Life of Emanuel Swedenborg : together with a brief synopsis of his writings, both philosophical and theological

Front matter

LTMARTO F CONGRES S. l\ Runited:states of-america.!

LIFE

Emanuel Swedenborg.

Chapter I

His Birth and Parentage — Sis first ideas of Religion, and his Scholastic Idfe.

Authors are never wiser than when they trust to time for justice. The poor thinker, neglected by his age, unseen amid the glare of mere show and pageantry, need not fret himself. Time will roll on, the false and meretricious will sink into forgetfulness, while his true words will become accepted, and his thoughts the stars by which wise men guide their course across the dark ocean of life.

It was the lot of Emanuel Swedenborg to be cast on a shallow, sceptical, and perverse age. Living a life of the utmost purity, and teaching truths which we esteem it our great felicity to know, he had but poor thanks so far as fame and disciples went. But the dawn of his day of justice is approaching. His name, which in past times has too often been used to point a sarcasm at whatever is visionary and transcendental, has of late years been slowly rising into estimation. Here and there, one eminent man after another has spoken some brave words in honor and admiration of the great SAvede. Slowly, but surely, his writings are claiming attention; his disciples, though still few, are quietly earnest and enthusiastic, and ever and anon there is seen in the newspaper or periodical, the name of Swedenborg mentioned with respect, if not with reverence. Considerable curiosity exists in large circles to know more of him, of what he did, what were his doctrines, and the nature and number of his books. To satisfy, in some measure, these queries and if possible to incite a desire for an intimate personal acquaintance with the writings of Swedenborg, is the purpose of the present work.

Emanuel Swedenborg was born at Stockholm, on the 29th Jan., 1688. The year is a memorable one, as being that in which outraged England drove the faithless Stuarts from the throne. His father's name was Jesper Swedberg, and his mother's, Sarah Behm ; both descended from families of worth and usefulness in Sweden. His father, at the time of his birth, was chaplain to a regiment of cavalry. After passing through several offices, one of which was a professorship of theology in the University of Upsal, Jesper Swedberg was, in the year 1719, elevated to the bishoprick of Skara in West Gothland. His character stood high in Sweden. Simple, patriotic, and honest, he was, without being brilliant, a learned and industrious man. He wrot< much, and published occasionally, as the following extract from his diary proves : " I can scarcely believe that anybody in Sweden has written so much as I have done ; since, I think, ten carts could scarcely carry away what I have written and printed at my own expense, and yet there is much, yea nearly as much, not printed." Of the professions of his sons, he wisely remarks ; " I have kept my sons to that profession to which God has given them inclination and liking: I have not brought up one to the clerical office, although many parents do this inconsiderately, and in a manner not justifiable, by which the Christian Church and the clerical order suffer not a little, and are brought into contempt." Writing in his diary forty years after Emanuel's birth, he says : " Emanuel, my son's name, signifies ' God with us,' a name which should constantly remind him of the nearness of God, and of that interior, holy, and mysterious connection, in which, through faith, we stand with our good and gracious God. And blessed be the Lord's name ! God has, to this hour, been with him ; and may God be further with him, until he is eternally united with Him in his kingdom."

Of Swedenborg's childhood we have little record. In a letter which, late in life, he addressed to Dr. Beyer, he remarks ; " "With regard to what passed in the earliest part of my life, about which you wish to be informed : from my fourth to my tenth year, my thoughts were constantly engrossed by reflections on God, on salvation, and on the spiritual affections of man. I often revealed things in my discourse which filled my parents with astonishment, and made them declare at times, that certainly the angels spoke through my mouth. From my sixth to my twelfth year, it was my greatest delight to converse with the clergy concerning faith ; to whom I often observed, that charity or love is the life of faith ; and that this vivifying charity or love is no other than the love of one's neighbor ; that God vouchsafes this faith to every one ; but that it is adopted by those only who practise that charity. I knew of no other faith or belief at that time, than that God is the Creator and Preserver of Nature ; that He endues men with understanding, good inclinations, and other gifts derived from these. I knew nothing at that time of the systematic or dogmatic kind of faith, that God the Father imputes the righteousness or merits of the Son to whomsoever, and at whatever time, He wills, even to the impenitent. And had I heard of such a faith, it would have been then, as now, perfectly unintelligible to me."

