1. Often to read and meditate on the Word of God.
2. To submit everything to the will of Divine Provi- dence.
SWEDENBORG
53
SWEET
3. To observe in everything a propriety of behavior, and alwiivs to Iveep the conf^cienee clear.
4. To discharge with tidelity the functions of my em- ployment and the duties of my office, and to render my- self in all things useful to society.
He was a member of the principal scientific and philo- sojihical societies of Northern Europe.
In 1745, at the age of fifty-seveu — in the full maturity of his powers, in the enjoyment of honorable station, and of an enviable reputation at home and abroad for worth, learning, and extraordinary capacity — he ceased from his other labors and began to devote himself to theol- ogy, to the promulgation of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church. Having been, as he declared, called by the Lord to be the messenger of a New Dispensation of Heavenly and Divine Truth, he was no longer at liber- ty to pursue his former courses of occujjation and study, but thenceforward applied himself, with all the diligence of his character, to the duties of his new office. The following are some of his own words with respect to this " call" and mission, written to Rev. Dr. Hartley, rector of Winwick, England, in reply to inquiries. After speak- ing of the circumstances of his previous career, he con- tinues, " But I regard all that I have mentioned as mat- ters respectively of little moment ; for, what far exceeds them, I have been called to a holy office by the Lord himself, who most graciously manifested himself in per- son to me, his servant, in the year 1743, when he opened my sight to the view of the spiritual world, and granted me the privilege of conversing with spirits and angels, which I enjoy to this day. From that time I began to print and to puMish various arcana that have been seen by me or revealed to me — as, respecting heaven and hell, the state of man after death, the true worship of God, the spiritual sense of the Word, with man}^ other most important matters conducive to salvation and true wis- dom. The only reason of mj' later journeys to foreign countries has been the desire of being useful, by making known the arcana intrusted to me." At another time, late in life, he writes, to the landgrave of Hesse-Darm- stadt, '■ The Lord, our Saviour, bad foretold that he would come again into the world, and that he would establish there a new Church. He has given this pre- diction in the Apocalypse (xxi and xxii), and also in several places in the evangelists. But, as he cannot come into the world again in person, it was necessarj' that he should do it by means of a man, who should not only receive the doctrine of this new Church in his un- derstanding, but also publish it by printing; and so the Lord had prepared me for this office from my infancy ; he has manifested himself in person before me, his ser- vant, and sent me to fill it. This took place in the year 1743. He afterwards opened the sight of mj' spirit, and thus introduced me into the spiritual w'orld, and grant- ed me to see the heavens and many of their wonders, and also the hells, and to speak with angels and spirits, and this continually for twenty-seven years. I declare, in all truth, that such is the fact. This favor of the Lord in regard to me has only taken place for the sake of the new Church which I have mentioned above, the doctrine of which is contained in my wTitings." Ex- cept in this chief object and in the character of his writings, his habits of life underwent no change. His outward demeanor remained the same, with an increase of spiritual piety and prayerfulness, the same dignity and quiet urbanity of manner marked his intercourse with others, the same solid sense and enlightened intelligence characterized his conversation. His intercourse with the best society of the realm and the most eminent men of his time was uninterrupted. He retained his seat in the Swedish Parliament, and became more prominent in State affairs than he had ever been before.
Swedenborg's first theological publication, and his largest work, is the A rcana Ccelesiia, or Heavenly Mys- teries, a commentary, in eight quarto volumes, on the book of Genesis, with a large part of Exodus ; in which, with manv other observations and doctrines, the text is
unfolded as to what he calls its "spiritual sense." The design seems to be to discover a Christian meaning and application in all things of the " law and the prophets ;" the method pursued does not appear to be much unlike that of other Christian commentators, except in the ex- tent to which the principles of symbolism are carried and the results arrived at. He maintains that such a secondary sense runs through all the books given by immediate divine dictation — Law, Former Prophets, Later Prophets, and Psalms — and that these books are written according to a uniform law, called that of "cor- respondence," or the law of universal analogy between spiritual and natural things, which law it is one great object of his writings to unfold. His citations and com- parison of Scripture texts are remarkably full and ex- haustive.