infernal serpent be destroyed, with all its poisonous brood, and we shall be enabled to fulfil the divine precept, "Delight thyself in the Lord."

PROFESSOR GÖRRES AND SWEDENBORG.

THE attention of the public, in every part of Europe and in America, is now powerfully attracted to Swedenborg and his important claims as a writer on theology and philosophy. Men of every religious denomination, and men of celebrity in science, are beginning to pay some attention to the most important writer that has ever appeared in the history of human knowledge. We greatly rejoice that the author, whose writings are intended to be so eminently useful to mankind, is thus emerging from the obscurity in which prejudice and bigotry have so long endeavoured to conceal him. And we augur well for the gradual improvement and elevation of the human mind, in proportion as we see the works-especially the theological works-of Swedenborg brought before the public by the distinguished literary characters of the present time. Görres, we believe, is a Professor of Roman Catholic Theology at one of the German universities. He is a man of influence in his sphere, and is held in great esteem by a wide circle of admirers. During the progress of the Latin and German edition of Swedenborg's works, Professor Görres was induced to look into his writings, and to lay the results of his examination before the public. We have not met with the pamphlet in which the Professor has expressed his sentiments concerning Swedenborg and his writings; but we possess copious extracts from it in the "German Magazine for the True Christian Religion," &c. edited by Dr. Tafel, of Tübingen. Of course, Professor Görres does not admit the theology of Swedenborg,-since that would be to deny the Romish Church and its dogmas; nor does he attempt to confute the doctrines of the New Jerusalem. But it will be seen that he has gone as far as a Roman Catholic divine could go, consistently with the position which he occupies, in awakening public attention to the writings of Swedenborg.

Amongst the signs of the present time (says the Professor) must, without doubt, be numbered the new edition of Swedenborg's works, and the movement which, in certain places, is caused by the doctrines he unfolds. Most persons who have only read that portion of his writings to which they have had access, might feel disposed to consider them as the results of a mind involved in an inextricable maze, or bordering even on infatuation; some also may be disposed to consider them as the product of wilful deception. Others, milder in their judgment, explain, as Herder did, the enigmatical appearance on the ground of a powerfully creative imagination, which,

actuated by strong impulses become at length habitual, generates in science as in poetry, wonderful images of a spiritualizing enchantment which sports in the weakened memory of age with the lively visions of youth, and which the incautious senses assume for the actual and real perceptions of intellect; and in this manner objective truth is unconsciously falsified by the subjective, self-derived productions of the mind. The case of Swedenborg, however, is not so easily settled as this twofold mode of explanation supposes. Swedenborg was not a man to be carried away by an unbridled imagination, still less did he ever manifest, during his whole life, the slightest symptom of mental aberration. His natural disposition was tranquil, equal, thoughtful, meditative; as is the case with most of his Swedish countrymen, the powers of his understanding were preponderating, and he had carefully nourished and cultivated them, devoted, during the greatest part of his life, to unremitted studies. It is therefore not to be supposed, that he in this gross manner, with wakeful eyes, deceived himself, and that what in one moment he himself thought, in another regarded as chimerical. On the other hand, he was in life and disposition so blameless, that no man dare ever intimate any suspicion of concerted deception; and posterity have no right to call into question the unsuspected testimony of those who lived in the same age as Swedenborg, and who knew him well; if this mode of judgment be permitted, all historical evidence, even the holiest and most venerable, might be reduced to nothing. If it be permitted to say of a man, to whose veracity, intelligence, science, irreproachable conduct, presence of mind, and fidelity to truth, his cotemporaries bear testimony-if it be permitted for posterity to say that such a man had either imprudently deceived himself and the world, or had knowingly dealt in mere falsehood and lies, there is an end to the verification of historical events. * * * The appearance of Swedenborg as a seer of spirits, who, like the northern light of his own country, darting its luminous rays high up into the atmosphere cleared by the winter's cold, has mysteriously shone forth from the clearness of the most sober understanding, with a higher light,—this appearance must be more profoundly considered, and explained on principles more general than have hitherto been adopted," &c.

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In relation to Swedenborg's Principia, &c., the Professor says:

66 Swedenborg in this work lays down the results of his scientific researches during the course of his previous life,-results which he afterwards, in his Essay concerning the Infinite, only extended, and which he carried over from the province of the natural into the province of the spiritual.”

We must here observe, that Professor Görres commits the same mistake which has been sometimes committed by others, who have written too rashly concerning Swedenborg, before they had properly understood his position as a writer on spiritual subjects, and before they had properly studied his writings. What Swedenborg wrote on theological and spiritual subjects was not the outgrowth of his science and philosophy; he did not carry the latter over into the former. But what he wrote from 1745 to 1771, was the result of an especial spiritual illumination, and not the deductions of natural philosophy. The Professor continues :

66 'Indefatigable in meditating over the wonderful phenomena in the created world; constantly occupied in exploring those laws, in which the manifold variety of these

phenomena is comprised, Swedenborg endeavoured to penetrate the deepest depths of natural philosophy. He was guided in his researches by a mind clear, acutely analytic, endowed with skill, and well dssciplined by mathematicks and logic. He endeavoured to raise the mind to that height from which the first created germ, acted upon by the creative spirit and power, might be contemplated, and from which the first buds, [or principles] of things might be seen growing from the impulsive force which God has implanted in their nature."

