Emanuel Swedenborg

2. Published to mark the Utree hundredth anniversary
in 1988 of the birUt of Emanuel Swedenborg.
The writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
are published by:
The Swedenborg Society.
Swedenborg House. 20-21 Bloomsbury Way. London WelA 2TH
The Swedenborg Foundatioll
139 t:ast 23rd Street. New York. N.Y.lOOlO. U.S.A.
1

3. A SWEDENBORG SCRAPBOOK
SEMINAR BOOKS. LONDON.
A Swedenborg Scrapbook. Brian Kingslake
© Copyright. Seminar Books 1986
Published by The Missionary Society of the New Church
Swedenborg House, 20 Bloomsbury Way,
London WC1A 2TH
Distributed by New Church House
34 John Dalton Street. Manchester M2 6LE
Set in 9/11 Benguiat by Gatehouse Wood Ltd, Sevenoaks
Printed in England by John Whittingdale Ltd, Bishops Stortford
Designed by G. Roland Smith
First published 1986
ISBN 0 907295 16 9
Picture Acknowledgements
The pllblishers grateflilly acknowledge help
in the provision of pictllres from:
The Author, The National Missionary Board of the
General Conference of the New Church, The Swedenborg
Society, and Miss Kathleen Prince.
2

4. A SWEDENBORG SCRAPBOOK
Brian Kingslake

5. Part 1 Birth and Family Surname
Part Il The Young Emanuel Swedberg
Part III Assessor of Mines, Physicist, Anatomist
Part IV The Dawn of Spiritual Consciousness
Part V The Homestead
Part VI A Pilgrimage
Part VII Communicating with Spirits
The Last Judgment
Part VIII The Writings of the New Church
New-Church Day
Part IX Amsterdam Interlude
Part X London Postlude
Wesley and Swedenborg
Part XI Death and Funeral
The Skull
Part XII ln Eternity
Addendum Chronological Table
4

6. A Swedenborg Scrapbook interested me, and made my comments on
them. 1 began with the notes 1 made for an
address to the Swedenborg Society in London
in celebration of Swedenborg's birtbday in
January 1980 after which several people asked
INTRODUCTION me to write them down on paper. As 1 typed
out my notes, the material grew in bulk, as
This is not just another biography of Emanuel other points came to the forefront of my mind
Swedenborg. There are plenty of excellent (but aU scrapbooks have a tendency to
ones already avaUable. (Over a hundred are increase in bulk).
Iisted in Uyde's Bibliography.) ln fact, much of
The resuIt is that Parts l, Il, and III have
what 1 have written here takes for granted that
turned out to be largely biographicaI, as 1
the reader is fairly famiIiar with the detaUs of
traced bis development from birth to the age
Swedenborg's lite and work. If he isn't, 1 would
of 60 when he attained to full spiritual
refer hint to "The Swedenborg Epie" by Cyriel
illumination and began to write the "Arcana
Odhner Sigstedt - an incredible achievement
Coelestia". If you are already familiar with this
of biography, packed full of facts and
material, you can leap-frog over those parts
information. Or to Signe Toksvig's equally (uniess you want to rcad them as a refresher­
brilliant study, "Emanuel Swedenborg,
course) and begin with Part IV "The
Scientist and Mystie", which specializes on bis
Uomestead", or Part V "'A Pilgrimage." AlI the
inteUectual and psycbic development. Both of
rest of the book is non-chronological - a kind
these fine works have recenUybeen reprinted,
of Iiterary montage. And it is these latter
the first in England and the other in America.
pages that have given the book its name: A
For myself, 1 regard this Iitue Scrapbook as a SWEDENBORG SCRAPBOOK.
companion to my own small volume:
1 could, of course, have covered a great deal
"Swedenborg Explores the Spiritual
more ground than 1 have done. Perhaps 1 shaU
Dimension:" published by Seminar Books,
do, one day. But 1 believe that the points 1
London, in 1981 •
have touched on here wiJJ enable the student
What 1 have done here is to shine a spoUight of Swedenborg to get a c1earer view of the
on a number of selected aspects and incidents mind and achievements of that remarkable
of Swedenborg's lite which have particularly Servant of the Lord. 1 hope so, anyway.
5 Brian Kingslake

7. A section From the original church register where
the birth oF Emanuel Swedenborg is recorded.
The entry reads as follows:
p.178
PARENTES. 1688 PATRINI INFANTES DIES BAPT.
Mag. Jesj'ler. Hr. Hofrad Nordenhjelm. Emanuel,
1
Swedberg. F. Maria Sylvia. fodd d. 29 Jan. d. 2 Febr.
H. Sara Behm. Gen. Auditeuren Fahlstrôm.
F. Ingrid Behm.
Hr. Johan Rhenstierna. ' w'
F. Marg. Zachariae d·r.
PARENTS GOD-PARENTS CHILDREN DAY OF BAPTISM.
Dr. Jesper. Mr. COllncillor Nordenlljelm. Emanuel, February 2
Swedberg. Mrs. Maria Sylvia. Born Jan. 29
Wife: Sarah Aliditor General Fahlstrôm.
Behm. Mrs. Ingrid Behm.
Mr. Johan Rhenstierna.
Mrs. Marg. Zachariae
1
daughter.
6

8. The CounciIIor l'Iordenhjelm who is registered as the first or the
sponsors, was Pror. Anders Nilson Nordenhjelm (1663-1694), at
the lime instructor to the erown prince (Charles XII).
l'ru Maria Sylvia was the wire or the officialing clergyman, Pastor
Matthias Wagner, who was the rector or St James and chaplain to
the court. She is entered here under her maiden name, as was the
custom with ladies or the nobility who had married outside their
rank.
Auditor-General Fahlstrôm (Baron Ludwig fahlstrôm, 1655-
1721) was a childhood rriend or Jesper Swedberg; he afterwards
became governor or the province or Westmanland,
l'ru Ingrid Behm was the sister or Sarah Behm, Emanuel's
mother, and widow or Major Erland Erling.
Uerr Johan Wilhelm Rhenstiema (1659-1692) was a cousin or
Emanuel's mother, and was a chamberlain at the court or the
QlIeen-dowager, Hedwig Eleanora. His sister, Anna Maria, married
Jesper Swedberg's eider brother, Peter, who, on being ennobled,
assllmed the name Schônstrôm.
l'ru Margareta Zacharias daughter (TroiIa) was the dallghter or
Zacharias Unosson Troillls, burgomaster or fahilln, and wire or
Mikael J Strômberg. a merchant in Stockholm. She was probably
one or the childhood rriends or Emanuel's parents.
The entry itselr was written by Jonas Anderson, the c1erk or St.
James.
7 Emanuel Swedenborg.

9. Some Abbreviations
A.C =Arcana Coelestia
A.E. =Apocalypse Explained
A.R. =Apocalypse Revealed
B.E. =Brief Exposition of the Doctrines
E.U. =Earths in the Universe
N.D. =Neavenly Doctrine
Intercourse =Intercourse between Soul and Body
L.J. =Last Judgment
L.J.Cont. =Last Judgment (Continued)
L.J. Post. =Last Judgment (Posthumous)
N.C. =New Church
N.J. =New Jerusalem
5.0. =Spiritual Diary
T.C.R. =True Christian Religion
8

10. PART 1. BIKTU AND FAMILY SURNAME. by dropping I l days. (September 2 was followed by
September 14). Sweden changed gradually to the
Gregorian dating round about 1740, whereas England
did so by act of Parliament in 1752. So, by the dating
now universally adopted by the Western World (barring
questions of Daylight Savings, etc!) Swedenborg's
birthday would fall on February 9th.
On January 29th 1980 1 addressed the Swedenborg
Society in London. 1 began my remarks with the Even then 1 had not corrected ail the errors of my
following resounding statement: original statement. The child whose destiny we are
considering was not named Emanuel Swedenborg but
"fxactly 292 years ago today, on January 29th 1688,
Emanuel Svedber~ his father being the Rev. Jesper
cheers rose from the throats of many, while cannons
Svedberg.
boomed and flashed over the snow of Stockholm, to
celebra te the birth of fmanuel Swedenborg. H
Let us devote a page or two of our Scrapbook to this
matter of his surname. Jesper had adopted the name
Then, after a few moments hesitation, 1 corrected
Svedberg in his college days, in accordance with the
myself:
custom ofthe land-owning classes to take on the name
"WelJ, actually the cannon-shots and rejoicing were to oftheir ancestral home. His ancestral home was a farm
celebra te the christening of the Iittle princess U1rica named Sveden near Fahlun in Dalarna (Sved means
f1eanora, who happened to have been born at about H
"burnt land , From the Swedish svedja, to burn.)
the same time as Swedenborg! She, of course, was in
Jesper himself had presumably been born "Jesper
the royal palace, whereas he was in the army barracks,
Danielson,H after his father Daniel. It had been the
his father being the Regimental Chaplain. H
custom in the working classes From time Immemorial
"And in fact:' 1 went on, "it wasn't exactly 292 years aga for the child to take on the father's first-name and add
today, because the date January 29th in 1688 was H
"sonH (if a boy) or "dotter (if a girl). Until recently it has
calculated according to the Julian Calendar, whereas been the same in lceland, where you get "Magnusson or
our present dating is according to the Gregorian Magnusdotte~;and it used to be the same in England
Calendar. Prior to 1600 the Popes added or subtracted where you got "Johnson" or "Richardson My father was
H
•
days and years to or From the calendar, as seemed Martin, so 1would have been "Brian Martinson·, and my
necessary according to their lunar reckonings; but daughter Margaret would be "Margaret Briandotter. HWe
Gregory XIII settled the matter once and for ail in 1582 find the same, of course, in the Bible, where Ben or Bar
9

