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222 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
error, which would eclipse every other excellence, ifit were
not visible that this charge cannot be attached to Sweden
borg, and that the very way in which he unfolds this
point is sufficient of itself to clear him from it. It may
be admitted that the Schwenkfeldian doctrine, as being
more easy to amend, may have the pre-eminence over
others, but at the same time I believe it will require no
great penetration to discover that Schwenkfeld and Swe
denborg do not entertain the same principles. I wish,
however, you would take the trouble to learn from my
small treatise respecting the plan of St. John’s writings,
which I have annexed to this letter, that Swedenborg’s
doctrine on this point is justly held to be apostolic.
"VII. But you, reverend Sir, and your much esteemed
colleague, Mr. Seitz, suppose that our great author has
committed a blameable error respecting the sacred au
thority of Paul, by not acknowledging his and the other
apostolic writings to be canonical, by refusing them the
dignity ofthe Divine Word ; this will be best cleared up,
by a letter of Swedenborg himself, which he wrote to me
from Amsterdam, the 15th of April, 1766, as follows :—
With regard to the writings of Paul and the other
apostles, I have not given them a place in my Arcana
Calestia, because they are dogmatic writings merely, and
not written in the style of the Word, as are those of
David, of the prophets, of the evangelists, and of the
Revelation of John ; the style of the Word consists,
throughout, in correspondences, and thence has a direct
and immediate communication with heaven ; (Doctrine of
the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture,
113.) but the style of these dogmatic writings of Paul, and
the other apostles, being different, their communication is
only mediate or indirect. The reason of this diversity of
style is, that as the rules and tenets of the Christian
Church were to be formed from these writings of the
apostles, the style used in the Word would not have been
proper for the purpose ; which required plain and simple
language, suited to the capacity of all readers. Never
theless, the writings of the apostles are to be regarded as
excellent books, and to be held in very high esteem,
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