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684 [Doc. 276.
THREE EXTRAORDINARY FACTS.
however great, I say, the light which has thereby been shed
over Europe, it has nevertheless also done much harm, espe
cially to religion. I think that St. Paul had such enlighteners
in view, when he said : ’ Much learning doth make them mad.’ *
Why should they persist in denying outright the commu
nication of spirits with men here below? Our so-called esprits
forts maintain that all pretended apparitions are mere tricks
to delude feeble and timid souls. I reply that the intercourse
which Swedenborg had with the spirits of the departed, is
nothing new, however incomprehensible it may be. The Old
Testament furnishes us an instance of it, by the appearance
of the spirit of the prophet Samuel, which was evoked by a
woman of Endor. In the New Testament we read of the
servant of an innkeeper, who was a source of profit to her
master by her divination [see Acts xvi, 16] . Besides, the
Apostle Paul, who declared that he himself was inspired by the
Divine Spirit, says expressly that God distributes his gifts
differently; to some He gives the gift of prophecy, to another
that of communicating with spirits, to others the gift of spea
king in divers tongues (1 Corinthians xii, 10).
"This seems to me to be a well authenticated and very
respectable testimony ; and I also (I can swear to this on
my conscience) saw my mother-in-law, the late Countess of
Schwerin, appear at the moment of her decease in my room,
although I was at a distance of twenty-four leagues. I
informed my husband of it, and soon after a messenger
arrived, who told him, that his mother had in reality
expired at the same moment that she appeared in my room.
"But I perceive that instead of making only a few remarks
on a subject so very mysterious, I have allowed myself to be
carried away into a digression, which, from its length, must
certainly have tired you. I ask a thousand pardons, and have
the honour of remaining, &c., &c.
"Just as I was closing my letter to you, I received an
other letter from my Secretary of the Embassy, containing
the enclosed remarks on the article which Mr. Gedicke
* The Countess von Schwerin seems to have forgotten that this senti
ment was applied to Paul himself by Festus; see Acts xxvi, 24.
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