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.
1032 APPENDIX. [Doc. 314.
took out the amount in books. Chancellor Reuss would not
have anything to do with the book, saying that he could not
meet a blessed death, if he began thinking on the statements
of the Bible. It was, therefore, fruitless to submit anything to
the censorship of the theologians, since they at once take offence.
Nevertheless, I was bound in conscience to print the work.
In respect to the third point I have to observe, that inas
much as the Ducal consistory has not only prohibited the sale
of the book, under a heavy fine, but also confiscated it, nothing
else remains to me, than to obey and to keep silence before
God. Who is right, O Lord, Thou knowest! But Your Serene
Highness condemns no one, and you also punish no one, unless
he has first been tried and convicted. I entreat you therefore
in all humility, as I do not share Swedenborg’s private opinions,
and as his views have been otherwise ventilated, that, before
you pronounce judgment upon me, you will first listen to a
discussion of the propositions which are appended, or that you
will allow me to apply for the degree of a doctor of philosophy
in Tübingen or in any other university, when I shall he prepared
to defend pro cathedra the appended theses. Meanwhile I remain
in profoundest submission, and in perfect and joyful tranquillity
in respect to the truth,
"Your," &c.
This letter seems to have had the effect of leaving matters
in statu quo, and so the work in question remained in the
hands of the authorities; but personally Etinger was not
molested . Still he did not remain calm under this infliction; but
in the following year applied to the government for the release
of his books. The government now called upon the Consistory
to state formally their objections to the work, whence resulted
a ducal decree ordering the final confiscation of the books,
and the application of a formal reprimand to Prelate Etinger.
This he resented by a counter declaration, dated October 10,
1767, in which he exposed in a scathing manner the whole
procedure of the Consistory.
"The Consistory," says Etinger in his autobiography, "was
highly incensed against me, and through the assistance of
Prelate Faber, who had long agitated against me, but at first
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
