brain-waves to enter the so-called ~Alpha" state of psychic awareness, and, slower still, the ~Theta" state of self-hypnosis and coma.

At the age of eleven, Emanuel entered Uppsala Academy or University (the normal age) and studied science and mathematics in the Department of Philosophy. (The other three departments were: Theology, Medicine and Law. His father had the chair of Theology.) The degree he worked for was ~Master of Philosophy: It involved a long series of tests, which might cover several years. We have his first ~Exercise"­a selection of maxims from the Latin authors, with his own comments, which he ~defended" before his

examiners in the summer of 1709, at the age of 21. It appears that he did not proceed further towards his degree, so that in fad he left the University without any formai academic qualifications, intending to complete his education abroad. (This fad is not generally realized.)

His father Jesper was now Bishop of Skara - a magnificent cathedral situated in central Sweden about midway between Stockholm and Gothenburg. His residence was an estate just beyond the eastern suburbs of Skara, called Brunsbo, From which, nowadays, you can see the cathedral, a grain silo, and a water tower. (When we visited the estate, 1 was told these were symbolic of the three principall needs of man: food, drink and religion!)

Emanuel, alter leaving Uppsala, joined his family at Brunsbo, expeding to depart at once for England - to complete his education overseas. But Sweden was at war with France and Denmark (Charles XII was always at war with somebody!) and the seas were closed. So Emanuel had to kick his heels for a whole year with his father and six younger brothers and sisters. With them also was the young Dr Johan Moraeus, their cousin and tutor, whose daughter Elisabet later married Carl Linnaeus the great botanist. (Many years afterwards, Swedenborg met Moraeus in the Spiritual World, but his face had become so beautiful that Swedenborg scarcely recognized him!) The two young men explored the countryside around Skara, searching for fossils. They unearthed an enormous bone, which Swedenborg thought was the thigh-bone of an antedeluvian giant. It

13

14

was sent to Uppsala for identification, and was found to be thejaw-bone ofa whale, though no one could explain how a whale got into central Sweden! It is now in the university museum, called ~Swedenborg'sWhaleN

•

Meanwhile, bubonic plague stalked through Sweden from Turkey. Twenty thousand people died in

Stockholm aJone - a third of the entire population. At this very inauspicious time, in April 1710, a sea captain friend of the Svedbergs decided to attempt the voyage to England from Gothenburg in a small sailingship, and offered to take Emanuel with him. The young man's sudden departure caused some ill-feeling between him

15

and the famous civil engineer Christopher Polhammer, who had just been persuaded to take him on as an apprentice!

Uppsala. Swedenborg allended the University here. where his father held the chair of Theology

•

T

The voyage was adventurous. First the ship ran onto a sand-bank; then it was boarded bya French privateer, and then fired at by an English patrol-boat in mistake for the French vesse!. But the most serious danger for Emanuel was when they anchored at Wapping on the Thames, and he and some Swedish friends broke the strict quarantine regulations and ferried up to London. Finding he was From plague-ridden Sweden, the authorities threatened him with hanging, but let him off, probably because of his personal credentials. The episode must have made an impression on him, for many years later, when the Lord first appeared to Swedenborg in Delft Holland, he was asked whether he had a c1ean bill of healthl

London had been almost entirely rebuilt since the devastating fire of 1666. The palaces of the aristocracy contrasted with stinking siums and alleys. It was the vortex of the intellectual life of Europe. The world-wide British Empire was contro/led From London by the Royal Navy. And when, at that time in history, astronomers were laying out the fines of longitude on the globe, they took it for granted that the meridian 0 should pass through London's Observatory at Greenwich - for was not London the centre of the world?

Swedenborg visited London seven times during his Iife: in 1710, 1744, 1748, 1758, 1765, 1769 and 1771 (when he died there). Culturally urbane and cosmopolitan as he was, he might even have been taken for a Londoner, except for his thick Scandinavian accent.

Emanuel Swedenborg as a young man,

an unverified portrait. 16

We know a good deal about this his first visit in 1710, from his correspondence with his brother-in-Iaw Eric Benzelius. He deliberately lodged with various craltsmen, such as lens grinders and brass instrument makers, in order to learn their cralts, and attended lectures by the great scientists of the day. He visited Greenwich Observatory, and was allowed to watch the Astronomer Royat the Rev. John Flamsteed, doing his observations - a great honour for a young student. It was thus that he learnt how to calculate the eclipses of the sun and moon. He also went (by stage coach) to Oxford to meet Edmond Halley, with whom he discussed his own method of finding the Longitude at sea by observations of the moon.

1 mention here two lesser-known incidents, both of which are probable but neither of which can be proved:­

(1) We know he visited the newly-completed St Paul's Cathedral, and the assumption is that he c1imbed to the Whispering Gallery under the base of the dome, ta hear his own voice reflected around the circle. By measuring the interval between his voice and the echo, and knowing the circumference ofthe dome, he would have been able to calculate the velocity of sound!

(2) He almost certainly met WILLIAM PENN, the Quaker who founded Pennsylvania. Emanuel was entertaining his younger brother Jesper and their step­cousin the young Rev. Peter Hesselius, who broke their journey in London en route for America. We know they

Eric Benzelius, Swedenborg's brother'in-Iaw and

University Librarian. 17

called upon Penn, then resident in London, who gave the two young travellers a letter to deliver to the Governor of Pennsylvania. Obviously Emanuel would have accompanied them to meet the great man. This is interesting, because Swedenborg mentions in his diary for November 1748, that Penn spoke to him in the Spiritual World, criticizing him for writing so harshly of the Quakers, saying there were good Quakers as weil as bad! Why Penn in particular, and not, say, George Fox? Probably because Swedenborg had met Penn in the t1esh .

While in England, Emanuel projected a number of inventions, such as a hydraulicjack, a submarine, and a glider-type aircraft and an automatic air gun. Add to these a ~universal musical instrument", playing melodies marked on paperwith dots. AJso ~a method of conjecturing the wills and affections of men's minds by means of analysis" (7 an anticipation of Freud!) It must be admitted that these intriguing inventions remained on the drawing board, but they give evidence of the fertile and exploratory character of his mind. He sent the drawings to his father at Brunsbo, who, when asked for them later on, said he couldn't remember what he had done with them! So nothing really came of any of them.

An early manllscript showing Swedenborg's sketch for a nying machine - Ilot entirely practicable but

{~S~~ff[~~~~~~~lf1~~:~· j,'; .-", f-.:..·,:-,c.-::-"_"'L._.<J:/""J,L..r e''1\,/L<f';:''. n·)I.l'.'':">(......1'..L_)~.~ .._ ....,_" ." - h" .. :" ••:./_."" -I, .. ·,~..:7/- ~i'._<r.::.l,,;-r;,L_·~J,,:,..,Ir-';...•• .... -.A· ..:.1 •."".".r::; .. ·"he.· 1.,.., '-'N-'. .Ji t . .If·· . "-'f;: r"-'-~"" .:,~ ,J!t'fJ,r-:""·J·../!I t:;u'.J ,'/. "'/:~'.:', ,;J~~ -,'y.".

:·~~~rr;:;~·>~~Ë~t2~~;}j~;~.;~;~;;~~:~~~;~:~::~~~Z~} q,,. ~ ~r.l···~·~·· ·:~.ïC:.,.'!~ ,Nl/~... ..::j,._",,4l.. ....-1- ...~.J,.~ .. ,~• • / ...~J ~-#-./­

. ,.",-1 .._ J .... "i .. t_ .J'7J.'-'-' ..l~r-/.1 t(' 1'-..4.' ~ ri'_' ~'~ 1 .". '.

.: ;'.: .'(_:.~~:( .'~ :;:.::"'~:' ....~ ~ ,;::.:;, ~;:;':-.-:~.~:;l::..'d...:.."";.~.·.: :~:.;'.:: ,....,:>'"J."""" .. j.. ...... 1 ··J:···~'·r~r("fJI ..-r 'l: ' / ••••• -', ••• ".

.. "- J-~ 1~/..I ~ ..".. r· .' o., •• <. ·).."..··1..,... ~ •

. .,: .,. - ...... '.y/' ..l·~r~- i-'.".lf ~~.(

~ ..;:~. ' .. , ';. ','h .. · ~.':'7~::·~ ,ftfr·! .; !:r~ 'l'V\:~~,',.. :... '~-rr: ;-:. ~ IT]'-4~NL' ,. - ! L._ ''-_ ~ _ ~ l ') , .... <Ji,.8r _;,1._

, '. " .. .l. ,- -.... • J l \~ i.1 -FT-I-·r~·I.. ,.,. . J., '" Ifr·/~'· ~.• ~/,. J. r--jï{"--f"".,,../_/It' ,v " , 1 .' ï 1 - "J." .-.., /. ..... .. ,--,-....., ... ,.,4-.. .~ 1.· 1:1" « -. t t 101- ..--'·'1"'7; ..· •. ·

iii,~:,Iiik~~i~·~~~<·~~:~;;!é;.::incorporating sound aerodynamic principles.

18

After 2! years in England, Emanuel made for the Continent. ft was now 1713 and he was 25 years old. 1713 was the date of the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht which ended the so-called "War of the Spanish Succession,"and ambassadors from ail over Europe were gathering together in Utrecht Holland. Emanuel joined them there, no doubt hoping to gain some insight into European politics. He also visited Leyden to see the world-famous observatory, and then proceeded to Paris, the second city of the Western world. Here, unfortunately, he was laid up in bed for six weeks - one of the very few occasions on which he suffered sickness; and it was not until the following year (1714) that he at last set out for Sweden, staying for a while in the charming liUle city of Rostock to recuperate.

Look at the map and you wBl see the three towns of Rostock, Stralsund &:. Greifswald, close to the Island of Rugan, on the Baltic coast ofwhat is now East Germany. They are in fact quite near to the southem tip of Sweden, and today there is a ferry across. Rostock is in Mecklenburg, but Stralsund and Greifswald are in Pomerania, which was then a Swedish Province, not ceded to Germany until a century later (1815). Here, among his fellow countrymen, Emanuel devoted himself to composing Latin verses, some of which he published in Greifswald.

One doesn't think of Emanuel Svedberg as a poet. But 1 have on my bookshelf a volume of 88 pages entitled "Emanuelis Swedenborgii Opera PoeticaN pUblished by the University of Uppsala 1919. These poems are

King Charles XII. 5wedenborg's patron who shared his mathematical and mechanical interests,

mostly in praise of personalities whom he admired, including King Charles XII, the "Phoenix of the North." 1 am assured by a Latinist that they are elegant and wriUen in the best c1assical Latin. There was no end to Emanuel's versatility! (He could even play the organ, so he tells us.)

19

Towards the end of the year (1714) Sweden was in a turmoil. Their heroic King Charles XII had been defeated by the Russians at Poltava (1709) and been honourably imprisoned in Turkey (1709-14). He escaped, and after a breakneck ride incognito on horseback with only two companions for twenty days, he arrived in Stralsund on November 22nd 1714, and set to work preparing to defend the city against his enemies the Danes and Germans. Not wishing to get involved in the siege, Emanuel was fortunate in obtaining a passage across the straits in a Swedish vessel in company with the wife of the Councillor of war (June 1715) and thus at last he reached his father's house in Skara, after an absence of nearly l'ive years. The King also made an ignominious escape when conditions in the besieged city of Stralsund got desperate. Ashamed to meet his many critics in Stockholm, the Phoenix of the North set up a temporary court in Lund near Malmo on the southern point of his country, where Emanuel was to visit him later on.

Back with his family, the young scientist began looking for a job. He was 27 years of age. He thought he would Iike a professorship of mechanics and astronomy at Uppsala, for which he was weil qualil'ied: but there was no such department the main emphasis of the university being in theology and the humanities. He suggested that each of the existing eighteen professors should forego a seventh of his salary to raise enough money to finance a new Department with Emanuel Svedberg himself as professor! When he was advised that this would not work, he said he was "only joking!·

(Later, when the job was offered to him, he turned it down.) While living at Brunsbo in Skara Emanuel demonstrated his practical genius by installing a speaking-tube From the living room on the first floor, down to the kitchen in the basement through which he could shout "Coffee!" and one ofthe seven Iittle servant girls would run to bring it up. My wife and 1 visited Brunsbo in 1976, and we were taken down into the basement (the oldest part of the house) and shown the great stove against the kitchen wall, designed by Bishop Svedberg himself. On the other side of the wall, which got very hot was a platform on which the seven girls slept alternately head to foot and feet to head, so that the alternate ones got hot heads and cold feet and the others got hot feet and cool heads! Whether it was on account of this stove or not the house was burnt down twice, in 1712 and 1730 - though the basement itself was undamaged, and remains so to this day.

Now for work! Emanuel produced and published six issues of a rather beautiful scientil'ic journal called "Daedalus Hyperboreus' ("The Northern Inventor"). This included accounts of his own inventions, and also those of Christopher Polhammer, which heaJed the rift caused by Emanuel's sudden departure for England in 1710 immediately after Polhammer had agreed to take him on as an apprentice. In fact Polhammer was so pleased with the Daedalus Hyperboreus that he had a set of the first four issues bound together, and took them, and Emanuel himself, to Lund for presentation to the King. Charles XII was extremely interested in

20

mathematics and mechanical subjects, and he and Emanuel got on splendidly together. Emanuel showed him an ecJipse of the moon, and explained other astronomical phenomena. Together they worked out a system of numbering based on 8 instead of 10. Polhammer had given the King a pewter dinner set, and Emanuel wrote a small treatise on ~Cleaning and Repairing Pewter".

ln the end, the King graciously appointed Emanuel Svedberg "Assessor Extraordinary of the Board of Mines" - an unpaid supernumerary appointment, meaning that he would be given the post of Assessor when the next vacancy occurred. (The Board, or College as it was ca lied, consisted of a President, two Councillors, and four Assessors.) ln the meantime he was to serve as Polhammer's assistant. it was at about this time, in 1716, that the King ennobled Polhammer and his family, their name being changed to "Po/hem", the name by which the engineer is now generally known.