This confession very vividly shadows forth the future man. We see how earnestly his sound, practical mind perceived and clung to the real and substantial in theology. His experience of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, finds parallels in the lives and experience of many eminent men. It was not until after many years' preaching, that the fact of the existence of such a doctrine was presented to the mind of Dr. Chalmers, to whom also it was quite unintelligible; yet, overcome by the sphere of learning and prestige with which the doctrine was environed, Chalmers yielded assent to it, and fancied, as thousands do, he believed what by no possibility he could ever understand. Swedenborg was too single-eyed in his pursuit of truth to be led aside by authority, however imposing; and often, in the following narrative, we shall have to observe with what independence, yet with what humility and simplicity, he recorded the truths which it was his mission to reveal.

This excellent son of good Bishop Swedberg received the best education that the times and his country could afford. In his twenty-second year, at the University of Upsal, he took his degree of Doctor in philosophy. The dissertation which he wrote for his degree was afterwards published. It consisted of a selection of sentences from Seneca, Publius Syrus Mimus, and other Latin writers, enriched by comments of his own, and notes illustrating the obscurities of the Latin text. This work was so highly thought of, as to occasion a poetic eulogy, written in Greek, to be inscribed to its author. Swedenborg dedicated this, his first literary production, to his father, in a prelude full of veneration and love. Its length alone prevents our gratifying the reader with the perusal of this beautiful tribute of filial affection.

Among his many virtues, it should not be accounted the least, that Swedenborg was a loving, dutiful son.

The same year he published, in a work of his father's, a Latin version of the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, which proved, in a high degree, his mastery of the Latin language.

In 1710, was finished the strictly scholastic period of Swedenborg's life. He had now reached manhood, and must live as a man among men. His youth manifests less precocity than solid and regular development of mind. The record of his life at this time, evidences a common-sense appreciation of life and its duties, an honest love of virtue, and a desire to be useful in his day and generation. The sequel will show that his day of life was not unworthy of its dawn.

CHAPTER II. Travels — Becomes A.uthor — Is crossed in IJove*

Having completed his university education, Swedenborg entered on his travels. In his journal, he thus briefly describes a four years' absence from Sweden.

"In the year 1710 I set out for Gottenburg, that I might be conveyed, by ship, thence to London. On the voyage, my life was in danger four times : first on some shoals, toward which we were driven by a storm, until we were within a quarter of a mile from the raging breakers, and we thought we should all perish. Afterwards we narrowly escaped some Danish pirates under French colors ; and the next evening we were fired into from a British ship, which mistook us for the same pirates, but without much damage. Lastly, in London itself, I was exposed to a more serious danger. While we were entering the harbor, some of our countrymen came to us in a boat, and persuaded me to go with them into the city. Now it was known in London that an epidemic was raging in Sweden, and therefore all who arrived from Sweden were forbidden to leave their ships for six weeks, or forty days ; so I, having transgressed this law, was very near being hanged, and was only freed under the condition that, if any one attempted the same thing again, he should not escape the gallows.

" At London and Oxford I tarried about a year. Then I went to Holland and saw its chief cities. At Utrecht I tarried a long time, while Congress was sitting and ambassadors were gathering there from nearly all the courts of Europe. Thence I went into France, and passed through Brussels and Valenciennes to Paris. Here and at Versailles I spent a year. At the end of this time I hastened, by public coach, to Hamburg, and thence to Pomerania and Greifswalde, where I remained some time, while Charles the Twelfth was coming from Bender to Stralsund. When the siege began, I departed in a small vessel, together with a lady named Feif, and by Divine Providence was restored to my own country after more than four years' absence."

