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FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF HIS WRITINGS. 97
therefore, takes this book in hand, and finds passages in
it not easily intelligible, let him not throw it by as a thing
of no value, nor content himself with abare perusal ; but
let him read it over and over again ; let him study the
drift and design of the author ; and I will answer for it,
that the more and oftener he reads it, the more instruction
and delight he will receive from it. The author has a
depth, which, if once fathomed, (and it is not unfathom
able,) will yield the noblest repast to a pious mind. But
if any one imagines that I say this to puff a book, in the
sale of which my interest is so nearly concerned, any
gentleman is welcome to peruse it at my shop, and to
purchase it or not, as his own judgment shall direct him .
Nothing recommends a book more effectually to the
public than the eminence and credit of its author ;
nothing is more notorious, than that a weak performance,
if it appears under a great name, shall be better received
in the world than the most sublime and ingenious pro
ductions of an obscure person : so that it is not merit but
prejudice that generally governs the judgment of men.
66
"Though the author of Arcana Calestia is un
doubtedly a very learned and great man, and his works
highly esteemed by the literati, yet he is no less dis
tinguished for his modesty than his great talents, so that
he will not suffer his name to be made public. * But
though I am positively forbid to discover that, yet I hope
he will excuse me if I venture to mention his benign and
generous qualities. How he bestowed his time and
labours in former years, I am not certainly informed
(though I have heard by those who have been long
acquainted with him, that they were employed in the
same manner as I am going to relate) ; but what I have
been an eye-witness to, I can declare with certain truth ;
* Swedenborg did not desire to have his own name prominently
exhibited in connexion with the great cause he was the instru
ment of advocating ; he did not wish to become the head or
leader of a sect ; he addressed his writings to all denominations
of Christians, and desired his readers to see the truth from its
inherent light, and not because it was advocated by some dignified
and celebrated name.
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