CHAPTER XXIX.

CHAPTER XXIX.Last Days on Earth.

Last Days on Earth.

On Christmas eve, 1771, a stroke of apoplexy deprived Swedenborg of his speech, and lamed one side. He lay afterwards in a lethargic state for more than three weeks, taking no sustenance beyond a little tea without milk, and cold water occasionally, and once a little currant jelly. At the end of that time, he recovered his speech and health somewhat, and ate and drank as usual. Mr. Hartley and Dr. Messiter at this time visited him, and asking him if he was comforted with the society of angels, as before, he answered that he was. They then asked him to declare whether all that he had written was strictly true, or whether any part or parts were to be excepted. “I have written,” answered Swedenborg, with a degree of warmth, “nothing but the truth, as you will have more and more confirmed to you all the days of your life, provided you keep close to the Lord, and faithfully serve Him alone, by shunning evils of all kinds as sins against Him, and diligently searching His Word, which, from beginning to end, bears incontestable witness to the truth of the doctrines I have delivered to the world.”

At this time Swedenborg seemed to love privacy, and saw but little company. His old friend, Springer, the Swedish Consul in London, called upon him a week or two before his decease. Springer asked him when he believed that the New Jerusalem, or the New Church of the Lord, would bemanifested, and if this manifestation would take place in the four quarters of the world. Swedenborg replied: “No mortal can declare the time, no, not even the celestial angels; it is known solely to the Lord. Read the Revelation, chapter xxi. 2, and Zechariah, chapter xiv. 9, and you will find that it is not to be doubted that the New Jerusalem, mentioned in the Apocalypse, which denotes a new and purer state of the Christian Church, than has hitherto existed, will manifest itself to all the earth.”

About this time, says Springer, Swedenborg told him that his spiritual sight was withdrawn, after he had been favored with it for so long a course of years. This, of which the world knew nothing, and for which it cared nothing, it was the greatest affliction to him to lose. He could not endure the blindness, but cried out repeatedly, “O my God! hast thou then forsaken thy servant at last?” He continued for several days in this condition, but it was the last of his trials: he recovered his precious sight, and was happy.

About this time he wrote a note, in Latin, to the Rev. John Wesley, to the following effect:—

“Great Bath Street, Cold Bath Fields,February, 1772.“Sir,—I have been informed, in the world of spirits, that you have a strong desire to converse with me. I shall be happy to see you, if you will favor me with a visit.“I am, sir, your humble servant,“Emanuel Swedenborg.”

“Great Bath Street, Cold Bath Fields,February, 1772.

“Sir,—I have been informed, in the world of spirits, that you have a strong desire to converse with me. I shall be happy to see you, if you will favor me with a visit.

“I am, sir, your humble servant,

“Emanuel Swedenborg.”

When the note was handed to Mr. Wesley, he was in company with some of his preachers, arranging their preaching circuits for the year. Wesley read the note aloud, and frankly confessed that he had been strongly actuated by a desire to meet Swedenborg, but he had revealed his wish to no one. He wrote for answer, that he was then occupied in preparing for a six months’ journey, but would wait uponSwedenborg on his return to London. Swedenborg, in reply, stated that the proposed visit would be too late, as he should go into the world of spirits on the 29th day of the next month, (March,) never more to return. Wesley did not call, and they never met. Had he been wise, he would; in spite of engagements, have embraced this opportunity of conversing with that wonderful man, after an invitation of such a character. Had they met, Methodism might have been a different thing from what it is. But let us believe that all such seeming accidents are overruled for the best.

The authority for this anecdote is the Rev. Samuel Smith, a Methodist preacher, who was present when Wesley received Swedenborg’s letter. It excited his curiosity to know something of the writings of so remarkable a man; and the result was, a firm conviction of the rationality and truth of the heavenly doctrine promulgated in them, and a zealous activity in their diffusion, throughout the remainder of his life.

