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Doc. 313.] 975
CHRONOLOGICAL
ACCOUNT.
where one of his biographers states, "I had occasion to see one of
Swedenborg’s Almanacs for the year 1750, where with the same
preciseness, as if it had been the beginning or close of some profound
treatise, he marked down, when he had planted an auricula, or a
pink, the time when they bloomed, how much seed he had gathered
of them, and so forth."
During the rest of the time he wrote the Arcana Cœlestia,
Swedenborg remained in Stockholm; as is further proved by his
taking part in the Swedish Diet in 1755 : from which time is dated
one of the memorials contained in Section VI of the present work,
viz. Document 173.
In respect to the contents of the Arcana Cœlestia, which have
been translated into the English, French, German, and Swedish
languages, and have thus become known to most of our readers, we
desire simply to call attention to the following passage from the
"Spiritual Diary," where Swedenborg states the reason why he con
firmed his explanation of the internal sense of Genesis and Exodus
by so many parallel passages from other parts of the Sacred Scripture.
He says, "Some thought that [what I wrote] ought not to be con
firmed by parallel passages, but ought to be stated nakedly ... But
they were told, and also shown by various examples, that this was
altogether necessary, because the world, at the present day, is such
that it prefers hypothetical statements" (D. S. 4133). The reason,
however, why he added to the explanation of the internal sense a
description of "the wonderful things which he saw in the world of
spirits and in the heaven of angels," he states thus, "Some spirits
were not willing that I should say any thing of the things revealed
to me [viz. the memorable relations] ; but they were told that these
things were in the place of miracles ; and that without them men
would not know the quality of the book; they would not buy it, nor
read it, nor understand it, nor be affected thereby, nor believe it ;
in short they would ignore it, and be unwilling to hear anything
about the interior of the Word, which they would consider as
fantasy; except some among the learned, the greatest part of whom,
however, reject the book."
As to the spiritual experiences which Swedenborg appended to
his explanation of the various chapters of Genesis, after concluding
the publication of the Arcana Calestia he worked them up in his
treatise on "Heaven and Hell" into a more systematic form. Of
some subjects which he treated at great length in the Arcana Cœlestia,
he gave, however, a mere summary in the work on "Heaven and Hell,"
e. g. of the exposition of the Grand Man of heaven, which extends
T
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