tastes of spiritually-minded men, and opens a prospect beyond the grave more definite, and therefore more attractive, than is to be found in any other form of Christianity. But these are considerations which regard rather the internal than the historical evidence. There remains but one more source of external proof, and that is, the opinions of contemporary critics. It has already been stated how highly Swedenborg was estimated by all who were conversant with him. His character appears to have been generally.considered by his contemporaries as unexceptionable, exhibiting no trace either of mental aberration or of dishonest dealing. There were, however, exceptions to this judgment. By some he was regarded as a crazy enthusiast, and by some he was thought to be an impostor; for which latter supposition his connexion with Artista appears to have been the principal foundation. The testimony of Kant, as to Swedenborg's intercourse with the spiritual world, has been somewhat triumphantly adduced as an argument of great weight in favor of his Apostolic authority. An article in the eighth number of "The New Jerusalem Magazine," Boston, 1830, gives that testimony as it is contained in a letter to Madame Charlotte de Knoblock, republished from a translation in an English Journal of the same name. From this letter it appears that Kant had taken great pains to ascertain the correctness of those reports which were then in constant circulation concerning Swedenborg and his miraculous achievements. Nor is it at all surprising that one so interested in the cause of truth should have been anxious to come at the heart of this mystery, and to know clearly the nature, extent, and value of that power by which Swedenborg had acquired such fame as a conjuror and a prophet. His letter contains the result of these investigations, but not the inference which Kant drew from them. He was not a man to make up an opinion hastily on a subject of such deep import; least of all was he disposed to infer a miraculous power and a divine commission from data so insufficient as the facts which have been mentioned above. Yet from the tenor of the remarks which accompany the translation of Kant's letter in the article just alluded to, it would seem that the writer inferred a disposition on the part of that philosopher to favor Swedenborg's miraculous pretensions. Whether and how far this inference is justifiable, may be gathered from an essay * which Kant wrote in reference to that letter, and which contains his real opinion of Swedenborg,—an opinion formed, it would seem, from a study of his writings, and after a deliberation of eight years. This essay is entitled "Dreams of a Ghost-seer explained by Dreams of a Metaphysician"; a large portion of it consists in a serious inquiry into the nature of spirits and the possibility of our conversing with them; but that part which relates to Swedenborg is written in a playful, half-satirical manner, as if the subject were too absurd for a grave discussion. We will translate a few short passages for the benefit of those of our readers who may not have access to the original. "The prejudice which rejects without reason the whole of a relation which is brought forward with some degree of plausibility, is just as absurd as the prejudice which receives without examination all that is affirmed by common report. In endeavouring to avoid the former error, the author of this essay suffered himself to be carried too far by the latter. He confesses with a feeling of humiliation, that he was simple enough to inquire into the truth of certain relations of the above-mentioned character. He found, as is usually the case where there is nothing to seek, nothing. Now this of itself is a sufficient reason for writing a book, but to this was added also the importunity of known and unknown friends, a circumstance which has already cost the author's modesty more than one literary production. Besides, a great work ‡ had been purchased and, what is worse, read, and so much trouble he was unwilling to lose. Hence arose the following essay which, we flatter ourselves, will give the reader full satisfaction, according to the nature of the subject; inasmuch as he will not understand one third part, not believe another, and laugh at the rest." ― a "There lives at Stockholm, a certain Mr. Swedenborg, man without office or profession subsisting entirely upon his own property, which is by no means inconsiderable. His sole occupation, as he tells us, for the last twenty years has consisted in conversing with angels and departed spirits, with whom he has a very intimate acquaintance, - in drawing from them information concerning the other world, and giving them *The letter to Madame de Knoblock was written in 1758. There he announces his intention of reading Swedenborg's works which he accordingly did, and in 1766 published the above-mentioned essay. See Kant's Vermischte Schriften. Vol. 2d. Halle. 1799. in exchange accounts of this. He fills whole volumes with the discoveries thus made and occasionally takes a journey to London to superintend their publication. He is not at all reserved in his communications, but converses with perfect openness about what he has seen and heard, and appears to be fully convinced of the truth of what he asserts, exhibiting no sign of studied deception or charlatanry. As, according to his own confession, he is the arch ghost-seer of all ghost-seers, so he is also of all mystics the arch-mystic, but this need not hinder those who are otherwise favorably inclined to spiritual influences, from supposing that there is much truth wrapped up in his mysticism.' After giving an account of Swedenborg's miracles, he says, "It will probably be asked what could have induced me to undertake so humble a task as to repeat stories which no reasonable man would listen to with patience, to say nothing of