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18 [Doc. 4.
GENERAL BIOGRAPHICAL
NOTICES.
us.
upon, abstract subjects, are wont to carry us away in the
same direction , and sometimes too fast,– especially when
accompanied with an ardent imagination - so that we are
unable properly to discriminate the objects that come before
Add to all this a genuinely good disposition, proved by
the Rules of Life which I found among Mr. Swedenborg’s
manuscripts in more than one place, and which he wrote
down for his own use: First, diligently to read and meditate
upon the word of God ; secondly, to be content under the dis
pensations of God’s Providence; thirdly, to observe a propriety
of behaviour, and preserve the conscience pure; fourthly, to
obey what is comnianded; to attend faithfully to one’s office
and other duties, and in addition to make oneself useful to
society in general.
Any one who says that I have here presented any other
than the manifest and truthful features of Swedenborg’s inner
being, must be prejudiced either on the one side or on the other.
Let such a one consider more closely what I have already said,
and what I have still further to say.
Let us hasten to receive him on his return home from his
first journey abroad, which we have already mentioned; when
we shall find his thoughts principally taken up with mathematics
and physics.
These studies soon procured him an acquaintance, and an
intimate connection during several years, with our Swedish
Archimedes, Christopher Polhammar, then Assessor, and after
wards Counsellor of Commerce and Commander of the Royal
Order of the North Star, under the name of Polhem.14
By means of this connection he not only obtained access to
the greater light which he sought, especially in mechanics, but
he shared the special confidence with which King Charles XII
had already honoured Polhammar, and which he thereafter
extended to both. For this reason, also, it is stated in the
diploma, by which he received his appointment as Assessor,
and which was issued at Lund, December 18, 1716, that the
King had particular regard to the excellent knowledge of
Swedberg in mechanics, and that he was to accompany Assessor
Polhammar, and be of assistance to him in his structures, and
his various mechanical works. This diploma, together with
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