Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/79

Rh would have had to hear the old man say this, in his second childhood. This time, also, he looked so innocent and joyful out of his eyes as I had never seen him look before. I did not interrupt him, and was, as it were, dumb with astonishment. He then saw a Bible lying on my desk, and while I was thus gazing quietly before me, and he could easily see the state of my mind, he took the book and opened it at this passage: 1 John v. 20, 21. 'Read these words,' he said, and then closed the book again. 'But that you may not forget them I will rather put them down for you; and saying this, he dipped the pen into the ink, in order to write them on the leaf, which is preserved here. His hand trembled, however, as may be seen from the figure 1; and this I could not bear. I therefore asked him in a friendly manner to mention the passage to me. I then put down the passage myself. As soon as I had done so, he rose. 'The time now approaches,' he said, 'when I must take leave of my other friends.' He then embraced and kissed me most heartily.

"As soon as he left, I read the passage which he had recommended to me, as follows:—'And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, even in his Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.'"

On the whole, the most satisfactory contemporaneous opinion of Swedenborg is to be found in a letter addressed to Gen. Tuxen, Inspector-general of Customs af Elsinore, by Count A. J. Von Höpken, who was for many years Prime Minister of Sweden, and one of the most eminent statesmen and writers that country has produced. He has a special claim to the gratitude of mankind, for his active part, in connexion with the great naturalist Linnæus,—who, by the way, was related by marriage to Swedenborg,—in founding the Swedish Academy of Sciences, of which he was the first Secretary. In reply to some inquiries about Swedenborg, with whom he had long been associated in the government, in a letter dated May II, 1772, Höpken gives the impressions which Swedenborg had left upon his mind during their long official and