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faculties are in possession of a key that will open the recesses of all that is beautiful and true in the hidden depositories of mind and

matter.

March 9, 1842.

O. P.

MEMORANDA RESPECTING SWEDENBORG.

BY THE LATE MR. PECKITT.

London, January the 24th, 1778. I, Henry Peckitt, went to Bath Street, Cold Bath Fields, to one Mr. Shearsmith, a barber, at whose house the learned and honourable Emanuel Swedenborg lodged, and died the 29th of March, 1772, and was then, as I have since found, 84 years old.

He, by the order of one Mr. Charles Lendegren, a Swedish merchant, who lives in Mincing Lane, Fenchurch Street, was laid in state at an undertaker's, and deposited, in three coffins, in the vault of the Swedish Church in Princes Square, Radcliffe Highway, with all the ceremonies of that Church.

It seems, by the account of Mr. Shearsmith, that the Baron had visited England three or four different times. He had lodged in Cold Bath Fields, and upon his return to England came to the same place, but the people had removed, and he was recommended to Mr. Shearsmith, where he lodged about two years; then he left England, and went to Amsterdam in Holland, at which place he had published many of his Latin works. He staid there some time, and then returned to England, and came to the same place to lodge with Mr. Shearsmith, and remained at his house till his death, which might be about two years.

The dress that he generally wore when he went out to visit, was a suit of black velvet, made after an old fashion, a pair of long ruffles, a curious hilted sword, and a gold headed cane.

He ate little or no animal food, only sometimes a few eels. His chief sustenance was cakes, tea, and coffee, made generally exceedingly sweet. His drink was water. He took a great deal of snuff.

Mr. Shearsmith was affrighted when he first lodged with him, by reason of his talking in the night and day. He said, [he] would sometimes be writing, and sometimes stand talking in the doorstead of his room, as if he was holding a conversation with some persons; but as he spoke in a language Mr. S. did not understand, he could not make anything of it.

During the time he was at Mr. S.'s, he had some learned men that came to converse with him, especially a Rev. Mr. Hartley, of East Malling, in Kent, and a physician called Messiter.

He did not know the English language so as to hold a running conversation in it.

He had an impediment in his speech.

He laid some weeks in a trance without any sustenance, and came to himself again; this was not long before his death.

He seldom or never complained of any bodily pain, but was attacked before his death with a kind of paralytic stroke.

He had no books, no, not so much as a Directory. He was far from being verbose.

It was said he had conversation, in spirit, with Luther and Calvin. During his last visit to England, he chose to be mostly retired or private.

It seems he had no particular regard for times or seasons, or days or nights, only took rest when nature required,-did not indulge. He went not to any place of worship during his abode with Mr. Shearsmith. He did not want money.

Dr. Messiter had some Manuscripts he had by him at the time of his death.

The grand quantity were sent into Sweden, and are in one of the libraries.

The above is what I gathered from Mr. Shearsmith.

December the 4th, 1783. Went again to Mr. S.'s, to read over to him this above account, to know if it was just in every observation, and he told me it was. Mr. S. not being at home, I staid till he came in, and had some conversation with the maid that attended him, the Baron. She said, he was a good-natured man, and that he was a blessing to the house, for that they had harmony and good business.

She said, that before he came to their house he was offered another lodging in the neighbourhood; but he told the mistress, there wanted harmony in the house, which she acknowledged, and recommended him to Mr. Shearsmith's.

Upon asking the maid if he ever ate any animal food, said he once had some pigeon pie.

She said, that he told them a few days before his death, when it would happen; and, said she, He was as pleased!—and she made a comparison, that the pleasure was such as if she was going to have a holiday, to go to some merry-making.

London, March, 16, 1778. I, Henry Peckitt, called upon Mr. Springer, No. 12, Craven Buildings, near Wych Street, who is Counsellor of Commerce for Sweden. He had been acquainted with the Baron Swedenborg for many years. It seems the Baron had visited England many times during his life.

Mr. Springer told me the Baron had a fine house and garden at Stockholm; and he was sitting with company at Gottenburg, which is 188 miles from Stockholm, and told them that part of the town was on fire where his house and garden were, and he hoped his house would escape the flames, 1759. He shortly after told them his house was safe, but the garden was destroyed; and when the post arrived, a few days after, it was as he had predicted.