Mr. Bergstrom, the landlord of the King’s Arms tavern in Wellclose square, at whose house Swedenborg had once lodged, called to see him in his last days. Swedenborg told him, that since it had pleased the Lord to take away the use of his arm by palsy, his body was good for nothing but to be put under ground. Mr. Bergstrom asked him whether he would receive the Sacrament. Somebody present at the time proposed sending for the Rev. Mr. Mathesius, a minister of the Swedish Church. Swedenborg at once declined having that gentleman, for he had sent abroad a report that Swedenborg was out of his senses. (Mathesius himself, in later years, became deranged.) The Rev. Arvid Ferelius, another Swedish clergyman, with whom Swedenborg was on the best terms, and who had visited him frequently in his illness, was then sent for. Ferelius observed to him, that “as many persons thought he had endeavored only to makehimself a name, or acquire celebrity in the world, by the publication of his new theological system, he should now be ready, in order to show justice to the world, to recant either the whole or a part of what he had written, since he had now nothing more to expect from the world which he was so soon to leave forever.” Upon hearing these words, Swedenborg raised himself half upright in his bed, and placing his sound hand upon his breast, said, with great zeal and emphasis, “As true as you see me before you, so true is everything which I have written. I could say more, were I permitted. When you come into eternity, you will see all things as I have stated and described them; and we shall have much discourse about them with each other.” Ferelius then asked him if he would take the Lord’s Holy Supper. He replied, “You mean well, but I, being a member of the other world, do not need it. However, to show the connection and union between the church in heaven and the church on earth, I will gladly take it.” He then asked Ferelius if he had read his views on the Sacrament. Before administering the Sacrament, Ferelius inquired whether he confessed himself to be a sinner. “Certainly,” said Swedenborg, “so long as I carry about with me this sinful body.” With deep and affecting devotion, with folded hands, and with his head uncovered, he confessed his own unworthiness, and received the Holy Supper. He then presented Ferelius with a copy of his Arcana Cœlestia, expressing his gratitude to him for his kind attentions.

He knew that his end was near. He told the people of the house on what day he should die, and Shearsmith’s servant remarked, “he was as pleased as I should have been, if I was going to have a holiday, or going to some merrymaking.”

His faculties were clear to the last. On Sunday, the 29th day of March, 1772, hearing the clock strike, he asked hislandlady and her maid, who were both sitting at his bed-side, what o’clock it was; and upon being answered it was five o’clock, he said, “It is well; I thank you; God bless you;” and in a little moment after, he gently departed. He was then 84 years, 8 weeks, and five days, old.

His body was taken to the undertaker’s, where it lay in state; and then was, on the 5th day of April, deposited in three coffins, in the vault of the Swedish Church, in Prince’s square, Radcliffe Highway, with all the ceremonies of the Lutheran faith,—the service being performed by the Rev. Arvid Ferelius.

There the body still lies. No stone, or inscription marks the spot. Swedenborg of all men, least requires monumental commemoration. Every year enshrines his memory in increasing numbers of grateful hearts;—grateful to him, as a medium, whereby the Infinite Wisdom and Goodness might reach its end in blessing mankind by the advent of spiritual truth, and leading them within the gates of the Holy City, New Jerusalem.

