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TESTIMONY OF ULRICA, QUEEN OF SWEDEN. 225
Church, and having imbibed its doctrines, they will not straighUcay attend to what is new,
although one of the divine predictions is, that the " Lord will make all things new." The
very name of anything new gives rise to suspicion and aversion, and the outcry is, with-
out manifesting any desire calmly to examine what is offered as new,—the outcry is,
*’
Perform miracles and we will attend to yonr claims, and believe what you state."
Truth, however, as we have seen, disclaims and repudiates such believers, who no sooner
experience some slight temptation than they turn their backs and flee, like the Israelites
in the wilderness, to some idol of selfish and worldly love, either to Mammon, Bacchus, or
Venus, before whose polluted shrines they offer the homage of their hearts. There may,
however, among this "mixed multitude"—(Num. xi. 4)—be some, who may be so affect-
ed by miraculous evidence, as to be induced to inquire further after the truth, and at
length to come into the proper way of considering its claims, and its important discoveries
to the human race. For all such, therefore, we adduce the following authentic and well-
established facts, as proofs of Swedenborg’s communication with the spiritual world :^
" The first fact we shall adduce is that concerning the Queen of Sweden,
Louisa Ulrika, who was a sister of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, and
who was married to Adolphus Frederick, King of Sweden. This princess, in
order to test the truth of Swedenborg’s assertion, that he had open and con-
tinual communication with the world of spirits, commissioned hira to procure
certain information from her deceased brother, the Prince of Prussia, who died in
1758, in the 36th year of his age. Swedenborg soon after waited upon her Ma-
jesty, at the palace, and brought her the information she required. She was
greatly astonished, and declared to those present, that nobody but her brother
and herself could possibly know the information in question. Now this fact
was repeatedly confirmed by the Queen herself, who probably knew nothing of
Swedenborg at that time as a theological writer, and who, therefore, could not
be said to be partial to his views ; especially as it is well known that she was a
free-thinker of the school of Voltaire, and, therefore, by no means disposed to be-
lieve even in the existence of spirits, still less in the possibility of any man’s con-
versing with them. This occurrence the Queen declared in a great company of
Academicians at Berlin, and it was recorded by one of the company, M. Dieu-
donne Thiebault, a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and
also of the Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences at Paris, and the author of a
work entitled ’
Souvenirs de Vignt ans de Sejour d Berlin’ {’Reminiscences of Twenty
Years’ Residence at Berlin’). Of this author the celebrated Wieland, who enjoyed
a reputation on account of his extensive learning, and the powerful manner in
which he contributed to the progress of literature in Germany, equal to that
which Johnson enjoyed in this country, says, ’ that Thiebault outweighs an en-
tire cloud of ordinary witnesses.’
" A prelate in Germany, named Oetinger, distinguished for his learning and
piety, wrote to the Queen herself, inquiring whether the report in question were
true. The Queen replied, testifying and confirming the truth of it.*
"A writer in the Berlin Monthly Journal,’ for 1788, endeavored to explain
this extraordinary occurrence, by stating that underhand intrigue and collusion
might have been employed in the transaction ; and thus in a most discreditable
* See Documents, &c. &c.; and also Stilling’s Theory of Pneumatology, &c., translated
by Samuel Jackson, 1834, page 88.
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