Persecution—Letter to the Academy of Sciences—Leaves Stockholm for the last time.
On Swedenborg’s arrival in Stockholm, he found that the long peace he had enjoyed from external interference and persecution was at an end. The first manifestation of hostility took place in the seizure of some copies of his treatise on Conjugial Love, at Norkjoping, which he had sent from England, intending to present them to his countrymen. The ground of their seizure was, a law prohibiting the introduction of any works into Sweden at variance with the Lutheran faith. The seizure having taken place in the diocese of his nephew Filenius, he naturally turned to him for explanation and redress. Filenius thereon embraced and kissed his uncle, and assured him that he would fulfill all his desires, and procure the restoration of his books. But his actions were the reverse of his words; for he was, in fact, the prompter of the seizure, and secretly did all he could to insure their confiscation. By and by Swedenborg discovered the hypocrisy, and remonstrated with Filenius; whereupon he dropped the mask, and insisted on the books undergoing clerical revision before they could be surrendered. Swedenborg urged that as his treatise was not theological, but chiefly moral, its revisal by the clergy was absurd, and that such censorship would pave the way for a dark age in Sweden. But Filenius was unmoved; and Swedenborg, now fully convinced of his double dealing, likened him, as he well might, to Judas Iscariot, and said that “he who spoke lies, lied also in his life.” Having brought some copies of his treatise on Conjugial Love with him to Sweden, he presented them to many of the Senators, the Bishops, and the royal family. He had no fear of the result of free and open criticism. But worse things lay in store. Dean Ekebom, of Gottenburg, was indignant that Doctors Beyer and Rosen should have embraced Swedenborg’s views, and the clerical deputies from that town were instructed to complain of Swedenborg and his disciples to the Diet. They found in bishop Filenius, then President of the House of Clergy, a willing instrument to further their designs. They plotted to have Swedenborg put upon his trial, presuming that when questioned he would openly assert his divine commission and powers of spiritual intercourse, and then they would pronounce him insane, and have him committed to a mad-house. Count Hopken revealed to Swedenborg this cunning device of his enemies, and advised him to fly the kingdom. At this news, Swedenborg was much afflicted; and going into his garden, he fell on his knees, and prayed to the Lord to direct him what to do. After this prayer, he received the consolatory answer that no evil should touch him. And so it turned out. His inoffensive bearing, his rank and connections, all tended to intimidate his adversaries, and prevent the execution of their designed outrage. Had he been a farmer’s or a tradesman’s son, instead of being a bishop’s, his fate might have been very different.
Bishop Filenius, however, succeeded in gaining the appointment of a committee of the House of Clergy on the Swedenborgian case. Its deliberations were kept secret. Nothing came of it that was unfavorable to Swedenborg. They disregarded the charges of Filenius, and spoke “very handsomely and reasonably of Swedenborg.”
Filenius gained one point, however, in the presentation of a memorial to the king, requesting the attention of the Chancellor of Justice to the troubles at Gottenburg. To this request the king yielded; and the members of the Consistory of Gottenburg were commanded to send in an unequivocal representation of the light in which they regarded Swedenborg’s principles. On January 2d, 1770, Dr. Beyer, as one of the members of the Consistory, rose, and gave his bold and honest testimony in favor of Swedenborg and his writings. He said: “Convinced by experience, I must in the first place observe, that no man is competent to give a just and suitable judgment on those writings, who has not read them; or who has read them superficially, or with a determination in his heart to reject them, after having perused, without examination, some detached parts only; neither is he competent, who rejects them as soon as he finds anything that militates against those doctrines which he has long cherished and acknowledged as true, and of which perhaps he is but too blindly enamored; nor is he competent, who is an ardent, yet undiscriminating biblical scholar, who, in explaining the meaning of the Scriptures, confines his ideas to the literal expression or signification only: and, lastly, neither is he competent, who has altogether devoted himself to sensual indulgences, and the love of the world.” He then entered into the details of New Church doctrine, and concluded in these words: “In obedience, therefore, to your Majesty’s most gracious command, that I should deliver a full and positive declaration respecting the writings of Swedenborg, I do acknowledge it to be my duty to declare, in all humble confidence, that as far as I have proceeded in the study of them, and agreeably to the gift granted to me for investigation and judgment, I have found in them nothing but what closely coincides with the words of the Lord himself, and that they shine with a light truly divine.” These were noble and brave words to speak in the midst of enemies.
