e legend of
his life will bring ceaseless tears; his sufferings will soften the best
hearts; all the ages will proclaim that amongst the sons of men none has
been born who is greater than Jesus.

* * * * *

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

HEAVEN AND HELL

Emanuel Swedenborg, author of a strange system of mystical
theology, was of Swedish nationality and was born at Stockholm
on January 29, 1688. He was educated at Upsala, and after
travelling for several years in Western Europe was appointed
to a post in the Swedish College of Mines. Thenceforth, until
he was 55 years of age, Swedenborg pursued, with equal
industry and ingenuity, the career of a man of science, doing
valuable work in mathematics, astronomy, navigation,
engineering, chemistry, and especially in mining and
metallurgy. These inquiries were followed by studies in
philosophy and anatomy and physiology. But about the year 1744
certain visions and other mystical experiences began to take
hold of his mind, and three years later Swedenborg had come to
regard himself as the medium of a new revelation of divine
truth. His message, or theory, or vision, was first
promulgated in the eight quarto volumes of the "Heavenly
Arcana," published in London from 1749 to 1756, and this was
followed by "Heaven and Hell," 1758, the work now before us,
the full title of which is "Heaven and Its Wonders, the World
of Spirits, and Hell: described by one who had heard and seen
what he relates," and several other apocalyptic books, all of
which were written in Latin. The main features of Swedenborg's
theology were a strong emphasis on the divinity of Christ, the
proclamation of the immediate advent of the "New Jerusalem,"
foretold by the seer of Patmos, and the conception of
correspondences between the natural, spiritual, and mental
worlds. His followers, known as Swedenborgians, or more
properly as "The New Church signified by the New Jerusalem in
the Revelation," are widely spread but not very numerous, in
England and in the United States. Swedenborg died in London on
March 29, 1772.

_I.--OF HEAVEN_

The first thing necessary to be known is, who is the God of heaven; for
everything else depends on this. In the universal heaven, no other is
acknowledged for its God, but the Lord Alone; th