FOOTNOTES[1]The following account of Charles XII., written by Emanuel Swedenborg, was printed in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” for September, 1754. It is a portion of a letter which Swedenborg wrote to M. Nordberg, while the latter was engaged in writing his “Life of Charles XII.,” in which work the letter appeared at full length. It is too long to be quoted here; the following extracts contain the pith of it. It may be proper to observe, that it was written by the author prior to his being called to the sacred office which occupied the last twenty-nine years of his life. This accounts for his speaking of the celebrated Swedish hero with so much greater respect than he is known to have afterwards entertained for his memory.“Having been frequently admitted to the honor of hearing his late most excellent Majesty, Charles XII. discourse on mathematical subjects, I presume an account of a new arithmetic invented by him, may merit the attention of my readers.“His Majesty observed then, that the denary arithmetic, universally received and practiced, was most probably derived from the original method of counting on the fingers; that illiterate people of old, when they had run through the fingers of both hands, repeated new periods over and over again, and every time spread open both hands; which being done ten times, they distinguished each step by proper marks, as by joining two, three, or four fingers. Afterwards, when this method of numeration on the fingers came to be expressed by proper characters, it soon became firmly and universally established, and so the denary calculus has been retained to this day. But surely, were a solid geometrician, thoroughly versed in the abstract nature and fundamentals of numbers, to set his mind upon introducing a still more useful calculus into the world, instead of ten, he would select such a perfect square, or cube number, as by continual bisection, or halving, would at length terminate in unity, and be better adapted to the subdivisions of measures, weights, coins, etc.“Thus intent on a new arithmetic, the hero pitched upon the number eight, as most fit for the purpose, since it could not only be halved continually down to unity, without a fraction, but contained within it the square of 2, and was itself the cube thereof, and was also applicable to the received denomination of several sorts of weights and coins, rising to 16 and 32, the double and quadruple of 8. Upon these first considerations, he was pleased to command me to draw up an essay on an octonary calculus, which I completed in a few days, with its application to the received divisions, coins, measures, and weights, a disquisition on cubes and squares, and a new and easy way of extracting roots, all illustrated with examples.“His Majesty having cast his eye twice or thrice over it, and observing, perhaps from some hints in the essay, that the denary calculus had several advantages not always attended to, he did not at that time seem absolutely to approve of the octonary: or, it is likely he might conceive, that though it seemed easy in theory, yet it might prove difficult to introduce it to practice. Be this as it may, he insisted on fixing upon some other that was both a cube and a square number, referrible to 8, and divisible down to unity by bisection. This could be no other than 64, the cube of 4, and square of 8, divisible down to unity without a fraction.“I immediately presumed to object that such a number would be too prolix, as it rises through a series of entirely distinct and different numbers, up to 64, and then again to its duplicate 4,096, and on to its triplicate 262,144, before the fourth step commences; so that the difficulty of such a calculus would be incredible, not only in addition and subtraction, but to a still higher degree in multiplication and division; for the memory must necessarily retain in the multiplication table, 3,969 distinct products of the 63 numbers of the first step multiplied into one another; whereas only 49 are necessary in the octonary, and but 81 are required in the denary arithmetic; which last is difficult to be remembered and applied in practice, by some capacities. But the stronger my objections were, the more resolute was his royal mind upon attempting such a calculus.Obstructions made him eagerly aspireAll to surmount, and nobly soar the higher.He insisted that the alleged difficulties might be overbalanced by very many advantages.“A few days after this I was called before his Majesty, who, resuming the subject, demanded if I had made a trial. I still urging my former objections, he reached me a paper written with his own hand, in new characters and terms of denomination, the perusal of which, he was pleased, at my entreaty, to grant me; wherein, to my great surprise, I found not only new characters and numbers, (the one almost naturally expressive of the other) in a continued series to 64, so ranged as easily to be remembered, but also new denominations, so contrived by pairs, as to be easily extended to myriads by a continued variation of the character and denomination. And further casting my eye on several new methods of his for addition and multiplication by this calculus, either artificially contrived, or else inherent in the characters of the numbers themselves, I was struck with the profoundest admiration of the force of his Majesty’s genius, and with such strange amazement, as obliged me to esteem this eminent personage, not my rival, but by far my superior in my own art. And having the original still in my custody, at a proper time I may publish it, as it highly deserves; whereby it will appear with what discerning skill he was endowed, or how deeply he penetrated into the obscurest recesses of the arithmetical science.“Besides, his eminent talents in calculation further appear by his frequently working and solving the most difficult numerical problems, barely by thought and memory; in which operations others are obliged to take great pains and tedious labor.“Having duly weighed the vast advantages arising from mathematical and arithmetical knowledge in most occasions of human life, he frequently used it as an adage, thathe who is ignorant of numbers is scarce half a man.“While he was at Bender, he composed a complete volume of military exercises, highly esteemed by those who are best skilled in the art of war.”[2]The bookseller referred to was Mr. Bohn, of Henrietta street, Covent Garden.[3]It is not to be supposed that this time was wasted in sleep. In his meditations and spiritual intercourse, he, no doubt, loved the seclusion of his quiet chamber.[4]This is quite a mistake. His work he had in contemplation for some years. It is probable the revisal, alterations, and additions in the MS and in the proofs, led Paulus into this misconception.

