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152 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
sight was not dim, and he appeared to enjoy the use of
his faculties unimpaired ; but the energy that formerly
actuated him, had abated in its vigour, like the rays of
the summer’s sun, when verging to the distant west.
His countenance was very expressive, and full of that
energetic appearance, which is the characteristic of firm
ness and greatness of soul.
"In a short time after my arrival, dinner was an
nounced, and Oberlin, leading me by the hand, shewed
me the place at his table, which was always reserved for
the friend and the stranger, opposite to the seat which he
occupied himself. The entire household dined together :
himself
, his friends, and the housekeeper occupying the
upper, and the servants, and frequently one or other of
the inhabitants of the more distant part of the valley, the
lower end of his table. Oberlin embraced this oppor
tunity to instil many solid principles of goodness and
virtue into the hearts of his family, his flock, and his
guests. He well knew the correspondence there is
between feeding the body, and nourishing the mind ;
and how the affections of the heart are, on such occasions,
more open to receive the seeds of truth scattered by the
paternal hand of the master, who is loved, and whose life
is a continual testimony of the precepts he professes.
Oberlin spoke German and French with equal ease and
fluency; on the frontiers, between Germany and France,
these two languages are indispensable to the pastor, as
the population is partly of French, and partly of German
extraction. Our conversation was in German. He was
full of inquiries respecting many things in Britain. After
dinner he took me to his library, a large upper room; two
sides of which were fitted up with shelves from the top to
the bottom, and well stocked with books in several lan
guages. The other two sides were furnished with maps,
diagrams, plates, designs, and models, of various kinds,
by which he instructed the members of his flock in the
useful arts of life, such as architecture, in its most simple
application, the construction of bridges, of agricultural
implements, &c. In all these useful arts and sciences he
had, from the commencement of his ministry in Steinthal,
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