Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-03-03
SHORES OF CALIFORNIA,
The Man, hfs Theories ~ Learning
Public IDtereBt in the teachings
Of this Extraordinary
Philosopher.

41ASk0 &AA Al A1Ao LMOaAAE 60
the standard qusrterlies hsve contained
notices, more or less favorable, OF them,
and a of b most popular orthodox
ministers In America, Beecher, told his
people, not long since, that ''no one could
claim to know the theology of the nine.
teenth century who had not read Swe-
denborg." So that we are only answer
ing this growing spirit Of inquiry by Of
fertng ouE 8 summary of the
teachings of this extraordinary man.
For more than one hundred years SWe-
dsnborg has been to some an object OF
suspicion, amounting sometimes to deri-
sion-to others he Is q seer Of truths re.
served for the latter day glory Of the
church; TO all he Is the greatest of hu-
man mysteTiesi but to none has he ever
appeared. as an impostor. Lice Wesley,
with whom he was contemporary, he was
universally respected for his -unexampled
piety and purity of character. His digni-
ty and known truthfulness put to silencs
all czvils about his wonderful revelations
among those who knew him. The men
wondered and surmised, perhsps Their
were eYsn sUapicions of some hsllucins-
ton, but his truthfulDess WIS never
questioned. Coleridge calls him a"msn
q ten centuries" and says;
"on evegApoint, n earnest and in Jest,
His judgment and his prudence, and his wit,
We're dsemed toe touch-stoue and the test
or what was proper. truthful, Just and at.
A word from him sat everything to rest,
His Just decisions never failed to hit.
His silence his reserve, b 8 inattsDtion,
Were felt as the Severest apprehension"
IN TIE FIELDS OF PHYSICAL sOIBNCE
SWedenborg was oonfsssedly in his day
without a peer. he anticipated many re-
puted ~discoverers, whose applications of
principles announced by him have made
others famous Referring to his philosO-
phical treatise q London medical review
(Forcepa) says: "What hss the world
been doing for the past century to let this
great system slumber on the shelf and to
run alter q host of little blue bottles OF
hypothesis, which were never framed to
live for more than short part of a single
season. 1t is clear that the world yet
knows nothing of Its greatest Of men,"
His theory of creation is Just the reverse
Of the msIerialists Spiris. So far from
being the result of certain conditions of
matter, Is, according to his theory, the
germ OF sn~tecedent cause of matter.
Hence that the spiritual universe not
only sntedates the material, but produces
1t. There is q physical or natural world,
because there is q spiritual and CELESTIAL
world; IS its soul or life, consequently
there is a correspondence OF all things in
the spiritual world with all things in the
natural world Spirit itself, he Insintsins,
Is q real substance, and heaven and he'll
real places, corresponding to the spiritual
states of men in the natural world. Hence
that man is not only q compound being
s j both physical and mental, but that he
is, while on earth,
THE INHABIrANT OF TWO WORLDS;
his body In the material world and
drawing its support thence, his mind, in
the mental or physical world, breathing 8
atmosphere and feeding upon
thoughts as its substantial food. Being
thus In conjunction with Two worlds, ne
is, while living here, as to his soul, q
member of some one of the innumerable
societies Of heaven or hell, Just as he IL =
member Of society as TO his natural life In
the world. He Is, therefore, though IN
consciously, in the society of either snGels
or devils; and these, according IS the in
teriors of his mind may be open or closed,
pure Dr. impure, exert an influence over
his thoughts and actions for good or evil
Death, or the separation Of the soul
from the body, Is, according to Sweden
borg, not 3 curse or penalty tor Sin, as
by the orthodox. The death pro-
nounced upon sin was q separation of the
sOal from God; but the death of the body
Is an orderly phenomenon of nature
one of the appointed stages or steps OF
development, as natural and ne
as the transition Of the worm
from its humble abode in the dust to the
state of the moth, Or the butterfly to its
rial abode. Mans immortal part is 3
spiritual body. THIS spiritual body Is
the man himself. So that, when the death
Of the natural body takes plsce it Is hut
the shedding of q deed and useless chrys
ais; the man, the rsal msn, emerging
from this material into his mental or
worl5, leaving only his body
him. His character Is exactly the
same put Of the body as In 1t. He has
the same loves, hates, hopes, memories
and ambition, and associates at once with
like himself. Death simply IN
the man Of his body. and his char
acter Of it's shsms and hypocrscies, re-
him to his state of good or evil.