While traveling he was not idle ; for we find that in 1715, while at Greifswalde, he published an oration on the return of Charles XII. from Turkey, and a small volume of Latin prose fables. On his return to Sweden, he issued, at Skara, a little book of poems, written for the most part during his journeyings. These have been republished at various times; but, as poems, much cannot be said of them. Wilkinson, in his " Biography of Swedenborg," remarks : " These poems display fancy, but a controlled imagination. If we may convey to the English reader such a notion of Latin verses, they remind one of the Pope school, in which there is generally some theme, or moral, governing the flights of the Muse." Indeed, it was well that Swedenborg was but slightly endowed with the poetic faculty. Much of his future mission lay in fields which require the coolest and calmest of minds to describe ; the sight and contemplation of which, would have sent a Shaksperian or Byronic temperament into extatic frenzies.

Swedenborg, himself the son of a bishop, was connected with high and influential families in Sweden. One of his sisters was married to Eric Benzelius, afterwards Archbishop of Upsal ; and another to Lars Benzelstierna, governor of a province. Other members of the family held high and responsible offices in the kingdom. A young man thus situated iio LIFE AND WRITINGS OF

would find little difficulty in settling for life in a sphere of usefulness adapted to all his tastes. While on his travels on the Continent he wrote letters to Eric Benzelius, detailing every novelty in mathematics, astronomy, and mechanics, which came under his observation; besides sending home models of all such inventions as he thought might be useful to his country. These letters and services won for him considerable notice ; and on his return to Sweden, he assumed the editorship of a new periodical work, entitled " Daedalus Hyperboreus." Among the contributors to this magazine, was the celebrated mathematician, Christopher Polheim, who has been called the Swedish Archimedes. Swedenborg's connection with Polheim seems to have led to his appointment to the office of Assessor of the Board of Mines, which he held with distinguished honor for many years.

In the year 1716, Polheim invited him to go with him to Lund, on a visit to Charles XII., who had just escaped from Stralsund. He was very kindly received by the King, and obtained from him his official appointment as Assessor. He was to assist Polheim in-his undertakings, to have a seat in the College of Mines, and to give his advice, especially when any business of a mathematical nature was on hand.

Charles seems to have at once discerned the rare abilities of Swedenborg, and with a desire of uniting him in still closer bonds of amity with his favorite Polheim, he advised Polheim to give him his daughter in marriage. To this proposal Swedenborg appears to have been in nowise averse. He lived with Polheim, at once as his coadjutor, and as his pupil in mathematics ; and having thus constant opportunities of seeing the fair Emerentia, Polheim's second daughter, had become enamored of her graces. In one of his letters, he remarks : " Polheim's eldest daughter is promised to a page of the king's. I wonder what people say of this in relation to myself. His second daughter is, in my opinion, much the handsomest." The attachment, however, was not mutual, and the lady would not allow herself to be betrothed. Her father, who deeply loved Swedenborg, caused a written agreement to be drawn up, promising his daughter at some future day. This document, Emerentia, from filial obedience, signed ; but, as ladies generally do, when forced to love in this way, took to sighs and sadness, which so affected her brother with sorrow, that he secretly purloined the agreement from Swedenborg. The paper was soon missed ; for Swedenborg read it over frequently, and, in his grief at its loss, besought Polheim to replace it by a new one. But as Swedenborg now discovered the pain which he gave to the object of his affections, he at once relinquished all claim to her hand, and left her father's house. This was his last, as it was his first endeavor after marriage. In after years, when jocosely asked whether he had ever been desirous of marrying, he answered : " In my youth I was once on the road to matrimony." And on being asked what was the obstacle, with his characteristic simplicity he said : " She would not have me." Considering the sfudious and abstracted life which he eventually led, it is not to be regretted that he remained unwedded. That he was no harsh despiser of the sex, we know well from his writings ; and that his life was in agreement with his books, we also know. The loveliest descriptions of female grace and beauty we have ever met with, are contained in his works, chiefly in his treatise on "Conjugal Love." M. Sandell, a member of the Royal Academy of' Sciences in Sweden, who pronounced a magnificent eulogium on his fellow-member, Swedenborg, shortly after his death, says : " Though Swedenborg was never married, it was not owing to any indifference toward the sex ; for he esteemed the company of a fine, intelligent woman as one of the most agreeable of pleasures ; but his profound

3 * studies rendered expedient for him the quiet of a single life."

