Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/255

 Swedenborg's communication with the other world to somnambulism and a state of ecstasy in which spirits spoke through him—a notion not at all consistent with the fact that Swedenborg never laid aside his own reason and the control of his speech and acts. These illustrations of this open communication we quote, not as proofs to convince the incredulous—no second-hand testimony can do that—but as a part of Swedenborg's daily life which cannot fairly be omitted, and which indeed is necessary to complete our understanding of his being present in both worlds at once. As such they serve as confirmation to those who recognize the spiritual truths which this communication was given to reveal.

Of the three proofs to which Jung-Stilling referred, we have already seen the story of Queen Ulrica and her brother. The second is of the fire in Stockholm known to Swedenborg at Gottenburg; and the third is of a mislaid receipt. Of these occurrences Swedenborg himself says, in a letter to Venator, minister of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt—

"These must by no means be regarded as