# Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church/Chapter10

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LATER PERIOD OF LIFE: CONCLUSION
Another of the five faithful sons of the Church named by Kürtz was Oetinger, called by him "the magus of the south," "the first representative of a theology of the future." It is interesting to note that Swedenborg's relations of things heard and seen in the other world, which Höpken would have wished omitted, were to Oetinger the most attractive part of his theological works, for the reason perhaps that his spiritual interpretations of the prophecies of Scripture were at variance with Oetinger's conception of their literal fulfilment. With his own works Oetinger published translations of intermediate chapters in Swedenborg's Arcana, under the following introduction:—
"I herewith present to the reader something rare, which God has given us to know in the present times. It is profitable to compare unusual things with those to which we are accustomed; but in doing so it is necessary sometimes to keep back our judgment until we are able to take in the ​whole matter. The infidelity which is rife now in the world has induced God to make use of a celebrated philosopher in order to communicate to us heavenly information. Mathematics have checked the imagination of this philosopher; wherefore it will not do to say that he reports mere imaginations. Experimental facts are not imaginations. These experiences are due to the influx of heavenly intelligence by the command of the Lord. Should any one say, 'We have Moses and the Prophets' he may read what follows or not, just as he pleases. Still, a person anxious to improve himself ought not to forego any opportunity by which he may become acquainted with new light offered to him by truth. Swedenborg, a distinguished Assessor of the College of Mines in Sweden, wrote a large work in folio, which is most costly. This I call Earthly Philosophy in contradistinction to the following, which is of a heavenly origin, and which he has published in thirteen works that are still more valuable. Should you find therein propositions which appear objectionable, remember the twelve Ephesians in the Acts, xix. 21, who 'had not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost,' and nevertheless were thought worthy at ​once to receive the Holy Spirit, notwithstanding they were ignorant of one of the chief grounds of faith, and opposed to the Scripture. Does not Swedenborg place the Scripture higher than any one else? and does he not wish to have all experiences judged thereby? Is not all he says well connected? And does he not appeal to many witnesses?"
Referring to the first volume of the same philosophical work, in a letter of defence addressed to the Duke of Würtemberg, Oetinger says, "Thirty years previously I had studied Swedenborg's Principia Rerum Naturalium in folio, which I preferred much to Wolff's philosophy, on account of its leading to the Sacred Scripture. It is wonderful how a philosopher, who was accustomed to think according to rules of mechanics, should have become a prophet."
We have now shown the esteem for Swedenborg of two of the men named by Kürtz as the leading religious spirits of this period in Germany—Jung-Stilling and Oetinger. That of a third, Lavater, is sufficiently shown in two letters to Swedenborg, the second and shorter of which we here copy:—
​"Most noble, venerable, and beloved in Christ our Lord:—I have taken the liberty of writing to you a second time, as it is likely you may not have received my other letter, on account of your travels; but I have at last learned by what means this will probably reach you.
"I revere the wonderful gifts you have received from God. I revere the wisdom which shines forth from your writings, and therefore cannot but seek the friendship of so great and excellent a man now living. If what is reported be true, God will show you how much I seek to converse with you in the simplicity of my mind. I am a young man, not yet thirty years old, a minister of the Gospel; I am and shall remain employed in the cause of Christ as long as I live. I have written something on the happiness of the future life. O, if I could exchange letters with you on this subject, or rather converse!
"I add some writing: you shall know my soul.
"One thing I beg of you, Divinely inspired man! I beseech you by the Lord not to refuse me!
"In the month of March, 1768, died Felix Hess, my best friend, a youth of Zürich, twenty-four years of age, an upright man, of a noble mind, ​striving after a Christian spirit, but not yet clothed with Christ. Tell me, I pray, what he is doing. Paint to me his figure, state, etc., in such words that I may know that God's truth is in you. . . .
"I am your brother in Christ. Answer very soon a sincere brother; and answer the letter I have sent in such a manner that I may see what I am believing on the testimony of others.
"Christ be with us, to whom we belong, living or dead.
"John Casper Lavater, "Minister at the Orphan Asylum.
"Zurich in Switzerland "Sept. 24, 1769."
Matthius Claudius, a third of Kürtz's five faithful sons of the Church, a poet and religious writer, had no personal acquaintance with Swedenborg, but reflected the esteem of others.
