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104 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBORG.
XVII.
TESTIMONY
OF
«
DR. JOHANN HEINRICH JUNG-STILLING
PROFESSOR OF THE UNIVERSITIES OF HEIDELBERG AND MARBURG,
RESPECTING SWEDENBORG’S INTERCOURSE WITH THE SPIRITUAL
WORLD.
The next testimony we shall adduce to prove that Swedenborg had intercourse with
the spiritual world, is that of Dr. J. H. Jung-Stilling, late Professor of the uiuversities of
Heidelberg and Marburg, and private aulic-counsellor to the Grand Duke of Baden.
This testimony is recorded in his work, entitled " Theory der Geisterkunde."* Stilling
was the author of several works much read in Germany ; he was a man of great learn-
ing and piety, and highly respected. In the work above mentioned he records the
three occurrences concerning the queen of Sweden, the mislaid receipt, and the fire at
Stockholm. Although Stilling did not receive the theological doctrines of Swedenborg,
having evidently never read them, or having only seen his work on Heaven and Hell)
and a few extracts published by Oetinger, he firmly believed that Swedenborg had in-
tercourse with the world of spirits, for, says Stilling, ’*he occasionally furnished proofs
which were unobjectionable j it is true that these statements have been controverted, and the
good man accused of deception ; but the latter I loudly deny,"-f Having related the oc-
currences above mentioned, he says, " I must now add a fourth experimental proof
which has never been previously made public, and which is fully as important as any
of the foregoing. I can vouch for the truth of it, with the greatest confidence.’’^
"About the year 1770, there was a merchant in Elberfield, with whom, during
seven years of my*Vesidence there I hved in close intimacy. He was a strict
mystic in the purest sense. He spoke httle ; but what he said, was like golden
fruit on a salver of silver. He would not have dared, for all the world, know-
ingly to have told a falsehood. This friend oi mine, who has long ago left this
world for a better, related to me the following anecdote. His business required
him to take a journey to Amsterdam, where Swedenborg at that time resided ;
and having heard and read much of this strange individual, he formed the in-
tention of visiting him, and becoming better acquainted with him. He therefore
called upon him, and found a very venerable-looking friendly old man, who re-
ceived him politely, and required him to be seated ; on which the following con-
versation began:
—
’Merchant. Having been called hither by business, I could
not deny myself the honor, Sir, of paying my respects to you : your writings
have caused me to regard you as a very remarkable man. S. May I ask you
where you are from ? M. I am from Elberfield, in the grand duchy of Berg.
Your writings contain so much of what is beautiful and edifying, that they have
made a deep impression upon me : but the source from whence you depive ’them
* " Theory of Pneumatology,^c.^’ See a translation of this work by Samuel Jackson,
London, lb’34.
t English translation, p. 88. $ P. 90.
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