Posthumous Theological Works Volume 1

Posthumous Theological Works EMANUEL SWEDENBORG Volume 1 Translated from the Original Latin by John Whitehead STANDARD EDITION SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION West Chester, Pennsylvania © 2009 Swedenborg Foundation This version was compiled from electronic files of the Standard Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg as further edited by William Ross Woofenden. Pagination of this PDF document does not match that of the corresponding printed volumes, and any page references within this text may not be accurate. However, most if not all of the numerical references herein are not to page numbers but to Swedenborg’s section numbers, which are not affected by changes in pagination. If this work appears both separately and as part of a larger volume file, its pagination follows that of the larger volume in both cases. This version has not been proofed against the original, and occasional errors in conversion may remain. To purchase the full set of the Redesigned Standard Edition of Emanuel Swedenborg’s works, or the available volumes of the latest translation (the New Century Edition of the Works of Emanuel Swedenborg), contact the Swedenborg Foundation at 1-800-355-3222, www.swedenborg.com, or 320 North Church Street, West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380. Contents Editor’s Preface Translator’s Preface Autobiographical Letters of Emanuel Swedenborg Coronis or Appendix to True Christian Religion The Consummation of the Age, the Lord’s Second Coming, and the New Church Invitation to the New Church Additions to True Christian Religion Canons of the New Church The Doctrine of Charity Sketch of Ecclesiastical History of the New Church Concerning the Sacred Scripture or the Word of the Lord from Experience (De Verbo) Index to the Word of the Lord from Experience Last Judgment (Posthumous) POSTHUMOUS THEOLOGICAL WORKS 1 Editor’s Preface This first volume of Swedenborg’s Posthumous Theological Works, along with volume 2, was first published in 1914. At that time John Whitehead, the editor and translator of the two-volume set, called attention in his preface to several situations that have since changed; for instance that the full text of the marginal notes to Swedenborg’s Schmidt’s Latin Bible (1696) was not available for use in his edition. This latter omission was taken care of in another way in 1917 when The Schmidius Marginalia together with the Expository Material of the Index Biblicus of Swedenborg, translated and edited by E. E. Iungerich, was published by the Academy of the New Church. In this present edition of volume 1, the several minor works Whitehead had (for some unknown reason) appended to Last Judgment (Posthumous) as well as the extracts from Swedenborg’s correspondence and the brief treatise Gad and Asher have been moved to volume 2. This was done to avoid confusion and also in order to make the two volumes more nearly the same size, as two of the extensive editorial word indexes, the brief bibliography of Swedenborg’s works, and the index of Swedenborg’s works published by the American Swedenborg Printing and Publishing Society have been omitted, being neither accurate nor relevant to today’s reader. William Ross Woofenden Sharon, Massachusetts POSTHUMOUS THEOLOGICAL WORKS 2 Translator’s Preface These volumes of posthumous theological works of Swedenborg include a number of smaller works, which have never before been brought together in a form convenient for use. Most of them have been published in book or pamphlet form. Some have appeared only in magazines, notably Last Judgment (Posthumous). A few minor parts have not previously been translated into English. Included are a number of extracts from Swedenborg’s correspondence. Among these are two autobiographical letters of Swedenborg which are prefixed to this volume. Those at the end of the second volume are taken from Documents concerning Swedenborg, collected, edited, and translated by Rudolph L. Tafel. The originals of these documents are not at present available for use in revising the translation. Most of them are in the Library of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm. We have used the translation made by Dr. Tafel. These theological extracts throw much light on several important doctrines. They have been classified and arranged according to the subjects. Arrangements are now [1914] being made for copying all the original documents concerning Swedenborg, including many new documents which have recently been discovered by Mr. Alfred H. Stroh during his work of phototyping the manuscripts of Swedenborg and his investigations of Swedenborgiana in Sweden and other countries. When this copying is completed, it will be possible to revise Dr. Tafel’s translation of the documents by comparison with the originals. More material of a theological character may also be found in these new documents which can be incorporated in future editions of these volumes of posthumous theological works. Any suggestions looking toward rendering the same