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AMERICAN EDITOR’S PREFACE.
The work here presented to the public is in the main a reprint from an° English work
of the same title, and which is itself a modified translation from the German original of
Dr. Tafel of Tubingen. The ensuing Preface of Mr. Smithson, the EngUsh Translator and
Editor, will sufficiently unfold the general character and scope of the work. It contains
a large array of Testimonies, from the most authentic and respectable sources, to the
talents, attainments, and endowments of Emanuel Swedenborg, a name which is constantly
looming up to view, as one of the most truly venerable which can be cited from the list of
the world’s worthies. The deepening impression that this name has not had justice done
it—that it has been allowed to remain for a long time under undeserved odium and dis-
paragement—has naturally led to a reaction of interest in regard to the personal history,
the intellectual monuments, and the supernatural claims, of the man. An ample biogra-
phy would be the proper source to which to refer inquiry on these heads ; but such a bi-
ography remains yet to be written. Meantime the materials are accumulating and a por-
tion of them are embodied in the present volume. They will meet the demand of the
times to a limited extent. They furnish a mass of memoirs sufficient to give assurance of
a most extraordinary and highly-gifted character, and to afibrd a kind of prestige of what a
complete biography of the subject of them would be. Testimonies of a similar stamp and
from high authorities could be easily multiplied, as they are being continually elicited
from those who have made themselves acquainted with his Scientific and Philosophical
works through the medium of the recent Translations into English, for which the world
is indebted to the invaluable labors of the London " Swedenborg Association." But the
collection here set forth, made up of the most important documents accessible, will serve
to accomplish the present ends of those concerned in their production. They will scarce-
ly fail to redeem the fame of an illustrious sage from the reproach which has hitherto so
unjustly befallen it. Still we cannot but be aware that the concessions made to his merits
as a Philosopher may perhaps for a long time to come be withheld from his claims as a
Seer, as this involves a verdict from the intuitions of the moral man which are at a great
remove from those of the merely intellectual man. For the utterance of this verdict we
must *’ bide our time." From present indications that time is not far distant. There is
obviously a deepening call issuing from the inmost bosom of humanity, for the great " prov-
idential man" of the latter ages, and as we doubt not that he had come before being in-
voked, our office is to pronounce the ’’
Ecce homo," and point him out to the recognition
of the world.
The present volume retains all the documents embodied in the English edition with
the exception of the Rev. Mr. Clowes’ " Affectionate Address to the Clergy," which can
be easily obtained as a separate Tract. But in addition to these I have drawn freely upon
other and more recent materials, several of which were kindly indicated to me by Mr.
Smithson, the English editor, upon his becoming informed of my purpose. The articles
that appear in the present edition, which are not found in the English, are those
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