Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/221



outward manner of life of one whose inner life is passed in open communication with spirits and angels, cannot but be of interest. Happily in Swedenborg's case we are not without abundant information. In 1748 at sixty years of age he went to London to put to press the first volume of the Arcana, and there for similar purpose he made his home much of the time until his death, twenty-four years later. In 1750 John Lewis, his publisher, in the advertisement of the second volume of the Arcana said—

"Though the author of the Arcana Cœlestia is undoubtedly a very learned and great man, and his works highly esteemed by the literati, yet he is no less distinguished for his modesty than for his great talents, so that he will not suffer his name to be made public. But though I am positively forbid to discover that, yet I hope he will excuse me if I venture to mention his benign and generous qualities. How he bestowed his time and