B'ig construction work was on hand, such as the Karlscrona Canal, and the Trollhattan Locks as part of the plans for the famous Gôta Canaljoining Stockholm with Gothenburg (a journey which 1took by canal boat in 1927). Unfortunately, however, Sweden was now at war with Norway, and the King ordered Polhem to transport sorne small gunboats overland from Stromstad for fifteen miles across the frontier down into the Norwegian waters of the 'Idde(jord, to attack and reduce the town ofFrederikshall at the head ofthe (jord,

King Charles XII, a military portrait. 21

which the Swedes now had under siege. The ships could not go by sea, because of the British Navy. Polhem sent Emanuel to superintend this operation - his first commission. There were two galleys, five long-boats and a sloop. By the use of rotlers and sledges and running water, over hills and through valleys, and across five small lakes, the portage was successfully accomplished; and to this day the area is known as "The galley bogs of Bohuslan".

Actually the project resulted in tragedy, because the King, while conducting the siege, was shot and killed. Sorne say he was shot in the back by his own soldiers, and there was even a rumour that Princess Ulrika's husband Frederic of Hesse had something to do with il We do know as a fact that the whole campaign was very unpopular.

Meanwhile Emanuel returned to the Polhem household, where he was treated Iike a son, and might easily have become a son-in-Iaw. Polhem had a son Gabriel. and three daughters. The eldest daughter was Maria, born in 1698 and therefore about twenty; the second was Emerentia, born in 1703 and therefore about fifteen. The King had suggested that Emanuel should marry Maria, and it was generally understood that he and she were engaged. But there really wasn't much between them; and, perhaps with Emanuel's contrivance, she managed to get betrothed to the King's Chamberlain, a widower named ,Mannerstrom. In a letter to Eric Benzelius, dated September 14th 1718, Emanuel writes: "Polhem's eldest daughter is betrothed

Christopher Polhammer. or Pol hem. the illustrious inventor and engineer with whom Swedenborg work.ed on several important projects.

22

to a chamberlain of the King. 1wonder what people will say about this, inasmuch as she was engaged to me! His second daughter is in my opinion much prettier." 50, with Maria out of the running, Emanuel got himself officially engaged to 'Mrensa, with a document signed by the father. He was to marry her as soon as he got a proper job and Emerentia was a bit older.

But the poor girl seems to have been scared by her brilliant and uncomfortable suitor. After ail, he was, at 30, twice her age! 50 she persuaded her brother Gabriel ta get hold ofthe document and destroy il. That was the end of the little affair.

With the death ofKing Charles XlI, Emanuel had lost his patron. Worse than that his intimacy with the Jate King was now greatly to his disadvantage. The whole feeling of the country had swung against the King's party. Even the new Queen, Charles's sister, was forced to renounce her hereditary right to the throne, so that she heId it only at the good pleasure of the Diet. 5he was to be virtually only a figurehead.

ln reading 5wedish history, one cornes across references to the two parties, Hats and Caps, rather Iike our Whigs and Tories. King Charles XlI had led the Hats or Plumes - what we should cali the "Hawks", who romanticized war and gloried in the 5wedish Empire, which had in fact reduced the country to bankruptcy and disgrace. The Hats had poured scorn on the Peace Party or Doves, saying they put on their night-caps and went to sleep when the c1arion trumpet-call summoned the country to arms! The Cap or Peace party was now in

Emerentia Polhem. The second of Polhem's Three daughlers. 10 whom Swedenborg was once officiallv enQaQed.

23

control. Emanuel Svedber9- being known as a personal Friend of the late Kin9- was naturally regarded as a ~HatN,

and every opposition was placed in the way of his becoming a full member of the Board of Mines, which was an important State Committee. Actually, of course, Emanuel was neither Hat nor Cap, neither Hawk nor Dove. Ifanythin9- he was a Dove, as he strongly opposed ail aggressive warfare; but he was prepared to support the defence of his country if it was in danger.

1 have already reported how Ulrika Eleanora, on becoming Queen, ennobled the Svedberg family in May 1719, sa that Emanuel's name became SWEDENBORG, and he took his seat in the House of Nobles. Even then, however, it was not until1724, when he was 36, that he was actually put on the pay-roll as Assessor of Mines.

As for Emerentia Polhem, she eventually married a wealthy man named Reinhold Ruckerskôld and had nine children. Alter her husband's death, she managed his estate, and ordered the building ofa large mansion; but unfortunately, while it was under construction, she fell From the scaffoldin9- broke her le9- and had to walk with crutches for the rest of her life. She composed and published a book of poems, now losl Some time alter her death in 1760, three of her daughters visited Swedenbor9- who told them that he olten met 'Mrensa in the Spiritual World, and she was happy there.

It is generally assumed that, alter his disappointment over Emerentia Polhem, Emanuel showed no further interest in women. But in fact he is known to have

24

proposed marriage eight years later (when 38) to Stina Maja, daughter of Bishop Steuchias of Karlstad; but she turned him down and married Baron Cedercrantz. Alter that, he gave up; rented his own apartment in Stockholm, and engaged a male servant.

1will end here by mentioning the strange case of Sara Hesselius, his step-cousin (sister to the Rev. Peter Hesselius in the U.S.A. who had visited him in London.) This Sara had apparentJy been desperately in love with Emanuel, but he had failed to respond. Alter her own premature death, she Iiterally haunted him, urging him secretly to kill himself and sa join her in the spiritual world. He had to hide his dagger in a drawer, so as to avoid the temptation to use it! (Spiritual Diary 4530) And this was before his illumination and the opening of his eyes into heaven and hell.

Emanuel Swedenborg_

25

.; .... \ PL.·/X IJF. I.. J l 'i/.I.J~ ;JI:" .:.

~TOCKH()J..\IIr' .',iw .1 .~.,IJ:·" J.'.Um ,1,·I.,'IrI,../~.I:,.J.-I1'".~... ," .1 ;1," ~)f')""> .1.. J,t"f.JlIII,I.' . Stockholm, Sweden's capital city where

Swedenborg heId high office and spent most of the middle years of his Iife.

> .".C. ~. Il ..... ,,

-~,.

> '.

"

26

PART m. ASSESSOK OF MINES, PUYSICIST, ANATOMIST.

As a civil servant and member of the House of Nobles, Swedenborg spent most of the middle years ofhis Iife in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.

Stockholm is a beautiful city, spreading over both sides of the effluence of Lake Malaren into the Baltic Sea. It covers many rocky islands connected by bridges or ferry-boats. In winter the nights are long and bitter, and sorne of the channels freeze over. But during the short summer months the sun scarcely dips below the northern horizon at midnight; the weather is warm, and wild flowers give bright colour everywhere. The white sails ofboats fill the waterways, and the breezes are rich with the odour of pine forests and wood-smoke.

For twelve years or so (from 1724 to 1736) Swedenborg devoted most of his time to the work of the Chamber of Mines, attending the regular meetings of the Board at the big stone building in Mynt Square - rattling over the cobble-stones in his horse-drawn carriage. He worked as a chemist in the laboratory, assaying metals; and joined the Board in the administrative office, recommending laws to the Diet dealing with exports of iron and copper, and taxes on the mines. He travelled around Sweden, right up to Lapland (on horseback or in a coach) inspecting the pits, even going down shafts on

Smelting equipment. an engraving from one of Swedenborg's earlier works.

27

d.!-; ~ -,

i

MAcHINA BltJ1andi .M.ETAJ.LA cjn --m~ ,kg 'Ve f'Jettilr'.s .­

,jn,w"ta. cW Gman: JlVedlJ-ew.

Machine for raising ore_ invented by Swedenborg.

28

a rope-end, advising owners on improved methods of smelting and extracting From the ore; settling quarrels among owners in local courts, and judging industrial disputes. On three occasions he made long journeys abroad - mostly in Germany, to study mining methods in other lands and introduce the best into Sweden.

He wrote voluminously on chemistry and physics (especially, or course, on metallurgy); on the atomic structure of matter, on crystals, on mathematics (including the first Swedish treatise on Algebra), on salt manufacture, docks and sluices. He published Miscellaneous Observations in 1721, and Opera Philosphica in 1733 - both in Leipzig. These studies took him to the top rank in his field - if it cou Id be said what exactiy was his field!

Not satisfied with his now encyclopaedic knowledge of ail aspects of the mineraI kingdom, he turned his attention ta the human body. How did the body function? What was the human SouJ or Spirit? Where was it situated, and how was it related to the body? How did the BRAIN come into this, and how did the brain operate? Such questions led him to pursue the subject of human anatomy and physiology. He took two years leave of absence From the Board in order to attend the Medical SchooJ in Paris. (1736)

He travelled to France through Holland and Belgium, much of the way by canal boat. As usual, he kept a Journal of Travet commenting on the state of the countryside through which he passed, with detailed notes on ail sorts of things, such as how to deal with

EMANUELIS SWEDENBÜRGII, ASSESS. COLLICGIl METALLICI SAC. REGIJE

MAJICST. REGNIQ.UE SVECIJE

REGNUM SUBTERRANEUM SI V E

MINERALE DE

VENA ET LAPIDE FER R 1,

UT ET

VARIIS EJUS PROBANDI MODIS.

CLASSIS SECUNDA.

DR ES DIE&- L lP S 1JE, APUD FRIDERICUM HEKELIUM,

"SLIOI'OL. '«CIO'. M DCC XXXIV.

Tille page from one of 5wedenborg's metaliurgical works.

29

woodworms and termites, how to make fences, and manufacture window-glass. During vacations from Paris he crossed the Alps and visited Venice, proceeding through ltaly to Rome, where he had an audience with the Pope. Returning by way of Paris to Amsterdam, he published "The fconomy of the Animal ffingdom' (or, as it should more accurately be called, "The Interaction or organisation of the Realm of the Soul") - this was mostly on the blood system in the human body. Later, he projected a much Jarger work, to be called simply "The Animal Nngdom' (or, "Realm of the Soul") which was to deal systematically with every organ ofthe body, and might extend (he thought) to about seventeen volumes!

But, despite aIL his searching, he never found the Soul. Eventually he came to realise that he never would find it by the physical approach, because the Soul was not physical. It was on a different plane altogether, invisible to the physical eyes. Yet itevidentJy constituted a replica of the entire body in minute detail. But (and this was his great achievement of Faith) he no longer believed that the Soul was created by the body, but rather that the body was created by the soull The Sou! was the real person, the body was only its c1othing. When a man died, ail that happened was that he discarded his clothing, which was thrown away, while his Soul went on living, in the SPIRITUAL DIMENSION.

Emanuel Swedenborg. engraved by Bernigroth as the frontispiece to Swedenborg's 'Principia',

Engraving of an iron works. from Swedenborg's work on the subject.

31

PART IV. TUB DAWN OF SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNBSS

It is now 1743. Swedenborg is 55. He is back at home, and has acquired a European reputation as philosopher, physicist, anatomistand statesman, not to mention being an influential member of the Board of Mines. As an author he isjust completing the first three volumes of his great work "Regnum Animale" The Realm orthe Soul. As there are no adequate facilities in Sweden for producing works of this magnitude, he is setting off again for Holland to have it published.

He took his usual route: Stralsund, Hamburg and Amsterdam. During the whole ofthisjourney, from July 1743 to Odober 1744, he kept a Journal, which became less and less a record of scenery and events, Iike his former Journals ofTraveL and more and more a Journal of Dreams, by which title it is now known. But the dreams were not ordinary dreams; they were in fad psychic visions; and this Journal became a valuable and important record of his transition into mysticism, and through mysticism into open spiritual enlightenment.

32

Swedenborg had had premonitions of psychic sensitivity since early childhood. His parents said that 'angels spoke with him," because he told them that he had had playmates in the garden house, when they knew he had been there alone. In later years he himself reported that From his fourth to his tenth year, he had several times revealed things at which his father and mother had marvelled. While writing his philosophical and anatomical works, he said he saw "joyful flashing lightsN when he uncovered a new truth.

lt was during this journey to Amsterdam that he regularly began to experience psychic phenomena, seeing lights and hearing sounds, and being involved in deep sleep and heavy dreams, which he interpreted symbolically, in a style recommended later by Freud ­they mostly related to his worldly ambitions, which he was beginning to see he must relinquish.

By far the most important event of this period took place on April 6th 1744 in a hotel in Delft, Holland-so important that he marked the entry in his Journal "NB NB NB". On that night after a series of terrible temptations, he had a Beatific Vision of the Lord Jesus Himself, whom he beheld face to face, and who actually spoke to him, with almost shattering effect. This experience places Swedenborg among the great Mystics, and it can be regarded as the critical turning point of his life. From that day he began to have regular open glimpses into the spiritual dimension.

Strangely enough, the first actual object he observed on the other side was a FLYl When he realized that the fly

was composed of spiritual substance, not matter, he was so disturbed that he couJd hardly bear it!

Having settled in Amsterdam and delivered Vols. 1and Il of Regnum Animale to the printers, he had a vision of a ship, which he interpreted as meaning that he must proceed to England for the publication of Vol. III. He sailed for Harwich on May 13th 1744 and arrived two days later, which, by the English calendar, was May 4th! And so by coach across the pleasant fiat countryside of Essex, through Epping Forest and the East End of London. A fellow traveller on the coach was a Moravian gentleman, who introduced Swedenborg to a fellow Moravian, John Brockmer in Fleet Street with whom he took up lodgings.

His Journal ofDreams continued. On September 21st he saw a spirit-man sitting on a block of ice, who addressed him rudely: "Hold your tongue or l'II strike you!" (not a very favourable introduction to the inhabitants of the other world!) But a week later, after much suffering and temptation, Swedenborg saw the gable-end of a beautiful palace, which indicated to him that he had at last been accepted as a member of a society in heaven - a privilege usually accorded only to a man after he has died and left the natural world. This, we are told, produced in him a state of great joy and peace.

There was still the problem of his worldly ambition. In London, on October 18th, he attended a lecture at the College of Medicine in Bloomsbury (close to the present Swedenborg House) and was disappointed that his own

work in anatomy was not mentioned. That night he dreamt that a big dog bit his leg with its terrible jaws, leaving him with a twisted foot- which meant he was to beware of self-love!

