SWEDENBORG.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 169, 10 April 1908, Page 7

SWEDENBORG.

REMOVAL OF REMAINS TO SWEDEN UY TELECIUrn —rIiEBS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT. v : . London, April 8. . . Tlio remains of Emanuel Swedenborg; tlio founder .of. tho Swedonborgians, been removed, < from , Stepney, ancl placed aboard 'a Swedish frigate ,for conveyance to Karlslcrona. •" • ■ . Emanuel Swedenborg, , Swedish '-''philosopher and' theosophist, and founder of'the -New' 'Church, was born at Stockholm on January 20, IGBB, and died at London on March -2!), 1772.. Ho was Upsala, travelled in Europe from 1710 to. 1/14,' and; was appointed Assessor-:of the Swedish College of, Mines in .1718... He distinguished himself at tho siege ot Frederickshall in 1718,; by the invention of : mdchines. for the transport of boats overland, fiom Stromstadt (d Iddelfjord, and was subsequently elevated to the nobility. About 1743 ho commenced: to have visions, and m 1717 resigned his office 1 in■ order lo devote himself ■■wholly-to-the'expounding of Scripture, as the immediate.mouthpiece ot God. Ilis chief theological and mystical worjt -is "Arcana Coelestia." Swedenborg held that I?ev. XX, 1-2, "And I, John,; saw, the holy city,, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out 'of heaven," to be a prediction of the establishment of a new dispensation, the initiation of which took place by the execution_ of the last ; judgment in the spiritual-, world'in the year 1757, whereby man-was restored to ;moral freedom by tho restriction of evil \infestations, •tho power, of which had threatened its utter (extinction. In proof of this belief, His .followers point to the unparalleled spiritual and material progress of,mankind. They were first' '.organised ■in London (where Swedcnborg .long resided): in 1778, iindor. the name of tho '.'Society or the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem," .usually abbreviated to New ChuTch. \ Professed Swedenborgians; though' widely scattered, have never been numerous, but'Swedenboi'g himself appears not to have contemplated the formation of a sopafato church,., trusting to the permeation of his doctrines through tli e existing churches,, Sewedenborgians believe that this process is'going'o'n, and that thus the new dispensation is making its way ■ independents of their own, organisation or efforts, aiid even without the'conscious know-, ledge of those affected by it: - Swedenborg considered himself.. tho divinely-appointed, herald and expounder of this dispensation, being prepared tor the office by open intercourse during many .years with spirits and .'angels (all originally human beings),:' and' jvith God himself, wh'o revealed to him tho spiritual; or symbolic sense of tho Divine Word (which the world lmd not previously been in a state to rcceivo or apprehend), setting forth spiritual anil celestial truths in every part, through the, correspondence: of all material things- with the spiritual principles,, good or evil, which they aro the outgrowth and manifestation. The dootrinc of correspondencies is the foundation of his 'system, which lie' elaborated with uniform consistency in many volumes, - all first published in Latin. In this correspondence, consists'the plenary inspiration of tho Word, which includes only tho Pentateuch, Joshua, Tudges Samuel, Kings, the Prophets, and Psalms', the four Gospels, <" 111 the. Apocalypso; the other books of tho Bible are valuable for instruction, but lack this divine character.