LIFE
OF
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.
TOGETHER WITH
A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF HIS WRITINGS, BOTH PHILOSOPHICAL
AND THEOLOGICAL.
BY WILLIAM WHITE.
[Illustration]
PHILADELPHIA
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.
1880.
PREFACE.
During the few past years many biographies of Swedenborg have been
offered to the public. Dr. Tafel, of Tübingen, in 1839, collected into
one volume the testimonies of Swedenborg’s personal friends, his letters,
and various documents relating to him which were scattered through
many volumes. This “Book of Documents” was translated into English,
and edited by the Rev. J. H. Smithson, of Manchester, in 1841; and was
again reprinted in America and re-edited by Professor Bush, of New York,
in 1847. From this “Book of Documents,” all the biographies which have
appeared, have been more or less indebted. Nathanael Hobart, of Boston,
arranged these documents into a connected biographical form, interspersed
with judicious remarks of his own, and published it as a “Life of
Swedenborg.” This “Life” has passed through three editions, and well
deserves the success it has attained. In 1849, Elihu Rich published, in
London, “A Biographical Sketch of Emanuel Swedenborg.” The edition was
exhausted in the course of a few months, and the work has not since been
reprinted. In the same year, J. J. G. Wilkinson produced his “Emanuel
Swedenborg: a Biography,” a work which, alike for its artistic excellence
as a biography, and the originality and poetic beauty of its thought,
has, I believe, no equal in the English language. The comparative silence
of our literary critics, in reference to this work, proves that any
one who cares to appreciate what is best in the world, had better not
be content to trust solely to _their_ eyes. From the quotations I have
made in the course of the following narrative, the reader will be able
to appreciate a few of the good things contained in this Biography by
Wilkinson. In 1854, Edwin Paxton Hood published “Swedenborg: A Biography
and an Exposition,” a work which has been the means of introducing
Swedenborg to a large circle hitherto almost ignorant of his existence.
In the same year, Woodbury M. Fernald published, in Boston, Mass., “A
Compendium of the Theological and Spiritual Writings of Swedenborg,” to
which an excellent life of the Author was prefixed, compiled in great
part from previous biographies. In other forms, many sketches of the
life of Swedenborg have been published. The Rev. O. P. Hiller gives an
excellent little biography in his volume of “Gems from Swedenborg.”
Emerson tells the story of his life, in his own way, in “Representative
Men;” and a Lecture by George Dawson, on Swedenborg, is now circulating,
as a tract, by thousands throughout the land. All these things evidence a
growing interest in the greatest teacher of modern times.
The present work does not enter into competition with anything that has
before been written. It pretends to nothing but simplicity, and would
be ranked as a hand-book, a guide, a directory. If it should lead any
to form an acquaintance with the writings of “the most _unknown_ man in
the world,” as Mr. Fernald calls Swedenborg, and I may add, the most
abused man in the world, my end will be gained. I believe the day is not
far distant when it will be the greatest reproach of these times that
the works of Swedenborg lay in our midst, and only a few men cared for
them. Happily this number is steadily increasing; and, by and by, we may
expect a general acknowledgment of the fact, that Swedenborg was, without
exception, the most gifted and extraordinary man that has ever lived.
36 BLOOMSBURY STREET, LONDON.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage. Swedenborg’s First Ideas of Religion, and
his Scholastic Life. 21