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426 [Doc. 254.
TESTIMONY OF CONTEMPORARIES.
taking, if it were countenanced by those high in authority,
and especially if his Excellency Senator von Höpken would
let us know his heart’s opinion on this subject. Wherefore I
can scarcely express how very much I desire that you should
soon be received into his confidence, and hear what hope he
holds out; and whether he advises us to go on, or to hold
back. He knows the works very well, so that it is not ne
cessary for you to present the subject formally to him.
(3) "The information respecting the Lord’s personal ap
pearance before the Assessor, who saw Him, in imperial purple
and in majestic light, seated near his bed, while He gave
Assessor Swedenborg his commission, I had from his own lips
at a dinner-party in the house of Dr. Rosén,45 where I saw
the old gentleman for the first time. I remember that I asked
him, how long this lasted; whereupon he answered, About a
quarter of an hour: also, whether the strong light did not affect
his eyes ; when he said, No.
(4) "It would be very desirable indeed, as you have inti
mated, to collect anecdotes respecting him. They might be
got together, if every one would note down, what he knows
for certain. In connection with the occasion mentioned above,
when the Lord in a miraculous manner opened the interiors
of His servant, and thus the sight of his spirit into the other
world, I may mention here that this opening did not take place
completely at once, but gradually. Something on this subject
in general may be found in the Work De Amore Conjugiali
et Scortatorio, no. 39. A preparation had to precede ; and
what the nature of this was, he gave us to understand very
clearly in a memorandum (
pro memoria) which he addressed
to me in 1767,* where he says, ’When heaven was first opened
to me, I had to study the Hebrew language, as well as the
correspondences in which the whole Bible is written ; by which
I was led to read through God’s Word many times ; and since
God’s Word is the source whence all theology is taken, I was
thereby enabled to receive instruction from the Lord, who is
the Word.’ It was not consequently in the year 1743 (which
is not written by a mistake, but agrees with all the information
* See Document 234, p. 261.
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