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HIS LETTERS TO DR. G. A. BEYER. 127
to request the dean to declare his opinion thereof in the Consistory. All those
that can, and are willing to see truth, will accede.
•’
I am now much inquired of, respecting the New Church, when it will take
place .’
—to which I answer : by degrees, as the doctrine of justification and im-
putation is extirpated; which probably may be effected by this work. It is
known, that the Christian Church did not take place immediately after the as-
cension of Christ, but increased successively, Avhich is also understood by these
words in the Revelations :
’
And the womanflew into the desert, into her place, where
she is nourished a time, times, and half a time, from the face of the serpenV (xii. 14).
The serpent or dragon, is that doctrine.
" In about a month I am going from hence to Paris, and that with a design
which beforehand must not be made pubhc.
" With regard to the visions of several mentioned in your letter, they are no-
thing but phantastic visions.—With my respectful compliments to the bishop, &c.,
I remain, &c.,
"Emanuel Swedenborg.
"Amsterdam, March 15, 1769."
LETTER VI.
To Dr. Beyer.
**
I arrived at Stockholm the beginning of this month, and was kindly received
by all classes of people, and instantly invited by their Royal Highnesses the he-
reditary prince and his sister, with both of whom I had a long conversation. I
also dined with several of the senators, and conversed with the first members of
the Diet, and with the bishops here present, who all behaved very kindly and
affably to me, except bishop Filenius. On being informed that my copies of the
work, De Amore Conjugiali, were stopped at Norkj oping, I inquired of the bish-
ops, Enander from Abo, of Benzelstierna from Westeras,- of Bishop Lutkeman,
and of bishop Lamberg, how matters stood respecting my writings, who all as-
sured me, that they knew no other but that the books were taken care of, lest
any part of them should be lost before my return home ; but that bishop File-
nius had made a representation of the matter to the clergy in the Diet, who had
gi ven him no answer, and much less consented to any confiscation ; and that
his motion was not accepted, or minuted down in the proceedings of the Diet
;
and consequently that none of the clerical order in the Diet bore any part in it,
except bishop Filenius, with whom I had some dispute, as he insisted on their
being revised, before they were delivered; and he will not hear mentioned, that
the revisal of this book, which is not theological, but chiefly moral, is unneces-
sary, and consequently absurd. Such a mode of proceeding would prepare the
way for a ’
dark age ’ in Sweden. Nevertheless, this behavior of the bishop
cannot affect me in the least, as I have brought over thirty-eight copies of this
work with me. and had sent over five of them before ; the half of which num-
ber I have delivered and sent to the bishops, to the different orders of the Diet, to
the senators, and to the Royal Family, and when the rest in like manner are
distributed, there will be more than sufRcientfor Stockholm. I think of sending
those that are stopped at Norkjoping, abroad, where they are much desired.
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