Having completed Vol. III of Regnum Animale, Swedenborg began to write a book of an entirely different character - a blend of science, philosophy, religion and poetic imagination, called "The Worship and Love of OodN But before this was completed, he•

seems to have had another traumatic experience which confirmed the change which was already taking place in the course of his Iife. It was on April 6th 1745, exactly a year after the Lord's first appearance to him, at Delft, Holland. The story goes that he was enjoying a hearty meal at a small hotel in Bishopsgate, London. He had just finished eating, when the daylight seemed to grow dim, and the floor became covered with disgusting creatures - snakes, frogs, beetles. A man appeared, sitting in a corner of the room, who said: "Eat not so much!" Then the creatures disappeared with a loud pop or bang.

"From that same night" (Swedenborg is reputed to have informed his friend Robsahm, the bank manager in Stockholm, to whom we are indebted for the whole story) "the World of Spirits, Hell and Heaven were fully opened to me, and 1 saw and recognized there many former acquaintances of every walk of Iife." He had previously, as a philosopher, convinced himself that there is a spiritual world, and that man has a soul or spiritual body; but now he had seen for himself that ail

33

his friends who had ~died" were still alive and active on the other side. This seems to have meant a great deal to him.

The question remains: who was the man in the inn who said, ~Eat not so much"? It used to be thought it was the Lord God Himself. But many scholars today believe there has been a confusion with Swedenborg's Beatifie Vision at Delft on the same date the previous year (April 6th). More probably the whole story is a [ater version of the account given by Swedenborg himself in Spiritual Diary 397, headed: ~A Vision by day concerning those who are devoted to the Table and who thus indulge the flesh. - 1745, April." Nevertheless something critical must have taken place at that time, because From then onwards Swedenborg found himself living consciously in both the natural and the spiritual worlds, simultaneously.

Fully aware now of his new situation and the responsibilities it brought with il, he gave up writing the Worship and Love of00d, and made his way back home to Sweden (July 1745). Here he studied Hebrew and Greek, and read the Bible in its original languages, seeing its meaning now in a totally new light. Being Emanuel Swedenborg, he began to set it down in a multi-volume expository work called Adversaria, or ~The Word Explained". Side by side with this, he began preparing a Bible Concordance called "Index Biblicus v

,

as a useful tool for further exposition.

He was still a civil servant and naturally returned to his desk in the Chamber of Mines, saying nothing about his

newly developed faculties. His work there was evidently highly appreciated, as, a year later, when one of the two Councillors retired, the Board unanimously recommended Assessor Swedenborg for the vacant Councillorship. However, realizing the increase in commitment which the new position would involve, and with his eyes on other horizons, he decided to retire From the Board altogether (he was now 59 years old). He submitted his resignation to the King, who accepted it only with the greatest reluctance, granting him a pension of half salary; and almost immediately Swedenborg left the country on yet another Foreign journey (J une 1747), probably to make a c1ean break with the Board. As usual, he went first to Amsterdam, busily working on his Bible Indexes and the Word Explained.

He also began at about this time to record his visions and psychic experiences in what he called a Spiritual Diary, which he kept for nearly twenty years (1747­1765). Its translation into English occupies five bulky volumes, which are a gold-mine for the researcher in spiritual phenomena, in addition to shining a brilliant Iight on the inner Iife and development of Swedenborg himself. Unfortunately the first one hundred and forty eight entries are missing; but we believe it was at about this time - perhaps in February 1747 - that he saw one of his most famous visions, fully described in ~True

Christian Religion" No. 508.

ln this vision he saw a magnificent square temple, with walls of crystal and a gate of pearl, its roof being like a

34

crown. Within the temple was a pulpit on which lay the open Word, encompassed by a halo of Iight which illuminated the whole puJpit. ,ln the centre of the temple war a shrine, hidden at first bya veil which at that time was being withdrawn, revealing a cherub of gold wiel'ding a vibrating sword. As Swedenborg meditated on these things, he was instructed that the Temple signified a New Church which was about to be established on earth. The pulpit represented its priesthood and preaching; the open Word upon the pulpit indicated a revelation of the Spiritual Sense of the Word; the cherub of gold was the Word in its literai sense; the vibrating sword was the capacity of the literai sense to be turned in every direction so as to favour particular truths; and the Shrine indicated the conjunction of the Church on earth with the innennost heaven. Inscribed over the gate were the words NUNC L1CET ("Now it is permitted") and Swedenborg was told that this meant ~Now it is permitted to enter intelJectually into the mysteries of faith".

Remember: if (as 1believe) Swedenborg witnessed this vision early in 1747, it was before he himself had begun to reveaL through the press, the Spiritual Sense of the Word. (Vol. ~ of the Arcana Coelestia came out in 1749.) It is doubtful whether, at that early date, he had begun to realize what his own part would be in the inauguration of the New Church on earth. Was this powerfuJ vision vouchsafed to him, so that when the time of his cali came, he would understand something of what would be involved?

1 believe, however, that the motto NUNC L1CET had a much broader reference than merely to intellectua! freedom in matters of Dogma previously imprisoned in the ancient creeds. Just as the Lord made His original incarnation in Palestine to redeem mankind From bondage to HelL so, by coming again in His New Church, he would once again Iiberate the human mind, which was losing its freedom again, owing to the uprise of Hell. A tremendous increase of influx was about to pour into men's hearts, From heaven and From hell, presenting a vastly greater responsibility of personal choice to New­Age Man. The Church, Iike the human race itself, had reached adulthood, no longer under tutelage. In the areas of sex, politics, the arts, the intellect and in every way, including Religion, the individual would henceforth be responsible for his or her own chosen development. NUNC L1CET - a ~Pennissive Society" indeed!

On August 7th 1747, a month after his arrivai in Amsterdam, Swedenborg noted in his diary: ~There is a change of state in me, into the Celestial Kingdom." This is taken to be the final step in his full illumination. He was also being led to perceive that the Lord was making His Second Advent into the world, through Swedenborg's instrumentality in unveiling the Spiritual Sense of the Word. In ail humility, he recorded in his diary for September lst 1748: ~Very many good spirits are gJorilYing the Lord on account of His Advent; and there is so much joy that some are saying they can hardly bear it! Next morning, everything was in a state of tranquility, so that 1 perceived nothing but a tranquil silence around me, which still continues." (Sp. D. 3029)

35

Two months later, Swedenborg left Amsterdam for London, where he booked lodgings for six months. He abandoned the Word Explained (which had been largely of an exploratory nature) and now, with calm assurance and full authority, he began his great work on the Spiritual Sense of Genesis and Exodus, the ARCANA COELE5T1A. The Writings of the New Church were launched.

PART V. TUB UOMBSTMI>.

Swedenborg actually took possession of the Homestead (41-43 Hornsgatan) in March 1743; but what with his being out of the country, and alterations and improvements being required, itwas not until three years later - the Spring of 1746 (when he was 58) that he actually moved in. There had been a caretaker previously.

The house itselfwas quite small, almost a log cabin. The guttering at the bottom of the steeply-sloping roof was only about nine feet above the ground. Two rooms constituted the ground floor, and a small kitchen: ail heated by a blue-patterned porcelain stove reaching from floor to ceiling, burning charcoal. One of the rooms, apparently, was his bedroom - the bed being so short he had practically to sleep sitting up - his wig on the bed-post. The other room was his study. Imagine him sitting mumed in a reindeer-skin coat using a feather pen, with his pen-knife by his side on the table; a porcelain ink-pot and a sprinkler of dry sand for blotting. Ali lit at night (and most of the day in the northern winter months) bya smelly whale-oil lamp or tallow candies. The furnishings included the famous inlaid marble table and a small pipe organ, which he played to unwind his tense mind. What music would he have played? Handel, and J.S. Bach, possibly - they were both just three years his senior. Much more Iikely Buxtehude, who, though a Dane, was born and lived not far away in Southern Sweden, and died in 1707.

.36

Swedenborg's house, on Homsgatan, Stockholm

37

An impression of the House and Garden.

The loft up the little twisted flight of stairs contained trays of neatly labelled seedlings, sent to him by his friend Wretman in Amsterdam, who imported them from the Dutch East Indies; and from the new Swedish settlement in Pennsylvania of which Swedenborg's father, Rev. Jesper, had been non-resident Bishop. This propagation of exotic plants would undoubtedly have been studied with great interest by young Carl Unné (Unnaeus) who married Swedenborg's niece, Sara Elisabet Moraeus.

The outside appearance of the house was bright and cosy: the woodwork painted red-ochre and the window­

frames white. The box-trees in the front garden were known as 'Swedenborg's grenadiersN Alongside the•

road was the carriage house, and adjoining it the home of his gardener and housekeeper (husband and wife).

Shortly before his death, Swedenborg made a list of his possessions:-

Silver Service. Chandelier. Collee Pot and Sugar bowl, l'Iilk Can. Fine Teaspoons and Tongs. Two CandIesticks. JeweUed Tray, Six Precious SnutI-Boxes. Uebrew Bible. l'Iicroscope

38

A path led from the front of the house across a small flower garden, and through a gate in the fence into the main garden or orchard. It then continued straight for fifty-five yards ta the summer-house against the rear wall. Half way along was a small pavilion, copied from manor houses in England; through it at right angles ta the main path was another path, leading ta an aviary made of brass wire ta the left, and a house ofmirrors ta the right. (In winter, the birds were taken up ta the loft of the house.) ln the far left-hand corner was a maze (also with mirrors) ta amuse the children who often visited the garden on their way home from school. On the far right was a small Iibrary and store-room.

The summer-house was a cubical structure, with roof sloping up ta a square skylight. and a bail ornament on top in the middle. Three stone steps led up ta the front door; and ta the left and right of the door were two windows with hinged shutters. The woodwork was painted yellow, the front door green, and the shutters red - ail very neat and gay. A desk and chair were in the front room, the rear one being only a store-cupboard. In wet weather it was possible ta reach the summer-house under a covered way, leading from the far side of the house along the left-hand wall of the garden, entering the summer-house bya side door leading into the back room. This interesting little building has been renovated and is on show in Skansen, as my wife and J

were ta see on our pilgrimage.

5wedenborg's 5ummer-house,

39

PART VI. A PILGRIMAGE.

1first went to Sweden, and by train up to Lapland - the "Land of the Midnight Sun," in 1927, when 1 was 20. Later, in 1976, my wife and 1 made a Pilgrimage to "Swedenborg Country" - Stockholm, Uppsala, Skara, Gôteborg. In Stockholm we soon found Hornsgatan a main road running along the cliff-top on the south side of the waterway, and searched for plots 41-43, the address of Swedenborg's homestead. It's ail built up now, of course; but we found a handsome plaque commemorating his residence there, over a shop now occupied by a Pakistani. Above the shop next door swung a free-hanging notice board, "BOUTIQUE GIOTN.

Round the corner were sorne steps going up, past an old house which closely resembled extant pictures of Swedenborg's own house; and so to the top of the cliff, from which was a breath-taking view across the waterway to the Old City, with the lace steeple of the Royal Church (Riddarholmskyrkan) and c1usters of fine public buildings, towers and steeples, and the white sails of shipping. We admired the famous City Hall, reputed to be the finest in Europe; but Swedenborg would not have seen this, as it was not built until1923.

'There used to be one in Lincoln Park, Chicago. cast by Adolph Jonsson the sculptor; but one night it disappeared. Presumably it was stolen for the copper.

Across the road from the Boutique Giota is a small grassy park containing one of the only busts of Swedenborg on public display anywhere in the world.· It stands on a stone plinth bearing the single word "SWEDENBORG", Below it on the plinth is an embossed bronze figure of a wigged 18th-century gentleman holding up what looks Iike a framed portrait of a child's face. In front of him stands a little girl (back view) who is gazing up at the "portraW. You and 1knowvery weil that the gentleman is Swedenborg himself, and the "framed portrait" is a mirror, and the Iittle girl whose face is reflected is Greta Askbom, a neighbour's child, who has asked to see an ange!! But why hasn't the Parks Department who were responsible for the otherwise excellent memorial, added an explanation interpreting the scene for the casual observer?

If you want something a bit more sophisticated, you must seek out the works of Carl Milles, Sweden's greatest sculptor, which are on display at Millesgarden, a fantastic collection of sculptures in beautiful surroundings sloping down to Lake Vartan, Here we find Emanuel Swedenborg: kneeling, eyes c1osed, agonized expression on his face, right arm stretched out", undoubtedly a work of genius, but does this represent the Swedenborg we know?

1 once asked a Swedish girl in a train what they had taught her in school about Swedenborg. Her eyes brightened as she said, "He was a crazy man, , . he saw ghosts!" Did she get that idea from Carl Milles? Or did Carl Milles get it from people Iike her? It says in the

40

- .~

Bronze plaque on the plinth of a bust of Swedenborg near to the site of his home in Stockholm.

catalogue: "One of Milles' most inspired interpretations of an historie figure. Originally ordered by the English Swedenborg Association, but never purchased." (What 1wonder, is the "English Swedenborg Association"?)

There are two famous portraits of Swedenborg: one by Brander in the Northern Museum, Stockholm, with a copy in the Royal Academy of Sciences; the other by Krafft in Gripsholm Castle. Both were painted about 1770, when he was 82. They are so much alike that the Krafft portrait might have been copied from the Brander.

ln Brander, Swedenborg is holding a scroll in his right hand, bearing the title "Apoca/ypsis Reve/ata". ln the Krafft, he is holding in his left hand a large thin hard­back volume, on which a later hand has tried to copy the wording from the Brander, with two mistakes in the Latin! (Relevata for Revelata) As a work ofart the Krafft is probably finer than the Brander.

While in Stockholm, we visited the Chamber of Commerce in Mynt Square which used to be the Chamber of Mines where Swedenborg worked for thirty years. Here we saw the famous inlaid marble table, which he presented to the Board in 1761, together with a small treatise on "Inlaying Marble". The interesting thing about this treatise is that he wrote it while his spiritual eyes were opened and he was working on "The Interior Sense ofthe Prophets and Psalms". The subject matter is utterly different but the hand-writing is the same, which has a bearing on the nature of his inspiration.

