Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
ANECDOTES COLLECTED ^BY MR. ROBSAHM. 75
works, and I will send them to you. In short, after some months had passed,
an officer of the provmce and bishoprick of Skara came tu ptiy a visit to Swe-
denborg. On being asked how the Bishop Hallenlus was ;
’ He has been very
ill,’ rephed the officer, ’
but at present he is well recovered, and has become al-
together another person, being now a praotiser of what is good, full of probity,
and returns sometimes three or four fold of property, for what he had before un-
justly taken into his possession.’ This bishop was from that time, even to the
hour of his death, one of the greatest supporters of the Doctrine of the New
Church of the Lord, and declared openly, that the theological writings of Swe-
denborg were the most precious treasures given for the welfare of mankind.
" Swedenborg was of a very mild temper, yet just, and incapable of perverting
truth, for human respects or any other motive. Mr. Robsahm having asked him
if a certain curate, w^ho was greatly esteemed in the capital on account of his
flowery sermons, and who was lately deceased, had a place in heaven ? ’ No,’
said Swedenborg, ’ he went directly into the abyss ; for this ecclesiastic left his
devotion in the pulpit : he was not pious, but a hypocrite, proud, and greatly
vain of the gifts he had received from nature, and the goods of fortune he was
continually seeking to acquire. Truly, said he, false appearances will stand us
in no stead hereafter ; they were all separated from him after his decease ; the
mask has fallen off from him ; and at that period it is manifest to all, whether the
man is inwardly evil or good.
" I met him in his carriage, when he was going to London, on his last voyage
but one, and asked him how he durst undertake so long a voyage at the age of
eighty ; do you think, added I, that I shall see you return hither ? Be not un-
easy, my friend, said he, if you live we shall see one another again, for I have
yet another voyage of this kind to make. He returned accordingly.
" The last time of his departure from Sweden, he came to see me on the day
he was to set out, and I then asked him if we should meet again. He answered
me iu a tender and touching manner :
’
I do not know,’ said he, ’
whether 1 shall
return ; but am assured, I shall not die before I have finished the publication of
the book, entitled True Christian Religion, and for which only I am now about
to depart. But should we not see one another again in this lower world, we
shall, in the presence of the Lord our heavenly Father, if so be, that we observe
to do his commandments.’ He then took a cheerful leave, and went with an ap-
parent vigor of body of a man of thirty years of age.
" Some time before his last voyage, he had petitioned his majesty the king,
Adolphus Frederick, to expedite letters to the consistories of the kingdom, for
the examination of his writings, and to enjoin them to give their advice on the
contents ; but the consistories did not do it.
" The king having met Swedenborg, said, ’
The consistories have been silent
on my letters and your writings;’ and, putting his hand on Swedenborg’s shoul-
der, added, ’
we may conclude that they have found nothing reprehensible in
them, and that you have written in conformity to truth.’"
A remarkable Anecdote concerning Dr. Beyer and Emanuel Swedenborg.
" About the year 1766, Swedenborg went to Gottenburg, intending to embark
for England : when he arrived there, he took his passage in a vessel which was
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
