is named Filenius, Bishop of Ostrogothia, who now officiates as President of the Ecclesiastical order in the General Assembly at Stockholm, in the room of the Archbishop who is infirm; he married the daughter of my sister: the other, who is called Benzelstierna, Bishop of Westmannia and Dalecarnia, is the son of my second sister; not to mention others of my family who are dignified. I converse freely, and am in friendship with all the Bishops of my country, who are ten in number, and also with the sixteen Senators, and the rest of the grandees, who love and honor me, as knowing that I am in fellowship with Angels. The King and Queen themselves, as also the three Princes their sons, show me all kind countenance, and I was once invited to eat with the King and Queen at their table, (an honor granted only to the Peers of the realm) and likewise, since that, with the Hereditary Prince. All in my own country wish for my return home, so far am I from the least danger of persecution there, as you seem to apprehend, and are also sa kindly solicitous to provide against; and should any thing of that kind befal me elsewhere, it will give me no concern.

"Whatever of worldly honor and advantage may appear to be in the things before-mentioned, I hold them but as matters of low estimation, when compared to the honor of that holy office to which the Lord himself hath called me, who was graciously pleased to manifest himself to me, his unworthy servant, in a personal appearance, in the year 1743, to open in me a sight of the Spiritual World, and to enable me to converse with Spirits and Angels, and this privilege hath continued with me to this day. From that time I began to print and publish various unknown Arcana, that have been either seen by me, or revealed to me, concerning Heaven and Hell, the state of men after death, the true worship of God, the spiritual sense of the Scriptures, and many other important truths tending to salvation and true wisdom: and that mankind might receive benefit from these communications, was the only motive which has induced me at different times to leave my home to visit other countries. As to this world's wealth, I have what is sufficient, and more I neither seek nor wish for.

"Your letter has drawn the mention of these things from me, in case, as you say, they may be a means to prevent or remove any false judgment or wrong prejudices with regard to my personal circumstances. Farewel; and I heartily wish you prosperity both in things spiritual and temporal, of which I make no doubt, if so be you go on to pray to our Lord, and to set him always before you.

"LONDON, 1769."

"EMAN. SWEDENBORG.

It is easy to see what different judgments will be formed by different persons concerning the above letter, particularly that part of it where he opens his spiritual commission, and declares himself the Apostle of a New Dispensation. The atheist and infidel will regard the things contained in it as impossible, and will instantly reject it under that idea; the wit and the minute philosopher will ridicule it as extravagant, and

*The recent King of Sweden.

pronounce it the mere effect of a warm and deluded imagination: even the serious and well-disposed Christian will have his doubts concerning its reality, and will suspect the fact, though he will not dispute its pos sibility. Supernatural events, in all ages of the world, have thus divided the sentiments of mankind, nor is it to be expected that in our own age we shall be better agreed touching the truth of a relation so marvellous and miraculous, supported only by the testimony of a single witness. Caution, likewise, on such occasions, has always been deemed expedient by the truly good and enlightened, lest giving too hastily an assent to things extraordinary, they should encourage imposture, and put it in the power of weak or ill-disposed persons to establish an authority over the minds of others, grounded only in the infirmities or depravities of their own.

But as an indiscriminate reception of every supernatural relation is dangerous, so an indiscriminate rejection is no less so, and is therefore equally to be avoided by all wise men. Candor to examine, and judgment to distinguish between truth and error, between realities and appearances, have for this reason at all times been accounted estimable virtues; whereby the upright and sincere might be preserved from the mischiefs attending a blind credulity on the one side, and a perverse incredulity on the other.

We beg leave, therefore, to suggest, with all deference to the sentiments of others, that it is the duty of every candid Christian to examine well the credibility of the above testimony, and this without partiality and without prejudice, inasmuch as the general interests of truth, which ought to be dear to every one, may be greatly affected by such an examination. And as the tenor of Baron Swedenborg's life, dated from the beforementioned event, to his death, together with his writings, and the doctrines therein contained, must needs have great and deserved weight in the determination of an impartial judgment; it appears farther to be the duty of every sincere inquirer after the truth, not to pronounce any sentence, till he has faithfully and diligently weighed the several circumstances respecting the latter period of our Author's life, as well as the nature and tendency of the books written by him during that period.

It is well known that Baron Swedenborg, after the above extarordinary call to be an instructor of mankind, dedicated himself entirely to the great work which was assigned him. The future part of his life was spent, agreeably to the high commission he had received, in studying diligently the WORD of God, in opening and elucidating the great truths therein contained, and in publishing them to his fellow-creatures, toge

ther with the important information made known to him concerning another world. For this purpose he frequently left his native country to visit distant cities, particularly London and Amsterdam, where all his Theological Works were printed by him at a great expense, and with little prospect or a probability of a reimbursement. Wherever he resided on his travels, (according to the testimony of a late writer, who was personally acquainted with him) he was a mere solitary, and almost inaccessible, though in his own country of a free and open behaviour. He affected no honor, but declined it; pursued no worldly interest, but spent his time in travelling and printing, in order to communicate instruction and benefit to mankind. He had nothing of the precisian in his manner, nothing of melancholy in his temper, and nothing in the least bordering on enthusiasm in his conversation or writings. To this may be added, that he affected no singularities, neither was he elated by reason of his extraordinary gifts, so as to aim at any pre-eminence in spiritual things, or to set himself up as the head of a party. Far from the spirit of a sectarian, he loved good men wherever he found them, and approved the truth by whomsoever it was taught; nevertheless, he was bold and free to censure vice under all its forms, and amongst all its adherents; and to point out errors, however respectable the names which gave them authority. In short, his whole life, from the date of the above memorable event, appears to have been that of a man called to eminent and extraordinary services; being orderly, prudent, pure, humble, and beneficent, suitable to the Heavenly intercourse to which he was admitted.