41

Swedenborg-s coat of arms_

--.# .- _ ~~~ro.- :..#..- - ..,-' ~..~__ ._ _ \ 4. • '

The HOllse of Nobles where Swedenborg took his seat as a member of the The Swedish Diet.

Inside the Great Hall.

42

ln my mind 1had always assumed that the marbJe table had been made in !taly. 1 told the caretaker so, but he contradicted me and said quite definitely that it had been made in Hol/and. 1 persisted "This is not Dutch work, it is Italian". He was equally adamant, and so we parted. 1have since discovered that we were both right: the table had been made by an ltalian craft:sman who had set up a workshop near Amsterdam, and Swedenborg had purchased it there!

On the bookshelf of the Iibrary 1was delighted to find a copy of the first Latin edition of "Apocalypse Revealed". But, surprisingly, there were none of Swedenborg's great works on Iron and Copper and other scientific subjects. Had the Board of Mines taken them with them when they vacated the premises?

We also visited the House of Nobles in Ridderholm Square. It contained ten rows of seats cushioned with blue velvet - actually long forms without backs, and wider than one would expect Dozens of coats of arms were painted in colour on the walls, and we found Swedenborg's. The Diet, with its House of Nobles, was dissolved in the 1860's, and an English style of Parliament was insUtuted in its stead, so that the grand old building which we visited had degenerated (so we were told) into a kind of "Snob Club".

On our way to Uppsala, we stopped at the Royal Academy of Science building at Freskate, which had been moved here from Stockholm. A young librarian took us up to the fifth floor in the lift, and showed us into a large hall full of book-shelves. Soon we saw "Em. Swedenborg" over a metal frame, live shelves high, full

of bound volumes of manuscripts: sorne in handsome leather bindings, others in parchment. Mostly they were very tall and narrow. Thousands of pages of antique­looking handwriting, done with a quill! We were impressed by the number of scratchings-out and correction of words and even whole sentences. Obviously here was a conscientious scholar, struggling ta express in the best possible way the profound truths which in his unique enlightenment he had been permitted by the Lord to understand. There was no evidence here of verbal dictation from God, let alone automatic writing. My impression was that Swedenborg himself was inspired, certainly; but his Writings were definitely NOT inspired - that is to say, they were the words of Swedenborg, not the Word of God. In short, his was a rational revelation, not a verbal one.

On the back of page of the Arcana Coelestia we saw what appeared to be a shopping list with the cash totalled up. This brought Swedenborg the man very close to us over the two centuries!

Among the other books were the manuscript volumes of the Latin Apocalypse Explained, with the word "Londini 1759" at the foot of the title page, countersigned by Robert Hindmarsh. Obviously Swedenborg had intended and expected to publish the A.E. in London in 1759, following the five smaller works: Heaven and Hel/, Earths in the Universe, LastJudgment, The Heavenly Doctrines, and The White Horse (known as "The London Five"). We also know that he had set aside 10,000 dalers for the purpose. But the project fell through, probably because the printer, John Lewis,

43

protested that he could not possibly print so vast a work- running to at least four fat volumes, for that kind of money! So Swedenborg changed his mind, took the money back to Sweden, invested it at 6% interest and set to work writing a more compact treatise covering much the same ground - the Apocalypse Revealed, which he actually published in Amsterdam in 1766. Many years later the abandoned manuscript (the one on the shelf before us) found its way back to England and was published by Robert Hindmarsh between 1785 and 1790 - hence his signature on the title page. It was subsequently returned ta the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm in 1842.

So we continued our journey to Uppsala, and, ofcourse, made our pilgrimage to the famous sarcophagus in the beautiful red-brick Cathedral; also to the University and ail the other sights.

What perhaps struck us most was a high cylindrical building, prominent among the other roofs, which turned out to 'he the Anatomical Theatre or dissecting Hall. Ali my Iife 1had been told thal, when Swedenborg wished to study anatomy in his search for the souL he had found it necessary to go to Paris, where dissection was permitted in the medicaJ schooL whereas (1 had been told) it was illegal in Sweden. Imagine my astonishment to discover that in fact, dissection had been practised here in Uppsala since 1650, and they actually had a special building for il, the second in Europe after Padua in ltaly! Why. then. had Swedenborg gone to Paris? Was it that the professors there were

superior to the Uppsala men? More advanced? Orwas it for a more personal reason, that he needed to dissociate himself From his commitments on the Board of Mines? After ail, he was still a civil servant and was expected to be at his post! He was entering a new field of research: let it be done in a totally new environment!

We entered the Anatomical Theatre. and climbed the steps which joined the observation circles, one above the other. There were no seats; the students would stand and lean forward on the rail, looking down on the professor with his dead victim spread out on the slab in the centre below. Our host and guide, Rev. Ragner Boyesen, obliged me by Iying on the slab (which reminded me of a sacrificial altar) and 1photographed him from one of the higher circles, where Swedenborg himself may have at one time stood to observe a dissection.

An old engraving of Uppsala Cathedral. part of the university with the distinctive dome of the Anatomical Theatre can be seen on the left.

44

CATt"DR-ALE" '(

45

---

A distant view of Uppsala as shown in another old engraving.

46

Back in Stockholm, we did what ail good tourists do: we went to 5kansen. This is a small island in the outlet to the Baltic Sea, to the east of the main waterway between the north and south parts of the city - you can approach it across a bridge From the north-east. It is a unique open-air museum. Typical old buildings of ail sorts have been brought here From ail over Sweden and have been re-erected with as much Jocal colour as possible: old farmhouses, manor houses, windmills, charcoal-burners' furnaces, a Lapp hut ancient Viking runes. There is a glass-blower at work, a candIe maker, an antique printing press. There is folk music and folk dancing, ail in authentic costume; and a zoo ofanimais associated with Sweden. And there, in the Rose garden, quite near the S.W. corner entrance, is Swedenborg's "Lusthus" or pleasure house (summer-house). On it is a notice stating that "Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772, famous philosopher and naturalist built this summer­house in about 1750, at 41-43 Hornsgatan, and laid out a magnifrcent garden. This summer-house served as a background to the layout of the garden Iike a cupboard against a wall. It is shown here containing furniture From Swedenborg's time, including a small organ which belonged to him. Part of the rose-garden around the summer-house is stocked with plants which are known to have grown in Swedenborg's garden ­such as larkspur, sweet william, flax, sweet-scented white roses, bleeding hearts, violets, tulips and hyacinths."

Near-by is a restaurant ca lied Sollidan. On an inner wall is a large coloured mural painting of Swedish life. It shows miners digging, and beneath them is Swedenborg himself, holding up a large crystal. So, besides being a philosopher and naturalist Swedenborg is featured as a scientist interested in crystals! Little attention seems to be paid to his unique spiritual enlightenment and his wonderful theological writings.

However, 1 felt better when 1 read a poem by Hjalman Gullberg, which is supposed to be spoken by the summer-house. It moved me deeply. Here is a translation:­

"1 am a pavillon wbÏch men pass by. 1 stood in Stockholm in my master's garden. Dis augels filled me wiU1 U1eir harmonies, And spiritual values flourished in my care, A mighty man of research, prophet, sage, Ue used my simple shelter as a home. Uere he beheld U1e gIory of U1e heavens, And here was buiIt a New Jerusalem. For U1e Spirit now fled 1 was a sheD, Now 1 stand forsaken in my grief. But harp and cymbal filled me, when God came to visit wiU1 our Swedenborg."

47

After leaving Stockholm and Uppsala, my wife and 1took train across country to Skara, where we were shown over the beautiful cathedral. Here Bishop Jesper Swedberg's memory is still green, and the organist played some of his hymns for us, sung in the original Swedish, 1 went up into the ornate pulpit to get the feel of it! (The organ is not the one Emanuel claims to have played, but a grand new one,)

Not far from Skara is the ancient monastery of Varnhem, where the remains of the Bishop and his second wife Sara Bergia were interred. We found a big black Iron door (Iocked, of course) at a corner of the outer wall of the monastery. Over the mausoleum is the following inscription, in Swedish, on an oval stone: "The resting-place of Bishop D.J. Swedberg and his beloved wife Sara Swedenborg, anno 1720. H Sara (Emanuel's stepmother) had died on March 3rd 1720, and the mausoleum had actually been prepared for her. Her husband the Bishop had lived for another fifteen years, which he had spent with his third wife, Christina Arrhusia, who survived him. But Jesper had left instructions that he should occupy the mausoleum with Sara No. 2. He had characteristically written a detailed account indicating how his own funeral should be conducted: who should carry the coffin, the funeral oration, and so on. So, when hedid actuallydie, in 1735, aged 82, his instructions were carried out to the letter. Christina had his body put in the mausoleum with Sara, and the inscription was simply left as it was, although it implies, quite falsely, that the Bishop and his second

wife Sara both died in 1720! Why D.J. Swedberg? The "OH may stand for the original name of Danielson, or it may sim ply be "DrH or Doctor. Probably the latter.

The author standing on the steps of the mausoleum at Varnhem, containing the remains of Bishop Jesper 5wedberg. Emanuel's father.

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Having worked ail that out we continued our pilgrimage to Gothenburg (Gôteborg) - a large port on the West Coast. There we visited Sahlgren House, Nos. 14-16 North Harbour Street. This was the building where Emanuel Swedenborg spent Saturday afternoon, July 19th 1759. He had just arrived back from England in a sailing ship. He had recentJy published Neaven and NeW and the rest of the "London Five", in London, and he had the unfinished manuscript of the "Apocalypse ExplainedN in his travelling case. He was visiting his friend William Castel here in Sahlgren House, and there were fifteen other guests. Every New-Churchman knows what happened - how he was suddenly conscious that a dangerous fire was raging through the largely wooden buildings in South Stockholm - 300 miles away. Being psychic and clairvoyant he was able to give a running commentary on the progress of the fire, until (he reported) it had burnt itself out quite close to his own home.

To get something of the feel of what had, happened in that house, 1 picked up the telephone and dialled our good friends in Stockholm. No, there was no major fire raging in Stockholm just then! NeveJtheless, if there had been a fire, 1could have reported on it by telephone, just as easily as Swedenborg did it by psychic awareness and clairvoyance. . . and no less miraculously!

For note this: clairvoyance is not the same as having one's eyes opened into the spiritual world. The Stockholm fire was not in the spiritual world, but here

Sahlgren House. Gothenburg, the scene of Swedenborg's clairvoyant experience of the Stockholm rire. 49

Gothenburg.

50

on earth! There are many psychics who practise clairvoyance, telepathy and other PSI phenomena, but do not have their spiritual eyes opened as Swedenborg did. Even animais may be psychic. So, do not let us build up Swedenborg's reputation on his clairvoyance, which was of comparatively minor significance!

Among the last words he wrote are the following:­

-The New Church is not being estabIished by means ofmiracles. In place of them, the spiritual sense of the Word has been revealed to me, and my spirit and body have been iotromitted ioto the spiritual world, in order that 1 might know the nature of heaven and heU; and that through enIightenment from the Lord 1 might imbibe the Truths of Faith by which man is led to etemallife. This is more excellent than any miracle." (Invitation VII and Coronis.)

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PART VII. COMMUNICATING WITU SPIRITS.

"A certain man, newly arrived in the other world, heard me speaking about the spirit or sout, and asked: "What is a spirit? - supposing himselfto be still alive on earth. Alter some explanation and further discussion, 1 was permitted to tell him that he himselfwas now a spirit, as he might know from the fact that he was over my head, and was not standing on the ground! 1 asked him whether he could not perceive this; and he then fied away in terror, crying out: / am a spirit, / am a spirit!" (A.c. 447)

This vivid and amusing little anecdote presents Swedenborg as entirely at home now in the Spiritual World, even able to help new-arrivais settle in! From his Spiritual Diary, we find him moving in and out of the spiritual dimension, conversing freely with spirits of ail sorts and conditions. (They called him "Wonder-man" and enquired of him "What news from the earth?N) He even went down into hell - with special Divine protection. Spirits could see through his eyes into this world, and even tasted the food he ate.

He discussed many topics with them. For example, he asked some angels about thejoys ofheaven, and one of them observed, "There are 4 78 genera and species of felicities in heaven". (He could have used the round number 500, but no! There were exactly 478!)

The subject of SHAME was being considered, and the question arose as to whether "shame" could exist in a person without a sense of "reverence". Swedenborg comments that, among men on earth, such a subject could not be dealt with except by means of reasonings from evidence and examples, and still the answer would be in doubt. But in less than a minute the angels had laid out ail the possible degrees and varieties ofShame, and, by the side of these, ail the possible degrees and varieties of Reverence; so that it could be seen at once where they overlapped and where they did not.

There were some remarkable observations about LOVE. "Among friendsN, says Swedenborg, "our delight is in companionship; whereas with lovers it is conjunction. In friendship we want to give ail we possess to the other, except ourseJves. In love, we want to give ourseJves H "Conjugial Love is Iike a rose­•

garden", he remarks, "which produces new roses indefinitely". (How did this confirmed bachelor know so much?) "Alter the death of a partner in a happy marriage, that partner remains in intimate contact with the one still on earth, until the death of the other, alter whicl1 they meet again in the spiritual world and love each other more tenderly than before."

Swedenborg mentions several individuals, including his aunt Brita Behm and Polhem and King Frederick (husband of Ulrica Eleonora), who witnessed their own funerals through his eyes. Usually a few days elapsed between death and resurrection, but he met Count Brahe on the other side within twelve hours of his execution.

52

He met his former London printer. John Lewis, in the spiritual world (He calls him "Levi the printen and many other quite inconspicuous individuals, good and bad. But on the other hand he warns us not to take it for granted that those in the other world are always who they say they are! He olten saw spirits who genuinely believed themselves to be certain individuals on earth, into whose memories they had entered - they impersonated these men to the Iife, spoke in their tone ofvoice, used their gestures, knew ail they knew, and, of course, spoke in their language. We are warned, therefore, not to place too much faith in the identity of spirits purporting to be our friends. Alter a while in the spiritual world, spirits usually forget completely who they were on earth - they still possess their natural memories, but under normal conditions are unconscious of them.