"Now" he says, "after Swedenborg had made himself acquainted with all the erudition of his time, and after the greatest honors had been bestowed upon him by individuals and whole societies, he began to see spirits. . . . He was always a virtuous man, and one who was interiorly affected with the beauty and majesty of the visible ​world. . . . We cannot help thinking that there are spirits, and Swedenborg often affirmed in his lifetime with great earnestness, and even on his death-bed . . . that he was able to see spirits, and had seen them. Now as the new world really existed long before Columbus found it out, though we in Europe were ignorant of its existence, so perhaps there may be a means to see spirits. . . . In the opinion of many wise people there lies a great deal of truth hidden perhaps close by us."
And Father Oberlin, of Ban-de-la-Roche, fourth of Kurtz's five most brilliant and best-known names of the faithful sons of the Church, held in reverence everywhere for his love and piety, was asked by an English visitor, the Rev. J. H. Smithson, whether he had read any of the works of Swedenborg.
"He immediately reached a book, and clapping his hand upon it, expressive of great satisfaction, told me that he had had this treasure a great many years in his library, and that he knew from his own experience that everything related in it was true. This treasure was Swedenborg's work on Heaven and Hell." In answer to inquiry how he came to this conviction, "he replied that ​when he first came to reside as pastor among the inhabitants of Steinthal, they had many superstitious notions respecting the proximity of the spiritual world, and of the appearance of various objects and phenomena in that world which from time to time were seen by some of the people belonging to his flock. For instance, it was not unusual for a person who had died to appear to some individual in the valley. This gift of second sight, or the opening of the spiritual sight, to see objects in a spiritual state of existence, was however confined to a few persons, and continued but a short period and at different intervals of time. The report of every new occurrence of this kind was brought to Oberlin, who at length became so much annoyed that he was resolved to put down this species of superstition, as he called it, from the pulpit, and exerted himself for a considerable time to this end, but with little or no desirable effect. Cases became more numerous, and the circumstances so striking as even to stagger the scepticism of Oberlin himself. About this time, being on a visit to Strasburg, he met with the work on Heaven and Hell, which a friend [probably Jung ​Stilling] recommended him to peruse. This work, as he informed me, gave him a full and satisfactory explanation of the extraordinary cases occurring in his valley, and which he himself was at length, from evidences which could not be doubted, constrained to admit. The satisfactory solution of these extraordinary cases afforded great pleasure to his mind, and he read the 'treasure,' as he called it, very attentively and with increasing delight. He no longer doubted the nearness of the spiritual world; yea, he believed that man by virtue of his better part—his immortal mind—is already an inhabitant of the spiritual world, in which after the death of the material body he is to continue his existence forever. He plainly saw, from the correspondent relation existing between the two worlds, that when it pleased the Lord, man might easily be placed by opening his spiritual senses in open communication with the world of spirits. This, he observed, was frequently the case with the seers mentioned in the Old Testament; and why might it not be so now, if the Divine providence saw fit, in order to instruct mankind more fully in respect to their relation to a spiritual state of ​existence, and to replenish their minds with more accurate and copious views respecting heaven, the final home of the good, and hell, the final abode of the wicked? . . . From seeing, as explained by Swedenborg, that the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses, Oberlin resolved all the exertions and operations of his life into one element—use. He taught his people that to be useful, and to shun all evil as sin against the Lord in being useful, is the truly heavenly life."
Carl Robsahm, who was intimate with Swedenborg in his later years, left memoirs of him, from which we take the following details:—
"Swedenborg's property [in Stockholm] was about a stone's cast in length and in breadth. The rooms of his dwelling-house were small and plain; but were comfortable for him, though scarcely for any one else. Although he was a learned man, no books were ever seen in his room except his Hebrew and Greek Bible, and his manuscript indexes to his own works, by which, in making quotations, he was saved the trouble of examining all that he had previously written or printed.
