his brethren; high in honour and esteem as he was, lived several years in an obscure lodging in London, in which he ended his days. O Lord, how wonderful are thy dealings with thy most favoured servants, to bring them into a conformity with thy low and abject state when on earth, in order to exalt them to that glory which thou hast prepared for them. I saw him in the beginning of his last sickness, and asked him if he was comforted with the society of angels as before, and he answered, that he was"."

He died March 29, 1772, and after lying in state, his remains were deposited in a vault in the Swedish church near Radcliff Highway. His funeral oration or eulogy was delivered in the great hall of the house of nobles, at Stockholm, by Monsieur Sandel, superintendant of the mines, knight of the polar star, and fellow of the academy of sciences, the members of which attended this funeral ceremony. Mr. Hartley says, "I have weighed the character of Swedenborg in the scale of my best judgment. From the personal knowledge I had of him, from the best information I could procure concerning him, and from a diligent perusal of his writings, I have found him to be a sound. divine, the good man, the deep philosopher, the universal scholar, and the polite gentleman."

It is, however, admitted by the translator of his "True Christian Theology," that "he was seized with a fever, attended with a delirium, about twenty years before he died; and men have gone about to pick up what he said, and did, and how he looked at the time, and have propagated this, both in private and in print, a proceeding so contrary to common humanity, that one cannot think of it without offence, z Preface to True Christian Theology, p. 9.

nay even horror." Here is probably a reference to what Mr. Wesley has said of the baron's missions commencing at this season of madness; which, indeed, is the kindest and most reasonable solution of the mystery. That Swedenborg was a man of upright intentions and eminent abilities, both natural and acquired, is indisputable; but when we are referred to his writings to decide concerning his sanity, what reasonable man can hesitate to say that they afford sufficient evidence that he was insane? His was, indeed, no ordinary insanity, but that of a devotional and philosophic mind, which often appears greater in ruins than when underanged. Availing himself of former stores of knowledge, such a madman will sometimes reason so justly on false ideas, as to perplex for a moment the most sagacious observer to determine whether its effusions are the aberrations of diseased intellect, or the elevation of genius bordering on inspiration.

The theological writings of Swedenborg were not much noticed during his life, but have since his death, been translated into German, English, and

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Though unable to recollect the page in Mr. Wesley's writings which contains this assertion, we present to our readers another passage in which he delivers the same opinion. "I sat down to read and seriously consider some of the writings of baron Swedenborg. I began with huge prejudices in his favour, knowing him to be a pious man, one of a strong understanding, of much learning, and one who thoroughly believed himself inspired. But I could not hold out long. Any one of his visions puts his real character out of doubt. He is one of the most ingenious, lively, entertaining madmen that ever set pen to paper. But his waking dreams are so wild, so far remote both from Scripture and common sense, that one might as easily swallow the stories of Tom Thumb, or Jack the giant-killer. Wesley's Journal, yol. XXXII. p. 289.

French. The first translation into our language was by Mr. Hartley, a clergyman, which attracted so much attention, that all the baron's works soon appeared in an English dress, and passed through several editions. It is asserted, that a society of gentlemen in Manchester, formed for the purpose of publishing and circulating them, printed, in the course of a few years, upwards of sixteen thousand copies, as appears from the annual reports of the society. Some opposition was excited; though many were deterred from entering the lists against a madman, by the persuasion that his reveries would find admission only into minds as disordered as his own, with whom reason and argument, though derived from Scripture, could find no admission.

Dr. Priestley, however, determined to try his polemical powers in the conflict with visions, angels, influxes, and all the arcana of other worlds. He published, in 1791,“ Letters to the Members of the New Jerusalem Church at Birmingham," in which he labours with all his zeal and address to overthrow their doctrine concerning the exclusive divinity of Jesus Christ. He was instantly answered, at the request of the body, by Robert Hindmarsh, one of its ministers, who officiated in their metropolitan temple. His "Letters to Dr. Priestly" are written in the true spirit of the new church, and with very considerable ability. While he ingeniously repels the doctor's arguments, he openly asserts that socinians are not Christians, and that their grand peculiarity, the denial of the deity of Jesus Christ, is the unpardonable sin against the Holy Ghost. Were it not that the subject is too serious, involving the interests of eternity, nothing could be more amusing than this conflict between the

opposing elements, fire and water, scepticism and mysticism. Nor can any one who has been accustomed to regard the Swedenborgians as visionary enthusiasts, and their antagonist as an acute logician, fail of being surprised at the appearance of ease and success with which Mr. Hindmarsh combats Dr. Priestley.

But the Christian Observer," a periodical publication by evangelical clergymen, has been the most formidable opponent of the new Jerusalem church. "We certainly do find," say the writers of the review in that work, "some difficulty in conceiving how a consistent clergyman of the church of England can continue in her communion, accept her emoluments, and join in or lead her service, and, at the same time, hold and propagate the tenets of Emanuel Swedenborg." The controversy with this sect may be said to have closed with their able review of "A few plain Answers to the Question, why do you receive the Testimony of Baron Swedenborg? addressed from a Minister to his Congregation, by the Rev. J. L. Clowes, M. A. Rector of St. John's Church, Manchester, and late fellow of Trinity-college, Cambridge'."

As the zeal for the erection of gorgeous temples, which this sect displayed in its infancy, has of late declined, nothing now remains to attract strangers ; while the charm of novelty having vanished, has left some of the proselytes, which it had acquired, to sink back into mere indifference, or into their former communions. Thus, after commencing with splendid expectations, the new church is gradually falling into disrepute, and the number of its votaries, never very Christian Observer, June, 1806.

great, is now decreasing. This must, to the most liberal and catholic mind, which has not been deranged by Swedenborg's visions, afford pleasure; for while almost every sect, with its errors and evils, has also its excellencies and uses, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to say what advantage could accrue to truth, to religion, or human society by the increase of this communion.