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186 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
" It may be further remarked, that all his theoretical
positions lead to a practical result ; for which purpose
amendment oflife is every where insisted upon, together
with the necessity of bringing it into agreement with the
order and commandments of heaven. It will also be dis
covered, that better subjects of the state cannot be desired
than those whose principles are formed upon these doc
trines.
"Should we proceed in our inquiry, and judge of the
claims of these writings to our attention by their use in
illustrating the Holy Word, it will then be found, that
the most difficult passages which the Sacred Records con
tain, may, upon Assessor Swedenborg’s mode of explica
tion, be developed in a satisfactory manner ; and that
even those things hard to be understood, in the writings
of Paul, may, by this light, be easily comprehended.
Let no person, therefore, hereafter think of the author as
Festus did when he addressed Paul, and said, ’ Much
learning doth make thee mad.’ (Acts xxvi. 24. )
" But to take a nearer view of the subject, these theo
logical writings may be divided into three general classes :
the first, comprehending every point touching the inter
pretation of the Holy Scriptures ; the second, every thing
appertaining to the doctrines of religion ; and the third,
the numerous things that the author has seen or heard,
during his intercourse and experience with the spiritual
world.
66
I. With regard to the Interpretation ofthe Sacred
Scriptures, it is immediately to be perceived, that the
obscure views of spiritual truth, pursued at a guess by
Origen, Cocceius, and many other pious divines, and
seen but by partial glimpses, have, by Assessor Sweden
borg in his Arcana Calestia, and the two works on the
Apocalypse, been brought forth to the full light of day.
This will manifestly appear, whenever, with due consi
deration and an acquaintance with the terms employed
to elucidate his principles, we read attentively and suc
cessively the contents prefixed to each chapter, by which
means we shall acquire a connected general idea of that
book of the Word which he is proceeding to explain ;
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