complete, including the perfecting of the text and translation, will be welcomed by the publishers. In the arrangement of the treatises, those of a similar nature have been brought together. Many of them are fragmentary, never having been completed by Swedenborg, notably Coronis and the POSTHUMOUS THEOLOGICAL WORKS 3 small works grouped with it. These were evidently separate sketches intended as parts of the larger work not completed by Swedenborg. The manuscripts of most of these treatises have not been preserved. The testimony indicates that a portion of the manuscript of Coronis was lost while it was in the possession of Husband Messiter, who took it from Swedenborg’s rooms in London during his last illness. The part preserved was printed in Latin a few years after Swedenborg’s death, and an English translation was also printed about the same time. A copy of Coronis made by Augustus Nordenskjöld has recently been found by Stroh; but we have not been able to secure a copy for comparison with the present Latin text. The Tafel Latin text of Last Judgment (Posthumous), and of some of the minor treatises has been compared with the photolithograph manuscript; also the indexes to the missing treatise on marriage. A number of errors in the former texts have been corrected. These manuscripts are very difficult to decipher in many places, they being in the form of notes intended by Swedenborg for his own use. It is regretted that the full text of the marginal notes to Swedenborg’s Latin Schmidius’ Bible are not available for use in this edition. The printer of the photolithograph of that work in some unexplained way omitted the text of the two books of Samuel. These are to be phototyped, and it is expected that when the notes have been transcribed and translated, they will be added to a future edition of Posthumous Theological Works. John Whitehead Autobiographical Letters of Emanuel Swedenborg Contents 1. Answer to a letter written to me by a friend (Swedenborg to Rev. Thomas Hartley) 2. My early youth (Swedenborg to Dr. Gabriel Beyer) AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL LETTERS 4 Autobiographical Letters 1. Answer to a letter written to me by a friend A letter from Swedenborg to the Rev. Thomas Hartley1 I rejoice at the friendship which you manifest in your letter; and I thank you sincerely for both, but especially for your friendship. The praises with which you overwhelm me, I receive simply as expressions of your love for the truths contained in my writings; and I refer them, as their source, to the Lord, our savior, from whom is everything true, because he is the truth itself (John 14:6). I have considered chiefly the remarks you make at the close of your letter, where you express yourself as follows: “If, perchance, after your departure from England, your writings should be the subject of discussion, and occasion should arise for defending you, their author, against some malignant slanderer, who may wish to injure your reputation by a web of falsehoods—as those are in the habit of doing who hate the truth—would it not be well for you, in order to repel such slanderers, to leave with me some particulars respecting yourself, your degrees in the university, the public offices you have filled, your friends and relations, the honors which, I am told, have been conferred upon you, and anything else that might be useful in establishing your good name, so that ill-conceived prejudices may be removed; for it is our duty to use all lawful means lest the cause of truth should suffer injury.” After reflecting on this, I have been led to yield to your friendly advice, and will now communicate to you some particulars of my life, which are briefly as follows: I was born at Stockholm on the 29th of January in the year 1689.2 My father, Jesper Swedberg, was bishop of West Gothland, 1. Rev. Thomas Hartley, A.M., a friend of Swedenborg, and one of the first receivers of his doctrines, was a clergyman of the Church of England, and rector of Winwick, Northamptonshire. The letter asking for particulars respecting Swedenborg’s life, to which the above is a reply, was written August 2, 1769. (See Documents Concerning Swedenborg, Vol. 1, pp. 3–5, 6–9.) [—Translator] AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL LETTERS 5 and a man of celebrity in his time. He was also elected and enrolled as a member of the English Society for the Propagation of the Gospel; for he had been appointed by King Charles XII bishop over the Swedish churches in Pennsylvania, and also over the church in London. In the year 1710 I went abroad. I proceeded first to England, and afterwards to Holland, France, and Germany, and returned home in the year 1714.3 In the year 1716, and also afterwards, I had many conversations with Charles XII, king of Sweden, who greatly favored me, and in the same year appointed me to the office of assessor in the College of Mines, which office I filled until the year 1747, when I resigned it, retaining, however, the salary of the office during my life.

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