Swedenborg seems to have had much intercourse with the King. In one of his letters, he says : " I found his Majesty very gracious to me ; more so than I could expect. This is a good omen for the future. Every day I laid mathematical subjects before his Majesty, who allowed everything to please him. When the eclipse took place, I had his Majesty out to see it, and we reasoned much thereupon. He again spoke of my ' Daedalus,' and remarked upon my not continuing it ; for which I pleaded want of means. This he does not like to hear of; so I hope to have some assistance shortly." But assistance did not come, and " Daedalus" went the way of many such undertakings. Talking of mathematics one day, Charles remarked that " he who knew nothing of mathematics, did not deserve to be considered a rational man;" a sentiment which Swedenborg thought "truly worthy of a king." *

* The following account of Charles XII., written by Emanuel Swedenborg, was printed in the " Gentleman's Magazine/' for September, 1754. It is a portion of a letter which Swedenborg wrote to M. Nordberg, while the latter was engaged in writing his " Life of Charles XII.," in which work the letter appeared at full length. It is too long to be quoted here ; the following -extracts contain the pith of it. It may be proper to observe, that it was written by the author prior to his being called to the sacred office which occupied the last twenty-nine years of his life. This accounts for his speaking of the celebrated Swedish hero with so much greater respect than he is known to have afterwards entertained for his memory.

" Having been frequently admitted to the honor of hearing his late most excellent Majesty, Charles XII. discourse on mathematical subjects, I presume an account of a new arithmetic invented by him, may merit the attention of my readers.

"His Majesty observed then, that the denary arithmetic, universally received and practiced, was most probably derived from the original method of counting on the fingers; that illiterate people of old, when they had run through the fingers of both hands, repeated new periods over and over again, and every time spread open both hands; which being done ten

Charles XII. was now engaged in the siege of Frederickshall, and Swedenborg's aid was called in. He very ingen-

times, they distinguished each step by proper marks, as by joining two, three, or four fingers. Afterwards, when this method of numeration on the fingers came to be expressed by proper characters, it soon became firmly and universally established, and so the denary calculus has been retained to this day. But surely, were a solid geometrician, thoroughly versed in the abstract nature and fundamentals of numbers, to set his mind upon introducing a still more useful calculus into the world, instead of ten, he would select such a perfect square, or cube number, as by continual bisection, or halving, would at length terminate in unity, and be better adapted to the subdivisions of measures, weights, coins, etc.

" Thus intent on a new arithmetic, the hero pitched upon the number eight, as most fit for the purpose, since it could not only be halved continually down to unity, without a fraction, but contained within it the square of 2, and was itself the cube thereof, and was also applicable to the received denomination of several sorts of weights and coins, rising to 16 and 32, the double and quadruple of 8. Upon these first considerations, he was pleased to command me to draw up an essay on an octonary calculus, which I completed in a few days, with its application to the received divisions, * coins, measures, and, weights, a disquisition on cubes and squares, and a new and easy way of extracting roots, all illustrated with examples.

v His Majesty having cast his eye twice or thrice over it, and observing, perhaps from some hints in the essay, that the denary calculus had several advantages not always attended to, he did not at that time seem absolutely to approve of the octonary : or, it is likely he might conceive, that though it seemed easy in theory, yet it might prove difficult to introduce it to practice. Be this as it may, he insisted on fixing upon some other that was both a cube and a square number, referrible to 8, and divisible down to unity by bisection. This could be no other than 64, the cube of 4, and square of 8, divisible down to unity without a fraction.

