Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/100

 the nebular theory of the solar system, and the position of this system in the visible universe. In his Principia is to be found an elaborate, and, we are persuaded, true theory of phenomena of light and of electricity or magnetism, with calculation of coming variations of the magnetic needle for a century. We are not at the end of his philosophic and inventive anticipations, the correctness of which may serve to give confidence that even in these pursuits Swedenborg was being led in the path of truth. But after he found himself engaged in his true mission of unfolding the genuine meaning of the Scriptures, he made no attempt to display his discoveries in science or philosophy, regarding all the insight he had obtained into the mysteries of creation as a training and basis for understanding the mysteries of the Divine providence in the care of human souls.

Of the other two volumes of the Opera Philosophica et Mineralia, on Iron and on Copper, there is little to be said of general interest, since they are practical treatises on the mining and working of these metals. In his own preface Swedenborg says —

"I intend to distribute the treatise upon each