FOOTNOTES

[1]The following account of Charles XII., written by Emanuel Swedenborg, was printed in the “Gentleman’s Magazine,” for September, 1754. It is a portion of a letter which Swedenborg wrote to M. Nordberg, while the latter was engaged in writing his “Life of Charles XII.,” in which work the letter appeared at full length. It is too long to be quoted here; the following extracts contain the pith of it. It may be proper to observe, that it was written by the author prior to his being called to the sacred office which occupied the last twenty-nine years of his life. This accounts for his speaking of the celebrated Swedish hero with so much greater respect than he is known to have afterwards entertained for his memory.“Having been frequently admitted to the honor of hearing his late most excellent Majesty, Charles XII. discourse on mathematical subjects, I presume an account of a new arithmetic invented by him, may merit the attention of my readers.“His Majesty observed then, that the denary arithmetic, universally received and practiced, was most probably derived from the original method of counting on the fingers; that illiterate people of old, when they had run through the fingers of both hands, repeated new periods over and over again, and every time spread open both hands; which being done ten times, they distinguished each step by proper marks, as by joining two, three, or four fingers. Afterwards, when this method of numeration on the fingers came to be expressed by proper characters, it soon became firmly and universally established, and so the denary calculus has been retained to this day. But surely, were a solid geometrician, thoroughly versed in the abstract nature and fundamentals of numbers, to set his mind upon introducing a still more useful calculus into the world, instead of ten, he would select such a perfect square, or cube number, as by continual bisection, or halving, would at length terminate in unity, and be better adapted to the subdivisions of measures, weights, coins, etc.“Thus intent on a new arithmetic, the hero pitched upon the number eight, as most fit for the purpose, since it could not only be halved continually down to unity, without a fraction, but contained within it the square of 2, and was itself the cube thereof, and was also applicable to the received denomination of several sorts of weights and coins, rising to 16 and 32, the double and quadruple of 8. Upon these first considerations, he was pleased to command me to draw up an essay on an octonary calculus, which I completed in a few days, with its application to the received divisions, coins, measures, and weights, a disquisition on cubes and squares, and a new and easy way of extracting roots, all illustrated with examples.“His Majesty having cast his eye twice or thrice over it, and observing, perhaps from some hints in the essay, that the denary calculus had several advantages not always attended to, he did not at that time seem absolutely to approve of the octonary: or, it is likely he might conceive, that though it seemed easy in theory, yet it might prove difficult to introduce it to practice. Be this as it may, he insisted on fixing upon some other that was both a cube and a square number, referrible to 8, and divisible down to unity by bisection. This could be no other than 64, the cube of 4, and square of 8, divisible down to unity without a fraction.“I immediately presumed to object that such a number would be too prolix, as it rises through a series of entirely distinct and different numbers, up to 64, and then again to its duplicate 4,096, and on to its triplicate 262,144, before the fourth step commences; so that the difficulty of such a calculus would be incredible, not only in addition and subtraction, but to a still higher degree in multiplication and division; for the memory must necessarily retain in the multiplication table, 3,969 distinct products of the 63 numbers of the first step multiplied into one another; whereas only 49 are necessary in the octonary, and but 81 are required in the denary arithmetic; which last is difficult to be remembered and applied in practice, by some capacities. But the stronger my objections were, the more resolute was his royal mind upon attempting such a calculus.Obstructions made him eagerly aspireAll to surmount, and nobly soar the higher.He insisted that the alleged difficulties might be overbalanced by very many advantages.“A few days after this I was called before his Majesty, who, resuming the subject, demanded if I had made a trial. I still urging my former objections, he reached me a paper written with his own hand, in new characters and terms of denomination, the perusal of which, he was pleased, at my entreaty, to grant me; wherein, to my great surprise, I found not only new characters and numbers, (the one almost naturally expressive of the other) in a continued series to 64, so ranged as easily to be remembered, but also new denominations, so contrived by pairs, as to be easily extended to myriads by a continued variation of the character and denomination. And further casting my eye on several new methods of his for addition and multiplication by this calculus, either artificially contrived, or else inherent in the characters of the numbers themselves, I was struck with the profoundest admiration of the force of his Majesty’s genius, and with such strange amazement, as obliged me to esteem this eminent personage, not my rival, but by far my superior in my own art. And having the original still in my custody, at a proper time I may publish it, as it highly deserves; whereby it will appear with what discerning skill he was endowed, or how deeply he penetrated into the obscurest recesses of the arithmetical science.“Besides, his eminent talents in calculation further appear by his frequently working and solving the most difficult numerical problems, barely by thought and memory; in which operations others are obliged to take great pains and tedious labor.“Having duly weighed the vast advantages arising from mathematical and arithmetical knowledge in most occasions of human life, he frequently used it as an adage, thathe who is ignorant of numbers is scarce half a man.“While he was at Bender, he composed a complete volume of military exercises, highly esteemed by those who are best skilled in the art of war.”

“Having been frequently admitted to the honor of hearing his late most excellent Majesty, Charles XII. discourse on mathematical subjects, I presume an account of a new arithmetic invented by him, may merit the attention of my readers.