"Swedenborg worked without much regard to ​the distinction of day and night, having no fixed time for labor or rest. 'When I am sleepy,' he said, 'I go to bed.' All the attendance he required from his servant, his gardener's wife, consisted in her making his bed and placing a large jug of water in his anteroom, his housekeeping being so arranged that he could make his own coffee in his study; and this coffee he drank in great abundance, both day and night, and with a great deal of sugar. When not invited out, his dinner consisted of nothing but a roll soaked in boiled milk; and this was his meal always when he dined at home. He never at that time used wine or strong drink, nor did he eat anything in the evening; but in company he would eat freely, and indulge moderately in a social glass.
"The fire in the stove of his study was never allowed to go out, from autumn through the whole of winter until spring; for as he always needed coffee, and as he always made it himself, without milk or cream, and as he had never any definite time for sleeping, he always required to have a fire.
"His sleeping-room was always without fire; and when he lay down, according to the severity ​of the winter, he covered himself with three or four woollen blankets. But I remember one winter which was so cold that he was obliged to move his bed into his study.
"As soon as he awoke, he went into his study, where he always found glowing embers, put wood on the burning coals and a few pieces of birch bark—which for convenience he used to purchase in bundles so as to be able to make a fire quickly—and then he sat down to write.
"In his drawing-room was the marble table which he afterward presented to the Royal College of Mines; this room was neat and genteel, but plain.
"His dress in winter consisted of a fur coat of reindeer skin, and in summer of a dressing-gown; both well worn, as became a philosopher's wardrobe. His wearing apparel was simple, but neat. Yet it happened sometimes that when he prepared to go out, and his people did not call attention to it, something would be forgotten or neglected in his dress; so that, for instance, he would put one buckle of gems and another of silver in his shoes—an instance of which absence of mind I myself saw at my father's house, where he was ​invited to dine, and the occurrence greatly amused several young girls, who took occasion to laugh at the old gentleman.
"It was difficult for him to talk quickly, for he then stammered, especially when he was obliged to talk in a foreign tongue. Of foreign languages, in addition to the learned languages, he understood well French, English, Dutch, German, and Italian; for he had journeyed several times in these countries. He spoke slowly, and it was always a pleasure to be with him at table, for whenever Swedenborg spoke, all other talk was hushed; and the slowness with which he spoke had the effect of restraining the frivolous remarks of the curious in the assembly. At first he used to talk freely about his visions and his explanations of Scripture; but when this displeased the clergy, and they pronounced him a heretic or a downright madman, he resolved to be more sparing of his communications in company, or at all events to be more on his guard, so as not to offer an opportunity to scoffers of inveighing against what they could not understand as well as himself.
"I once addressed the pastor of our parish, an old and esteemed clergyman, and asked him what ​I ought to think of Swedenborg's visions and of his explanations of the Bible. This honorable man answered me with the spirit of true tolerance: 'Let God be the judge how these things are in reality! But I cannot pass the same • judgment upon him that many others do; I have spoken with him myself, and I have found in company where he was with me that he is a pious and good man.'
"The chaplain of the Imperial Russian Legation, Oronoskow, who was in Stockholm during the time of the ambassador, Count Ostermann, was a monk of the Alexander-Newsky order, and led an orderly and pious life—quite differently from the other Russian priests who had been here before him. He became acquainted with me and I lent him Swedenborg's books, which he said he read with the greatest delight. He desired to see Swedenborg and to talk with this remarkable man. I complied with his desire, and invited Swedenborg and him to dinner, in company with the late President of the Royal College of Commerce, Mr. von Carleson, and the Councillor of Chancery, Mr. Berch, together with several of my relatives. During dinner the chaplain asked ​Swedenborg, among other things, whether he had seen the Empress Elizabeth. Swedenborg answered, 'I have seen her often, and I know that she is in a very happy state.' This answer brought tears of joy into the chaplain's eyes, who said that she had been good and just. 'Yes,' said Swedenborg, 'her kind feeling for her people was made known after her death in the other life; for there it was shown that she never went into council without praying to God and asking for His counsel and assistance, in order that she might govern well her country and her people.' This gladdened the chaplain so much that he expressed his joyful surprise by silence and tears. . . .
