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408 TESTIMONY OF CONTEMPORARIES. [Doc. 252,
they transcend our sphere, by means of which theology has
been drawn from its simplicity, and become artificial and
corrupted. Having for a long time been Assessor in the
College of Mines, he was perfectly conversant with mineralogy,
on which science both as to theory and practice he also
published a valuable and classical work, printed in Leipsic
in 1734.* If he had remained in office, his merits and talents
would have entitled him to the highest dignity; but he preferred
ease of mind, and sought happiness in study. In Holland he
began to apply himself to anatomy, in which he made singular
discoveries which are preserved somewhere inthe Acta Literaria.†
I imagine this science and his meditations on the effects of
the soul upon our curiously constructed body, did, by degrees,
lead him from the material to the spiritual. He possessed a
sound judgment upon all occasions ; he saw everything clearly,
and expressed himself well on every subject. The most solid
memorials, and the best penned, at the diet of 1761, on
matters of finance, were presented by him. In one of these
he refuted a large work in quarto on the same subject, quoted
all the corresponding passages of it, and all this in less than
one sheet. Of his method of teaching we see proofs in all
his writings which relate to or are founded on the Arcana
Coelestia. He might, with or without reason, which I do not
indeed venture to determine, be accused of having given a
heated imagination too free play in his revelations. But, for
my own part, I have nothing on which I could found this
criticism. Whether or not our Lord, in our times, grants to
particular persons particular revelations ; what the nature of
such revelations is; and what is the criterion for distinguishing
the genuine from the false; upon all these I have no solid
grounds for judging. The author of the Monthly Reviewjudges
admirably in every other respect except on matters of divinity;
and his testimony on that head avails nothing with me. I once
represented, in rather a serious manner, to this venerable man,
* See footnote 2, p. 5.
Count Höpken was evidently not acquainted with Swedenborg’s works
entitled Economia Regni Animalis and Regnum Animale, which were
published in Holland in 1740 and 1743.
See Document 181, Vol. I, p. 516.
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