He died at London, in the year 1772; and, after lying in state, was interred at the Swedish Church, near Ratcliff-Highway.

DOCTRINES OF THE NEW-JERUSALEM.

It being the avowed purpose of the Editors of this Magazine to furnish the world with a new, but rational system of divinity, it becomes them to state, in a fair and candid manner, those principles which they conceive to be founded in truth, and which, they trust, will meet the approbation of every intelligent and impartial reader.

The New Church is so called, because it is that signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation of John.

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG, the founder of this New Church, whose tenets are peculiarly distinct from every other system of divinity in Christendom, draws all his doctrines from the holy scriptures, which appear at the same time to be grounded in true philosophy. The author

points out an entire new and singular way of reconciling the apparent contradictions in Scripture, by having recourse to two kinds of truth, which he distinguishes into genuine and apparent. He maintains, that the Holy Scripture, as well as every thing in nature, is resolvable into one or the other of these two kinds of truth. Thus when it is said, that the sun rises or sets, this is only an apparent truth, as the genuine truth is, that the earth revolves round its own axis, and causes that, appearance: yet there is no impropriety in speaking according to appearances; nay, it would be a manifest absurdity, in the above instance, to speak, in common conversation, according to the genuine truth. Just so it is with the Scriptures, which are written in a style adapted to the comprehension of the simple, and in many parts are not genuine, but apparent truths. Thus, when it is said, that God is angry and revengeful, that he punishes and casts into hell, we are to understand, that it is man who is angry with God, and that it is man who brings punishment upon himself, and casts himself into hell. So in numberless other passages to the same purpose; and particularly in the New Testament, where the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, are mentioned apparently as three distinct persons, (which by many is converted into the idea of three Gods) whereas the genuine truth is, that there is only one God in one person.

These, and a variety of other points equally new and interesting, are treated very copiously by the author in his theological works. But as they are voluminous, and many of our readers may not have had an opportunity of consulting them, we shall here state the principal doctrines of the New Church, which have been collected with great care from the whole of his writings, and are contained in the fol lowing summary.

1. Contrary to Unitarians who deny, and to Trinitarians who hold, a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, they maintain, that there is a Divine Trinity in the person of Jesus Christ, consisting of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, just like the human trinity in every individual man, of soul, body, and operation; and that as the latter trinity constitutes one man, so the former Trinity constitutes one Jehovah God, who is at once the Creator, Redeemer, and Regenerator.

2. That Jehovah God himself came down from Heaven, and assumed human nature, for the purpose of removing hell from man, of restoring the heavens to order, and of preparing the way for a New Church upon earth; and that herein consists the true nature of redemption, which was effected solely by the Omnipotence of the Lord's Divine Humanity. VOL. II.

3

No. 1.

3. They hold the notion of pardon obtained by a vicarious sacrifice or atonement, as a fundamental and fatal error; but that repentance is the foundation of the Church in man, that it consists in a man's abstaining from all evils, because they are sins against God, etc. that it is productive of regeneration, which is not an instantaneous, but a gradual work, effected by the Lord alone, through charity and faith, during man's co-operation.

4. That man has free will in spiritual things, whereby he may join himself, by reciprocation, with the Lord.

5. That the imputation of the merits and righteousness of Christ is a thing as absurd and impossible, as it would be to impute to any man the work of creation; for the merits and righteousness of Christ consist in redemption, which is as much the work of a Divine and Omnipotent Being, as creation itself. They maintain, however, that the imputation, which really takes place, is an imputation of good and evil; and that this is according to a man's life.

6. That the doctrine of predestination and justification by faith alone, is contrary to the true sense of Holy Scripture, which every where points out the necessity of conjoining a good life with a living faith in the Lord.

7. That the two sacraments of Baptism and the Holy Supper are essential institutions in the New Church, the genuine and rational uses of which are now discovered, together with the spiritual sense of the holy WORD.

8. That the holy WORD, or Sacred Scripture, contains a threefold sense; namely, celestial, spiritual, and natural, which are united by correspondences; and that in each sense it is Divine Truth, accommodated respectively to the angels of the three Heavens, and also to men on earth.

9. That the books of the WORD are all those which have the internal sense, and are as follows; the five books of Moses, (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, the Psalms, and all the Prophets; also, the four Evangelists, and the Revelation: And that the other books, not having the internal sense, are not the WORD.

10. That in the spiritual world there is a Sun distinct from that of the natural world, the essence of which is pure Love from Jehovah God, who is in the midst thereof; that the heat also proceeding from that Sun is in its essence Love, and the light thence proceeding is in its essence Wisdom; and that by the instrumentality of that Sun all things were created, and continue to subsist, both in the spiritual and in the natural world.