Sometimes the latent earth-memory of a spirit leaks through or spills over into the memory of the man or woman with whom that spirit is consorting. This accounts for "long memory" - when a person in this world thinks he remembers a past Iife, and attributes it to Reincarnation whereas in fact it is the past Iife of his attendant spirit.

There are hundreds of earths in our universe, containing human inhabitants who, Iike us, pass over into the spiritual world at death. Being utterly different in character from spirits from our earth, they inhabit regions far distant from ours. This produces a kind of universe-in the spirit realm, corresponding to our solar system and starry heaven. In other woras, there are

stars and planets there as weil as here. For Swedenborg to visit spirits from distant worlds required a kind of space-travel, as he describes in his book "Earths in the Universe 6

:

"In a state of wakefulness, 1was led in the spirit by the Lord to a certain earth in the universe, accompanied by some spirits from our world. The progression took place towards the right and lasted for two hours (of earth-time). Near the boundary of our solar system there appeared first a whitish but dense cloud, and alter it a fiery smoke ascending from a great gulf: this was an immense chasm, separating our solar system on that side from certain systems of the starry heaven. The fiery smoke appeared over a considerable distance. 1 was conveyed across the middle of il, and then there appeared beneath, in that gulf or chasm, very maliy people, (who of course were spirits) talhing with one another; but whence they were, or of what character, it was not given me to know. One of them, however, told me that they were guards to prevent spirits passing without permission from one system of the universe to another. If anyone attempted this, the fiery smoke which exhaled from the chasm tortured him so that he cried out wildly that he was perishing, and struggled Iike persons in the agony of death."

On another such space-journey, Swedenborg was accompanied by Dr Scriverius, a famous preacher from Stockholm who had recently "diedN Alter ten hours of•

traveL they reached an earth so far distant that our sun looked only Iike a distant star in the sky. The inhabitants of that earth regularly spoke with spirits, so

53

Swedenborg and his companion had no difficulty in conversing directly with people actually living there. (They communicated, of course, by thought­transference.) He refers to one particular girl, who was very beautifully dressed in a simple garment with a tunic hanging gracefully behind her and brought up over her arms; she had a chapletofflowers on her head. For Dr Scriverius it was a case of love at first sight. "He took her by the hand and spoke affectionately to her; but she, perceiving that he was not from her earth, withdrew and hurried away" - which was probably a good thing for ail concerned! However, it upset the good doctor sa much that Swedenborg had difficulty in holding him back from following her! - and even after they had moved on, his shadow still remained where his thoughts were. (A.C.10. 754; f.U. 62.)

TUE IAST JUDGMENT

The central focus ofSwedenborg's "Spiritual Diary, #and what most amazed his readers when they came to study il, was the accolmt he gave of the LAST JUDGMENT. He became known ironically in some quarters as "the man who daims to have witnessed the Last JudgmenW He was indeed a crazy man, because obviously, if the Last Judgment had taken place, everybody would have been involved! However, Swedenborg saw il, not in this world, but in that middle region of the Spiritual World, which lies alongside our earth, and which everyone first enters after death.

The Church on earth in the mid-Eighteenth century was at a very low ebb, both catholic and Protestant. Many Religious leaders and others, on arrivai in the World of Spirits, had surrounded themselves with fake heavens - cities oozing with phony prosperity, prisons and torture chambers for carrying on the Inquisition - ail devoted, in the name of Religion to the suppression of everything good and creative and true. There were corrupt monks and nuns, living together in ornate monastic complexes, with pomp and ceremony, worshipping bogus saints ... ail devised to conceal the worship of themselves. (Spiritual substance being highly responsive to thought-force, everyone in the Spiritual World tends to produce around him a visible and substantial projection ofhis thoughts and desires.)

54

By the middle ofour eighteenth century, the pressure of evif was becoming intoJerable. It had been permitted by Providence to continue thus far, like the tares in the wheat-field of our Lord's parable, "Until the time of harvestH the end of the age. And now, Iinked up with the,

revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word in the volumes of the "Arcana Coelestia H the pent-up forces of,

Judgment were released. Swedenborg witnessed ail this in his inner consciousness, and reported il, live, like a foreign correspondent speaking over the phone to his editor. Through his words one hears the rumble of an earthquake, and smells a whiff of sulphur. "The Last JudgmentH Swedenborg declares, "was commenced at,

the beginning of the year 1757, and was fully accomplished by the end of that year H

•

1757! A key date for New-Churchmen, and a critical year in universal history, whether the world knows it or not! Swedenborg, psychologically sensitive as he was, had a premonition ofit early in his illumination period. Under date Feb. 13th 1748 he records in his diary: "There was shown to me, in a vision, the number 57. It appeared written before my eyes, but what it signifies 1 do not c1early know.H He thought it must have meant 1657, but couldn't think of anything particular in connection with that date. Weil, 1757 was now upon him, and vast events were afoot. With increasing violence, mountains in the World of Spirits were sinking into the ground, leaving marshy plains and deep pools of filthy black water. Great cities over there were fo/ding up - the middle sinking down into the abyss, and the sides bending over together, shutting everything in. High

buildings were tottering and collapsing. Rocks were splitting, forming deep chasms, into which millions of souls were flinging themselves. Trumpets were blaring, flames were crackling, while a powerful wind was blowing everything away, sterilizing whole areas where wickedness had flourished for centuries. Then at last the Lord could make ail things new - in the Spiritual World if not yet on Earth.

Il have already suggested that Swedenborg himself had been unconsciously involved in the mechanism of this Judgment. His opening-up of the Word had helped to bring an inflow of new truth from the Lord into the cosmic situation, which had stripped away ail fakes and shams. The evif were beginning to appear outwardly as they already were inwardly. And was it not perhaps, a relief to them, no longer having to act a rôle?

On one occasion, he saw thousands of spirits in the air above him, 100king like a great dragon which was trying to sweep away the stars with its tail. Eventually they were ail cast into the pit. In the end, the whole Intermediate Region between Heaven and Hell was c1eared, leaving only the good spirits, who were somewhat dazed, Iike prisoners released from a dungeon, or like dead men rising From their tombs. They were gathered together by special angels, and were led away with joy to form a new heaven.

There will be no more general Judgments. Ali the heavens are now complete, and ail the hells are complete - three of each, corresponding to the three degrees of the human mind. They are aU "openH now;

55

that is to say, anyone alter death can go to any ofthem. Moreover, the machinery ofJudgment (the trumpet the bright light of truth, and the wind that blows away hypocrisies) is still fully operating in the World of Spirits, and it will never again cease to operate; which means that every individual is now judged immediately alter death. Spirits cannot accumulate and establish themselves in the Intermediate Region as they used to do. When a man dies, he begins to move on at once to his final home in Heaven or in Hell. That probably explains why the effects of this Judgment are continuing on and on in this world, and power is flowing down freely into men's hearts from Heaven and from Hell. The dead weight has been removed forever; hence the unprecedented ferment in the world today.

PART VIIl. TUE WRlTlNGS Of' TUE NEW CUURCU.

Swedenborg witnessed the Last Judgment in the Spiritual World from his summer-house in Stockholm. He must have been busy with his pen at that time, for during the following year 1748 he went to London where he published simultaneously no less than five books with John Lewis the publisher in Paternoster Row near St. Pauls - where he had previously published the eight volumes of the Arcana Coelestia. (Knowing as rdo the excitement and strain involved in publishing only one small book, my mind boggies at the stunning achievement of putting out five at the same time!) The London Five have already been enumerated:

(1) EarUts in the Universe (2) Ueaven and Uell (3)

Ueavenly Docbines (4) The LastJudgment (5) The White Uorse

Swedenborg had also written most of the ~Apocalypse

Explained", which, as 1 have reported, remained unpublished until alter his death.

These books, and ail the Writings of the New Church, were originally published in Latin - the language of the educated classes in those days. The first appearance of the new teachings in any modern language was in English: part of Vol. Il of Arcana Coelestia, translated as an experiment by John Marchant, Lewis's proof-reader, covering Genesis chapter 16 - to be sold in parts. But the experiment does not appear to have been successfuL as it was discontinued.

56

Afier the "London Five", ail the future Latin editions were published in Amsterdam, with the sole exception of the "Intercourse between Soul and Body", which was published in London in 1769. The Amsterdam dates were as follows:­

The Four Leading Docmnes, The Last Judgment Continued, and The Divine Love and Wisdom (another major publishing spree!) ail in 1763: The Divine Providence in 1764: Apocalypse Revealed in 1766: Conjugial Love in 1768: BriefExposition in 1769: and True Christian Religion in 1771.

An English version of Brie!Exposition (translated, very badly we are told, by John Marchant) was published in London in 1769. Duringthe same year, Manoah Sibley issued a Latin-English edition of "Intercourse between Soul & Body". It was re-translated by Hartley and Cookworthy the fo/,lowing year. They evidently didn't Iike the emotive word "Intercourse" (1 would have preferred "Interaction") so instead they issued their work under the astonishing title "A Theosophie Lucubration on the Nature of Influx, as it Respects the Communication and Operation of Soul and Body".

Since those early days, works by Swedenborg have been translated and issued in the following languages (in addition, of course, to English):­

Arabie, Burmese, Chinese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Gujarati, Uindi, ltalian, lcelandie, Japanese, Lettish, Magyar, Norwegian, PhiIippino, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbo-Croat, Sotho, Spanish, Swedish, TamiL Welsh, Zulu.

57

• • • •

UNIVERSA THEOLOGIA NOVI C~LI ET NOV lE ECCLE511E. 01 fio'., fIII 04 On__- Api .cced""" Apoc;. XIX: 9, hoc f.Clum cn Ncn(C Junio, OteIJ9, Anao 1770. Hoc: inreUC{lum eIl rcr hzc Dotnini "'\'r~ .. Jrll'd A""., j., 1 8 '..r'..... tIflf" 1I/faJ • ",..., c.... "".,., U ft,.·_JIII""'J M:I.I:Lb. XXJY': 31•

792• De M......~·"!"JiIfto. e!\ ln fi.....'..i 01'0"' de CA<LO 6: J"...~o, iR quo l;k:(c,ipn (une u,a ,RidS Mund•• &: qUI1 OmOb horna p>ll mortcm ln Ilium Mu~um venir. rcripcui edam en Sr~tu. ho~inum ibi. Oui, noo novic" aul: none pcndt quod bomo plf\ morœra Vivat, qui' Q3lUI efl: noma, crc..IU'l Iln:'l· 10 Dci, ~ qUia DominUi il! VCJbo (uo id c!oa."l; It'd q~aliJ VÎra ci (UU"'3 ~ll, hXlcnus lpolum fuir C'1"Cdirvm cR, quod tunc dkt ADlma, de qua non ahim kkam (oVC1'Unc, quam 4cul de z:dlCTe lut lere,lci quod fit Pneuma 1quidt homo~:< orc ('"rpiru. dUID IDOriaUl'. in quo [illien vir;tle qUI rdidct J rel quod lie ill>r\~I": \'~Ju qu:llis en oculi. Ib~UC auditu qualil cft auril, & abrq~ loque';. qu;.li. e~ orls._ cum rllOft borna ........ ~ eft homo &: IIbs horno~ ur non (nu :ah· 1er qUlIIm quod Gr in priori Nunc!o; vider, • ...sil. loquicur ~ rtC\Jc in pri. ori 'Murdo; Imbu'ar \ t'urrit, reda. fieut in priorc MunJo; cubat, dormi'. '" ...·i~il•• fi<ll' In priori MuncI<! i edi.6: bibi< lieu. i. priori Mol>Jo; deli.io con­jUl"li fNitUf Geur iD priori MUD.Io; vcrbo, cft homo qUOld omnia &: fi"ttub. Es. ~. quod Nan .. fit cdlia&io. (cd cOIMiDulrio viœ, & quoJ Be

.-Jo Quod homo lit ..... homo poli """Ha "..­, ._6 luIle cor....A <UrJlCIIi! _ appara, <oDfbre potdI .. A-'iI \'ifi. Abr.hlmo, 1"1;'­ri Giud<œi, Danieli, &: .\butilam Pt<JlJheri., CT ';\"1"'11 vifi. iD S."ulch,o 00­mIni, ~ paRa lanlrodes JOhanIIi, ~ quibus in ArocALYPIf' t'Umprimis ex IproDomino ~ quod cd'tr Homo. ~t pet' utlum &: ptt crum, & c:I.m:n co­nm ocul~ ilIoN.. iDccDfpicuue haut cft. 'l'Iis polCft it.:l ddiruC', ut non agno­r<:l', quin, ......fi lnc:œfPiewa •. ~ homo fuerir: Quod viderin. Ipfum, <nt C,JIU(I i quia ruOC' apc;:rCi runr 0CUli .~NI illonIm, " C'um hi aperiunrur ~ app.l­mK i la. ~ iD Munda rpirhuali ruar t zque clare, qUftnadmndum ml, Q;J.1(

iD Monde> N..onli. DitI'eralia iaIa bomiDcID ln Muado ..,onli, 6: bomin.:m la Mol>Jo rpirituoD dl, t":l '* homoÇorpotc rubllaRtioli indu... n" ille '0­~t~l~ i:m~ ..:bIC: :acco:r::,cf:: =~·c~:ia~. ~~c rt'w~: minml mar_lem: Ad .. DOfdl hoato fubftaMiallt vidrre hominem m:ucri3­km t nec homo ....rcrtaIi (ubftantiilem, ~ di6erentiam inter ma­œriIIc 6: rubllantiole, quaIio dl, dercribl porâl, rcd oon pauei..

704- E< .ili'jlG lOt -1.polIUm r.......". rd'me, quod in Mo"'n r. .. ,;.tuIJi lin< _ T_ 0 ioIf_ .taiIIll. quod.... rm< Pbnl'in 6: V.lk•• '-M...... 6:ColIea~ &:_ '0lI~" ":.... il; quod fin. P.'odi"., 1I00li, Lucl &: hl••; ~ - Uitloï, & laibi P.Ia". &: DoiDuo; mm quod IInl S<rlp­... &~(bI';'""'' ~ a: ~; 6: quod font Au,u,n,A~" "-~l"""....._6ai ......... &neuf., ~_co"l"" in ........ , iD CaID _ ... poo:rfealan. S<d difrCr<nli, en; ..... ~~ il 1IIrIIuaIl (po6ontur, lia< ...-0 cml•• Domino • ..=:..:-~~... ~, &qu"!,I ~, eoI comrPOllden.i.,n-=- .• . t ... r.. ~Jœa &: inde cOl:,iudo·~ii.::o ialunII fpotIUIUf, a_"'1 • eadta&

_ .. r<llliD< ",iR'DI

;9J.

