New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1845-07-07
THE TRIBUNE.


In answer to some remarks signed c. In The Tn
bape Of Tuesday last where the essay upon Mobile
Ap,eal" &c is criticised with much candor and
GOOD Judgment. we would briefly say;
The assertion that Swedenborg was not the object
NJ persecution in any important degree. cannot, we
think be disproved No doubt great and original
q thinker. one who made such high pretensions a
,elgious teacher, must have met with some opposi
,;on and intolerance But that he met with less per
hans than any other person similarly circumstanced
ever did, we must suppose, when we see him
throughout his life enjoying all the benefits OF rank
fortune high reputation and the favor ofthc Court
He SAYS himself in to the questions OF Mr..
Hartley. after indicating the honors he had through
lie enjoyed as well those that lay open to him. i
no had had leisure and inclination to seek them and
,he noble connections he possessed by blood or mar
,agel II live. besides, on terms of familiarity aud
bieudslp with all the bishops of my country, who
,reten in number; as also with the sixteen Senators
md the rest of the Nobility; for they know that
an in fellowship with Angels the King and Queen
,lso and the three Princes, their sons show me
much favor. | was once invited by the King and
Queen to dine at their table,-an honor which is II
general granted only to the nobility of the highest
rnk, and likewise, since, with the Hereditary
Prince They all wish for my return home; so ial
am from being in any danger of persecution in my
own country as you seem to apprchend and 30 kind
" wish to provide against; and (he adds in hi'
own beautiful manner) should any thing OF the
kind befall me elsewhere il cannot hurt me-
Wemighi agree with c. when he says To what
other man can we look with better hope Of being
instructed in the highest truths7' Perhaps to none
who has lived and left for fellow men record OF
his life But when he says farther; 1--WE they
End in the works of Swedcnborg all, and much
more than ALL the true spiritual instruction which is
to efound in the teachings Of all other men PIT TO-
gsther;' he marks the difference between us and the
mental fact that gives to the disciples of Swedenbore
the tendency we spoke Of to confine themselves al
mos, exclusively to one source of knowledge.
We confess that we have little personal acquan
lance with those disciples we Judge them from some
Of their writings We do not think them peculiarly
lberal or exclusive. but we would wish to see the
pillars Of new church far freer from such blem
ishes than those who have preceded them.
We cannot adm il that because the mind of the
master is great and expansive ii follows that devo-
ted study of him likely to endow the pupils with
like greatness and expansiveness. Plants dwinde
in perpetual shadow even from the stateliest tree
Twas not the intention of God and nature that one
mind should lean upon another, however gifted Ii
not the intention of the Maker of this universe
that man should be excused from universal study
universal development Each of us has healthy
independence to foster great or small we must dc
this or be diseased, distorted, or dwarfed. Exclu
sve or excessive devotion to the worthless. oh
lect brings with il the evils idolatry. What wa
intended TO make the stair for TO rise TO Heaven
becomes a wall and roof TO shut him out from
Heaven.
The pupils of Swcdenborg cannot attachan "exag
gerated importance 10 the truths he taught but
they may to the form of the teachings and the per
sonales of the teacher If Swedenborgs works
contain limitations of a system whose full de
velopment must be coincdent with the perfection
Of all things such limitations need all other mean,
Of growth and knowledge 10 fit the pupil for Their
reception. If Swcdenborg was instructed by di
rect influx irem higher sphere, il is not by an
ious and literal study of his communications alone
but BY an elevation Of the soul and publication of tn,
nature that the reader will be able reach with III,
eye Of the understanding Again we say ii Is no
ycrying Lord Lord, that spirit may most fifty o
profaby be reverenccd. With all those who Dc
reverence to this great mind, without disparagemen
to other teachers and revelations. we sympathiz
and would rejoice to know that there are many such
This may well be, wi,hou, our knowing it, but sucl
alendency was specified in the first comnunica
hon on Swcdenborgiansm, we have certainly oh
served though it may be less general than we have
Supposed X