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98 ’ DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
"It is evident that the author of the above-mentioned letter is utterly ignorant
of the character of Count H6pken. This respectable nobleman, who has ren-
dered-the most important services to his country, possesses greatness of mind
and goodness of heart, and his advanced age has in nowise impaired these val-
uable endowments. During the whole of his administration, he united the most
enlightened policy with the most scrupulous integrity, and was a declared
enemy to secret intrigue and underhand devices, which he looked upon as
means unworthy of accomplishing his purposes.
" The author is no better acquainted with Assessor Swedenborg. The only
weakness of this truly honest man was his belief in the apparition of spirits
;
but I knew him for many years, and [ can confidently affirm, that he was as fully
persuaded that he conversed with spirits, as I am that I am writing at this mo-
ment. As a citizen, and as a friend, he was a man of the greatest integrity,
abhorring imposture, and leading an exemplary life.
" The explication, therefore, which Chevalier Baylon gives of this circum-
stance, is void of foundation ; and the visit said to have been made in the night
to Swedenborg, by Counts Hdpken and T , is purely invention.
*’ As to the rest, the author of the letter may be assured that I am no follower
of Swedenborg ; the love of truth alone has induced me to relate, faithfully, a
fact, which has been so often stated with details entirely false ; and I verify
what Ihave just written wich the signature of my name :
"Charles Leonard de StaJslhammer."
This letter bears a double testimony in Swedenborg’s favor : it establishes the reality
of his intercourse with the^ spiritual world, and it corroborates the truth of his assertions
respecting, the inability of miraculous evidence to communicate faith : for here is a
writer decidedly affirming the certainty of a supernatural fact, and yet calling it a weak-
ness in Swedenborg to believe in the apparition of spirits.
XVI.
TESTIMONY
or THE celebrated GERMAN PHILOSOPHER
EMANUEL KANT,
RESPECTING SWEDENBORG’S INTERCOURSE WITH THE
SPIRITUAL WORLD.
The opinion of this celebrated man respecting Swedenborg and his- extraordinary
case, as having communication with the world of spirits, having been asked by a literary
lady of quality, Madame de Knoblock, afterwards widow of Lieut.-Gen. Klingsporn,
Kant replied in the following letter, dated Konigsberg, August 10th, 1758 :
—
" I would not have deprived myself so long of the honor and pleasure of obey^
ing the request of a lady, who is the ornament of her sex, in communicating the
desired information, if I had not deemed it necessary previously to inform my-
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