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98 ’DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
and therefore I do aver, that this gentleman, with inde
fatigable pains and labour, spent one whole year in
studying and writing the first volume of Arcana Calestia,
was at the expense of two hundred pounds to print it, and
also advanced two hundred pounds more for the printing
of this second volume ; and when he had done this, he
gave express orders, that all the money that should arise
in the sale of this large work should be given towards the
charge of the propagation of the gospel. He is so far
from desiring to make a gain of his labours, that he will
not receive one farthing back of the four hundred pounds
he has expended ; and for that reason his works will come
exceedingly cheap to the public.
65
’ I further declare, I have not the least reason in the
world to believe him a bigot to any mode or method of
religion ; I know not what community he belongs to, or
whether he belongs to any ; if any one can guess by his
writings, he knows were to find them. But it matters not
what or who the person is that writes, if his writings are
founded on truth, and agreeable to such learned men as
are competent judges of them. The deepest and most
learned, as well as the most valuable pieces, are some
times misunderstood and rejected for many years, even by
learned men themselves ; to instance only three perform
ances out of the many that might be produced, viz.,
Locke on the Human Understanding, Milton’s Paradise
Lost, and Prideaux’s Connexion of the Old and New
Testament. Those who have been conversant with books,
especially in the trading way, cannot be ignorant of the
difficulties these valuable pieces have met with in making
their way into the world and it is as remarkable now to
observe, how they have been called for and admired for
many years past.
"How this great work of Arcana Calestia will suc
ceed in the world, is impossible, at present, to determine.
If all men of learning were of the same mind with the
ingenious and pious Mr. Penny, of Dartmouth, we need
not fear success ; for in his letter to me, on the publi
cation of the first volume, are these following words : ’ I
have long ardently wished to see the historical part of the
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