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478 TESTIMONY OF CONTEMPORARIES. [Doc. 256.
or this work be of men, it will come to nought. But if it be
ofGod, ye cannot overthrow it.’ Far be it from me to pronounce
a final opinion as to how much there is here of God, and how
much of man; this I leave for those to decide who are pro
fessional theologians. Every Christian who cares for his
salvation and for the truth is enjoined to try the spirits
whether they are of God’ (1 John iv, 1 ), and I follow the
advice given in the first Epistle to the Thessalonians (v, 19-21),
’Quench not the spirit ; despise not prophesyings ; but prove
all things, and hold fast that which is good.’
2. "No one will be able to deny that Swedenborg is a
philosopher, and indeed one of the first magnitude ; and if no
other proof existed of this than the three volumes in folio
quoted above: Principia rerum naturalium sive novorum tenta
minum phænomena mundi elementaris philosophice explicandi.
Cum figuris æneis. In the whole history of the world therefore
I have found no other scholar with whom I could compare
him except the great physician and chemist Theophrastus
Paracelsus.2
214 I have perused Swedenborg’s philosophical
works somewhat, and do not wish to enter here upon the dis
cussion of them, in order not to become too diffuse. I will leave
his philosophy where I found it ; only, neither in his philosophy
must he offend against the Sacred Scripture. He concludes
his first part with the following words of the great philosopher
Wolf,18 Full liberty must be granted to all who philosophize
in a philosophical manner, nor have we any reason to apprehend
from such a liberty any danger either to religion, to virtue,
or to the state.’
3. "I accept this sentiment of the late Christopher von Wolf
without hesitation ; yet I should like to submit this point for
consideration, whether it is not a great offence that the
description of the creation should be quite different with the
philosophers from what it is in Moses . . . What Sweden
borg in his chapter xii says about the earthly paradise and
the first man, methinks is out of place in a work on philosophy,
just as much as where he supports this saying of Wolf
, that
no danger accrues thence to religion.
4. "What I desire to state here, however, is that Mr. Sweden
borg as a philosopher is quite modest and unassuming, but as
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