"When he [Swedenborg] left Sweden for the last time, he came of his own accord to me at the bank on the day he was to leave, and gave me a protest against any condemnation of his writings during his absence; which protest was based on the law of Sweden, and in which he stated that the House of the Clergy was not the only judge in matters of religion, inasmuch as theology belonged also to the other Houses. On this occasion I asked him the same question as before, namely, whether I should ever see him again. His answer ​was tender and touching:—'Whether I shall come again, that,' said he, 'I do not know; but of this I can assure you, for the Lord has promised to me, that I shall not die until I have received from the press this work, the Vera Christiana Religio, which is now ready to be printed, and for the sake of which I now undertake this journey; but if we do not meet again in the body, we shall meet in the presence of the Lord, provided we live in this world according to His will, and not according to our own.' He then took leave of me in as blithe and cheerful a frame of mind as if he had been a man in his best of years; and the same day he departed from Sweden for the last time.
"I asked Swedenborg once whether his explanations would be received in Christendom. 'About that,' said he, 'I can say nothing; but I suppose that in their proper time they will be received, for otherwise the Lord would not have disclosed what has heretofore lain concealed.'
"He was never ill, except when temptations came over him, but he was frequently troubled with toothache. I came to him once on such an occasion, when he complained of a severe toothache, which had continued for several days. I ​recommended a common remedy for soothing the pain; but he answered at once that his toothache was not caused by a diseased nerve, but by the influx of hell from hypocrites who tempted him, and who by correspondence caused this pain which, he said, he knew would soon cease and leave him.
"Respecting his temptations, I collected information from his modest servants, the old gardener and his wife, who told me with sympathizing and compassionate words that Swedenborg often spoke aloud in his room, and was indignant when evil spirits were with him. This they could hear the more distinctly because their room was near his. When he was asked why he had been so restless during the night, he answered that permission had been given to evil spirits to revile him, and that he spoke to and was indignant with them. It often happened that he wept bitterly, and called out with a loud voice, and prayed to the Lord that He would not leave him in the temptation which had come upon him. The words which he cried out were these: 'O Lord, help me! O Lord my God, do not forsake me!' When it was all over, and his people asked him about ​the cause of his lamentation, he said, 'God be praised! it is over now. You must not trouble yourselves about me; for whatever happens to me is permitted by the Lord, and He does not suffer me to be tempted more than He sees that I can bear.'
"Once it was very remarkable that after such a lamentation he lay down and did not rise from his bed for several days and nights. This caused his people much uneasiness; they talked with one another and supposed that he had died from some great fright. They thought of having the door forced open, or of calling in his intimate friends. At last the man went to the window, and to his great joy saw that his master was still alive, for he turned himself in bed. The next day he rang the bell, and then the housekeeper went in and told him of her own and her husband's uneasiness at his condition; whereupon he said with a cheerful countenance that he was doing well, and that he did not need anything. She was satisfied with this answer, for neither of his servants dared to interrogate him, since they had the same opinion of him as the old clergyman in my parish; and they added that such a wise and learned man ​would never distress himself with work and temptations if he did not know whence they came."
At another time Robsahm quotes the gardener's wife as saying—
"'I can see when he has spoken with heavenly spirits, for his face has then an expression of gentleness, cheerfulness, and contentment which is charming; but after he has conversed with evil spirits, he looks sad.' . .
"During the session of the Diet he was interested in hearing news from the House of Nobles, of which he was a member by virtue of his being the head of the Swedenborg family. He wrote several memorials; but when he saw that party-spirit and self-interest struggled for mastery, he went rarely to the House of Nobles. In his conversations with his friends he inveighed against the spirit of dissension among the members of the Diet; and in acting with a party he was never a party man, but loved truth and honesty in all that he did.
"I asked Swedenborg whether in our times it was worth while to pay attention to dreams; upon which he answered that the Lord no longer at the present day makes revelations by dreams; ​but that nevertheless it may happen that one who understands correspondences may derive advantage from his dreams—just as a person that is awake may examine his own state by comparing his own will with God's commandments. . . .
"Whatever Swedenborg wrote was printed from his own manuscript, and he never needed the help of an amanuensis. His handwriting was difficult to read when he became older; but he said to me, 'The Dutch printers read my handwriting as easily as the English do.' There is one thing to be observed with regard to most of his spiritual writings, that the proof-sheets were corrected very badly, so that errata occur very often; the cause of this, he said, was that the printer had undertaken the proof-reading, as well as the printing.
