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50 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
prolix, Sir, and you may be tired with such a long and
hastily written letter. This I have written with a view of
satisfying in some manner your desire, and thus of
proving the perfect esteem, with which I have the honour
to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
"HÔPKEN.
"Schenninge, May 11 , 1772."
"P.S. Your epitaph on Swedenborg is very beautiful,
true, and worthy of the subject."
Count Hôpken to General Tuxen.
LETTER II.
" SIR,
"From your long silence, I concluded you had not
been satisfied with my last, containing my opinion on the
late Assessor Swedenborg’s System ofDivinity ; and from
your letter of March 8th, I perceive I had some cause for
my suspicions. In every science but divinity, a man
may give his opinion positively, and, if it were erroneous,
endeavour to make others embrace it also ; for this does
not destroy the calm and quiet of the conscience. It is
quite indifferent in the other life, with regard to happiness,
to believe with Ptolomy, that the earth rests inthe centre,
and that the sun, with the other planets, revolves round
it in twenty-four hours ; or with Copernicus, the opposite.
But as soon as the question is concerning a subject
relative to salvation, which is to satisfy the conscience in
every period of life, then my thoughts are of a more
tender nature, and I am bound to use caution in com
municating them to others. The late Swedenborg cer
tainly was a pattern of sincerity, of virtue and piety, and
at the same time, in my opinion, the most learned man
in this kingdom; but all these qualities, which are so
many evidences of an honest, virtuous and pious life, do
not, at the same time, prove, that he could not err like
other men. What to my judgment may appear evident,
convincing, and indisputable, may to others appear ob
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