58

A spread From the original Latin edition oF 'True Christian Religion'. Paragraph No. 791 may be translated: 'Afler this book was tinished, The Lord called together his twelve disciples; and the next day he sent them Forth into the whole spiritual world to preach the gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ever and ever:

TIIF. OELlOUT8 0 .. WIBDOIl

( . () N .f U 0 1 A LLO V E

TUF. 1'J,E,\SURt;S 01' INSANITY

!olCOltl'Al'OUY LOVE .

f'I/(l,ll THE 1..4 TIN

EMANIIEL SWEI>t:NBORG

'l'liE ~Wf,llt;NfJOlln SOCIETY (bl ""If!'l«1.1.lJ10)

:~ 1I1,.l)lI!oIHIIUIlY >:-TH":Jo7l', I."N'HON'

11191

Title page and ny leaf from an English translation of 'Conjugial Love'. The inscription, with its curious spelling, indicates that this copy was presented by 'Eisak Pitman', an inventor oF 5horthand.

.9'"~

'" ." eV. /~.,/tu.#.:-

~---' ~~q-

...... ~Vr-A'-y

Il ~/'!j -tu­

~2/_

59

NBW-CUURCU DAY

It is not the intention of the Scrapbook to coyer every detail of Swedenborg's life. However, 1will pause for a moment in the year 1770, when he hadjust completed the manuscript of his last great work, "True Christian Religion" - an encyclopaedia of ail the main doctrines (except perhaps "Conjugial Love" and "Divine Providence",) And, just as the Last Judgment was released in the spiritual world immediately after the completion of "Arcana Coelestia", so, after the completion of "True Christian Religion", another major event occurred in the spiritual world, which many people believe to have been the beginning of the Lord's New Church.

Swedenborg first announced it as a Memorandum at the close of the chapter on The Consummation of the Age (True Christian Religion No. 791) and repeated it in the re-write of the manuscript l'los. 4 and 108, as follows:­

-Alter this work was finished, the Lord called logether uis twelve disciples who bad followed Uim in the world; and the next day Ue sent them forth throughout the whole spiritual world, lo preach the gospel that the Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ever and ever ... This look place on the 19th day of June, in the year 1770." (almost Midsummer Day. when maypole dances were being held ail over Sweden.)

Questions arise: Was Judas Iscariot included? (He was one of the twelve who followed Jesus in the world.) And what actually took place on June 19th - the "gathering together", or the "sending forth"? Anyway, the New Church has adopted June 19th as NEW-CHURCH DAY, irrespective of the shift from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar"

1wonder whether the twelve disciples, when they set out on this other-world crusade, remembered the detailed instructions given to thern by Jesus, when He sent them forth on the previous occasion in Galilee, sorne seventeen-hundred years previously, to proclaim the Coming of the Kingdom of God? (Matthew 10, Mark 6, Luke 9.) Travel was much easier in the spiritual world than it had been in ancient Palestine; but the area now to be covered ("the whole spiritual world") must have been daunting! Are they still at it?

60

PARTIX.AMSTERDAMINTEKLUDE.

A few weeks after 19th June 1770 ("New-Church Day") Swedenborg set out on his twelfth overseas journey, leaving Stockholm for the last time. He was now 82 ­too old, one would think, for the rigours of 18th century travel; but he was hale and hearty. With the manuscript of 'True Christian Religion" in a stout box, he crossed Sweden by stage coach to Gothenburg (300 miles approximately) and took passage from there on a sailing ship to Amsterdam, where he obtained lodgings with a family who owned a shop selling chintz and muslin.

Amsterdam, like Stockholm, is a city of waterways: but in Amsterdam these are narrow canals with tow-paths and hump-back bridges. Carillons and church bells fill the air with music from a dozen steeples. There are merchants' offices handling trade from the Dutch East Indies; warehouses, ships' chandlers, diamond cutters, printers and book binders. Amsterdam was indeed one of the publishing centres of Europe.

Swedenborg had been publishing his books in Amsterdam since his scientific days, and was weil known there. His friend John Cuno gives us in his diary one of our most cherished insights into the old gentleman's priva te Iife. He describes him as being dressed, when at home, in a brownjacket; but in a c1ose­fitting black velvet coat and breeches when out visiting, and carrying a curious hilted sword. Whisps of white hair would protrude from under his full-bottomed wig. At night he shed his wi9- of course, and wore a velvet skull-cap. He had a large mouth and smiling blue eyes; and when conversing with people, oit seemed as if the truth itself was speaking through him.

But on this visit in the autumn of 1770, Swedenborg was too busy for the social round. He was "working in a super-human manner" (reported Cuno) making a fair copy of "True Christian Religion" for the prin ter. and proof-reading il. He would prepare ten large sheets of manuscript for the press each week and correct the previous week's galleys. At this rate, the whole volume was completed and published by June 1771- exactly a year after the completion of the first draft in Stockholm.

The publication of T.C.R. was in a sense the fulfilment of Swedenborg's Iife's work. He wrote to Dr Beyer on April 30th: "After this book appears, the Lord will opera te both mediately and immediately to establish throughout the whole of Christendom the New Church based upon this theology. The New Heaven, out of which the New Jerusalem is to descend, will soon be completed."

61

PART X. LONDON POSTWDE.

lt was now the year 1771 and Swedenborg was 83 years old. The "True Christian Religion" was off the press; and, except for tying up a few loose strings, his life's work was completed. Ali he needed now was a state of peace, so that he could enjoy his other-world contacts without interruption, and round off the Writings of the New Church. Where should he spend his final days?

Stockholm was out of the question. No prophet has honour in his own country! The religious establishment in Sweden was solidly against him; his doctrines were declared heretical and violently wicked. Two college professors in Gothenburg, Ors. Beyer and Rosen, who supported Swedenborg and were conducting the first New-Church study groups, had been ordered to repudiate the Doctrines. They had refused to do so, and had both been consequently deprived of their jobs. The matter had been referred to the King, and was rumbling endlessly in the law-courts.

Swedenborg might of course, have remained in Amsterdam; but here was the opposite situation. He had so many friends and supporters here in high society, that he had hardly any privacy; he was perpetually on display.

So his thoughts began to turn nostalgically to London, where he had been happy in his youth and on many

other occasions. His English friends had actually urged him to spend his last days among them; they did not want to Iionize him, as the Amsterdammers did, but to sit at his feet and drink the spiritual' waters which flowed out through him from the Lord. Two of these friends actually offered to provide him with a financial allowance, but he had ample means of his own to supply his frugal needs. ln London he was popular with working people and with the lower middle classes, who called him "The Baron", or "The New Jerusalem Gentleman". ,He was cheerful, friendly and talkative, but stammered slightly. One report had it that at 81 he was growing a new set ofteeth! - But this was probably only a hardening of the gums.

Arriving in Clerkenwell in North London, he took a cab to Wellclose Square, and made for the home of the wigmaker, Richard Shearsmith, No. 26 Cold Bath Fields, where he had lodged on a previous occasion. He occupied two communicating rooms, the rear one containing his bed and the front one a round folding table for his writing materials.

Wellclose Square was on the outskirts of the city in those days. It was a spa where the weiHo-do came to drink medicinal waters. There was a bath-house in a park, and you passed numerous inns and places of entertainment offering (had he needed them) such diversions as bear-baiting, cock-fighting and boxing! But the district was quiet on the whole, with the songs of birds, tinkling water, and the laughterofchildren sailing their boats on the pond.

62

Being Swedenborg, he couldn't stop writing; and gradually additional sheets ofan "Appendix"to the True Christian Religion began to pile up on his table. Some of these sheets he lent to a friend (Dr Messiter) and never got back. The material which survived occupies 165 pages in the English edition of his posthumous works. He called it "The Coronis to the True Christian Religion". The name does not imply that his crowning work needed a crown! Actually the word "coronis" meant the flourish of the pen made to indicate the end of a letter, chapter, or other document; or the elaborate squiggle which people drew under their signatures in those more leisurely days. Thus Swedenborg's "coronis" was the squiggle under the autograph of the T.C.R.!

But the Coronis is not to be dismissed as a mere squiggle - it had great intrinsic value, if only because it represents our prophet's last words, and his own assessment ofhis Iife's work. For example, 1see in these pages signposts pointing in the two almost opposite directions in which the New Church was destined to develop. One way was towards an exclusive Swedenborgianism, such as one finds supported in the T.C.R. in the section on the Consummation of the Age. ("The Second Coming of the Lord takes place by means of a man before whom He has manifested himself in Person, and whom He has filled with His Spirit to teach from Him the Doctrines ofthe New Church by means of the Word:) The other way was towards a broad and non-distinctive ecumenism, the Doctrines being

injected almost unconsciously into the teachings of the contemporary old-church establishments. Historically in England these two approaches were called 'Separatism" and "Non-Separatism", and were associated in the first place with Hindmarsh (Separatism) and Clowes (Non-Separatism). In America they became, roughly, the Academy and the Convention. For another hundred years or 50, our theologians will probably be experimenting on how to blend or synthesize these two opposite approaches.

Here is support for an exclusive attitude, taken from "An Ecclesiastical History of the New Church" (my copy of the Coronis p. 144):­

'When the BriefExposition was published (in 1769) the angelic heaven, from east to west and from south to north, appeared of a deep crimson colour, with most beautiful tlowers. This took place before myself and others. At another time it appeared flamy, beautifully so. On ail the copies of the book in the Spiritual World was written 'The Advent ofthe Lord'. 1also wrote the same, by command, on two copies in Holland: HIC LIBER EST ADVENTUS DOMINI. ('This book is the Advent of the Lord')" ln Holland? Presumably this was at the publisher's in Amsterdam.

63

And here is Swedenborg's basis for Ecumenicity, taken From "Invitation to the New Church* (my copy of the Coronis, p. 85);­

~Hereafter men are not to be styled Evangelicals, Reformed, and still less Lutherans and Calvinists, but CHRISTIANs". (Presumably this would include Sweden borgians.)

People who féivour this inclusive, non-sectarian view of the New Church, remember Swedenborg's own modest disclaimer in "Summaries of the InternaI Sense of the Prophets and Psalms"; ~A New Church is now being instituted" (he wrote in 1763) ~which is called in the Apocalypse the NEW JERUSALEM, to which the things that are being published by me at the present day will be of service. It is also being instituted elsewhere."

To return now to the wigmaker's house in Cold Bath Fields, London. Here the aged Swedenborg enjoyed the peace and privacy he craved. Cared for by Mrs Shearsmith and her maid Elizabeth Reynolds, he was happy and content. The young woman Elizabeth Reynolds was probably closer to him than any other mortal at that time; she eventually became Richard Shearsmith's second wife. We see her fingermark on an affidavit made by those two before the Lord Mayor of London at the Guildhall in 1785, testifying that Swedenborg did not recant his beliefs before dying, as had been rumoured,

Shortly before Christmas (1771) the ~New Jerusalem Gentleman" suffered a paralytic stroke and lay in a

coma for some weeks, but afterwards recovered. (1 wonder whether he was conscious in the spiritual world during that time, choosing the site for his future home?)

A circle oftrusted friends visited him From time to time. Among these were the Swedish Lutheran Pastor, Rev. Arvid Ferelius; the Anglican Clergyman, Rev. Thomas Hartley; the Swedish Consul, Christopher Springer; the Physician, Dr Husband Messiter; and (occasionally) the Quaker Chemist From Plymouth, William Cookworthy, said to have been the father of the British porcelain industry. Through the efforts of these good men, and a few others, by translation From the Latin, and publication, and personal testimony - the new teachings took root in England, and this country became the mother of the New Church throughout the world.

One of the first known ~Swedenborgians"was Stephen Penny of Dartmouth, who obtained a copy of the Arcana Coelestia through an advertisement, and wrote to the publisher, John Lewis, expressing his appreciation. It was probably Stephen Penny who introduced the Writings to his friend William Cookworthy.

The 5wedish C1lUrch in London where 5wedenborg's remains were rirst laid to rest.

64

65

WESLEY AND SWEDENBORG

It was at about this time that the Rev. John Wesley, Founder of Methodism, first began to be aware of Swedenborg, and was even fascinated by him. He had a kind oflove-hate attitude. ln his diary he wrote: "1 began with huge prejudice in favour of Baron Swedenborg. knowing him to be a pious man, one of strong understanding. of much learning, and one who thoroughly believed himself. But 1 could not hold out long! Any one of his visions put his real character out of doubt. He is one of the most ingenious, Iively, entertaining madmen that ever set pen to papero But his waking dreams are so wild, so far remote from both Scripture and common sense, that one might as easily swallow the stories of Tom Thumb or Jack the Giant Killer."

Then an event occurred that somewhat changed Wesley's opinion. It was in February 1772, when the aged Swedenborg (fifteen years Wesley's senior) was bed-ridden in Shearsmith's home in ClerkenwelI. Wesley, also in London, was planning one of his revivaJist tours, when an astonishing letter was delivered to him from Swedenborg. He read it out aloud

ta the assembled company, as follows: "' have been informed in the World of Spirits that you have a strong desire to converse with me. 1shall be happyto see you, if you will favour me with a visit. 1 am, Sir, your humble servant Eman. Swedenborg." Wesley admitted that he had indeed felt such a desire, but commented that he had never spoken of it to a single sout! He wrote back to Swedenborg, saying that unfortunately he was about to leave on a six-months' journey, but he would visit him on his return. To this Swedenborg replied that it would then be too late, as he was to depart this Iife on March 29th (which of course he did).