11. means ~son of* (Simon Bar-Jonas, Nathaniel Bar­
Tholomew).
Consider Jesper's male ancestry. His great-great­
grandfather was named Otto. Otto's son Nils was called
Nils Otteson. His son Isaak was Isaak Nilson, and so on.
otto
Nils Otteson
Isaak Nilson
Daniel Isaakson
Jesper Danielson
Emanuel ...7
By this reckoning, therefore, little Emanuel would have
been named Emanuel Jesperson. Our Church wOüld
not be referred to as Swedenborgian, but Jespersonian:
and the Swedenborg Society would be the Jesperson
Society!
This manner ofnaming children did not operate among
the professional classes or the nobility. So, wh en Daniell
Isaakson made a bit of money by reopening an old
copper mine at Sveden, and sent Jesper to University,
Jesper assumed the name Svedberg or Swedberg - a
name adopted by his children. (When they pronounce il,
it sounds Iike ~SVEE-RD BEY.)
10 Jesper Svedberg, Swedenborg's father.

12. While on the subject ofnames, l'II tum to a later page of
my Scrapbook. Rev. Jesper Svedberg had risen to
become Bishop of Skara - a very important position.
IMeanwhile, King Charles XH was killed in battle, and the
Iittle ginl 1 spoke of - Princess Ulrika Eleanora - was
crowned Queen. She started off her brief reign by
ennobling 150 of her subjects, including the families of
most of the bishops, probably to pack the House of
Nobles in support of her rather shaky right to the
throne, which should really have gone to the son of her
deceased sister Hedwig - her nephew Charles
Frederick. So, in May 1719, the Svedberg family name
was changed to SWEDENBORG - the "en" in the middle
being the definite article, and "borg" (meaning castle)
instead of "berg" (meaning hill). Altogether a more
aristocratie name!
The Queen did not, of course, ennoble the bishops
themselves, as they were on a parity with noblemen in
their own right. There were four "houses" in the Diet or
Government: (1) Nobles, (2) Clergy, (3) Burghers, and
(4) Peasants. Bishops, being automatically members of
the House of Clergy, could not enter the House of
Nobles. Their families, however, were commoners,
unless specifically ennobled. So, when Bishop
Svedberg's family were given the noble name of
Swedenborg, Jesper retained his old name of Svedberg,
perhaps slightly changing it to SWEDBERG.
11 Sara Behm. Swedenborg's mother.

13. For the Bishop to adopt "Swedenborg" would have been does the professor think of our Iittle plan?" He was
tantamount to admiUing that he was not a nobleman surprised. "What Iittle p'lan?" "The one you wrote to me
already! Thus there were different surnames for father about." "What did 1write to you about?" "Aren't we to be
and family, for husband and wife. bride and groom tomorrow?" "Ohl You must be Sara
To go back now to the Svedberg family in the Bergia?" They shook hands, and soon were in a loving
Regimental Barracks in Stockholm in 1688. Emanuel's embrace - with mutual pleasure and contentment.
true mother was Jesper's first wife, Sara Behm. Sara Bergia became a good mother to Emanuel. Later,
Emanuel was her third child, and alter him in due in the spiritual world, he met his two mothers, and loved
course came six more, making nine altogether. She them both equally. Her shares in several iron mines
then died of a fever, aged only .30. Her eldest child Albert brought wealth to the family, making Emanuel
died with her. leaving Anna, the eldest daughter (who financially independent, and able to publish the
eventually married Bishop Benzelius) and Emanuel, the Writings at his own expense. We see the hand of
eldest surviving son, aged 8. Alter them were Hedwig, Providence in this.
Daniel, Eliezer, Catharina, Jesper (Jr) and Margaretha.
Jesper (Sem) had now .been appointed by King Charles
XI as Dean and Professor ofTheology at the University of
Uppsala, sorne 40 miles north of Stockholm. Naturally
he had to marry again, to get a new mother for his eight
children; and alter careful consideration his choice fell
on another Sara - Sara Bergia - a wealthy widow
without children (most eligible!). He had never met her,
but she had been represented to him as being of an
amiable disposition.
Jesper tells his love-story in his manuscript
autobiography. He arrived by coach in Stockholm two
9ays before the wedding, and was shown into a large
room where a lady was seated alone, and he was lelt
with her. He greeted her politely and they spoke
together for a while, no doubt discussing the weather
and the price of herring-roes. At last she asked; 'What
12

14. examiners in the summer of 1709, at the age of 21. It
PART Il. TUE YOUNG EMANUEL SWEDBEKG.
appears that he did not proceed further towards his
degree, so that in fad he left the University without any
formai academic qualifications, intending to complete
his education abroad. (This fad is not generally
realized.)
His father Jesper was now Bishop of Skara - a
Of Emanuel's upbringing we know Iittle. Jesper, in his magnificent cathedral situated in central Sweden about
thousand-page autobiography, is obsessed only with midway between Stockholm and Gothenburg. His
himself, and says IiUle or nothing about his offspring. residence was an estate just beyond the eastern
Emanuel himselftells us that he used to play at ~holding suburbs of Skara, called Brunsbo, From which,
his breath" for long periods during moming and nowadays, you can see the cathedral, a grain silo, and a
evening prayers, as an aid to deep meditation - a water tower. (When we visited the estate, 1 was told
technique known in Yoga, and developed by these were symbolic of the three principall needs of
Swedenborg later to an extraordinary degree for man: food, drink and religion!)
inducing his spiritual consciousness. (He says he cou Id Emanuel, alter leaving Uppsala, joined his family at
hold his breath ~for a short hour.") Th'is fits in with bio­ Brunsbo, expeding to depart at once for England - to
feedback experiments in the U.S.A., slowing down the complete his education overseas. But Sweden was at
brain-waves to enter the so-called ~Alpha" state of war with France and Denmark (Charles XII was always at
psychic awareness, and, slower still, the ~Theta" state of war with somebody!) and the seas were closed. So
self-hypnosis and coma. Emanuel had to kick his heels for a whole year with his
At the age of eleven, Emanuel entered Uppsala father and six younger brothers and sisters. With them
Academy or University (the normal age) and studied also was the young Dr Johan Moraeus, their cousin and
science and mathematics in the Department of tutor, whose daughter Elisabet later married Carl
Philosophy. (The other three departments were: Linnaeus the great botanist. (Many years afterwards,
Theology, Medicine and Law. His father had the chair of Swedenborg met Moraeus in the Spiritual World, but his
Theology.) The degree he worked for was ~Master of face had become so beautiful that Swedenborg scarcely
Philosophy: It involved a long series of tests, which recognized him!) The two young men explored the
might cover several years. We have his first ~Exercise" ­ countryside around Skara, searching for fossils. They
a selection of maxims from the Latin authors, with his unearthed an enormous bone, which Swedenborg
own comments, which he ~defended" before his thought was the thigh-bone of an antedeluvian giant. It
13

15. 14
was sent to Uppsala for identification, and was found to Stockholm aJone - a third of the entire population. At
be thejaw-bone of a whale, though no one could explain this very inauspicious time, in April 1710, a sea captain
how a whale got into central Sweden! It is now in the friend of the Svedbergs decided to attempt the voyage
university museum, called ~Swedenborg's Whale
N
• to England from Gothenburg in a small sailingship, and
Meanwhile, bubonic plague stalked through Sweden offered to take Emanuel with him. The young man's
from Turkey. Twenty thousand people died in sudden departure caused some ill-feeling between him