"I immediately presumed to object that such a number would be too prolix, as it rises through a series of entirely distinct and different numbers, up to 64, and then again to its duplicate 4,096, and on to its triplicate 262,144, before the fourth step commences ; so that the difficulty of such a calculus would be incredible, not only in addition and subtraction, but to a still higher degree in multiplication and division; for the memory must necessarily retain in the multiplication table, 3,969 distinct products of the 63 numbers of the first step multiplied into one another; whereas only 49 arc necessary in the octonary, and but 81 are required in the denary arithiously planned rolling machines, by which two galleys, five large boats, and a sloop, were conveyed from Stromstadt to

metic; which last is difficult to be remembered and applied in practice, by some capacities. But the stronger my objections were, the more resolute was his royal mind upon attempting such a calculus.

All to surmount, and nobly soar the higher.

He insisted that the alleged difficulties might be overbalanced by very many advantages.

"A few days after this I was called before his Majesty, who, resuming the subject, demanded if I had made a trial. I still urging my former objections, he reached me a paper written with his own band, in new characters and terms of denomination, the perusal of which, he was pleased, at my entreaty, to grant me; wherein, to my great surprise, I found not only new characters and numbers, (the one almost naturally expressive of the other) in a continued series to 64, so ranged as easily to be remembered, but also new denominations, so contrived by pairs, as to be easily extended to myriads by a continued variation of the character and denomination. And further casting my eye on several new methods of his for addition and multiplication by this calculus, either artificially contrived, or else inherent in the characters of the numbers themselves, I was struck with the profoundest admiration of the force of his Majesty's genius, and with such strange amazement, as obliged me to esteem this eminent personage, not my rival, but by far my superior in my own art. And having the original still in my custody, at a proper time I may publish it, as it highly deserves; whereby it will appear with what discerning skill he was endowed, or how deeply he penetrated into the obscurest recesses of the arithmetical science.

" Besides, his eminent talents in calculation further appear by his frequently working and solving the most difficult numerical problems, barely by thought and memory ; in which operations others are obliged to take great pains and tedious labor.

"Having duly weighed the vast advantages arising from mathematical and arithmetical knowledge in most occasions of human life, he frequently used it as an adage, that he toho is ignorant of numbers is scarce half a man.

"While he was at Bender, he composed a complete volume of military exercises, highly esteemed by those who are best skilled in the art of war."

Iderfjol, overland; a distance of fourteen miles. Under cover of these vessels, Charles was enabled to transport his heavy artillery under the very walls of Frederickshall ; but it availed little, for at the siege of this town, on November 30, 1718, (old style,) this inveterate warrior received the fatal blow which ended his troublous and eventful career. He was struck in the head with a cannon ball, and though death must have been instantaneous, he was found with his right hand firmly grasping the handle of his sword; so prompt was he to put himself in an attitude of defence.

" His fall was destined to a barren strand, A petty fortress and a dubious hand; He left a name at which the world grew pale, To point a moral or adorn a tale."

In 1719 the Swedberg family were ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleonora, and Swedenborg from that time took his place with the nobles of the equestrian order, in the triennial Assemblies of the States. This distinction conferred little else than a change of name. He was neither a Count nor a Baron, as has very commonly been supposed.

Emanuel Swedenborg was rapidly winning for himself the name of a deep thinker and a ready writer. In 1717 he published "An Introduction to Algebra," under the title of "The Art of the Kules." It was highly praised for its clearness, and the order and force of its examples. The first portion of the work, however, was all that was published. The second, containing the first account given in Sweden of the differential and integral calculus, still remains in MS. His second publication this year was, "Attempts to find the Longitude of Places by Lunar Observations." Both works were written in Swedish.

In 1719 four works proceeded from his increasingly fertile pen. "A Proposal for a Decimal System of Money and Measures;" "A Treatise on the Motion and Position of the

Earth and Planets;" "Proofs derived from Appearances in Sweden, of the Depth of the Sea, and the greater Force of the Tides in the Ancient World;" and "On Docks, Sluices, and Salt Works."