Wesley seems to have been deeply impressed with this evidence of ESP, for, visiting Liverpool shortJy afterwards, and staying with his old friend Richard Houghton, now one of Swedenborg's followers, he is reported to have declared in the most solemn manner: "We might burn ail the old books of theology, for God has sent us a teacher from heaven, and in the works of Swedenborg we might learn ail that is necessary for us to know."*

This favourable opinion, however, did not outlast Wesley's subsequent study of the "True Christian Religion", for, on almost every point of doctrine there expounded (the Trinity, Faith and Charity, the Vicarious Atonement and so on) he found himself in violent disagreement. Swedenborg. he concluded, was stark staring mad, and he warned his followers against him in a series of bitter and heavily biased articles in his "Arminian Magazine", which do more discredit to their

'See Compton's 'Lire or Clowes', 66

author than to his victim! Needless to say, these articles produced an equally violent reaction and defence From New-Church authors of the day. The battle was joined, and only now are Wesleyans and Swedenborgians beginning to come to terms with one another's view­points.

Apart from Wesley's nervous and foolish assault on the New-Church Doctrines in the "Arminian Magazine', 1do not wish to disparage either the man or his work. 1 believe that both Swedenborg and Wesley were, in their own ways, instruments of the Lord's Second Coming, first.-fruits of the Last Judgment. But Wesley was not interested in any New Church. He took for granted the authority of St.Paul and the accepted theology of the Establishment, and he was indignant with Swedenborg because he didn't. Wesley's principal concern was not with theology at ail, but with PEOPLE (and maybe we in the so-called New Church could usefully learn something From him in this respect). He gave to PEOPLE, mostly the middle and lower classes, a dignity as sons and daughters of God - a consciousness of "sins forgiven, man restored", and a yearning for a c10ser union with God through Christ.

Wesley's work was vital at that crisis in history; it saved the human race. It blew the embers of the old dying Church into flame, providing living material From which a New Church could eventually be built up. Actually, Wesley and Swedenborg were, without realizing it, complementary to one another (though Wesley, in his later state of mind, would have been horrified at the

idea!) A pity they didn't get together while on earth; but they surely will have met up long ago in the Spiritual World. And each will now be using his influence with his followers on earth, to co-operate with the Lord (whom they both ,Ioved with heartand soul) in the making ofall things new.

67

PART XI. DBATU AND f'UNERAL.

Swedenborg predicted to Elizabeth Reynolds the exact date ofhis death. She said afterwards, "He seemed to be as pleased as if he were going on a merry-making"! When the day arrived, March 29th1772, he asked her and Mrs Shearsmith what time it was. They answered 'Five o'dock". He thanked them, and slipped quietly away into the spiritual realm, never again to return.

Previously he had required, as it were, a 'Visitor's Visa" to enter there; now he was to become a permanent resident.

The funeral of his material body took place on April 5th 1772. It was conducted by Pastor Ferelius, in the so­called Ulrica Eleonora Church in the Ratdiffe Highway, Princes' Square, east of the Tower of London. (Note Ulrica Eleonora's name again; it appeared at the beginning of this Scrapbook. She was the little princess who was almost Swedenborg's twin!) There were thirteen mourners and two coaches. The church was full. The choir sang two anthems. The body was sealed in a lead container which was placed in a wooden coffin, and depo~ited in the vaults of the church.

Swedenborg left behind him .L400 plus some small change, a gold watch, a gold-headed walking stick. his Hebrew Bible, and four or five large manuscript books, 'one as large as a baker's shop book".

But his main legacy, of course, was spiritual. He bequeathed il, free oftax, to ail mankind! You and 1are among the legatees. But we must daim our inheritance before we can receive it: and we do this by studying the Doctrines outlined in his writings; and, in the Lord's strength, by living according to them. If we do this, we shall become spiritual milJionaires.

68

TUE SKULL

It is ironical that Swedenborg had far more attention paid to his physicaJ body alter he had died and lelt il, than he ever enjoyed while he was alive in il ln fact millions of people might never have heard of Swedenborg at ail, had it not been for the newspaper headlines concerning the sale of his skull!

Altogether, it seems that his coffin has been opened and his body examined no less than seven or eight times to date. The first time was about eighteen years alter his death, when in 1790 a ~foreign gentleman of the Rosicrucian sectN probably DrThomas Thorild From,

Sweden, visited his fellow countrymen c.R. Nordenskjold and C.B. Wadstrom, New-Church members then resident in London, and told them that in his opinion, Swedenborg had not really died; that the funeral had been a sham and there was no corpse in the coffin. To test out this ridiculous notion, the three men went to the Swedish Church in Ratcliffe Highway and persuaded the sexton to allow them to open the coffin. This meant removing the wooden lid and sawing through the lead envelope above the shoulder. It was immediately evident from the stench that Swedenborg had been no (ess mortal than other men! A few days la ter, five or six other New-Churchmen, including Robert Hindmarsh, hearing what had been done, were prompted by curiosity to go along and see the bodily remains for themselves.

Nothing further happened until 1817, forty-five years alter Swedenborg's death. One day in July of that year, the funeral was being conducted of Baroness Mary von Nolcken, widow of the late Swedish Ambassador, and her remains were being interred in the vaults of the Swedish Church. One of the mourners was a certain Ludvig Granholm, a retired captain of the Swedish Navy, now resident in Lonûon. Glancing idly at the coffins in the vault he noticed one with a loose lid, and read the name on it: "Swedenborg N Hoping ta make something•

out of il, he slipped back into the vault alter the party had lelt, opened the coffin, and absconded with the skull under his overcoat. He took it ta the house of the lawyer J.I. Hawkins, a well-known New-Churchman, son of Rev. Isaac Hawkins, andtried ta sell it ta him as a relie, but was driven away. He took it ta several other New­Church people, with the same result. It was still in his possession when he died about a year later, January 28th 1819.

The pastor of the Swedish Church, Rev. Johan Wahlen, being chaplain of the Swedes in London, attended his deathbed, and learned of the skull. Naturally he retrieved il, and we have a record that he presented it to a meeting of the Church Council on July 4th 1819. They decided to wait until the vault was opened for another funeral before bothering to replace the skull. In the meantime it was loaned to the distinguished New­Churchman Charles Augustus Tulk, M.P., for display among many other skulls in his phrenological museum. Hearing of the situation, a New-Church friend ofTulk's in Sweden, Countess Margaretha von Schwein, wrote to

69

him earnestly requesting that the skulJ should be returned at once to its proper place. So, on March 25th 1823, Tu'lk, together with Wahlen and Nordenskjold, walked with the precious relic to Ratcliffe Highway. On the way they stopped at a studio in Holborn and had a plaster cast made, which was used to make the celebrated bust. Incidentally, Tulk seems to have kept back the smalJ bones of the ear, which eventually came into the possession of the Swedenborg Society.

Sorne time later, a rumour began to circula te, and even reached the Times Newspaper, that the wrong skuli had been taken from the phrenological museum, whereas "the authentic skulJ of Emanuel Swedenborg" was on sale at an antique shop in the East End of London. Some effort was made to trace this second skull, but the only person who seemed to know about it was by this time locked away in a mental asylum! Still the rumour spread.

ln October 1853 the outer wooden case of the coffin was found to be so damaged that a new one was made.

Then, in 1908, the Swedish Church in Ratcliffe Highway was itself demolished; and, on April 8th of that year, Swedenborg's mortal remains were conveyed to Paddington station and so by train to Dartmouth where they were placed aboard the Swedish cruiser Fylgia, and shipped to Karlskrona, the Swedish naval base on the Baltic, arriving on April 18th. Alter some discussion as to the coffin's final resting place, it was conveyed by train to Uppsala on May 19th, and eventually placed in a sarcophagus next to that ofcarl von Linne (Linnaeus) in

Uppsala cathedral, where it now lies. The sarcophagus was dedicated on November 19th, 1910.

Owing, however, to the persistent rumour of the "other sku1l", the coffin had previously been opened on May 29th 1908, in the presence of the cathedral Chapter and representatives ofthe Royal Society ofScience; and the skeleton, with particular reference to the skull, was submitted to a thorough and exhaustive examination by the anatomist Dr J. Vilh. Hultkrantz. The work was completed by June 13, and a full account of the investigation, with numerous photographs, was published by the Royal Society of Uppsala on May 6th, 1910.

No one who has studied this highly technical and professional report can have the slightest doubt that the skull in the coffin, and therefore in the sarcophagus, was the genuine one. It fitted the lower jaw (which had not been removed by the t'hief); it harmonized perfectly with the skeleton; and photos of a plaster model made of il, fiUed neatly over the portraits painted of the Seer during his Iifetime.

However, in fact, the rival skull (still claiming to be genuine) was discovered in London in March 1912. It was sent to Uppsala and thoroughly examined; but it was found to have been suffering from a congenital disease called Scaphocephaly, which effectively put it out of the running. What the authorities eventually did with the skull, 1 don't know.

70

Swedenborg's remains being conveyed from the Swedish Church in London to be returned to his homeland,

71

Casket containing 5wedenborg's remains on the deck of the 5wedish frigate 'Fulgia',

72

So now we come down to the nineteen-sixties, when the world press and TV (normally so taciturn about Swedenborg) suddenly broke their conspiracy of silence to announce that yet another of his "authentic" skulls has turned up, somewhere in Wales! It was offered for sale by auction at Sotheby's in London, who listed it in their catalogue as: "An original Skull, apparently of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) the celebrated Swedish scientist, savant, philosopher and theologian." The auction took place on 6th March 1978, and the skull was purchased by the Royal Academy of Science, Stockholm, for ;fl,500. A representative of the Swedish Embassy is reported to have said that it would be returned to its "rightful" place in Uppsala Cathedral; we are left to presume that it ended up with the other skull in Swedenborg's sarcophagus there.

Recently we have heard that the auctioneers deliberately refrained from submitting their bill to the Royal Academy of Sciences, so that they themselves bore the entire cost. If this is true, then it is was a remarkable and perhaps unique act of good-will on Sotheby's part.

But was the skull in fact Swedenborg's7 Probably we shall never know for sure. How many skulls did he have anyway7 Others may be forthcoming in the future - quite a draw at ;fl,500 each!

Never mind - it doesn't really matter.

73

Sale of skull ends a 200-year tale lh our ,-'Tt Salf'A torrt'~pc)nd"l lm: ~"ULL .r Emaml.1 ~~~ ,·d ..nbors. 'h~ S>C"1.-ntt5t.. il ~l rlo oph€"T, 1 nd theologlln • ~;.;" old al Solheb)"~ ye-slrr· da\ for l1.~O. Il ••,. bnu~hl b\ th .. S",rdbh Royal At.d· ('!lI\ (Ir Sclf'"rt',

1'1 1111)' Jaln th,. nst ur thr no})I('m.n·~ remains ln llpp. \.jl:ll ralhf"dral or tW! kepl _'th • "m..JI ..ol~dlon of hi.s rcll('~ , ..... nrd b)' lbt" acadtmy ln .tockholnt.

T tt ,..lt ~nfh an tltr., onUn.I"" and nlanbrr se"" o. f»\of'n't.!. wharh llarled 500n aftr.-r SWfflrnborJ!:'M dratb ln LAndon ln 1;;%. lit wu bUf' j,.c1 in the Sw~lsh Churc:h ln Prlll(('S Squ.n, London. bul

lhl' grlvr WI' opl'nec! ln .,Imut 178ft ....CIU".. 'cml~ tu'gfl1(' h'a~d lhlt Ihe body /1 ... 11 bt'("n litoltn

Thu ln 1816 or 1817 Ih. .I.ull "L' .lol~n-. S",odl.h rna-.lA"r mlrln,.r " ... AWipeclM of the: trime. Th.. rf'~l or tb. remaina wrrt exhumNi ln 1908 .nd ..I..n 10 UppsaJ. f"alhf'dnl Il thr rtqutll or the ~"t'dbh (;o\~rnm"nt. Th. ."ull _,1'" known at lhb tin...' co .... In Ihe hand. 0' 'n luUqut' dra.tr.

"('lroU"«:' t~t. .~r. dont i)n ft Irom UIRf' la li... Ind lhe Ialal report, pubU.bed b, 'he .cad.IllY 0' Sclen.e ln 1~60, ..Id,; • The hlalOrlcol, anllomlral. thtmJal, and ph\.loleRlcal In.flI,\lpU....

Tbe Swedl'nborg .kuU

ron(f.rnln~ Ihe ,kull hln' not h .n .blt 10 luml h, Indll'" du. Il " Onel proo" or Identlly or Ihl. kull ,,'Ith S..ed.n· horlll:'5 traniunl. But to&etbtr Illey cl" "" slron, 'D Incll· collon ln thl. dlrecUon thal Ibey m.y Ile r.,ardod Il proc­linl1y cofttIUJiIH!."

Thl. me nI Ih.1 a ."ull ..hleh had ~en ... lIh Ihe resl or lh. rem.lno Il Uppsala "10 a lullolltute.

Th••knll "". IOld ,e.'l<'r·

~~ :to'u:;,~ri~:d rl~o;:c~w::; r.lhw. Re .... In~rntM .. phr...IOID', th••It'-· .r ~..s.:s ~~vlUi.!:.'"::'-':

whlch was 50101 for iJ,lI~O

llltmp. on lh. cronlulft. "othl'b)". c.I.logu. dH'

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Newspaper cutting and photograph concerning 'Ihe Swedenborg skull',

74

PART XII. IN ETEKNITY.

Someone has said: "If you want to find a friend at a party, you won't look for him in the doakroom where he has left his overcoat; you will look for him on the da(lce floor. H

So, ifyou want to find Emanuel Swedenborg today, you won't look for him in the coffin or sarcophagus (with or without the skull). Vou will expect to find him busy and happy in one orthe uplands ofheaven. Doubtless he will be living in a pleasant but modest homestead containing a laboratory, a Iibrary, a sanctuary, and an office with a large writing table, pursuing his Iife's work of channelling the Lord's love and wisdom into the universal New Church -" in heaven and on earth. 1can imagine him also relaxing sometimes by playing heavenly music on his Iittle organ in a celestial summer­house!

Will he be living aJone, 1 wonder? - or will he have acquired a wife?