16. 15
and the famous civil engineer Christopher Polhammer,
who had just been persuaded to take him on as an
apprentice!
Uppsala. Swedenborg allended the University
here. where his father held the chair of Theology
•
T

17. The voyage was adventurous. First the ship ran onto a
sand-bank; then it was boarded bya French privateer,
and then fired at by an English patrol-boat in mistake
for the French vesse!. But the most serious danger for
Emanuel was when they anchored at Wapping on the
Thames, and he and some Swedish friends broke the
strict quarantine regulations and ferried up to London.
Finding he was From plague-ridden Sweden, the
authorities threatened him with hanging, but let him off,
probably because of his personal credentials. The
episode must have made an impression on him, for
many years later, when the Lord first appeared to
Swedenborg in Delft Holland, he was asked whether he
had a c1ean bill of healthl
London had been almost entirely rebuilt since the
devastating fire of 1666. The palaces of the aristocracy
contrasted with stinking siums and alleys. It was the
vortex of the intellectual life of Europe. The world-wide
British Empire was contro/led From London by the Royal
Navy. And when, at that time in history, astronomers
were laying out the fines of longitude on the globe, they
took it for granted that the meridian 0 should pass
through London's Observatory at Greenwich - for was
not London the centre of the world?
Swedenborg visited London seven times during his Iife:
in 1710, 1744, 1748, 1758, 1765, 1769 and 1771 (when
he died there). Culturally urbane and cosmopolitan as
he was, he might even have been taken for a Londoner,
except for his thick Scandinavian accent.
Emanuel Swedenborg as a young man,
an unverified portrait. 16

18. We know a good deal about this his first visit in 1710,
from his correspondence with his brother-in-Iaw Eric
Benzelius. He deliberately lodged with various
craltsmen, such as lens grinders and brass instrument
makers, in order to learn their cralts, and attended
lectures by the great scientists of the day. He visited
Greenwich Observatory, and was allowed to watch the
Astronomer Royat the Rev. John Flamsteed, doing his
observations - a great honour for a young student. It
was thus that he learnt how to calculate the eclipses of
the sun and moon. He also went (by stage coach) to
Oxford to meet Edmond Halley, with whom he
discussed his own method of finding the Longitude at
sea by observations of the moon.
1 mention here two lesser-known incidents, both of
which are probable but neither of which can be
proved:-
(1) We know he visited the newly-completed St Paul's
Cathedral, and the assumption is that he c1imbed to the
Whispering Gallery under the base of the dome, ta hear
his own voice reflected around the circle. By measuring
the interval between his voice and the echo, and
knowing the circumference ofthe dome, he would have
been able to calculate the velocity of sound!
(2) He almost certainly met WILLIAM PENN, the
Quaker who founded Pennsylvania. Emanuel was
entertaining his younger brother Jesper and their step-
cousin the young Rev. Peter Hesselius, who broke their
journey in London en route for America. We know they
Eric Benzelius,
Swedenborg's brother'in-Iaw and
17 University Librarian.

19. {~S~~ff[~~~~~~~lf1~~:~·
called upon Penn, then resident in London, who gave
the two young travellers a letter to deliver to the
Governor of Pennsylvania. Obviously Emanuel would
have accompanied them to meet the great man. This is
interesting, because Swedenborg mentions in his diary
j,'; .-", f-.:..·,:-,c.-::-"_"'L._.<J:/""J,L..
r e''1,/L<f';:''. n·)I.l'.'':">(......1'..L_)~.~ .._ ....,_"
for November 1748, that Penn spoke to him in the ." - h" . :" ••:./_."" -I,.. ·,~. : 7/- ~i'._<r.::.l,,;-r;,L_·~J,,:,..,Ir-';...•• ....
Spiritual World, criticizing him for writing so harshly of ".r::; .If··... ·"he.· 1.,. ., '-'N-'. .:,~ ,J!t'fJ,r-:""·J·../!I t:;u'.J ,'/. "'/:~'.:',-.A· ..:.1-,'y.".
Ji t . "-'f;: r"-'-~"" ,;J~~
.
•."".
:·~~~rr;:;~·>~~Ë~t2~~;}j~;~.;~;~;;~~:~~~;~:~::~~~Z~}
the Quakers, saying there were good Quakers as weil as
bad! Why Penn in particular, and not, say, George Fox?
Probably because Swedenborg had met Penn in the q,,. ~ ~r.l···~·~·· ·:~.ïC:.,.'!~ ,Nl/~ ..::j,._",,4l.. .. ~.J,.~ ,~
...~J ~-#-. ..-1- ... .. • • / ... /­
t1esh .
While in England, Emanuel projected a number of
inventions, such as a hydraulicjack, a submarine, and a
glider-type aircraft and an automatic air gun. Add to
these a ~universal musical instrument", playing
melodies marked on paperwith dots. AJso ~a method of
conjecturing the wills and affections of men's minds by
means of analysis" (7 an anticipation of Freud!) It must . ,.",-1 .. _ J .... "i .. t_ .J'7J.'-'-' ..l~r-/.1 t(' 1'-..4 .' ~ ri'_' ~'~ 1 .". '.
be admitted that these intriguing inventions remained .: ;'.: .'(_:.~~:( .'~ :;:.::"'~:' .... ~ ~ ,;::.:;, ~;:;':-.-:~.~:;l::..'d...:.."";.~.·.: :~:.;'.:: ,... ,:>'"
on the drawing board, but they give evidence of the J."""" . j.. ...... 1 ··J:···~'·r~r("fJI ..-r 'l: ' / ••••• - ' , ••• ".
.. "- J-~ 1~/..I ~ ..".. r· .' o., •• <.·).."..··1..,... ~ •
. .,: . , . - ...... '.y/' ..l·~r~- i-'.".lf ~~.(
fertile and exploratory character of his mind. He sent
~ ..;:~. ' .. , ~.':'7~::·~ ,ftfr .; !:r~
·! 'l'V:~~
the drawings to his father at Brunsbo, who, when asked
for them later on, said he couldn't remember what he
had done with them! So nothing really came of any of
,' . :. .
, '.
-
';. ','h .. ·
" .. .l. , - -....
!
'~-rr:
•
L._ ' -_
l ~
r
J
;-:. ~
~
i.1
IT]' 4~NL'
-
~
_;,1._
-FT-I-·r~·I
..,.,.
_ l ')
,.<Ji,.8
, ....
. J., '"
Ifr·/~'· ,. ./ _ / I t '
v ~. •
" , , ~/,. ï J. r--jï{"--f"".,. . , /. .....
them. .. ,--,- . . . . ., ... ,.,4-.. .~ 1.·
1 .'
1:1" « -.1 t- t
"J." .-
101- .. --'·'1"'7; ..· •. ·
18
An early manllscript showing Swedenborg's sketch
for a nying machine - Ilot entirely practicable but
incorporating sound aerodynamic principles.
iii,~:,Iiik~~i~·~~~<·~~:~;;!é;.::

20. After 2! years in England, Emanuel made for the
Continent. ft was now 1713 and he was 25 years old.
1713 was the date of the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht
which ended the so-called "War of the Spanish
Succession,"and ambassadors from ail over Europe
were gathering together in Utrecht Holland. Emanuel
joined them there, no doubt hoping to gain some
insight into European politics. He also visited Leyden to
see the world-famous observatory, and then proceeded
to Paris, the second city of the Western world. Here,
unfortunately, he was laid up in bed for six weeks - one
of the very few occasions on which he suffered sickness;
and it was not until the following year (1714) that he at
last set out for Sweden, staying for a while in the
charming liUle city of Rostock to recuperate.
Look at the map and you wBl see the three towns of
Rostock, Stralsund &:. Greifswald, close to the Island of
Rugan, on the Baltic coast ofwhat is now East Germany.
They are in fact quite near to the southem tip of
Sweden, and today there is a ferry across. Rostock is in
Mecklenburg, but Stralsund and Greifswald are in
Pomerania, which was then a Swedish Province, not King Charles XII. 5wedenborg's patron who shared
his mathematical and mechanical interests,
ceded to Germany until a century later (1815). Here,
among his fellow countrymen, Emanuel devoted
himself to composing Latin verses, some of which he
mostly in praise of personalities whom he admired,
published in Greifswald.
including King Charles XII, the "Phoenix of the North." 1
One doesn't think of Emanuel Svedberg as a poet. But 1 am assured by a Latinist that they are elegant and
have on my bookshelf a volume of 88 pages entitled wriUen in the best c1assical Latin. There was no end to
N
"Emanuelis Swedenborgii Opera Poetica pUblished by Emanuel's versatility! (He could even play the organ, so
the University of Uppsala 1919. These poe ms are he tells us.)
19

