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TESTIMONY OF .GENERAL TUXEN .
57
VIII.
TESTIMONY
OF
GENERAL CHRISTIAN TUXEN,
f
RESPECTING
SWEDENBORG.
Connected with the last testimony is that of General Christian Tuxen, to whom Coiant
Hopken’s letters were addressed. This gentleman, being the king of Denmark’s Com-
missioner of War at Elsineul", at which port the vessels in which Swedenborg was pro-
ceeding on his voyages frequently stopped in their passage through the Sound, repeat-
edly obtained the company of the illustrious stranger at his house. In a letter to Mr,
Nordenskjold, dated from Elsineur, May 4th, 1790, and printed in the New Jerusalem
Magazine^ he details many particulars of these interviews : and the result was, that he
was so completely satisfied with his " valuable guest," that he calls him, at the close of
his letter, " our late benefactor, and in truth not only ours, but that of all mankind, if
they are seriously solicitous about their state after death. For my part," he adds, " I
thank our Lord the God of heaven, that I have been acquainted with this great man
and his writings. I esteem this as the greatest blessing I ever experienced in this life,
and hope I shall profit by them in working out my salvation."
The following is an account of these personal interviews :
" A report having been circulated, that the late queen dowager of Sweden,
Louisa Ulrica, had given Assessor Swedenborg the commission of speaking
with her deceased brother the Prince of Prussia ; I inquired (says the general,)
of a certain minister,* a nobleman of great learning, who, for several years past,
had honored rae with his intimate friendship, whether he had heard anything of
this report, and what kind of person Swedenborg was, and what character he
bore. He answered me, that the report was not ill-founded ; that it had been
communicated by all the foreign ministers at Stockholm, to their respective
courts ; that Swedenborg from his youth w^as acknowledged to be one of the
most learned men in Europe, particularly in mineralogy ; but added, at the same
time, that since he had, during the last twenty-seven years of his life, given
himself up to the study of theology, it was thought by many, that, as he pre-
tentled he could speak with the dead, his understanding was deranged,
" As I lived at Elsineur, I also heard several other things concerning him; that
he often passed the Sound in his travels to and from Amsterdam and London
;
and in what manner he had answered his landlord who kept the sign of Charles
the XII., who, on asking him how that king fared in the other world, replied
that he retained the same sentiments and conduct in the world of spirits as he
did in this world. As also the following anecdote, which I had from a very re-
* Senator Count Hopken, whose testimony we have just adduced.
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