Since his "deathH there have been psychics, such as,

Arthur Ford of Philadelphia, and the Indian Sadhu Sundar Singh, who daim to have contacted Swedenborg in the spiritual world. As recently as 1928­29, The Sadhu reported that he had often met the "Venerable SwedenborgH there. "He occupies a high placeH wrote the Sadhu. "He is a glorious man, but,

modest and ever ready to serve. H And again (interestingly): ·Swedenborg's name has been changed, to one which expresses his high position and office, and his most beautiful characterH (Another•

change ofname?) "He is exceedingly happy, and always busy in helping others.H (A pity his final name could not be recorded in earth script!)

But is he still a bachelor? No one seems to have brought back any information concerning his wife! Yet according to Swedenborg's own testimony, given in his book "Conjugial LoveH a'll the angels are married pairs:,

so naturally there has been speculation among his followers as to the identity of Swedenborg's own consort. Who is this angel woman who shares his intellectuallife, who motivates him by her love? Had she been one of his friends or acquaintances on earth?

It was rumoured that Charles Augustus Tulk had told Garth Wilkinson that he had heard someone say that Swedenborg had confided in someone that his consort on the other side might be a lady named Elizabeth Sljarncrona, Countess Gyllenborg. The Gyllenborgs had been intimate with Swedenborg in Stockholm for a number of years, and Elizabeth's husband, Count Frederick Gyllenborg, had been President of the Board of Mines. He had died in 1759, and Swedenborg reported that he had rapidly degenerated in the spiritual world, revealing that inwardly he had been ofa hypocritical disposition, consumed with self-love. He was actually now in one of the lower regions, and therefore completely divorced from his former wife.

75

Elizabeth survived the Count by ten years, during which she was Swedenborg's close neighbour in HOrflsgatan, Stockholm. She is said to have been of a devout nature; she herself composed and published a volume of meditations from the Word, entitled: "Mary's - the Better Part _She is known to have presented a copy to Swedenborg, which he, not she, autographed! - the opposite to what present-day authors are expected to do when they give away copies of their books!

Shortly after the Countess passed on, in 1769, Swedenborg left Stockholm for the last time, to go to Amsterdam to publish "True Christian Religion-. Three years later, he himself died in London.

His heirs found, written in his own hand in his personal copy of the Latin T.C.R., a List of Valuables, such as people make of their jewellery in their wills. This is the nearest to a will that Swedenborg ever got.

Swedenborg's Summer'house as it now stands preserved in Skansen, Stockholm.

LIST OF VALUABLES

1. A beautiful red chest, consisting of live rows, live drawers in each row.

2. A handsome dress and a handsome cap. 3. A liWe crown with live small diamonds,

which is wom in heaven on one side of the head.

4. A beautiful liWe rose containing a very brilliant diamond, whicb laler was set in a golden ring.

S. A tiara, or decoration for the head. 6. A necklace of diamonds,

and a pendant of gold with a diamond. 7. A bracelet of diamonds. 8. Ear-rlngs of three diamonds each side. 9. A box in a casket

wherein are shining crystals, signifying regeneration 10 elemity.

10. Something precious, whicb was placed in a beautiful box on November 28th. 1770.

Il, A jewelled pendant containing a beautiful diamond.

12. A handsome hat for me. 13. Something precious

which cannot be seen by spirits but only by an angel. May 28th. 1771.

14, A cane with a beautiful gold knob, August 13th. 177 I.

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(On the dates mentioned - Nov. 1770, May and August 1771 - Swedenborg was in Amsterdam, seeing T.C.R. through the press.)

For whom were these "Valuables· intended? The cap and gold-headed cane were obviously for his own use; but the other objects mentioned were apparently for a lady - his future bride perhaps? And she must have been an angel - see No. 13.

It is rather touching that this crusty old bachelor of 84 should be so tenderly contemplating his future wife, and lovingly imagining her resplendent in jewellery, including a Iittle crown with five small diamonds worn on one side of her head!

After Swedenborg's decease his heirs greedily searched everywhere for these Valuables. Ali they could find was his cane, which is now in the possession of the Swedenborg Society in London. But we can close this Scrapbook picturing him as he undoubtedly is NOW ­blissfully happy and content in a high heaven with his beautiful angel wife (whoever she may bel - he and she seeming from a distance to be one complete individual, radiant with Iight reflected From the Sun of heaven.

Swedenborg as deplcted on his Sarcophagus in Uppsala Cathedral.

77

78�

SWEDENBORG - CURONOLOGICAL TABLE Year Age

1688 STOCKHOLM. Emanuel Swedberg born in royal barracks, 29 January. Rev. Jesper Swedberg, Regimental and Royal Chaplain,( his father ).

9 1 STOCKHOLM

1690 2

1 3

2 4 Jesper, pastor of VINGAKER for a few months, then appointed Professor of Theology at Uppsala University.

3 5 UPPSALA

4 6

5 7

6 8 Jesper appointed Rector of University, and Bishop of Swedish churches overseas. Sara Behm, Emanuel's mother, dies.

7 9 Jesper marries Sara Bergia.

8 10 House in Uppsala destroyed by fire. New house built and dedicated.

9 11 UPPSALA

1700 12

1 13

2 14

3 15 Jesper appointed Bishop of SKARA; family moves to Brunsbo Estate. Emanuel stays at Uppsala University, living with Erik Benzelius.

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1704 16 UPPSALA

5 17

6 18

7 19

8 20

9 21 Emanuel defends and publishes his Graduation thesis, and then (in June) joins his family at Brunsbo. Aiso publishes sorne Latin verses.

1710 22 At BRUNSBO. Studies organ. Sends whale skeleton to Uppsala. Visits Polhammer at Stjernesund. In September, leaves for London.

1 23 LONDON. Practical crafts and trades. Astronomy. Latin verses.

2 24 Brass instrument. Aigebra, Geometry. The Longitude. Visits Oxford. ln the autumn, to Holland.

3 25 HOLLAND. Congress of Utrecht. Glass grinding in Leyden. To Paris, where he is sick (July to August).

4 26 To ROSTOCK, via Hamburg. List of mechanical inventions. Charles XII arrives at Stralsund, having escaped from imprisonment in Turkey (Nov. 21) Prepares for siege. (Queen Anne dies in England.)

5 27 Publishes Latin poems in Griefswalde. Escapes From siege of Stralsund. Returns home to Brunsbo (Aug.) Visits Stockholm and Uppsala.

6 28 BRUNSBO (March) Publishes first volume of "Daedalus Hyperboreus". ln December, to Lund, to Charles Xll's court. Polhammer ennobled, name changed to Po/hem. The King, on Polhem's recommendation, appoints Emanuel "Assessor Extraordinary" to College of Mines, and Assistant to Polhem.

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1717 29 Fully occupied with "Daedalus" and assisting Polhem in big engineering projects. Visits Gothenburg, Stjernsund, Stockholm. Meets Maria and Emerentia Polhem.

8 30 Publishes works on Aigebra, finding the Longitude, and motions of the earth and planets. Siege of Fredrikshall. Emanuel organizes portage of ships, Sept. 1718. Charles Xii killed.

9 31 Queen Ulrica Eleonora (Charles Xll's sister) ennobled the Swedberg family ­name changed to SWEDENBORG. Emanuel writes scientific treatises.

1720 32 Sara Bergia dies (April). Jesper marries Christina Arrhusia (Dec.) Emanuel begins writing on anatomy.

1 33 (2nd foreign journey) Copenhagen Hamburf} Amsterdam, Aix, Cologne. Emanuel writes on Geometrie expianation of Chemistry and Physics and fire.

2 34 Leipzig. "Mliscellaneous Observations", M'ines of Saxony, and in Hartz Mts. Back through Stralsund to Stockholm. Writes on mining methods.

3 35 Presents memorials to Diet on financial reforms, rolling mills, etc.

4 36 (July) Formally appointed "Assessor" at the College of Mines. Work on his own mines at Axmar.

5 37 Writes on the mechanism of soul and body; cosmology, anatomy.

6 ·38 STOCKHOLM. Working in College of Mines, with visits to provinces.

7 39

8 40

9 41

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1730 42 (Bishop Jespers residence, Brunsbo, destroyed by fire)

1 43 Sick, April-May.

2 44

3 45 (3rd foreign journey) Stralsund, Berlin Dresden Prague, Carlsbad; back to Prague, and thence to Leipzig.

4 46 At Leipzig, publishes "Opera Philosophica" and "Prodromus". H'ome to Stockholm, via Brunswick.

5 47 (Death of Bishop Jesper, aged 82)

6 48 (4th foreign journey) via Linkoping, to Copenhagen Hambur~ Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp, PARIS. Singular dreams recorded.

7 49 PARIS. Studies anatomy at University.

8 50 Visits ltaly via Lyons. Turin (March) Milan (danger From vetturino) Bergamo, Verona, Vicenza, Padua, to VLNlCE. Thence to Florence, Pisa, Siena, to ROML. Interview with Pope Clement XII.

9 51 From Rome back to Paris, via F'Iorence and Qenoa. On to Amsterdam (Dec.)

1740 52 AMSTERDAM. Publishes Part 1 of "Economy". Saw flashing Iights. Psychic experiences begin. Returns to STOCKHOLM (Oct.) Controversy with Celsius re Declination of magnetic field. Wrote on Brain and Fibres.

1 53 STOCKHOLM, College of Mines. "Hieroglyphic Key". "Rational Psychology", "Economy" Part II.

2 54 STOCKHOLM. "Ontology". "Generative Organs". "Five Senses".

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TRANSITION PERlOn

1743 55 Buys 43 Hornsgatan. Begins 5th foreign journey - recorded in "Journal of Dreams". (July 1743-0ct. 1744) Ystad, Stralsund, ffamburfJ; Amsterdam (Oct.) Regular psychic experiences, interpreted in "Journar.

4 56 The ffague. Publishes "Animal Kingdom". pts 1 & II. The Lord appears to him in Delft. April 6-7, marked in Journal "N.B. 'N.B. N.B.". To London (May 16) Lodged with Brockmer. Begins "Worship & Love of God". (Oct.)

5 57 LONDON. "Animal Kingdom" Pt. III. "Worship & Love of God" Pts 1 & Il. Vision at Inn (April) Eyes opened into spiritual world. Home to Stockholm (July). Begins "AdversariaN

•

6 58 "AdversariaN and "Index Biblicus". Moved into 43 Homsgatan.

7 59 STOCKHOLM. Finishes "Adversaria". Begins "Spiritual Diary". Vision of "Nunc Licet" (Feb). Retires from the College of M,ines. Departs for Amsterdam (6th foreign journey). Full illumination Aug. 7th.

FULL ILWMINATION

8 60 AMSTERDAM. "Glorification throughout the whole spiritual worJd re Advent of the Lord" (Sept. lst) To London (Oct.) with manuscript of "Arcana Coelestia" Vol. 1.

9 61 LONDON. "AC.!." published. Index to AC. begun. Spends summer and autumn in Holland, and winter in Aix-la-Chapelle.

1750 62 AIX. Germany, home to Stockholm. AC. Vol. Il published in London, in parts, in Latin and English translation by Marchant.

83

1751 63 STOCKHOLM. Arcana Vol. III published in London (Latin only)

2 64 Vol. IV

3 65 Vols. V and VI

4 66 Vol. VII

5 67 (No Arcana) Memorial on Liquor trame.

6 68 Arcana Vol. VIII published in London (Completed work)

7 69 LAST JUDGMENT in Spiritual World.

8 70 To LONDON (7th foreign journey) Publishes the ~London Five", viz (1) Earths in Universe, (2) Heaven and Hell, (3) Last Judgment (4) N.J. & Heavenly Doctrine (5) White Horse. Begins writing ~Apocalypse Explained", - abandoned before completion.

9 71 Returns to Stockholm, via Gothenburg ­ ~sees" Stockholm fire from Gothenburg (July).

1760 72 STOCKHOLM. Memorials on metal currency. Writes ~L.J. Post".

1 73 Various tracts. Marteville Receipt and Queen's Secret.

2 74 To Amsterdam (8th journey) with manuscripts for publication. (Death of Peter III) Returns home. Begins writing ~Prophets & Psalms".

3 75 Completes ~Prophets & Psalms" (not published.) Writes ~Inlaying Marble". (June) back to Amsterdam (9th journey). Publishes (1) Four Leading Docts. (2) Last Judgment Continued. (3) Divine Love and Wisdom.

4 76 (4) Divine Providence. On to London to interview Royal Society. Back home to Stockholm.

84

1765 77 STOCKHOLM. Finishes "Spiritual Diaryn.

(lOth journey) via Gothenburg (Tells Bolander about fire in his mill) to Amsterdam.

6 78 Amsterdam, publishes "Apocalypse Revealed". To London, to see Royal Society about Longitude. Back home to Stockholm.

7 79 STOCKHOLM, writing "Conjugial Love".

8 80 (llth journey) Elsinore, Zurich, AMSTERDAM. Publishes "Con. Love". Trouble begins to brew in Gothenburg with Beyer and Rosen.

9 81 AMSTERDAM. Pub. "Brief Exposition" (Hic Liber). (April) to Paris for a French edition of "B.E." Refused. To London, where an English ed. of "B.E.n is published, (translated by Marchant). Writes and publishes "Intercourse. (Swed. is called "The N.J. Gentleman".) Returns home to Stockholm (Oct).

1770 82 STOCKHOLM. Conflict re Beyer and Rosen rages. Swedenborg appeals to the king. Writes "True Christian Religion", New-Church Day, 19th June 1770. To Amsterdam (July).

1 83 AMSTERDAM. Publishes T.C.R. in June. (Aug) to The Hague. (Sept) to London. Lodged with Shearsmith. An attack of paralysis before Christmas. Wrote "Ecclesiastical History" and "Coronis".

2 84 LONDON. Note to Wesley. Died March 29th. Buried, Princes Square, April 5th. (Coffin removed to Uppsala April 7th 1908)

After the "London Five" (1758) ail the Latin Editions were published in Amsterdam except "Intercourse", which was published in London.

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Cover: 'StillLife.A

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llegory 0/the Mznities 0/H

uman L

ife'

by Harm

en Steenwyck

RejJroduced by courtesy 0/theTrustees, TheNational G

allery, London.

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