21. Towards the end of the year (1714) Sweden was in a (Later, when the job was offered to him, he turned it
turmoil. Their heroic King Charles XII had been down.)
defeated by the Russians at Poltava (1709) and been While living at Brunsbo in Skara Emanuel
honourably imprisoned in Turkey (1709-14). He demonstrated his practical genius by installing a
escaped, and after a breakneck ride incognito on speaking-tube From the living room on the first floor,
horseback with only two companions for twenty days, down to the kitchen in the basement through which he
he arrived in Stralsund on November 22nd 1714, and could shout "Coffee!" and one ofthe seven Iittle servant
set to work preparing to defend the city against his girls would run to bring it up. My wife and 1 visited
enemies the Danes and Germans. Not wishing to get Brunsbo in 1976, and we were taken down into the
involved in the siege, Emanuel was fortunate in basement (the oldest part of the house) and shown the
obtaining a passage across the straits in a Swedish great stove against the kitchen wall, designed by Bishop
vessel in company with the wife of the Councillor of war Svedberg himself. On the other side of the wall, which
(June 1715) and thus at last he reached his father's got very hot was a platform on which the seven girls
house in Skara, after an absence of nearly l'ive years. slept alternately head to foot and feet to head, so that
The King also made an ignominious escape when the alternate ones got hot heads and cold feet and the
conditions in the besieged city of Stralsund got others got hot feet and cool heads! Whether it was on
desperate. Ashamed to meet his many critics in account of this stove or not the house was burnt down
Stockholm, the Phoenix of the North set up a temporary twice, in 1712 and 1730 - though the basement itself
court in Lund near Malmo on the southern point of his was undamaged, and remains so to this day.
country, where Emanuel was to visit him later on. Now for work! Emanuel produced and published six
Back with his family, the young scientist began looking issues of a rather beautiful scientil'ic journal called
for a job. He was 27 years of age. He thought he would "Daedalus Hyperboreus' ("The Northern Inventor").
Iike a professorship of mechanics and astronomy at This included accounts of his own inventions, and also
Uppsala, for which he was weil qualil'ied: but there was those of Christopher Polhammer, which heaJed the rift
no such department the main emphasis of the caused by Emanuel's sudden departure for England in
university being in theology and the humanities. He 1710 immediately after Polhammer had agreed to take
suggested that each of the existing eighteen professors him on as an apprentice. In fact Polhammer was so
should forego a seventh of his salary to raise enough pleased with the Daedalus Hyperboreus that he had a
money to finance a new Department with Emanuel set of the first four issues bound together, and took
Svedberg himself as professor! When he was advised them, and Emanuel himself, to Lund for presentation to
that this would not work, he said he was "only joking!· the King. Charles XII was extremely interested in
20

22. mathematics and mechanical subjects, and he and
Emanuel got on splendidly together. Emanuel showed
him an ecJipse of the moon, and explained other
astronomical phenomena. Together they worked out a
system of numbering based on 8 instead of 10.
Polhammer had given the King a pewter dinner set, and
Emanuel wrote a small treatise on ~Cleaning and
Repairing Pewter".
ln the end, the King graciously appointed Emanuel
Svedberg "Assessor Extraordinary of the Board of
Mines" - an unpaid supernumerary appointment,
meaning that he would be given the post of Assessor
when the next vacancy occurred. (The Board, or College
as it was ca lied, consisted of a President, two
Councillors, and four Assessors.) ln the meantime he
was to serve as Polhammer's assistant. it was at about
this time, in 1716, that the King ennobled Polhammer
and his family, their name being changed to "Po/hem",
the name by which the engineer is now generally
known.
B'ig construction work was on hand, such as the
Karlscrona Canal, and the Trollhattan Locks as part of
the plans for the famous Gôta Canaljoining Stockholm
with Gothenburg (a journey which 1took by canal boat
in 1927). Unfortunately, however, Sweden was now at
war with Norway, and the King ordered Pol hem to
transport sorne small gunboats overland from
Stromstad for fifteen miles across the frontier down into
the Norwegian waters of the 'Idde(jord, to attack and
reduce the town of Frederikshall at the head ofthe (jord,
King Charles XII, a military portrait.
21

23. which the Swedes now had under siege. The ships could
not go by sea, because of the British Navy. Pol hem sent
Emanuel to superintend this operation - his first
commission. There were two galleys, five long-boats
and a sloop. By the use of rotlers and sledges and
running water, over hills and through valleys, and
across five small lakes, the portage was successfully
accomplished; and to this day the area is known as "The
galley bogs of Bohuslan".
Actually the project resulted in tragedy, because the
King, while conducting the siege, was shot and killed.
Sorne say he was shot in the back by his own soldiers,
and there was even a rumour that Princess Ulrika's
husband Frederic of Hesse had something to do with il
We do know as a fact that the whole campaign was very
unpopular.
Meanwhile Emanuel returned to the Polhem
household, where he was treated Iike a son, and might
easily have become a son-in-Iaw. Pol hem had a son
Gabriel. and three daughters. The eldest daughter was
Maria, born in 1698 and therefore about twenty; the
second was Emerentia, born in 1703 and therefore
about fifteen. The King had suggested that Emanuel
should marry Maria, and it was generally understood
that he and she were engaged. But there really wasn't
much between them; and, perhaps with Emanuel's
contrivance, she managed to get betrothed to the
King's Chamberlain, a widower named ,Mannerstrom. In
a letter to Eric Benzelius, dated September 14th 1718,
Emanuel writes: "Polhem's eldest daughter is betrothed
Christopher Polhammer. or Pol hem. the illustrious
22 inventor and engineer with whom Swedenborg
work.ed on several important projects.

24. to a chamberlain of the King. 1wonder what people will
say about this, inasmuch as she was engaged to me! His
second daughter is in my opinion much prettier." 50,
with Maria out of the running, Emanuel got himself
officially engaged to 'Mrensa, with a document signed
by the father. He was to marry her as soon as he got a
proper job and Emerentia was a bit older.
But the poor girl seems to have been scared by her
brilliant and uncomfortable suitor. After ail, he was, at
30, twice her age! 50 she persuaded her brother Gabriel
ta get hold ofthe document and destroy il. That was the
end of the little affair.
With the death of King Charles XlI, Emanuel had lost his
patron. Worse than that his intimacy with the Jate King
was now greatly to his disadvantage. The whole feeling
of the country had swung against the King's party. Even
the new Queen, Charles's sister, was forced to renounce
her hereditary right to the throne, so that she heId it
only at the good pleasure of the Diet. 5he was to be
virtually only a figurehead.
ln reading 5wedish history, one cornes across
references to the two parties, Hats and Caps, rather Iike
our Whigs and Tories. King Charles XlI had led the Hats
or Plumes - what we should cali the "Hawks", who
romanticized war and gloried in the 5wedish Empire,
which had in fact reduced the country to bankruptcy
and disgrace. The Hats had poured scorn on the Peace
Party or Doves, saying they put on their night-caps and
went to sleep when the c1arion trumpet-call summoned
the country to arms! The Cap or Peace party was now in
Emerentia Polhem. The second of Polhem's Three
23 daughlers. 10 whom Swedenborg was once
officiallv enQaQed.

25. control. Emanuel Svedber9- being known as a personal proposed marriage eight years later (when 38) to Stina
Friend of the late Kin9- was naturally regarded as a ~HatN, Maja, daughter of Bishop Steuchias of Karlstad; but she
and every opposition was placed in the way of his turned him down and married Baron Cedercrantz. Alter
becoming a full member of the Board of Mines, which that, he gave up; rented his own apartment in
was an important State Committee. Actually, of course, Stockholm, and engaged a male servant.
Emanuel was neither Hat nor Cap, neither Hawk nor 1 will end here by mentioning the strange case of Sara
Dove. Ifanythin9- he was a Dove, as he strongly opposed Hesselius, his step-cousin (sister to the Rev. Peter
ail aggressive warfare; but he was prepared to support Hesselius in the U.S.A. who had visited him in London.)
the defence of his country if it was in danger. This Sara had apparentJy been desperately in love with
1 have already reported how Ulrika Eleanora, on Emanuel, but he had failed to respond. Alter her own
becoming Queen, ennobled the Svedberg family in May premature death, she Iiterally haunted him, urging him
1719, sa that Emanuel's name became SWEDENBORG, secretly to kill himself and sa join her in the spiritual
and he took his seat in the House of Nobles. Even then, world. He had to hide his dagger in a drawer, so as to
however, it was not until1724, when he was 36, that he avoid the temptation to use it! (Spiritual Diary 4530)
was actually put on the pay-roll as Assessor of Mines. And this was before his illumination and the opening of
As for Emerentia Pol hem, she eventually married a his eyes into heaven and hell.
wealthy man named Reinhold Ruckerskôld and had
nine children. Alter her husband's death, she managed
his estate, and ordered the building of a large mansion;
but unfortunately, while it was under construction, she
fell From the scaffoldin9- broke her le9- and had to walk
with crutches for the rest of her life. She composed and
published a book of poe ms, now losl Some time alter
her death in 1760, three of her daughters visited
Swedenbor9- who told them that he olten met 'Mrensa
in the Spiritual World, and she was happy there.
It is generally assumed that, alter his disappointment
over Emerentia Polhem, Emanuel showed no further
interest in women. But in fact he is known to have
24

