Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Doc. 252.] 407
HÖPKEN TO TUXEN.
manifest, certain, and incontestable, may to others seem dark,
incomprehensible, nay, even absurd. Partly natural organization,
partly education, partly professional studies, partly prejudices,
partly fear of abandoning received opinions, and other causes,
occasion a difference of ideas in men. To unite and settle them
in temporal concerns is not hazardous ; but in spiritual matters,
when a tender conscience is to be satisfied, I have not the
spirit requisite for this, and I am also bound to confess my
want of knowledge. All I could say by way of preliminary
on this subject regards the person of the late Assessor Sweden
borg. I have not only known him these two-and-forty years,
but also, some time since, daily frequented his company. A
man who, like me, has lived long in the world, and even in
an extensive career of life, must have had numerous oppor
tunities of knowing men as to their virtues or vices, their
weakness or strength; and in consequence thereof, I do not
recollect to have known any man of more uniformly virtuous
character than Swedenborg; always contented, never fretful or
morose, although throughout his life his soul was occupied
with sublime thoughts and speculations. He was a true philo
sopher, and lived like one ; he laboured diligently, and lived
frugally without sordidness ; he travelled continually, and his
travels cost him no more than if he had lived at home. He
was gifted with a most happy genius, and a fitness for every
science, which made him shine in all those which he embraced.
He was, without contradiction, the most learned man in my
country; in his youth he was a great poet. I have in my
possession some remnants of his Latin poetry, which Ovid
would not have been ashamed to own. In his middle age his
Latin was in an easy, elegant, and ornamental style ; in his
latter years it was equally clear, but less elegant after he had
turned his thoughts to spiritual subjects. He was well ac
quainted with the Hebrew and Greek; an able and profound
mathematician ; a happy mechanician, of which he gave proof
in Norway, where, by an easy and simple method, he trans
ported the largest galleys over high mountains and rocks to
a gulf where the Danish fleet was stationed. He was like
wise a natural philosopher, but on Cartesian principles. He
detested metaphysics, as founded on fallacious ideas, because
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