"As Swedenborg in his younger days did not think of the work which was to occupy him in his more advanced years, it can easily be imagined that in his time he was not only a learned man, but also a polished gentleman; for a man of such extensive learning, who by his books, his travels, and his knowledge of languages had acquired distinction both at home and abroad, could not fail ​to possess the manners and everything else which in those so-called serious or sober times caused a man to be honored and made him agreeable in society. He was accordingly, even in his old age, cheerful, sprightly, and agreeable in company; yet at the same time his countenance presented those uncommon features which are seen only in men of great genius."
Robsahm's vivid picture of his friend may be supplemented by the slighter sketches of some of Swedenborg's visitors, with less intimate acquaintance. The royal librarian in Stockholm, Gjörwell, called on him in 1764 to request for the Royal Library a copy of the works he had lately published. His account of his visit to Swedenborg is simple, and pleasant to read:—
"I met him in the garden adjoining his house in the Södermalm [southern part of Stockholm], where he was engaged in tending his plants, attired in a simple garment. The house in which he lives is of wood; it is low and looks like a garden-house; its windows also are in the direction of the garden. Without knowing me or the nature of my errand, he said, smiling, 'Perhaps you would like to take a walk in the garden.' I ​answered that I wished to have the honor of calling upon him and asking him, on behalf of the Royal Library, for his latest works, so that we might have a complete set, especially as we had the former parts he had left with Wilde, the royal secretary. 'Most willingly,' he answered; 'besides, I had intended to send them there, as my purpose in publishing them has been to make them known and to place them in the hands of intelligent people.' I thanked him for his kindness, whereupon he showed them to me and took a walk with me in the garden.
"Although he is an old man and gray hair protruded in every direction from under his wig, he walked briskly, was fond of talking, and spoke with a certain cheerfulness. His countenance was indeed thin and meagre, but cheerful and smiling. By and by he began of his own accord to speak of his views; and as it had been in reality my second purpose to hear them with my own ears, I listened to him with eager attention, not challenging any of his statements, but simply asking him questions, as if for my own enlightenment."
The substance of his statements, and of what ​I drew from him by polite questions, consists mainly in what follows:—
"His doctrinal system of theology, which he in common with other Christians bases upon our common Revelation, the Sacred Scripture, consists principally in this—that faith alone is a pernicious doctrine, and that good works are the proper means for becoming better in time, and for leading a blessed life in eternity. That in order to acquire the ability or power to do good works, prayer to the Only God is required, and that man also must labor with himself, because God does not use compulsion with us nor does He work any miracles for our conversion. As regards the rest, man must live in his appointed place, acquiring the same learning, and leading a life similar to that of other honest and modest persons who live temperately and piously."
The Rev. Nicholas Collin, in 1820 rector of the quaint old Swedish church in Philadelphia—the same that was built in 1700 under Bishop Swedberg's charge—lived when a young man three years in Stockholm, at a time when "Swedenborg was a great object of public attention in that metropolis, and his extraordinary character was a ​frequent topic of discussion. Not seldom he appeared in public and mixed in private circles; therefore sufficient opportunities were given to make observations on him." Mr. Collin was not a follower of Swedenborg, but obligingly gave public information about him on several occasions. Of a visit of his own, he writes as follows:—
"In the summer of 1766 I waited on him at his house, introducing myself, with an apology for the freedom I took, assuring him that it was not in the least from youthful presumption (I was then twenty), but from a strong desire of conversing with a character so celebrated. He received me very kindly. It being early in the afternoon, delicate coffee, without eatables, was served, agreeably to the Swedish custom: he was also, like pensive men in general, fond of this beverage. We conversed for nearly three hours, principally on the nature of human souls and their states in the invisible world, discussing the principal theories of psychology by various authors—among them the celebrated Dr. Wallerius, late professor of Natural Theology at Upsal. He asserted positively, as he often does in his works, that he had intercourse with spirits of deceased persons. I presumed ​therefore to request of him, as a great favor, to procure me an interview with my brother, who had departed this life a few months before, a young clergyman officiating in Stockholm and esteemed for his devotion, erudition, and virtue. He answered that, God having for wise and good purposes separated the world of spirits from ours, a communication is never granted without cogent reasons, and asked what my motives were. I confessed that I had none besides gratifying brotherly affection and an ardent wish to explore scenes so sublime and interesting to a serious mind. He replied that my motives were good, but not sufficient; that if any important spiritual or temporal concern of mine had been the case, he would then have solicited permission from those angels who regulate such matters."
