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DR. GABRIEL BEYER. 625
of any confusion in his imagination and thoughts, of which he had
been suspected. The next day he invited Swedenborg to dine in
company with Dr. Rosén. After dinner Beyer expressed a desire
to hear in the presence of Rosén a brief statement of Swedenborg’s
religious system. The latter, therefore, gave him a sketch of his
views with the ardour of inspiration and with logical clearness in
all his arguments, so that both his hearers were very much aston
ished. They did not interrupt his statement, but after he had con
cluded it, Beyer begged Swedenborg to leave with him on the
morrow , when they would meet again at the house of Mr. Wenngren,
à merchant, a written account of the points of his statement.
Swedenborg promised to do so , and the next day, on meeting
Beyer, he told him with visible emotion, while handing him this
written statement: “My friend, from this day the Lord has placed
you in conjunction with his heaven, and his angels are at the present
moment surrounding you.’ These words naturally made a deep
impression upon Beyer, as well as upon the whole company present.
Beyer’s universally known piety lent weight and importance to the
seer’s words, and made them seem probable. Immediately after
pronouncing these words, he took leave, and the next day he
started for England. This account was furnished to one of the
editors of the New Jerusalem Magazine’ (1790 ), by Mr. Wenngren,
who was still living at Gottenburg, in 1786, where he made this
communication.
" All the time that Beyer could spare from the arduous duties of
his professorship, he devoted to the preparation of works for the
spread of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem . Besides a ‘Collection
of Sermons,’ which was the cause of his accusation before the Con
sistory, he composed the first catechism on Swedenborg’s principles.
This little work, which won much applause, circulated for some time
in manuscript among the members of the New Church, and after
the death of the author was published in Copenhagen by Manner
feldt. Under the title of Cursus Philosophicus, Beyer wrote a
summary of Swedenborg’s religious philosophy, which was preserved
only by those of his friends who took the trouble to copy it. This
exposition seems to have constituted his lectures (Dictata) which
his enemies regarded as dangerous for the students of the gymnasium ,
and concerning which Assessor Aurell and Dean Ekebom stated in
the trial before the Consistory, that they were received by the
students with whistling and stamping. They were also talked about
all over the kingdom as literary balderdash, from which learned
institutions ought to be preserved. Thus a false idea of orthodoxy
may excite fanaticism both in the minds of the old and of the young!
40
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