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172 DOCUMENTS CONCERNING SWEDENBOKG,
Schmidiws, first edition, which he sometimes has left, the better to express the
sense of the Greek. From this it appears, that he always had the originals a8
hand. But with respect to the author’s translations of Genes-is, ExodiJS, and the
Apocalypse, they are directly translated from the originals."*
XXXII.
SWEDENBORG’S ADDRESS
to
THE ESTATES OF THE [SWEDISH] REALM,
AT THE OPENING OF THE GENERAL DIET OF 1761,
We have seer* above p. 35, fliat, ’* as a member of the Equestrian Order of tlieHouser
of Nobles, Swedenborg took bis seat ia several of the Diets of the Realm," and it ap-
pears that after bis spiritual illumination had commenced, he, as mrseh as other duties
would permit, took an active part in fulfilling tho6e senatorial obligations which were
incumbent upon him, as a peer of the realm. (See above p. 35-, note.) It has been sa
much the custom, in consequence of erroneous ideas in respect to genuine Christianity,
to separate wh»* is natural from what is spiritual, that one might suppose, that Swe-
denborg, who is regarded by very many as the restorer, under an especial guidance of
Divine Providence, of the genuine doctrines of Christianity through an enlightened in-
terpretation of the Divine Word, would remain a stranger to the civil and political mat-
ters of his own country and of the world, from the period his spiritual sight was opened
to hold converse with the spiritual world, and to discern the internal or spiritual sense
of the Holy Word. Swedenborg, it is true, ceased, from that period, to devote himself
to those scientific and philosophical studies, which bad placed him in the first rank of
the learned of Europe, and he was occupied exclusively in the study of the Sacred
Scriptures, and in acquiring that spiritual information concerning man after death,
which is so important for him to know, and which, when properly seen and applied,
tends so greatly to promote him in wisdom and happiness. Notwithstanding this new
position in which Swedenborg was placed, he did not neglect a single duty as a citizen,
and in this he acted in perfect conformity with the doctrines lie taught.f
The foUo’vVing is an address which Swedenborg presented to the Estates of the Realm
at the opening of the general Diet in 1761 4—
ADDRESS.
*’ The Estates of the kingdom having assembled for the first time this year, and
the honorable deputies being at this moment engaged in their deliberations, I
We wish to observe that Swedenborg required the absolute literal sense of Scripture
as the basis of his spiritual interpretation, and as the Latin version of Schmidius was in
this respect the most complete of any m existence, being an improvement ou the hteral
version of Montanus, he preferred it, and in his very numerous quotations from the
Word, especially in the Apocalypse Explained, seldom departs from the version of
Schmidius, unless to render the Hebrew text still more faithfully and literally.
t See the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end.
i See La Nowvdh Jeru$aUm, Revue Religieuse et Scientifique, Avril, 1840, p. 53.
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