making them the theme of a philosophical discussion." In the same manner he speaks of our author's writings. "The principal work of this writer contains eight quarto volumes full of nonsense which he proposes to the world as a new revelation under the title' Arcana Cœlestia.' They consist chiefly in an application of his visions to the discovery of a secret sense in the two first books of Moses, and to a similar exposition of the whole Scriptures. With these mystical interpretations we have at present nothing to do; we shall confine ourselves to the audita et visa,' the things which his own eyes saw and his ears heard, as these lie at the foundation of all his other vagaries, and fall in with the metaphysical problem which we have proposed to ourselves. The author's style is flat. His relations and their arrangement appear in truth to be the result of fanatical intuition, and afford little ground for suspecting that he was induced by the speculative aberrations of a perverted reason to forge them for purposes of deception," &c. It is impossible to mistake the tone of these passages, they show clearly, we think, that Kant's final opinion of Swedenborg's claims was any thing but favorable. As we believe Kant to have been the soundest thinker of his age on subjects of this kind, his opinion has greater weight with us than the opinion of any other man; but so cheap do we hold external authority of all kinds, that we should hardly have quoted it, had not so much stress been laid by the defenders of the New Church on the testimony contained in that unfortunate VOL. XV. N. S. VOL. X. NO. II. 28 letter which seems to have been subsequently a subject of so much regret to its author. We believe that full justice has now been done to the historical part of the evidence for Swedenborg's legation; it only remains to inquire what argument can be derived for the divinity of his doctrine, from its internal character; and we should accordingly proceed at once to the internal evidence, but that we have already consumed more time than we had intended. Yet as the character of the doctrine is the most important topic of proof, and as our principal, might say our only reason for not receiving Swedenborg, is derived from this source, we shall probably resume the subject in some future number. we Meanwhile we wish it to be understood, that we have not taken up this question in any spirit of ill will. We have no hostile feelings toward our brethren of the New Church. There is much that we respect in their character, there is much that we admire in their religion; and could we separate Swedenborgianism from Swedenborg, the spirit of his doctrine from that form of superstition in which it is now enveloped, we should be almost willing to declare ourselves of this persuasion. But we have no sympathy with that idolatry which can embrace a human tradition as if it were a revelation from God, We esteem it no light thing to set up any other name whether of prophecy or of interpretation beside that name which alone is given for the salvation of man. It is one thing to acknowledge the truth of a theory in that relative sense in which truths of human discovery must always be understood, and it is quite another thing and, as it seems to us, an awful thing to claim for such discovery the direct authority of God. We war not with mysticism, though we think it a dangerous indulgence, like the love of strong drink, a mere feasting of the imagination," which has no relish of salvation in 't" but when the wine of mysticism is poured into sacred vessels and drunken as the inspiration of God, then the name of God is taken in vain and the worship of the most High is degraded into a heathenish mystery. ART. VI.-Men and Manners in America. By the Au- NEVER was there produced a more violent conflict of opposing prejudices than by the publication of this book. The author begins by declaring himself endowed with his share of those which naturally belong to an Englishman; and if he had not explicitly stated it, the fact would have been obvious enough. This is nearly equivalent to saying, that his opinions on all subjects are fixed, that he is fully persuaded of the unlimited superiority of his own country to all others, and that he has travelled neither for the sake of personal amusement or improvement, nor for the purpose of benefiting the institutions of his country by a comparison of them with those of others. There is nothing for an Englishman to enjoy or approve in any other country; and he is induced to travel, solely that he may return with a keener relish, and if possible with a more thorough self-complacency, to the habits of home, after enduring for a few months the martyrdom of seeing, without participating in foreign customs. It may easily be imagined that the haughty tone of English superciliousness grated rather harshly upon our ears, accustomed as we are to the comfortable persuasion that we are in some respects better off than the inhabitants of Europe. Fortunately for us it was not for the first time. We are becoming rather accustomed to such salutations, and if they are repeated for a little while longer, we shall, perhaps, be quite indifferent to them. The discipline to which we are exposed, and for which we are expected by those who administer it to be extremely grateful, is something like that of the sparring-academy, in which the pupil, by dint of receiving hard knocks, must acquire the more agreeable power of giving them. In this school the art of reciprocating disagreeable things is all that can be learnt; and though it is dignified with the title of the art of selfdefence, yet it can be a defence against the most vulgar and violent rudeness only. Scarcely had our ears ceased to tingle from the effects of the buffet they had received from the gentle and elegant Mrs. Trollope, when we were called to encounter the more |