Mr. Springer also told me that the Queen of Sweden had writ letters to her brother, a Prince of Prussia, and having no answer, she doubted whether he had received them or not. The Baron at that time had converse with the Queen, and her brother died in Prussia. She was desirous to know if he had received the letters. She consulted the Baron, who said he would inform her in a few days. He did, and.told her he had received them, and was going to answer them, and that in an escritoire of the Prince's was a letter unfinished, intended for her, but he was taken ill and died. She sent to the King of Prussia, and it was as the Baron had foretold: the King sent her the unfinished letter.

It seems the Baron was always subject to an impediment in his speech. He writ none of his Theological works for gain. So much from Mr. Springer.

IMMUTABILITY.

From the American "New Jerusalem Magazine."

Ir is a doctrine of the New Church, that the Lord came into the world-that he assumed a human nature and made it divine-that the essential divinity and the divine humanity are now united as the soul and body of man are united.

and says up

that it can

Against this doctrine the natural man rises not be true, because it makes God mutable. Let us now consider this objection and see whether it is well founded. In the Lord there is infinite love, infinite wisdom, and infinite power. These are the essential divine attributes; and when we speak of the immutability of God, we must refer primarily to these attributes.

Now let us suppose that men had come into such a state, that they could not be saved, unless the Lord assumed humanity' and made it divine, and that they could be saved if he did this; would not his infinite love lead him to do it? Would not the very immutability of his love require him to do it? Would not his love cease to be infinite

and immutable if he did not do it?

Similar things might be said with regard to his divine wisdom and divine power.

Hence it appears that the very immutability of his attributes-of his love, wisdom, and power, would, under such circumstances, require that he should assume the human and make it divine; and that if we are afraid of thinking that the Lord is mutable, we ought to be afraid of thinking that he did not do it.

Let us now consider what change was effected in him by his coming. It is not the doctrine of the church that there was any change in his essence or essential attributes, but in his mode of existence and operation; and that this change, if such it should be called, was effected by his acting from and according to his eternal nature. He was always man in first principles. He always had a divine will and a divine understanding. He was always infinite love and infinite wisdom. And these are the essentials of man. Thus there was always in him infinite humanity, and everything human in angels and men was derived from him.

He was always man in first principles, and he was always potentially man in ultimates; but he was not actually man in ultimates, before his coming; for his becoming man in ultimates was his coming.

Man in ultimates is a substantial, organized being in the natural degree-so formed that he is capable of receiving the influx of love and wisdom from the divine, and capable of acting from them as of himself. The Lord was always potentially man in ultimates, because he always had the power of coming into the ultimate degree, and because he always had the power of forming and vivifying men in that degree. But he actually took upon himself that degree, and thus became man in ultimates, when he assumed humanity and glorified it.

There is an eminent sense, in which the Lord was always in the human form; for he was the source, from which flowed every thing that constitutes the human form. But before he came into the world he was not in such a human form that men could see him or form any distinct idea of him; for when he manifested himself to angels and men he filled an angel with his presence. This is what they saw and this is the means by which they obtained an idea of his form.

Before his coming, he was in the human form as the giver and producer of the human form. Hence it was said of him in those times, He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? He that formed the eye, shall he not see? He could see, not because he had such eyes as he has given to us-for our eyes are created organs and recipients of light-but he could see by virtue of his being the former of all eyes, and the source of light, and of the power of seeing. So he could hear, not because he had such ears as he has given to us-for our ears are created organs and recipients of sound-but he heard by virtue of his being the former of ears, and the constant source of the power of hearing. Similar things might be said with regard to the whole body and all its parts. And hence it may be seen, that even before his coming he was in the human form by virtue of his being the source of it.

But he was not then in the human form in the same sense that he was after his coming; for by taking upon himself human nature and glorifying it, he made himself visible; he came forth in the human form, so fully, that angels and men could see him face to face.

Before his coming his form was a giving form; but since then it is not only a giving form but a receiving one. When the three disciples saw the humanity of the Lord in its divine glory, it is said that his face shone as the sun. And when John saw him, in the Apocalypse, it is said that his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace. Hence it appears, that the Lord now has a human form similar to ours-with members and organs similar to ours; but with this difference, that his are divine and have all the glory of the essential divinity, because they are adequate recipients and mediums of the divine love and wisdom. He has a human face, but it shines as the sun. He has human eyes, but they are flames of fire. And he has feet that are in the form of human feet, but they are like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace.

From what has been said, we may form something of an idea of what there was added unto the Lord by his assuming and glorifying the human; but in order that we may form any thing like a just estimate of the amount of change that was by this means effected in the mode of his existence and operation, we need to consider what he was always doing or endeavouring to do before he came.

The doctrines of the Church teach us, that the divine love is infinite love towards others; an infinite love of doing good unto others and communicating the things which are his own unto others. This

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