26. Emanuel Swedenborg_
25

27. .;
.:.
.... P L.·/X IJ F. I.. J l 'i /.I.J~ ;JI:"
~TOCKH()J..I
... Ir'
.~
.',iw
.1 .~.,IJ:·" J.'.Um ,1,·I.,'IrI,../~.I:,.J.-I1'"
," .1 ;1," ~)f')""> .1.. J,t"f.JlIII,I.' . Stockholm, Sweden's capital city where
Swedenborg heId high office and spent most of
the middle years of his Iife.
>
.".C. ~.
Il ..... ,,
-.
~,
> '.
"
26

28. PART m.
ASSESSOK OF MINES, PUYSICIST,
ANATOMIST.
As a civil servant and member of the House of Nobles,
Swedenborg spent most of the middle years ofhis Iife in
Stockholm, the capital of Sweden.
Stockholm is a beautiful city, spreading over both sides
of the effluence of Lake Malaren into the Baltic Sea. It
covers many rocky islands connected by bridges or
ferry-boats. In winter the nights are long and bitter, and
sorne of the channels freeze over. But during the short
summer months the sun scarcely dips below the
northern horizon at midnight; the weather is warm, and
wild flowers give bright colour everywhere. The white
sails ofboats fill the waterways, and the breezes are rich
with the odour of pine forests and wood-smoke.
For twelve years or so (from 1724 to 1736) Swedenborg
devoted most of his time to the work of the Cham ber of
Mines, attending the regular meetings of the Board at
the big stone building in Mynt Square - rattling over the
cobble-stones in his horse-drawn carriage. He worked
as a chemist in the laboratory, assaying metals; and
joined the Board in the administrative office,
recommending laws to the Diet dealing with exports of
iron and copper, and taxes on the mines. He travelled
around Sweden, right up to Lapland (on horseback or in
a coach) inspecting the pits, even going down shafts on
27 Smelting equipment. an engraving from one of
Swedenborg's earlier works.

29. -,
d.!-; ~ i
MAcHINA BltJ1andi .M.ETAJ.LA
cjn --m~ ,kg 'Ve f'Jettilr'.s .­
,jn,w"ta. cW
Gman: JlVedlJ-ew.
Machine for raising ore_ invented by Swedenborg.
28

30. a rope-end, advising owners on improved methods of
smelting and extracting From the ore; settling quarrels EMANUELIS SWEDENBÜRGII,
ASSESS. COLLICGIl METALLICI SAC. REGIJE
among owners in local courts, and judging industrial MAJICST. REGNIQ.UE SVECIJE
disputes. On three occasions he made long journeys
abroad - mostly in Germany, to study mining methods REGNUM SUBTERRANEUM
in other lands and introduce the best into Sweden. SI V E
He wrote voluminously on chemistry and physics MINERALE
(especially, or course, on metallurgy); on the atomic DE
structure of matter, on crystals, on mathematics
(including the first Swedish treatise on Algebra), on salt
manufacture, docks and sluices. He published
VENA ET LAPIDE
Miscellaneous Observations in 1721, and Opera
Philosphica in 1733 - both in Leipzig. These studies
FER R 1,
UT ET
took him to the top rank in his field - if it cou Id be said
what exactiy was his field! VARIIS EJUS PROBANDI
Not satisfied with his now encyclopaedic knowledge of
ail aspects of the mineraI kingdom, he turned his
MODIS.
attention ta the human body. How did the body CLASSIS SECUNDA.
function? What was the human SouJ or Spirit? Where
was it situated, and how was it related to the body? How
did the BRAIN come into this, and how did the brain
operate? Such questions led him to pursue the subject
of human anatomy and physiology. He took two years
leave of absence From the Board in order to attend the
Medical SchooJ in Paris. (1736)
He travelled to France through Holland and Belgium,
much of the way by canal boat. As usual, he kept a
Journal of Travet commenting on the state of the DR ES DIE&- L lP S 1 JE,
countryside through which he passed, with detailed APUD FRIDERICUM HEKELIUM,
notes on ail sorts of things, such as how to deal with "SLIOI'OL. '«CIO'. M DCC XXXIV.
Tille page from one of 5wedenborg's metaliurgical works.
29

32. wood worms and termites, how to make fences, and
manufacture window-glass. During vacations from Paris
he crossed the Alps and visited Venice, proceeding
through ltaly to Rome, where he had an audience with
the Pope. Returning by way of Paris to Amsterdam, he
published "The fconomy of the Animal ffingdom' (or,
as it should more accurately be called, "The Interaction
or organisation of the Realm of the Soul") - this was
mostly on the blood system in the human body. Later,
he projected a much Jarger work, to be called simply
"The Animal Nngdom' (or, "Realm of the Soul") which
was to deal systematically with every organ ofthe body,
and might extend (he thought) to about seventeen
volumes!
But, despite aIL his searching, he never found the Soul.
Eventually he came to realise that he never would find it
by the physical approach, because the Soul was not
physical. It was on a different plane altogether, invisible
to the physical eyes. Yet itevidentJy constituted a replica
of the entire body in minute detail. But (and this was his
great achievement of Faith) he no longer believed that
the Soul was created by the body, but rather that the
body was created by the soull The Sou! was the real
person, the body was only its c1othing. When a man
died, ail that happened was that he discarded his
clothing, which was thrown away, while his Soul went on
living, in the SPIRITUAL DIMENSION.
Emanuel Swedenborg. engraved by Bernigroth as
the frontispiece to Swedenborg's 'Principia',
Engraving of an iron works. from Swedenborg's
work on the subject.
31

33. PART IV. TUB DAWN OF SPIRITUAL Swedenborg had had premonitions of psychic
CONSCIOUSNBSS sensitivity since early childhood. His parents said that
'angels spoke with him," because he told them that he
had had playmates in the garden house, when they
knew he had been there alone. In later years he himself
reported that From his fourth to his tenth year, he had
several times revealed things at which his father and
mother had marvelled. While writing his philosophical
and anatomical works, he said he saw "joyful flashing
lights when he uncovered a new truth.
N
lt was during this journey to Amsterdam that he
It is now 1743. Swedenborg is 55. He is back at home,
regularly began to experience psychic phenomena,
and has acquired a European reputation as
seeing lights and hearing sounds, and being involved in
philosopher, physicist, anatomistand statesman, not to
deep sleep and heavy dreams, which he interpreted
mention being an influential member of the Board of
symbolically, in a style recommended later by Freud ­
Mines. As an author he isjust completing the first three
they mostly related to his worldly ambitions, which he
volumes of his great work "Regnum Animale" The
was beginning to see he must relinquish.
Realm orthe Soul. As there are no adequate facilities in
Sweden for producing works of this magnitude, he is By far the most important event of this period took
setting off again for Holland to have it published. place on April 6th 1744 in a hotel in Delft, Holland-so
important that he marked the entry in his Journal "NB
He took his usual route: Stralsund, Hamburg and
NB NB". On that night after a series of terrible
Amsterdam. During the whole ofthisjourney, from July
temptations, he had a Beatific Vision of the Lord Jesus
1743 to Odober 1744, he kept a Journal, which
Himself, whom he beheld face to face, and who actually
became less and less a record of scenery and events,
spoke to him, with almost shattering effect. This
Iike his former Journals ofTraveL and more and more a
experience places Swedenborg among the great
Journal of Dreams, by which title it is now known. But
Mystics, and it can be regarded as the critical turning
the dreams were not ordinary dreams; they were in fad
point of his life. From that day he began to have regular
psychic visions; and this Journal became a valuable
open glimpses into the spiritual dimension.
and important record of his transition into mysticism,
and through mysticism into open spiritual Strangely enough, the first actual object he observed on
enlightenment. the other side was a FLYl When he realized that the fly
32