swEDENGoRa, LIKE WESLEY,
believed in the reality and presence Of
spiriual t~ntelliesnoes, snd that there is a
,lose Nlisnce and communication between
hose and man while yet in the material
body. But the distinctive character of
5wedonborg's system is that 1t claims to
9 new and higher explanation OF the
Bible from the Lord Himself through the
Jeer of sweden-that he was prepared
rom his youth for the especial work of
conveying to men q key (of Correspond
5ncs'D that should unlock the mysteries
parallels, symbols and dark sayings of
and supply 8 system Of doctrine on
which the New Jerusalem church. fore
old in Revelations I'll 81 should be es-
sblished. This church is not another
Isct or separate establishment on earth,
is being separately formed in the
world from the ''goOd of all the
who worship the Lord Jesus
Thirst as the only God" A claim to
eership such as this will not be freely &C
corded TO any man, since most men have
'ome to the conclusion whether Justly or
Tot we do not Esy) thai the dsys of seer.
hip are gone forever, and thst the Lord
viii never sgain 'open the eyes" of his
ervants to see within the veil Il IL
# record that Mr.. Wesley did not
egsrd such 8 claim preposterous or
ven improbable. On the contrary he |
3 reported to have said, after reading the
True Christian Religion" by Sweden
msy nowburn all books on
heologY. The Lord has sent us his own
of the Holy Word" Swe-
.enborg claims to have been In direct in
ercourse with spirits, to have enjoyed
his intercourse for upward Of a quarter
I q century, and been permitted 20 wit
less for himself the things whereof ne
that hui he was Instructed BY
be Lord as TO what he terms the internal
T spiritual sense OF the Bible. This
snse, he tells rs, Is to the literal sense
I the Word what mans SOU is to his
ody.
TIE BIBLE
him Is In every letter snd syllable and
sntence the Word of God, and contains
hidden meaning which is studied and
for by angels no less than by men.
Lis precision and minuteness of detail in
EXPLAINING ADD Comparing certain por-
ons OF the old and new JestRmeuts are
cry gratifying to the curious student,
lille his calm, clear and consecutive
9ssonirgs and his bold assertion and an
Of his law OF correspondence
} the sealed symbols of the scriptures
70 well calculated TO stsrtle the most or
unoeliever in his singular seer
zip. The reports o. conversations with
is spiritual companions, and his 6esorip-
ons Of localities ana OF scenes whIch he
aims to have witnessed In the spiritual
orld, are put for b in Language SO sim
10 and unaffected and yet 80 assured and
it'll q minutensss Of detail apparently so
,curate that you get the impressions of 8
an describing the dress, msnners and
lstoms Of the inhah ants of q foreign
ty impossible to any except I o one
no has actually witnessed them, 4
his claim OF seerahip Is, Of course, an
ItraordiDary one. But the long and IT.
I~prcschable LIE OF this remarkable man.
stern morality and consistency Of
characters his great learning
ID practical habita of life and his I'M.
reverence for and devotion 10
Bible-these characteristics must
axe every one pause and redeot well I
ION his doctrines before disp0sirg Of
altogether. Decentralization Of such a ]
an has g roooil that hurts the smitsr
ore than the Enitten. Men csnnot dis
ZEE Of ehis ponoerous thinker by 9 shrug
contempt or q hint of irssnity. His
me and his teachings are rising every
, 70 q more commanding pre-eminepes
Iong she learned Of both hemispheree.
REcHERcKH hats at Wheaton'a
sHNTEE1cEE's wEAR olesnsd without