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1172 NOTES TO VOLUME II.
when his mouth was open all were listeners; and though his fondness
for chemical subjects would lead him occasionally into details, in
teresting only to persons skilled like himself, yet even then his object
was to improve others, or promote science, and not to display his
own superiority.
In course of time he became a minister of the Gospel in the
religious society of which he was a member. But though his sermons
were always affectionate and full of encouragement to the humble
and broken-hearted, his efforts in this office by no means corresponded
with the inexhaustible powers displayed by him as a teacher in
private conversation.
On his first opening one of Swedenborg’s works the book was
soon thrown down in a fit of disgust. From some cause or other,
not now remembered, he was induced to make another trial; and
from that time forward he became gradually more and more con
vinced of the soundness of the views which Swedenborg had taken
of scriptural truths. So convinced, indeed, did he become of the
truth and utility of his works, that, as already observed, he, in part,
translated from the original Latin the treatise on "Heaven and Hell,”
and, under the revision of the Rev. T. Hartley, ¹ had it printed in
1778, in a quarto volume, by the Friends’ bookseller, James Phillips,
of George Yard, Lombard Street, London, at his own expense.
In the "Memoir" referred to above we read further, "He also
translated, for publication, a smaller Treatise, styled, The Doctrine
of Life. His Latin copies of both these Treatises bear marks of the
translator’s toil, in scattered ink-spots."
Hartley was a man of the same affectionate disposition, and the
same enlarged views of religion; yet from a nervousness of con
stitution, more inclined to shrink from society and discussion. They
corresponded some time before they were personally acquainted, until
the repeated interchange of sentiment had produced such a union
of soul, that when they met for the first time, they flew into each
other’s arms, as if they had been old acquaintances.
Shortly before Swedenborg’s death, they both visited him at his
lodgings in Clerkenwell. Particulars of this interview are described
in Documents 263 and 315.
he was approaching the timeof his removal into the other
world, Dr. Gasking called on him one day, as a professional man,
as well as a friend, and asked him how he was. He replied, "I’ll tell
thee how I am, Gasking,-no doubts- no fears-but a full and certain
assurance that I am going where the wicked cease from troubling,
and the weary are at rest." On Dr. Gasking’s return to the parlour,
the usual enquiry took place, "How do you find my father?" "Find
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