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80 DOCUMENTS CONCERNINa SWEDENBORG.
" In 1785, Mr. Keene went down into the vault of the Swedish Chapel, and
saw his coffin, which lies next to Dr. Solander’s."
In connexion with these anecdotes of Swedenborg during his residence in London,
we insert the first public advertisement of his writings which was in 1750:
"Paternoster-Row, Feb. 5, 1750.
" Advertisement, by John Lewis, printer and publisher, in Paternoster-Row,
near Cheapside, London. Be it known unto all the learned and curious, that
this day is published, the first number of Arcana Calestia, or Heavenly Secrets,
which are in the Sacred Scriptures, or Word of the Lord, laid open ; as they are
found in the xvi. chapter of Genesis : together with the wonderful things that
have been seen in the world of spirits, and in the heaven of angels.
"This work is intended to be such an exposition of the whole Bible as was
never attempted in any language before. The author is a learned foreigner,
who wrote and printed the first volume of the same work but last year, all in
Latin, which may be seen at my shop in Paternoster-Row, as above-mentioned.
" And now the second volume is printing, both in Latin and English ; to be
published in cheap numbers, that the public may have it in an easier manner,
in either tongue, than in whole volumes.
" It must be confessed that this nation abounds with a variety of commen-
taries and expositions on the Holy Bible ;
yet when we consider what an inex-
haustible fund of knowledge the Sacred Scripture contains, the importance of
the subjects it treats of, and the vast concern every man has in those things they
relate and recommend, we may cease to wonder that so many ingenious pens
have been employed in sounding the depths of this vast ocean ; and he must be
a very dull writer indeed, who does not find a pretty large number of readers of
any work he may publish of this kind. I would be far from depreciating the
merit of any man’s performance, nay, I will allow, that it is owing to the labors
of learned and pious men, in their disquisitions after truth in the Bible, that we
of this kingdom have been enabled to discern truth from error, and to know
more of the mind and will of God in his Word, than the priests’ of Rome were
willing we should. Yet give me leave to add, that these sacred writings are
capable of speaking to the heart and understanding of man, by more ways than
have been thought of, or put into practice ; and he who can discover new
treasures in these sacred mines, and produce from them such rich jewels as
were never yet seen by the eye of man, will undoubtedly challenge our strictest
attention, and deserve encouragement in his pious labors. This, then, may be
said of our author. He has struck out a new path through this deep abyss,
which no man ever trod before ; he has left all the commentators and expositors
to stand on their own footing; he neither meddles nor interferes with any of
them; his thoughts are all his own; and the ingenious and sublime turn he
has given to everything in the Scriptures, he has copied from no man; and
therefore, even in this respect, he has some title to the regard of the ingenious
and learned world.
" It is true, when a reader comes to peruse his work, if he expects to under-
stand him with a slight and cursory reading, he will find himself greatly mis-
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