The debate on his doctrines dragged its slow length along. His enemies, full of spite, were yet full of fear, and seemed to dread the result of an open attack upon Swedenborg. Still the petty persecution continued, until, at last, May 10th, 1770, Swedenborg took up his pen and addressed himself directly to the king. In this letter, he complains that he had met with usage the like of which had been offered to none since the establishment of Christianity in Sweden, and much less since there had existed liberty of conscience. He recapitulated his grievances. He said that he had been attacked, calumniated, and menaced, without the opportunity of defending himself; though truth itself had answered for him. He reminded his Majesty of their former interview. With great simplicity, he says: “I have already informed your Majesty, and beseech you to call it to mind, that the Lord our Saviour manifested himself to me in a sensible personal appearance; that he has commanded me to write what has been already written, and what I have still to write; that He was afterwards graciously pleased to endow me with the privilege of conversing with angels and spirits, and of being in fellowship with them. I have already declared this more than once to your Majesty in the presence of all the royal family, when they were graciously pleased to invite me to their table, with five senators, and several other persons; this was the only subject discoursed of during the repast. Of this I also spoke afterwards to several other senators; and more openly to their Excellencies Count de Tessin, Count Bonde, and Count Hopken, who are still alive, and were satisfied with the truth of it. I have declared the same in England, Holland, Germany, Denmark, and at Paris, to kings, princes, and other particular persons, as well as to those in this kingdom. If the common report is to be believed, the Chancellor has declared that what I have been reciting are untruths, although the very truth. To say that they cannot believe and give credit to such things, therein will I excuse them; for it is not in my power to place others in the same state in which God has placed me, so as to be able to convince them, by their own eyes and ears of the truth of those deeds and things I publicly have made known. I have no ability to capacitate them to converse with angels and spirits, neither to work miracles to dispose or force their understandings to comprehend what I say. When my writings are read with attention and cool reflection, (in which many things are to be met with, heretofore unknown,) it is easy enough to conclude, that I could not come to such a knowledge but by a real vision, and by conversing with those who are in the spiritual world. This knowledge is given to me from our Saviour, not for any private merit of mine, but for the great concern of all Christians’ salvation and happiness; and as such, how can any one venture to assert that it is false? That these things may appear such as many have had no conception of, and which, of consequence, they can not easily credit, has nothing remarkable in it, for scarcely anything is known respecting them.” He concluded by throwing himself upon the king’s protection, and requesting him to command for himself the opinion of the clergy on the case; also the production of various documents that had been produced at Gottenburg and elsewhere; in order that he, and those maligned together with him, might be heard in their defence, this being their right and privilege. He protested, that the only advice he had given to Doctors Beyer and Rosen, was to address themselves to our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as a means to heavenly good and blessedness; for He only has all power in heaven and on earth. Matthew xxviii. 18. Were this doctrine of the Supreme Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ taken away, he averred that he would rather live in Tartary than in Christendom.
Had the Consistory declared this doctrine heretical, it must have led to many strange issues. But the Consistory came to no decision, and their report on Swedenborg’s writings was never written. A short time before Swedenborg left Stockholm for the last time, the king said to him: “The Consistory has been silent on my letters and your works;” and, putting his hand on Swedenborg’s shoulder, he added, “We may conclude that they have found nothing reprehensible in them, and that you have written in conformity to the truth.”
Throughout all this affair, Swedenborg remained perfectly calm; and, though a very old man, worked on as industriously as ever. It might seem, from what has been said, that the controversy had terminated entirely in his favor. But it was not so, as he, in the following year, 1771, found out; for then it appeared that his adversaries had succeeded in obtaining a strict prohibition against the importation of his writings into Sweden. It was his intention to send in a formal complaint to the States General, appealing against this prohibition; but it does not appear whether he fulfilled his intention, or not.
Finally, he addressed a letter to the Universities of Upsal, Lund, and Abo, asserting that each of the estates of the kingdom ought to have its own Consistory, and ought not to acknowledge the exclusive authority of that of Gottenburg. He declared that religious matters belong to others as well as the priests. Thus ends our account of this affair. It may be said to be the only thing approaching to persecution that Swedenborg endured; and considering the many heterodox opinions that he broached, we can not but think that he had, on the whole, but little to complain of. Many who have followed him in the propagation of the new theology, have not gone so far, yet have fared worse. The gentleness and simple prudence which, during so many years, shielded him from interference, we can not too highly admire. But, above all, we must be struck with the remarkable providence of the Lord, shown in his protection: the Divine promise was truly kept, that he should not be harmed.
His old associates of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Stockholm, received, at this time, his last communication. He wrote them a letter explaining some of the correspondences of Scripture, and their origin. In it, he says: “The science of correspondences was esteemed, by the ancients, the science of sciences, and constituted their wisdom; it would surely be of importance for some one of your society to devote his attention to it. Should it be desired, I am willing to unfold the meaning of the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which are nothing else but correspondences; these being discovered and proved from the Word, in the Apocalypse Revealed; and to publish their explications, is a work which no other person could accomplish.” We have no record as to how the Academy received this proposal. A copy of this letter was sent to Mr. Hartley, and Swedenborg desired that he and his friends would think over the subject. The letter is now published as an appendix to his treatise on the White Horse.
Swedenborg now prepared to leave Stockholm for another journey. Writing under date of July 23d, 1770, to Dr. Beyer, he says: “As I am going, in a few days, to Amsterdam, I shall take my leave of you in this letter, hoping that our Saviour will support you in good health, preserve you from further violence, and bless your thoughts.”
Robsahm tells us that, on the day that Swedenborg departed, he called on him, and “I then asked him,” says he, “if we should meet again. He answered me in a tender and touching manner: ‘I do not know whether I shall return; but I am assured I shall not die before I have finished the publication of the book entitled the True Christian Religion; and for which only I am now about to depart. But should we not see one another again in this lower world, we shall meet in the presence of the Lord our Heavenly Father, if so be that we observe to do his commandments.’ He then took a cheerful leave, and started on his last journey, with the apparent vigor of a man of thirty years of age, although he was then eighty-two. He took ship for Amsterdam, leaving his native land, never again, in the body, to return.”