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.
582 REFUTATION OF FALSE REPORTS. [Doc. 270.
fore a court of justice, and after the first examination to be
declared a man who had lost his senses by his speculations
in religion, whom it was most dangerous to leave in freedom,
and who therefore ought to be confined in a lunatic asylum."
This plot, however, miscarried, because his enemies were un
able to establish their charges, and because, as Robsahm
further tells us, "they did not dare to carry out their per
secution, when they considered that he was the head of a
family, and related to other influential families, both in the
House of Nobles and in the House of the Clergy."
It would seem that, if a charge of insanity cannot be
proved against a man during his life-time, and if his con
temporaries see in such a charge a mere "persecution," it is
more than preposterous, nay it is downright malevolent and
wicked, to attempt to raise this charge against him after his
death. But such has been the fate of Swedenborg. The
charge of insanity which was made against him during his
life-time, and which utterly broke down on account of the
lack of evidence, was revived after his death by John Wesley
in the "Arminian Magazine" for 1781 and 1783, on the state
ment of Mathesius,118 a personal enemy of Swedenborg; and the
doubtful testimony of this man has more recently been propagated
by Mr. Wm. White,242 in his work: "Emanuel Swedenborg:
his Life and Writings," London, 1867 ; where he speaks of
it as being "plainly a straightforward and well-authenticated
story. "
This charge, it is true, has been made also by others, and,
indeed, not only against Swedenborg, (see Note 242) but also
against his followers ; and in fact it is not unfrequently brought
by materialists and sensualists against all those who believe
in a Divine revelation ; and even by professed church members
against those who believe in a future life and in a spiritual
world not only in a general way, but who hold that under
exceptional circumstances a man may have a glimpse into the
spiritual world, while as to his body he still remains in this
world.
It is not in this general way, however, that Mathesius,
and after him John Wesley238 sought to establish the truth of
their charge against Swedenborg, but they brought forward
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