34. was composed of spiritual substance, not matter, he work in anatomy was not mentioned. That night he
was so disturbed that he couJd hardly bear it! dreamt that a big dog bit his leg with its terrible jaws,
Having settled in Amsterdam and delivered Vols. 1and Il leaving him with a twisted foot- which meant he was to
beware of self-love!
of Regnum Animale to the printers, he had a vision of a
ship, which he interpreted as meaning that he must Having completed Vol. III of Regnum Animale,
proceed to England for the publication of Vol. III. He Swedenborg began to write a book of an entirely
sailed for Harwich on May 13th 1744 and arrived two different character - a blend of science, philosophy,
days later, which, by the English calendar, was May 4th! religion and poetic imagination, called "The Worship
N
And so by coach across the pleasant fiat countryside of and Love of Ood But before this was completed, he
•
Essex, through Epping Forest and the East End of seems to have had another traumatic experience which
London. A fellow traveller on the coach was a Moravian confirmed the change which was already taking place in
gentleman, who introduced Swedenborg to a fellow the course of his Iife. It was on April 6th 1745, exactly a
Moravian, John Brockmer in Fleet Street with whom he year after the Lord's first appearance to him, at Delft,
took up lodgings. Holland. The story goes that he was enjoying a hearty
His Journal of Dreams continued. On September 21st meal at a small hotel in Bishopsgate, London. He had
he saw a spirit-man sitting on a block of ice, who just finished eating, when the daylight seemed to grow
addressed him rudely: "Hold your tongue or l'II strike dim, and the floor became covered with disgusting
you!" (not a very favourable introduction to the creatures - snakes, frogs, beetles. A man appeared,
in habitants of the other world!) But a week later, after sitting in a corner of the room, who said: "Eat not so
much suffering and temptation, Swedenborg saw the much!" Then the creatures disappeared with a loud pop
gable-end of a beautiful palace, which indicated to him or bang.
that he had at last been accepted as a member of a "From that same night" (Swedenborg is reputed to have
society in heaven - a privilege usually accorded only to informed his friend Robsahm, the bank manager in
a man after he has died and left the natural world. This, Stockholm, to whom we are indebted for the whole
we are told, produced in him a state of great joy and story) "the World of Spirits, Hell and Heaven were fully
peace. opened to me, and 1 saw and recognized there many
There was still the problem of his worldly ambition. In former acquaintances of every walk of Iife." He had
London, on October 18th, he attended a lecture at the previously, as a philosopher, convinced himself that
College of Medicine in Bloomsbury (close to the present there is a spiritual world, and that man has a soul or
Swedenborg House) and was disappointed that his own spiritual body; but now he had seen for himself that ail
33

35. his friends who had ~died" were still alive and active on newly developed faculties. His work there was evidently
the other side. This seems to have meant a great deal to highly appreciated, as, a year later, when one of the two
him. Councillors retired, the Board unanimously
recommended Assessor Swedenborg for the vacant
The question remains: who was the man in the inn who
Councillorship. However, realizing the increase in
said, ~Eat not so much"? It used to be thought it was the
commitment which the new position would involve, and
Lord God Himself. But many scholars today believe
with his eyes on other horizons, he decided to retire
there has been a confusion with Swedenborg's Beatifie
From the Board altogether (he was now 59 years old). He
Vision at Delft on the same date the previous year (April
submitted his resignation to the King, who accepted it
6th). More probably the whole story is a [ater version of
only with the greatest reluctance, granting him a
the account given by Swedenborg himself in Spiritual
pension of half salary; and almost immediately
Diary 397, headed: ~A Vision by day concerning those
who are devoted to the Table and who thus indulge the Swedenborg left the country on yet another Foreign
journey (J une 1747), probably to make a c1ean break
flesh. - 1745, April." Nevertheless something critical
with the Board. As usual, he went first to Amsterdam,
must have taken place at that time, because From then
busily working on his Bible Indexes and the Word
onwards Swedenborg found himself living consciously
in both the natural and the spiritual worlds, Explained.
simultaneously. He also began at about this time to record his visions
Fully aware now of his new situation and the and psychic experiences in what he called a Spiritual
responsibilities it brought with il, he gave up writing the Diary, which he kept for nearly twenty years (1747­
Worship and Love of 00 d, and made his way back home 1765). Its translation into English occupies five bulky
to Sweden (July 1745). Here he studied Hebrew and volumes, which are a gold-mine for the researcher in
Greek, and read the Bible in its original languages, spiritual phenomena, in addition to shining a brilliant
seeing its meaning now in a totally new light. Being Iight on the inner Iife and development of Swedenborg
Emanuel Swedenborg, he began to set it down in a himself. Unfortunately the first one hundred and forty
multi-volume expository work called Adversaria, or eight entries are missing; but we believe it was at about
~The Word Explained". Side by side with this, he began this time - perhaps in February 1747 - that he saw one
preparing a Bible Concordance called "Index Biblicus v , of his most famous visions, fully described in ~True
as a useful tool for further exposition. Christian Religion" No. 508.
He was still a civil servant and naturally returned to his ln this vision he saw a magnificent square temple, with
desk in the Chamber of Mines, saying nothing about his walls of crystal and a gate of pearl, its roof being like a
34

36. crown. Within the temple was a pulpit on which lay the 1 believe, however, that the motto NUNC L1CET had a
open Word, encompassed by a halo of Iight which much broader reference than merely to intellectua!
illuminated the whole puJpit. ,ln the centre of the temple freedom in matters of Dogma previously imprisoned in
war a shrine, hidden at first bya veil which at that time the ancient creeds. Just as the Lord made His original
was being withdrawn, revealing a cherub of gold incarnation in Palestine to redeem mankind From
wiel'ding a vibrating sword. As Swedenborg meditated bondage to HelL so, by coming again in His New Church,
on these things, he was instructed that the Temple he would once again Iiberate the human mind, which
signified a New Church which was about to be was losing its freedom again, owing to the uprise of Hell.
established on earth. The pulpit represented its A tremendous increase of influx was about to pour into
priesthood and preaching; the open Word upon the men's hearts, From heaven and From hell, presenting a
pulpit indicated a revelation of the Spiritual Sense of vastly greater responsibility of personal choice to New­
the Word; the cherub of gold was the Word in its literai Age Man. The Church, Iike the human race itself, had
sense; the vibrating sword was the capacity of the literai reached adulthood, no longer under tutelage. In the
sense to be turned in every direction so as to favour areas of sex, politics, the arts, the intellect and in every
particular truths; and the Shrine indicated the way, including Religion, the individual would henceforth
conjunction of the Church on earth with the innennost be responsible for his or her own chosen development.
heaven. Inscribed over the gate were the words NUNC NUNC L1CET - a ~Pennissive Society" indeed!
L1CET ("Now it is permitted") and Swedenborg was told On August 7th 1747, a month after his arrivai in
that this meant ~Now it is permitted to enter Amsterdam, Swedenborg noted in his diary: ~There is a
intelJectually into the mysteries of faith". change of state in me, into the Celestial Kingdom." This
is taken to be the final step in his full illumination. He
Remember: if (as 1 believe) Swedenborg witnessed this
was also being led to perceive that the Lord was making
vision early in 1747, it was before he himself had begun
His Second Advent into the world, through
to reveaL through the press, the Spiritual Sense of the
Swedenborg's instrumentality in unveiling the Spiritual
Word. (Vol. ~ of the Arcana Coelestia came out in 1749.)
Sense of the Word. In ail humility, he recorded in his
It is doubtful whether, at that early date, he had begun
diary for September lst 1748: ~Very many good spirits
to realize what his own part would be in the
are gJorilYing the Lord on account of His Advent; and
inauguration of the New Church on earth. Was this
there is so much joy that some are saying they can
powerfuJ vision vouchsafed to him, so that when the
hardly bear it! Next morning, everything was in a state of
time of his cali came, he would understand something
tranquility, so that 1 perceived nothing but a tranquil
of what would be involved?
silence around me, which still continues." (Sp. D. 3029)
35