His work on the Decimal system of coinage and measures was republished in 1795. Swedenborg's ideas on this and most other subjects were far ahead of the times in which he lived. In one of his letters he thus alludes to the discouragements he met with on this account. "It is a little discouraging to me to be advised to relinquish my views, as among the novelties the country can not bear. For my part, I desire all possible novelties ; aye, a novelty for every day in the year; for in every age there is an abundance of persons who follow the beaten track, and remain in the old way; while there are not more than from six to ten in a century who bring forward innovations founded on argument and reason."

Chapter III

Travels again — Publishes five Scientific Pamphlets and "Miscellaneous Observations" — Meturns Home and enters on the duty of his Assessorship — Writes his et Opera Philosophica et Mineralia/' and goes abroad to publish it.

In the spring of 1721, Swedenborg visited Holland a second time, and chose Amsterdam as a place of publication for the following five little works: — "Some Specimens of a Work on the Principles of Natural Philosophy, comprising New Attempts to Explain the Phenomena of Chemistry and Physics by Geometry;" "New Observations and Discoveries respecting Iron and Fire, and particularly respecting the Elemental Nature of Fire, together with a new construction of Stoves;" "A New Method of finding the Longitude of Places, on Land or at Sea, by Lunar Observations;" "A New Mechanical Plan of constructing Docks and Dykes;" and "A Mode of Discovering the Powers of Vessels by the application of Mechanical Principles."

The titles of these pamphlets prove that their author was no ordinary man. But the publication of them was not his only object in this visit to the continent. It was his desire to improve his practical knowledge of mining, to enable him the better to fulfill his duties as Assessor. For this purpose he left Amsterdam for Leipsic, passing through Aix-la- Chapelle, Liege, and Cologne, and visiting the different mines and smelting works which lay in his route. At Leipsic he published, in 1722, "Miscellaneous Observations connected with the Physical Sciences," Parts I. to III.; and db LIFE AND WRITINGS OF

at Hamburg, in the same year, Part IV., principally on minerals, iron, and the stalactites in Beaumann's cavern. The reigning Duke of Brunswick, Louis Rudolph, most hospitably received Swedenborg, defrayed his traveling expenses, and on his departure, testified his admiration of the young savant by presenting him with a gold medallion, and a weighty silver goblet. In return for these favors, Swedenborg dedicated Part IV. of his "Miscellaneous Observations" to him.

In speaking of the foregoing works, it is difficult, in the few words to which we must limit ourselves, to do them the justice which their originality and daring speculation deserve. As Wilkinson remarks, "the fortress of mineral truth was the first which he approached, and with the most guarded preparation. His method was furnished by geometry and mechanics; the laws of the pure sciences were to be the interpreters of the facts of chemistry and physics. The beginning of nature, says he, is identical with the beginning of geometry; the origin of natural particles is due to mathematical points, just as is the origin of lines, forms, and the whole of geometry : because everything in nature is geometrical, everything in geometry is natural. Carrying out this theory, he seeks to define the laws of chemical essence and combination, by the truths of mathematics." Mr. Strutt, the translator of these works into English, says: "This extraordinary attempt to bring invisible things to light, has been thoroughly justified by the success which has attended Dalton's hypothesis, in an age better prepared for its application ; and by the equally remarkable fact that the definitions given of solids, acids, and alkalies, have gradually approximated very near indeed to those which result from Swedenborg's hypothesis. We say nothing here of a latent connection between the principle on which it is founded, and some of the results obtained by Berzelius, whose fame, as a

EMANUEL SWEDENBOHG. 37

chemist, is as wide as the civilized world." It need only be added that M. Dumas, the French chemist, ascribes to these works by Swedenborg, the origin of the modern science of crystallography. He says, "It is to him we are indebted for the first idea of making cubes, tetrahedrons, pyramids, and the different crystalline forms, by the grouping of spherical particles; and it is an idea which has been renewed by several distinguished men, Wollaston in particular."