In another letter Mr. Collin said—
"Swedenborg was universally esteemed for his various erudition in mathematics, mineralogy, etc., and for his probity, benevolence, and general virtue. Being very old when I saw him, he was thin and pale; but he still retained traces of beauty in his physiognomy, and a dignity in his tall and erect stature."
​And to a good friend of ours Mr. Collin said—
"Swedenborg was of a stature a little above the common size, of very perfect form, erect and easy in his carriage, with a placid expression of dignity beaming from his countenance; he was affable in his manners, easy of access, and always ready to converse freely on subjects relating to either world, but singularly unapt to obtrude his ideas on others, either in conversation or by his writings, though firm and unwavering with regard to the truth of his relations. His history from very early life was reputed to be such as evinced great purity, as well as strength, of mental character." Speaking of the affair of the Queen of Sweden, which her librarian had told him from her mouth, and of other similar occurrences, Mr. Collin said that he believed "no one at Stockholm presumed to doubt of his having some kind of supernatural intercourse with the spiritual world in all these cases," and this, he said, was not strange, "for at that time occasional communication between this and the invisible world was believed to exist by many of the most learned men in Sweden."
We have seen that at his home in Stockholm—a simple one-story house in his loved garden— ​Swedenborg was cared for in later life by his gardener and wife. Of these good friends this pleasant story is told by one who paid them a visit after their employer's decease. As they themselves told him—
"One day the old man and the old woman, the modest gardener-folks [who had been disturbed by meddling neighbors] dressed in their holiday suits, entered Swedenborg's silent study, the room with the brown panel-paintings, the gable windows, and a view out on the lilac bushes.
"Swedenborg sat with his head resting upon both hands, poring over a large book. Surprised by the unusual noise, he raised his head and looked toward the door. There stood the good gardener-folks, though but the middle of the week, both dressed in their holiday clothes, bowing and curtseying. On Swedenborg's grave but cheerful countenance, there played an inquiring smile.
"'Why dressed up so, Andersson and Margaret? ' he said. 'What do you want? '
"This was not in truth easy to say, and, instead of an answer, Margaret began to cry, and her husband crushed his hat into a thousand wrinkles, and ​in his heart wished himself more than a thousand miles away.
"'Is there any care that lies upon your hearts, any distress which has suddenly come over you? ' said Swedenborg—'then speak out plainly, and, with God's help, it will all go well again.'
"'Yes,' at last said the old gardener, 'yes, we wish to leave the Assessor's service."
"Swedenborg seemed surprised. 'Leave me! and why? ' he asked, with his penetrating, friendly look, which pierced them to their very heart; 'I thought, as we were growing old together, we should to our very end remain faithful to one another, and never separate in this life.'
"'Yes, so also we thought ourselves,' burst out the housewife, almost overcome with tears; 'for thirty years we have served you, and I thought it would be God's pleasure that we should die in your garden, and under your eyes; but, but—'
"'Speak out, woman; what lies so heavily upon your heart? I know that both of you think a great deal of me. Is it not so?'
"'Yes, before God it is so,' said both of them together.
"'Speak out then,' said Swedenborg, with a ​smile, 'and then we may be able to help the matter.'
"The housewife, whose strong emotion gave her courage to speak, and words to express her thoughts, at last began:—'Yes, people say we ought not to serve you any longer, because you are not a right Christian.'
"'Nothing else, my good woman,' said Swedenborg quietly; 'nothing else? Well, let the world judge so; but why should you think so?'
"'You see you never go to church; for years you have never been inside of St. Mary's church.'
"'Have you never read,' replied Swedenborg solemnly, 'that, where two or three are gathered together in the Lord's name, there is His church and meeting-place? Do you believe that it is the steeple and copper roof which makes a holy place of it? Do you believe that it is holy for any one else but him who has in his heart Christ's church? Do you believe that it is the walls, organ, and pulpit, which constitute its holiness?'
"'No, no; I know that well enough.'