37. Two months later, Swedenborg left Amsterdam for PART V. TUB UOMBSTMI>.
London, where he booked lodgings for six months. He
abandoned the Word Explained (which had been
largely of an exploratory nature) and now, with calm Swedenborg actually took possession of the
assurance and full authority, he began his great work Homestead (41-43 Hornsgatan) in March 1743; but
on the Spiritual Sense of Genesis and Exodus, the what with his being out of the country, and alterations
ARCANA COELE5T1A. The Writings of the New Church and improvements being required, it was not until three
were launched. years later - the Spring of 1746 (when he was 58) that
he actually moved in. There had been a caretaker
previously.
The house itselfwas quite small, almost a log cabin. The
guttering at the bottom of the steeply-sloping roof was
only about nine feet above the ground. Two rooms
constituted the ground floor, and a small kitchen: ail
heated by a blue-patterned porcelain stove reaching
from floor to ceiling, burning charcoal. One of the
rooms, apparently, was his bedroom - the bed being so
short he had practically to sleep sitting up - his wig on
the bed-post. The other room was his study. Imagine
him sitting mumed in a reindeer-skin coat using a
feather pen, with his pen-knife by his side on the table; a
porcelain ink-pot and a sprinkler of dry sand for
blotting. Ali lit at night (and most of the day in the
northern winter months) bya smelly whale-oil lamp or
tallow candies. The furnishings included the famous
inlaid marble table and a small pipe organ, which he
played to unwind his tense mind. What music would he
have played? Handel, and J.S. Bach, possibly - they
were both just three years his senior. Much more Iikely
Buxtehude, who, though a Dane, was born and lived not
far away in Southern Sweden, and died in 1707.
.36

38. Swedenborg's hou se, on Homsgatan, Stockholm
37

39. An impression of the House and Garden.
The loft up the little twisted flight of stairs contained frames white. The box-trees in the front garden were
trays of neatly labelled seedlings, sent to him by his known as 'Swedenborg's grenadiers Alongside the
N
•
friend Wretman in Amsterdam, who imported them road was the carriage house, and adjoining it the home
from the Dutch East Indies; and from the new Swedish of his gardener and housekeeper (husband and wife).
settlement in Pennsylvania of which Swedenborg's Shortly before his death, Swedenborg made a list of his
father, Rev. Jesper, had been non-resident Bishop. This possessions:-
propagation of exotic plants would undoubtedly have
been studied with great interest by young Carl Unné Silver Service. Chandelier. Collee Pot and
(Unnaeus) who married Swedenborg's niece, Sara Sugar bowl, l'Iilk Can. Fine Teaspoons and
Elisabet Moraeus. Tongs. Two CandIesticks. JeweUed Tray, Six
The outside appearance of the house was bright and Precious SnutI-Boxes. Uebrew Bible.
cosy: the woodwork painted red-ochre and the window­ l'Iicroscope
38

40. A path led from the front of the house across a small
flower garden, and through a gate in the fence into the
main garden or orchard. It then continued straight for
fifty-five yards ta the summer-house against the rear
wall. Half way along was a small pavilion, copied from
manor houses in England; through it at right angles ta
the main path was another path, leading ta an aviary
made of brass wire ta the left, and a house of mirrors ta
the right. (In winter, the birds were taken up ta the loft of
the house.) ln the far left-hand corner was a maze (also
with mirrors) ta amuse the children who often visited
the garden on their way home from school. On the far
right was a small Iibrary and store-room.
The summer-house was a cubical structure, with roof
sloping up ta a square skylight. and a bail ornament on
top in the middle. Three stone steps led up ta the front
door; and ta the left and right of the door were two
windows with hinged shutters. The woodwork was
painted yellow, the front door green, and the shutters
red - ail very neat and gay. A desk and chair were in the
front room, the rear one being only a store-cupboard. In
wet weather it was possible ta reach the summer-house
under a covered way, leading from the far side of the
house along the left-hand wall of the garden, entering
the summer-house bya side door leading into the back
room. This interesting little building has been
renovated and is on show in Skansen, as my wife and J
were ta see on our pilgrimage.
5wedenborg's 5ummer-house,
39

41. PART VI. A PILGRIMAGE. Across the road from the Boutique Giota is a small
grassy park containing one of the only busts of
Swedenborg on public display anywhere in the world.· It
stands on a stone plinth bearing the single word
1 first went to Sweden, and by train up to Lapland - the "SWEDENBORG", Below it on the plinth is an embossed
"Land of the Midnight Sun," in 1927, when 1 was 20. bronze figure of a wigged 18th-century gentleman
Later, in 1976, my wife and 1 made a Pilgrimage to holding up what looks Iike a framed portrait of a child's
"Swedenborg Country" - Stockholm, Uppsala, Skara, face. In front of him stands a little girl (back view) who is
Gôteborg. In Stockholm we soon found Hornsgatan a gazing up at the "portraW. You and 1knowvery weil that
main road running along the cliff-top on the south side the gentleman is Swedenborg himself, and the "framed
of the waterway, and searched for plots 41-43, the portrait" is a mirror, and the Iittle girl whose face is
address of Swedenborg's homestead. It's ail built up reflected is Greta Askbom, a neighbour's child, who has
now, of course; but we found a handsome plaque asked to see an ange!! But why hasn't the Parks
commemorating his residence there, over a shop now Department who were responsible for the otherwise
occupied by a Pakistani. Above the shop next door excellent memorial, added an explanation interpreting
swung a free-hanging notice board, "BOUTIQUE the scene for the casual observer?
GIOTN. If you want something a bit more sophisticated, you
Round the corner were sorne steps going up, past an must seek out the works of Carl Milles, Sweden's
old house which closely resembled extant pictures of greatest sculptor, which are on display at Millesgarden,
Swedenborg's own house; and so to the top of the cliff, a fantastic collection of sculptures in beautiful
from which was a breath-taking view across the surroundings sloping down to Lake Vartan, Here we find
waterway to the Old City, with the lace steeple of the Emanuel Swedenborg: kneeling, eyes c1osed, agonized
Royal Church (Riddarholmskyrkan) and c1usters of fine expression on his face, right arm stretched out",
public buildings, towers and steeples, and the white undoubtedly a work of genius, but does this represent
sails of shipping. We admired the famous City Hall, the Swedenborg we know?
reputed to be the finest in Europe; but Swedenborg
1 once asked a Swedish girl in a train what they had
would not have seen this, as it was not built until1923.
taught her in school about Swedenborg. Her eyes
brightened as she said, "He was a crazy man, , . he saw
'There used to be one in Lincoln Park, Chicago. cast by Adolph ghosts!" Did she get that idea from Carl Milles? Or did
Jonsson the sculptor; but one night it disappeared. Presumably it was
stolen for the copper.
Carl Milles get it from people Iike her? It says in the
40

42. catalogue: "One of Milles' most inspired interpretations
of an historie figure. Originally ordered by the English
Swedenborg Association, but never purchased." (What
1 wonder, is the "English Swedenborg Association"?)
There are two famous portraits of Swedenborg: one by
Brander in the Northern Museum, Stockholm, with a
copy in the Royal Academy of Sciences; the other by
Krafft in Gripsholm Castle. Both were painted about
1770, when he was 82. They are so much alike that the
Krafft portrait might have been copied from the
Brander.
ln Brander, Swedenborg is holding a scroll in his right
hand, bearing the title "Apoca/ypsis Reve/ata". ln the
Krafft, he is holding in his left hand a large thin hard­
back volume, on which a later hand has tried to copy the
wording from the Brander, with two mistakes in the
Latin! (Relevata for Revelata) As a work of art the Krafft
is probably finer than the Brander.
While in Stockholm, we visited the Cham ber of
Commerce in Mynt Square which used to be the
Chamber of Mines where Swedenborg worked for thirty
years. Here we saw the famous inlaid marble table,
which he presented to the Board in 1761, together with
a small treatise on "Inlaying Marble". The interesting
thing about this treatise is that he wrote it while his
spiritual eyes were opened and he was working on "The
Interior Sense ofthe Prophets and Psalms". The subject
matter is utterly different but the hand-writing is the
same, which has a bearing on the nature of his
- ~ . inspiration.
Bronze plaque on the plinth of a bust of
Swedenborg near to the site of his home in
Stockholm. 41

43. Swedenborg-s
coat of arms_
# .- --. _ ~~~ro.- :..#..- - ..,-' ~..~ __ ._ _
4. • '
The HOllse of Nobles where Swedenborg took his
seat as a member of the The Swedish Diet.
Inside the Great Hall.
42

