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OPENING OF SPIRITUAL SIGHT. 1125
understanding, and of publishing by printing, the doctrine of
the New Church" (Letter to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darm
stadt, Amsterdam, 1771 ; Document 246) . . 1743.
As early as 1776 some of the believers in the doctrines of the
New Church doubted whether 1743 was properly the year when
Swedenborg’s spiritual sight was opened, and C. F. Nordensköld 20
wrote to Dr. Beyer22 to ask him whether that number [in Sweden
borg’s letter to Mr. Hartley, no. 30] was not written by a slip of
the pen. Dr. Beyer answered, "There is no slip of the pen in the
year 1743, but it agrees with all the dates given in the books."
(See his letter dated March 23, 1776, Document 254, p. 426). We see
therefore that even Dr. Beyer, gave his weighty authority in favour
of 1743, as the year when the interiors of Swedenborg’s mind were
opened; and the question now arises, how ought we, who have
access not only to the printed works of Swedenborg like Dr. Beyer,
but also to all his manuscript works, to explain the remarkable
discrepancy between the dates assigned by Swedenborg himself to
the opening of his spiritual sight, and which of these three years
ought we to adopt as commemorative of the most important event
in Swedenborg’s life?
Our answer to this question is as follows : As Swedenborg in
proportion to his increase in spiritual light antedated uniformly and
consistently the opening of his spiritual sight, it seems but fit and
proper that we should accept his final judgment in this matter, and
declare likewise in favour of the year 1743 ; with the understanding,
however, that the opening of his spiritual sight was progressive ;
that there was a distinct step made by him in 1743, another in 1744,
a third in 1745, and still another in 1747, from which period he
dates the publication of his theological writings in the only list of
these writings which he printed with his name, viz. at the end of
the work on "Conjugial Love," Latin edition, p. 328 (Document 284,
p. 707).
One of the great uses of Swedenborg’s Private Diary for 1743
and 1744 (Documents 208 and 209), is this, that it enables us not
only to have some conception of his mental states during those years,
but also to specify the precise time in each of these years when a
new development took place in his interiors.
In no. 91 of that Diary (Document 209) Swedenborg says, "With
God’s grace I had a preternatural sleep, and this has been the case
now for an entire half year." As this entry in the Diary is dated
April 18, it follows that in the middle of October, 1743, Swedenborg
was brought into such a state as to his soul and body as he des
cribes by "a preternatural sleep ;" and during this preternatural sleep
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