"'Well, then, here at home, in this room, in the arbor, in the garden, wherever a man or spirit lives within or without space and time, ​wherever a prayer is either thought or read, wherever a voice of thanksgiving is sent up to Him who is the Giver of all good, there is His church; and it is consequently here where I live sheltered from the world.'
"Both the faithful servants bowed their heads and said—'But this is not the way of the world.'
"'The way of the world, my friends?' replied Swedenborg, 'I suppose the way of the world is Christian, is it not?'
"'Yes, it is.'
"'In name it is, but not in spirit and in truth. Faith without works is a dead faith: a flower which does not live is nothing but lifeless dust; and faith which does not live in every action of man is a dead faith—it is no faith at all. Here, my friends, see what this Christian world really does. They call indeed upon Him, the only Son, in their times of need, but they forget both His teaching and His life. Like an obstinate child who despises warning, they rush into all manner of lusts, into pride and wickedness, which are like a thin, frail covering over an abyss; and over this yawning abyss they scoff at their Teacher, ​and act foolishly and madly until this covering breaks. Then they call out for help, but in vain, for they have long since forfeited it; sometimes they are dragged up again, but in their foolish pride they let go the Saving Hand, they spurn the healing repentance, and continue their course of vain talk and idle sport. So does the Christian world, and they think that all that is necessary for them is to have a priest to speak to them a few hours in the week about God and the Saviour; and they do not think that any more is required of them than to hear and to forget. They therefore believe that it is outward gesture, the singing of psalms, and the tones of the organ, together with the empty sound of recited prayers, which penetrate to the Lord in heaven. Truly when the people prostrate themselves in the churches, then it is the voice of a few only that penetrates to the Lord.
"'Let me tell you something. To-day there was a little child sitting in the street, a little blind girl, who folded her little hands upon her lap, and turned her darkened eyes towards heaven; and when I saw her, and asked her, "What makes you look so happy, although you ​are blind?"—the little girl said, "I am thinking of God, our Father, who will some day take me to Him, and show me all His splendor." Truly, my good people, it was only at the corner of the street that she sat, yet I took off my hat, and bowed my head, for I knew that God was near, and that this was a holy place. . . . And now, my friends, look back upon these thirty years during which you have followed me almost daily with your eyes, and then judge whether it is I or others who are Christian. Judge for yourselves—I submit myself to your judgment—and then do what you deem to be right.'
"He beckoned with his hand and they went away; and then quietly, as if nothing had happened, he continued his reading.
"The next day they stood again, in their week-day clothes, in the presence of their master, who asked them with a friendly smile—'Well, how did the examination turn out?'
"'Oh, master Assessor,' said both of them, 'we looked for a single word, for a single action, which was not in agreement with what the Lord had commanded us, yet we could not find a single one.'
"'Very well,' said Swedenborg; 'but it is not ​quite so; many thoughts have been, and many an action has been, not perfectly straight; yet I have tried to do as well as I could. And as a child, who in the beginning spells out his words, and stumbles often before he can read, provided he goes to work lovingly and cheerfully and strives hard to do better, is loved by his father, so also it may have been with me; at least I pray and hope that it may be so. But you will remain with me?'
"'Yes, master Assessor, until our death.'
"'Thank you, my friends; I knew it would be so. Let people say what they please about my teachings, but do you judge them by my life: if they agree, then all is right; but if there is the least disagreement between them, then one of the two must be wrong.'
"When the little old woman had finished her story, which she had told after the manner of her people, by constantly repeating 'said the Assessor,' and 'said I,' her eyes were glistening with emotion, and she added—'God, indeed, must have forsaken us when He allowed us to go astray so far as to suspect our own Assessor of not being a Christian.'