“His Majesty observed then, that the denary arithmetic, universally received and practiced, was most probably derived from the original method of counting on the fingers; that illiterate people of old, when they had run through the fingers of both hands, repeated new periods over and over again, and every time spread open both hands; which being done ten times, they distinguished each step by proper marks, as by joining two, three, or four fingers. Afterwards, when this method of numeration on the fingers came to be expressed by proper characters, it soon became firmly and universally established, and so the denary calculus has been retained to this day. But surely, were a solid geometrician, thoroughly versed in the abstract nature and fundamentals of numbers, to set his mind upon introducing a still more useful calculus into the world, instead of ten, he would select such a perfect square, or cube number, as by continual bisection, or halving, would at length terminate in unity, and be better adapted to the subdivisions of measures, weights, coins, etc.

“Thus intent on a new arithmetic, the hero pitched upon the number eight, as most fit for the purpose, since it could not only be halved continually down to unity, without a fraction, but contained within it the square of 2, and was itself the cube thereof, and was also applicable to the received denomination of several sorts of weights and coins, rising to 16 and 32, the double and quadruple of 8. Upon these first considerations, he was pleased to command me to draw up an essay on an octonary calculus, which I completed in a few days, with its application to the received divisions, coins, measures, and weights, a disquisition on cubes and squares, and a new and easy way of extracting roots, all illustrated with examples.

“His Majesty having cast his eye twice or thrice over it, and observing, perhaps from some hints in the essay, that the denary calculus had several advantages not always attended to, he did not at that time seem absolutely to approve of the octonary: or, it is likely he might conceive, that though it seemed easy in theory, yet it might prove difficult to introduce it to practice. Be this as it may, he insisted on fixing upon some other that was both a cube and a square number, referrible to 8, and divisible down to unity by bisection. This could be no other than 64, the cube of 4, and square of 8, divisible down to unity without a fraction.

“I immediately presumed to object that such a number would be too prolix, as it rises through a series of entirely distinct and different numbers, up to 64, and then again to its duplicate 4,096, and on to its triplicate 262,144, before the fourth step commences; so that the difficulty of such a calculus would be incredible, not only in addition and subtraction, but to a still higher degree in multiplication and division; for the memory must necessarily retain in the multiplication table, 3,969 distinct products of the 63 numbers of the first step multiplied into one another; whereas only 49 are necessary in the octonary, and but 81 are required in the denary arithmetic; which last is difficult to be remembered and applied in practice, by some capacities. But the stronger my objections were, the more resolute was his royal mind upon attempting such a calculus.

Obstructions made him eagerly aspireAll to surmount, and nobly soar the higher.

Obstructions made him eagerly aspire

All to surmount, and nobly soar the higher.

He insisted that the alleged difficulties might be overbalanced by very many advantages.

“A few days after this I was called before his Majesty, who, resuming the subject, demanded if I had made a trial. I still urging my former objections, he reached me a paper written with his own hand, in new characters and terms of denomination, the perusal of which, he was pleased, at my entreaty, to grant me; wherein, to my great surprise, I found not only new characters and numbers, (the one almost naturally expressive of the other) in a continued series to 64, so ranged as easily to be remembered, but also new denominations, so contrived by pairs, as to be easily extended to myriads by a continued variation of the character and denomination. And further casting my eye on several new methods of his for addition and multiplication by this calculus, either artificially contrived, or else inherent in the characters of the numbers themselves, I was struck with the profoundest admiration of the force of his Majesty’s genius, and with such strange amazement, as obliged me to esteem this eminent personage, not my rival, but by far my superior in my own art. And having the original still in my custody, at a proper time I may publish it, as it highly deserves; whereby it will appear with what discerning skill he was endowed, or how deeply he penetrated into the obscurest recesses of the arithmetical science.

“Besides, his eminent talents in calculation further appear by his frequently working and solving the most difficult numerical problems, barely by thought and memory; in which operations others are obliged to take great pains and tedious labor.

“Having duly weighed the vast advantages arising from mathematical and arithmetical knowledge in most occasions of human life, he frequently used it as an adage, thathe who is ignorant of numbers is scarce half a man.

“While he was at Bender, he composed a complete volume of military exercises, highly esteemed by those who are best skilled in the art of war.”

[2]The bookseller referred to was Mr. Bohn, of Henrietta street, Covent Garden.

[3]It is not to be supposed that this time was wasted in sleep. In his meditations and spiritual intercourse, he, no doubt, loved the seclusion of his quiet chamber.

[4]This is quite a mistake. His work he had in contemplation for some years. It is probable the revisal, alterations, and additions in the MS and in the proofs, led Paulus into this misconception.

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