Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
96 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
Bible ; yet when we consider what an inexhaustible fund
of knowledge the Sacred Scripture contains, the im
portance of the subjects it treats of, and the vast concern
every man has in those things they relate and recommend,
we may cease to wonder that so many ingenious pens
have been employed in sounding the depths of this vast
ocean ; and he must be a very dull writer indeed, who
does not find a pretty large number of readers of any work
he may publish of this kind. I would be far from depre
ciating the merit of any man’s performance, nay, I will
allow, that it is owing to the labours of learned and pious
men, in their disquisitions after truth in the Bible, that
we of this kingdom have been enabled to discern truth
from error, and to know more of the mind and will of
GOD in his Word, than the priests of Rome were willing
we should. Yet give me leave to add, that these sacred
writings are capable of speaking to the heart and under
standing of man, by more ways than have been thought
of, or put into practice ; and he who can discover new
treasures in these sacred mines, and produce from them
such rich jewels as were never yet seen by the eye of
man, will undoubtedly challenge our strictest attention,
and deserve encouragement in his pious labours. This,
then, may be said of our author. He has struck out a
new path through this deep abyss, which no man ever
trod before ; he has left all the commentators and ex
positors to stand on their own footing ; he neither med
dles nor interferes with any of them ; his thoughts are all
his own ; and the ingenious and sublime turn he has
given to every thing in the Scriptures, he has copied from
no man ; and therefore, even in this respect, he has some
title to the regard of the ingenious and learned world.
"It is true, when a reader comes to peruse his work,
if he expects to understand him with a slight and cursory
reading, he will find himself greatly mistaken ; his
thoughts are too sublime and lofty to be surveyed with
a weak or a wanton eye ; his language is quite different
from the common modes of speech ; and his sense is
sometimes so deep and profound, as not to be readily
apprehended by a common understanding. Whoever,
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