​"The good old woman took us through the garden, which was decked in its greatest autumnal splendor, and was loaded with berries and fruits; and as we were walking along, with a side glance at me, she said that the Assessor never allowed children in his garden; 'but sometimes,' she added, 'he lets one or the other slip in, but not before he has looked at him and has said—"Let the child pass, he will not take anything without leave,' and he has never made a mistake. This he sees from their eyes'"
It was in London that Swedenborg's last days were passed, in the house of Richard Shearsmith, a respectable wig-maker, with whom he had lived two years during a previous stay in that city. He liked this quiet home because he found peace and harmony there, while, according to Mr. Shearsmith, his lodger was "a blessing to the house, for they had harmony and good business while he was with them." He added that "to a good man, like Swedenborg, every day of his life is a Sabbath," and that "to the last day of his life he always conducted himself in the most rational, prudent, pious, and Christian-like ​manner. "Being then at the close of his eighty-fourth year, near Christmas, Swedenborg had a paralytic stroke that deprived him of speech and caused him to lie in a lethargic state for more than three weeks, in which he took no other nourishment than a little tea or cold water from time to time. By the last of February he told Mrs. Shearsmith what day would be his last, and with "a sound mind, memory, and understanding" to his last hour, on Sunday evening, March 29, 1772, about five o'clock, pleased to find the hour had come, this Sunday child thanked his friends, asked God to bless them, and with a gentle sigh yielded his last breath. Friendly Swedes in London took charge of the last services, at which their pastor, Arvid Ferelius, officiated, and the body was deposited in the vault of the Swedish Ulrica-Eleonora church. In this little church which had often welcomed Swedenborg as a worshipper, his remains reposed until the building itself was no longer required in its location and was to be taken down. Then at the request of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences the Swedish Government, having obtained permission of the English Government, ​in April, 1908, transported these remains in a Swedish frigate to their native land. There by vote of the Swedish Parliament they are to have their final resting-place in a suitable sarcophagus in a chapel of the cathedral at Upsal, near their early home. The general interest exerted by this public restoration in Europe and America, with the gratification of the Swedish people at the honors bestowed on their illustrious compatriot, may be mainly due to his increasing celebrity as a scientist and philosopher. But those who accept Swedenborg as their Divinely appointed teacher recognize in it an extending preparation in the world for his acceptance in that capacity.
Do we ask for a sign of the truth of Swedenborg's mission as the Divinely appointed interpreter of the Holy Scriptures, and as the harbinger of the new age of the Lord's Church, even that foreseen in vision by John as the Holy City descending from God out of heaven? The sign of this second coming of our Lord was to be the clear vision of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven—that is, in the clouds of obscurity through which men looked toward the Sun of ​heaven—clouds drawn from the ill-understood and misinterpreted letter of the Word. The proof of Swedenborg's mission will be found in the fulfilment of this sign—to each one in the clearer vision that by the interpretation of Swedenborg he now obtains of the Lord of heaven throughout His Holy Word. This sign no one can see for another, but every one must see for himself, and in very truth only by the aid of the Holy Spirit. But though this special enlightenment is to be found in the interpretations of Swedenborg as nowhere else, the coming of the Son of Man was to be as the light that shineth out of the east even unto the west. And while none but students of Swedenborg' s writings can recognize in him the harbinger, the Christian world perceives that new light is being diffused. The historians point to the middle of the eighteenth century as the date of the breaking of the light. Soon after that date apprehension of the impending judgment began to subside. The Church began to feel new life. As century after century the time for judgment is left behind and the new life of the Church becomes better established, more and more generally will be recognized the truth of ​Swedenborg's description of the spiritual accomplishment of the judgment, and of its effect in dissipating the clouds of heaven.
In deducing from the Word under guidance of the Holy Spirit the doctrines of the New Jerusalem, the tabernacle of God among men, Swedenborg contemplated no new outward church organization. He describes orderly church government, but in no new form. His expectation seems to have been that the light of the new heaven, such as had been revealed to him, would gradually permeate the whole Christian Church and regenerate it. Such is the expectation of all who are so happy as to be familiar with his theological works. But naturally those who accept these doctrines as Divinely revealed through Swedenborg, unless specially attached to some existing church, believe it most suitable and most useful to organize together as a distinct body. This they have done first in England, then in America, and in smaller numbers in various parts of the world, under the title of the New Church, the New-Jerusalem Church, or the Church of the New Jerusalem—known more generally as Swedenborgians. In England the ​several congregations unite in a General Conference, embracing between six and seven thousand members. In America the principal larger organization is called the General Convention, of nearly the same membership.
Little effort is made by these several bodies to increase their numbers, none to induce any to leave the churches to which they belong. But efforts are continually made to keep the theological works of Swedenborg in abundant supply and within the reach of all who care to learn from him the True Christian Religion, as set forth in his last great work, under that title.