44. ln my mind 1had always assumed that the marbJe table of bound volumes of manuscripts: sorne in handsome
had been made in !taly. 1 told the caretaker so, but he leather bindings, others in parchment. Mostly they were
contradicted me and said quite definitely that it had very tall and narrow. Thousands of pages of antique­
been made in Hol/and. 1 persisted "This is not Dutch looking handwriting, done with a quill! We were
work, it is Italian". He was equally adamant, and so we impressed by the number of scratchings-out and
parted. 1 have since discovered that we were both right: correction of words and even whole sentences.
the table had been made by an ltalian craft:sman who Obviously here was a conscientious scholar, struggling
had set up a workshop near Amsterdam, and ta express in the best possible way the profound truths
Swedenborg had purchased it there! which in his unique enlightenment he had been
permitted by the Lord to understand. There was no
On the bookshelf of the Iibrary 1 was delighted to find a
evidence here of verbal dictation from God, let alone
copy of the first Latin edition of "Apocalypse Revealed".
automatic writing. My impression was that Swedenborg
But, surprisingly, there were none of Swedenborg's
himself was inspired, certainly; but his Writings were
great works on Iron and Copper and other scientific
definitely NOT inspired - that is to say, they were the
subjects. Had the Board of Mines taken them with them
words of Swedenborg, not the Word of God. In short, his
when they vacated the premises?
was a rational revelation, not a verbal one.
We also visited the House of Nobles in Ridderholm
Square. It contained ten rows of seats cushioned with On the back of page of the Arcana Coelestia we saw
blue velvet - actually long forms without backs, and what appeared to be a shopping list with the cash
totalled up. This brought Swedenborg the man very
wider than one would expect Dozens of coats of arms
close to us over the two centuries!
were painted in colour on the walls, and we found
Swedenborg's. The Diet, with its House of Nobles, was Among the other books were the manuscript volumes
dissolved in the 1860's, and an English style of of the Latin Apocalypse Explained, with the word
Parliament was insUtuted in its stead, so that the grand "Londini 1759" at the foot of the title page,
old building which we visited had degenerated (so we countersigned by Robert Hindmarsh. Obviously
were told) into a kind of "Snob Club". Swedenborg had intended and expected to publish the
On our way to Uppsala, we stopped at the Royal A.E. in London in 1759, following the five smaller works:
Academy of Science building at Freskate, which had Heaven and Hel/, Earths in the Universe, LastJudgment,
been moved here from Stockholm. A young librarian The Heavenly Doctrines, and The White Horse (known
took us up to the fifth floor in the lift, and showed us into as "The London Five"). We also know that he had set
a large hall full of book-shelves. Soon we saw "Em. aside 10,000 dalers for the purpose. But the project fell
Swedenborg" over a metal frame, live shelves high, full through, probably because the printer, John Lewis,
43

45. protested that he could not possibly print so vast a superior to the Uppsala men? More advanced? Orwas it
work- running to at least four fat volumes, for that kind for a more personal reason, that he needed to
of money! So Swedenborg changed his mind, took the dissociate himself From his commitments on the Board
money back to Sweden, invested it at 6% interest and of Mines? After ail, he was still a civil servant and was
set to work writing a more compact treatise covering expected to be at his post! He was entering a new field of
much the same ground - the Apocalypse Revealed, research: let it be done in a totally new environment!
which he actually published in Amsterdam in 1766. We entered the Anatomical Theatre. and climbed the
Many years later the abandoned manuscript (the one steps which joined the observation circles, one above
on the shelf before us) found its way back to England the other. There were no seats; the students would
and was published by Robert Hindmarsh between 1785 stand and lean forward on the rail, looking down on the
and 1790 - hence his signature on the title page. It was professor with his dead victim spread out on the slab in
subsequently returned ta the Royal Academy of the centre below. Our host and guide, Rev. Ragner
Sciences in Stockholm in 1842. Boyesen, obliged me by Iying on the slab (which
So we continued our journey to Uppsala, and, of course, reminded me of a sacrificial altar) and 1photographed
made our pilgrimage to the famous sarcophagus in the him from one of the higher circles, where Swedenborg
beautiful red-brick Cathedral; also to the University and himself may have at one time stood to observe a
ail the other sights. dissection.
What perhaps struck us most was a high cylindrical
building, prominent among the other roofs, which
turned out to 'he the Anatomical Theatre or dissecting
Hall. Ali my Iife 1had been told thal, when Swedenborg
wished to study anatomy in his search for the souL he
had found it necessary to go to Paris, where dissection
was permitted in the medicaJ schooL whereas (1 had
been told) it was illegal in Sweden. Imagine my
astonishment to discover that in fact, dissection had
been practised here in Uppsala since 1650, and they
actually had a special building for il, the second in An old engraving of Uppsala Cathedral. part of the
Europe after Padua in ltaly! Why. then. had Swedenborg university with the distinctive dome of the
gone to Paris? Was it that the professors there were Anatomical Theatre can be seen on the left.
44

46. CATt"DR-ALE"
'(
45

47. ---
A distant view of Uppsala as shown in another old engraving.
46

48. Back in Stockholm, we did what ail good tourists do: we Near-by is a restaurant ca lied Sollidan. On an inner wall
went to 5kansen. This is a small island in the outlet to is a large coloured mural painting of Swedish life. It
the Baltic Sea, to the east of the main waterway between shows miners digging, and beneath them is
the north and south parts of the city - you can Swedenborg himself, holding up a large crystal. So,
approach it across a bridge From the north-east. It is a besides being a philosopher and naturalist
unique open-air museum. Typical old buildings of ail Swedenborg is featured as a scientist interested in
sorts have been brought here From ail over Sweden and crystals! Little attention seems to be paid to his unique
have been re-erected with as much Jocal colour as spiritual enlightenment and his wonderful theological
possible: old farmhouses, manor houses, windmills, writings.
charcoal-burners' furnaces, a Lapp hut ancient Viking
However, 1 felt better when 1 read a poem by Hjalman
runes. There is a glass-blower at work, a candIe maker,
Gullberg, which is supposed to be spoken by the
an antique printing press. There is folk music and folk
summer-house. It moved me deeply. Here is a
dancing, ail in authentic costume; and a zoo of animais translation: ­
associated with Sweden. And there, in the Rose garden,
quite near the S.W. corner entrance, is Swedenborg's
"Lusthus" or pleasure house (summer-house). On it is a
notice stating that "Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772, "1 am a pavillon wbÏch men pass by.
famous philosopher and naturalist built this summer­ 1 stood in Stockholm in my master's garden.
house in about 1750, at 41-43 Hornsgatan, and laid Dis augels filled me wiU1 U1eir harmonies,
out a magnifrcent garden. This summer-house served And spiritual values flourished in my care,
as a background to the layout of the garden Iike a A mighty man of research, prophet, sage,
cupboard against a wall. It is shown here containing Ue used my simple shelter as a home.
furniture From Swedenborg's time, including a small Uere he beheld U1e gIory of U1e heavens,
organ which belonged to him. Part of the rose-garden And here was buiIt a New Jerusalem.
around the summer-house is stocked with plants which
For U1e Spirit now fled 1 was a sheD,
are known to have grown in Swedenborg's garden ­
Now 1 stand forsaken in my grief.
such as larkspur, sweet william, flax, sweet-scented
white roses, bleeding hearts, violets, tulips and But harp and cymbal filled me, when
hyacinths." God came to visit wiU1 our Swedenborg."
47

49. After leaving Stockholm and Uppsala, my wife and 1took wife Sara both died in 1720! Why D.J. Swedberg? The
train across country to Skara, where we were shown "OH may stand for the original name of Danielson, or it
H
over the beautiful cathedral. Here Bishop Jesper may sim ply be "Dr or Doctor. Probably the latter.
Swedberg's memory is still green, and the organist
played some of his hymns for us, sung in the original
Swedish, 1 went up into the ornate pulpit to get the feel
of it! (The organ is not the one Emanuel claims to have
played, but a grand new one,)
Not far from Skara is the ancient monastery of
Varnhem, where the remains of the Bishop and his
second wife Sara Bergia were interred. We found a big
black Iron door (Iocked, of course) at a corner of the
outer wall of the monastery. Over the mausoleum is the
following inscription, in Swedish, on an oval stone: "The
resting-place of Bishop D.J. Swedberg and his beloved
wife Sara Swedenborg, anno 1720. Sara (Emanuel's
H
stepmother) had died on March 3rd 1720, and the
mausoleum had actually been prepared for her. Her
husband the Bishop had lived for another fifteen years,
which he had spent with his third wife, Christina
Arrhusia, who survived him. But Jesper had left
instructions that he should occupy the mausoleum with
Sara No. 2. He had characteristically written a detailed
account indicating how his own funeral should be
conducted: who should carry the coffin, the funeral
oration, and so on. So, when hedid actuallydie, in 1735,
aged 82, his instructions were carried out to the letter.
Christina had his body put in the mausoleum with Sara,
and the inscription was sim ply left as it was, although it
implies, quite falsely, that the Bishop and his second
The author standing on the steps of the
mausoleum at Varnhem, containing the remains
48
of Bishop Jesper 5wedberg. Emanuel's father.