Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-06-04

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surely increasing, to spread among all nations
a knowledge of his character and works.
Indeed, to quote all that such men have
already written to the honour of Sweden
borg, would be to fill volumes with the most
brilliant tributes to the powers of his genius,
the grandeur and Importance of his labors
for the elevation of his race, ,and the consum-
mate wisdom which guided him uninterrupt-
edly to the very close of long and illus
trious life. We will quote brief sentences
from only a few of those writers as to the
mental character Of the great Swedish phil
osopher and seer; rejecting all who may be
considered his disciples so as to present such
testimony alone as is strictly impartial.
Sandcll, counsellor of the Royal Board of
Mines, pronounced an eulogy on Sweden
borg in the name of the Royal Academy of
Sciences of Stockholm, l772. He says. IL
do not come here to defend errors or unin-
tclligible principles but will venture TO
assert-and reckon, gentlemen, on meeting
your appreciation in the asscrtion-that
where others would have displayed def
cheney OF intelligence and confusion of
ideas, Swedenbors has displayed an aston
lshing assemblage of knowledge, which he
has arranged according to his system in such
order, that the elements themselves would
have striven in vain to turn him out of his
course" ''IIe always enjoyed most excel
lent health, having scarcely ever experience
ed the slightest ndisposition. Ills life was,
In all respects, one of the iappiest that ever
fell 10 the lot of man, till the very moment
of its close. During his last residence in
London, on the oath of December, last year,
he had an attack of apoplexy; and nature
demanding her rights, he died on the Goth of
March in the present year Q772, in the
eighty-fiith year Of his age; satisfied with
his sojourn on earth, and delighted with the
prospect of his heavenly metamorphosis.
May this Royal Academy retain as long, a
great number of such distinguished and use
ful members"
Count Won IIopkcn, nobleman who was
one OF the institutors of this Academy, a
long time its Secretary, and for many years
Prime Minister of the Kingdom, says; 81
have not only known Swedenborg these two
and forty years, but also, some time SINCE
daily frequented his company" "He was a
true philosopher and lived like one. =
He was without contradiction, the most
learned man in my country. have
IN my possession some remnants of his Latin
poetry, which Ovid would not have been
ashamed to own. He was well ac-
quainted with the Hebrew and Greek; an
able and profound mathematician happy
mechanician, of which he gave proof in Nor
way, where, by an easy and simple method,
he transported the largest galeys over the
high mountains and rocks to gulf where
the Danish fleet was stationed. He
possessed sound mind upon all occasions |;
he saw everything clearly, and expressed
himself well on every subject. The most
solid memorials, and the best penned, at the
Diet of l76l, op matter of finance, were pre-
sented by him. In one of these he refuted
a large work in quarto on the same subject,
quoted all the corresponding passages of it,
and all this in less than one Sheet
Carl Robsham, Director of the Bank of
Sweden, and confidential friend of Sweden
borg, says of him that "he was so dstin-
guishcd for wisdom as to be celebrated
throughout Europe, and also possessed of
propriety of manners that rendered him
everywhere an honored and acceptable COM
panion Thus he continued to old age, Sc
reno, cheerful, and agreeable, with coun-
tenance always Illuminated by the light of
his uncommon genius"
Rev. Arvid Fcrelius, tho Swedish clergy
man who performed the funeral service at
the burial of Swedenborg, in the Swedish
Church, in London, says =" Many may
suppose that Assessor Swcdenborg was a
very singular and eccentric persons this
was by no means the case On the contrary
he was very agreeable and complaisant in
company. ' He never spoke on his own
writings or doctrines but when he was ask
ed some questions concerning them, when
he always spoke as freely as he had writ
ten.
Dr. Won CORES, Roman Catholic, and
professor at the Academy of Munich, after
thorough examination of Swedenbore's
works, states that he was not a man to be
carried away by an unbridled Imagination !;
still less did he ever manifest, during his
whole life, the slightest symptom of mental
alteration. If it be permitted for nos
terity to say that such man had either i'm
prudently deceived himself and the world,
or had knowingly dealt in falsehood and
lies, there is an end to the veritication of
historical events" "Ofthe "Principia of
Swedenborg, the professor says sit will al
ways be considered as beautiful and bold
production of the human mind-a produc-
tion indicative of profound thought in all its
parts, and not unworthy to be placed by the
side of Newton's Mathematical Principia of
Natural Philosophy" sEyerything he
writes is SO connected and uninterrupted as
to present a perfect whole"
DR.. Hurd, in the "rlistory of the Rites
and Ceremonies of all Nations" alluding to
the charge that Swedenborg was deprived of
his natural senses, says that "this insinua-
tion is an insult to common sense, being
overruled by every page of our authors
writings, as well as by every act of his life. :"
Coleridge speaks of Swedenborg as "one
OF the mastodons of literature, not to be
measured by whole colleges Of ordinary
scholars y Much of what is most valuable
in the philosophic works OF Schelling, Schu-
bert, and Eschermayer, is to be found antic-
ipated in this supposed den,entato or mad
man. 0, thrice happy should we be if the
learned ndteachers of the present day were
gifted with similar madness-a madness,
indeed, celestial, and flowing from divine
mind.
After hearing such authorities, if there
still be those who require additional testi-
mony in Swedenborg's sanity let them re-
fer to that afforded by others equally capa-
BILE of forming the clearest and most impair
tial judgments such as Dumas, of the Col
lege OF France; DR.. Hamilton, of Edin-
bnrnh