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. 254.] 427
DR. BEYER’S TESTIMONY.
on the subject contained in his books), that he was all at once at
home in the truths, which three or four years afterwards he col
lected together, and was able to publish in due order in the
Arcana Cœlestia, in 1749. Meanwhile he had explored and in
structed himself in natural things, and afterwards in spiritual
things in a rational manner. He was thus occupied until the
year 1745, according to the enlightenment in which he was at
that time on such things (cfr. the work De Influxu or Commercia
animæ et corporis, no. 20). For this reason the work De Cultu
et Amore Dei, is not of importance in respect to theological doc
trine ; but in respect to natural truths it contains many beauti
ful and profound thoughts. On the subject of God, and love
and wisdom, on the Son, the person of Adam, the sources of
life, and imputation, he expressed himself quite differently after
he had received instruction from the Lord in the above manner;
wherefore the above work is never cited in the other works.
I never succeeded in reading the Regnum Animale; but there
seems to me good ground for supposing that hypotheses and
fallacies in that work will disappear when they are properly
examined. Besides, on hypotheses he writes in the work
Sapientia angelica de Amore et Sapientia, no. 303 ; he also
expresses himself in many places in the more recent books, on
fallacies, the perception of effects from their causes, and the
deduction of causes from their effects, so that I cannot but
think, that if there were important mistakes, he would not
have failed to warn his readers against his former writings.
You would, nevertheless, oblige me very much by pointing out
some of these mistakes.
(5) "In respect to the historical accounts in Genesis, men
tioned in your esteemed letter, they are of two kinds. The first
kind which occurs in the first seven, and even to the twelfth
chapter, sounds like history, yet is not history; but is written
in imitation of it. All that follows afterwards is real history,
and has actually taken place, as it is there recorded (cfr. Ar
cana Cœlestia, nos. 1401 to 1403). History does not constitute
one of the chief purposes of the Word ; the interior and spiri
tual sense, which is holiness itself, and which in every least
particular has reference to the Lord and His kingdom in
heaven and in the church, is the chief thing (cfr. Arcana Co
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
