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INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS,
^ EXHIBITING
THE CLAIMS OF THE WRITINGS OF SWEDENBORG TO
THE ATTENTION OF THE PUBLIC.
Respecting the celebrated Emanuel Swedenborg, the subject of the following " Doc-
uments," &c., great misrepresentations have gone abroad, and have produced, in the
minds of many, most false and injurious impressions, in regard both to him and to his
writings. Let, however, any one take, as a sample of his writings, those in which he
delivers the doctrines of the New Church, predicted in the Revelation, as he affirms,
under the symbol of the New Jerusalem ;
particularly, let the sample be his work en-
titled, " On the New Jerusalem audits Heavenly Doctrine ;" or his " Doctrines of the New
Jerusalem respecting the Lord, the Sacred Scripture, Faith, and Life /’ let any one take
either of these works as a sample : and if he had previously only heard the venerable
and enlightened author spoken of as the deluded visionary and bewildered enthusiast
he wiU be not a little surprised on its perusal. Instead of visionary statements and en-
thusiastic flights, he will find the words of truth and soberness, under their most legiti-
mate stamp: doctrines deduced in the clearest manner from the literal sense of the
Word of God, arranged, as to their various particulars, in the most lucid order, and sup-
ported by the strongest rational considerations. Let either of these works be perused
with candor, and with the attention and devout seriousness which the subjects treated
of demand, and which the mode of treatment merits ; and it is thought the reader must
be disposed to admit, both that the doctrines which he delivers are truly the doctrines
of the Word of God, and that the illumination by which they are so convincingly de-
duced from that source must have proceeded from its Divine Author. Let it then be
seriously considered, whether a writer who was thus, on the most vital points of Chris-
tian doctrine, the organ of the dictates of truths could, on other parts of the same o-eneral
system, be the victim of the illusions of error.
There are various considerations, which, if duly reflected on, would establish the
claims of this writer to the attention of the Christian world. It is generally admitted
among Christians, that the prophecies of Scripture do lead to the expectation of a
glorious state of the church on earth,—a state in which she shall be glorious for the
clearness of her doctrinal views, and for the purity of her practice,—beyond anything
which has hitherto been witnessed. Many commentators have seen, that such a state
of the church is what is prefigured by the description of the New Jerusalem, in the
Revelation, which is said to " come down from God out of heaven^’ (xxi. 2, 10), and to
be " the tabernacle of God icith men" (xxi. 3). This is the view of the meaning of that
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