After this the Professor endeavours to give an analysis of the work, which, however, is not quite correct; he then proceeds :

"It may hence be seen that this is a well-constructed system of dynamics, logically derived from the laws of magnetism; and that the manner in which he proceeds in the development of his principles is the algebraical. The work, whatever may

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be still wanting to render it complete, will always be considered as a beautiful and bold production of the human mind,—a production indicative of profound thought in all its parts, and not unworthy of being placed on the side of Newton's mathematical Principia of Natural Philosophy.

"Swedenbrog had, indeed, not the brilliant genius of the Englishman, who, with a lucky cast [of the die,] always hit upon the right and the true; instead of which, however, he had a deeply penetrating sagacity, and a great and clear understanding, endowed with an indefatigable power of thought, which never ceased until he had sounded and explored his subject in all its depths. Swedenborg had not the skill in managing geometrical formula, which the founder of the doctrine of gravitation possessed in so high a degree; but he kept himself entirely free from the ludicrous fear of deviating from old paths in philosophy, and he rather endeavoured to direct the whole of his efforts to place metaphysics in the province of mathematics, and to make the former a visible object of contemplation (anschauung). In conducting experiments, Swedenborg was diligent, precise, attentive, and trustworthy; although he may be wanting in that elegance which makes Newton's work on optics a finished work of art [or of scientific skill]. And whilst a greater depth of speculation characterizes the work of the Swede, that of the Briton is marked by a more widely-extended surface, and is more richly furnished. Hence it is that the work of the former has been hitherto passed over in silence in the history of science, without making any great impression; whereas that of Newton's, owing to the manifold practical results which have attended it, has formed an epoch in the history of human knowledge. The work of Swedenborg, however, contains, no doubt, a rich treasure of enlarged and profound observations on nature. Many of the ideas unfolded in that work, are, on the one hand, connected with the oldest philosophy, and have, on the other, since Swedenborg's time, been most wonderfully confirmed through the investigations which Herschel has made into the structure of the heavens, and by the discovery of the polarization of light, and of the magnetic operations performed by the galvanic battery. His spiral motion, which extends to every province in nature, into organic structures and their operations, and even into history, is an extremely appropriate expression by which numerous phenomena can be easily comprehended; and it might, in the hand of a person skilled in analysis, be made as fruitful in physics as the doctrine of gravitation has been for astronomy."

What the Professor here states respecting E. S., as a natural philosopher-placing him in the same class with Newton, as an extensive and accurate observer of nature, and as a profound thinker on all her

phenomena is certainly honourable to his scientific character, and should induce the world of science to investigate his works. That Newton's great province was mathematics is well known; and it should also be known that Swedenborg had the honour of introducing the differential calculus into his country,—that he published a treatise on algebra,—that he discovered a new method of finding the longitude; and that, in consequence of his mathematical attainments, he was invited to take the chair as Professor of Mathematics at the University of Upsal. Had the Professor also studied Swedenborg's works on the Animal Kingdom, and its Economy, in which his philosophical principles are carried out in a most striking manner, we are certain that the author would have risen still higher in his estimation as a profound and original thinker. We will adduce one more extract from the Professor's pamphlet :

"It now remains that we give an impartial judgment on his character and his mental disposition, and on his moral physiognomy, in so far as it shines forth from the series in which his labours as an author were produced; and here we cannot but award to him the most favourable testimony. Throughout the entire career of his learned researches and activity, we every where discover the pious and religious man, who, in all his sayings and doings, was intent upon good. In his inmost soul, he was entirely opposed to all those systems of materialism and naturalism which so wantonly prevailed in his time; and he built his own system on the foundation of an eternal Esse, and on its creating activities, [from which, as from the only Origin and Cause all things are created and preserved.] And, throughout the entire course of his labours, he seizes every opportunity of pointing to this first great rational Cause of all things, and, at the same time, he endeavours to shew the absurdity of all opposite opinions. Nor did the sensualism of those of his contemporaries which confines itself to the mere surface of things, nor did the more refined pantheistic abstraction of others, although penetrating more deeply below the surface, find any place in his system and works. On the contrary, his philosophy, as to all its principal and leading points, is founded on the eternal principles revealed in Holy Writ. Throughout his works every thing appears simple and uniform, especially as to the tone in which he writes, in which there is no effort at display in the imaginative powers, nothing overwrought, nothing fantastic, nothing that can, in the remotest degree, be construed into a morbid bias of a prevailing mental activity, nothing indicating a fixed idea,* or manifesting any peculiarity of a commencing mental derangement. Every thing he undertakes is developed in a calm and measured manner, like the resolution and demonstration of a mathematical problem, and, everywhere the operations of a mind composed and well ordered shine forth, with conviction as to the certainty of the results of its activity. In the cultivation of science, sincerity and simplicity of heart are necessary requirements to the attainment of durable success. We never observe that Swedenborg was subject to that pride by the influence of which so many great spirits have fallen; he always remained the same subdued and modest mind; and never either by success, or by any consideration, lost his mental equilibrium."

* This "fixed idea" denotes an all-absorbing idea which so possesses the mind as to cause monomania.-ED.

We might adduce several other extracts of similar import, but what has been stated is sufficient to shew the writer's regard for Swedenborg as a man of the purest and noblest intentions, of most unimpeachable conduct, and as a profound and original thinker in natural philosophy. No testimony can be more important, both as to impartiality, and as to the position the Professor occupies as a judge of mental productions. The sentences in the above extracts marked with italics, are so marked in the German from which we have translated.

THE TRUE POSITION OF WOMAN IN THE SOCIAL FABRIC.

SIR,

To the Editor of the INTELLECTUAL REPOSITORY.

The restoration of woman to her true position in the social fabric, as the friend and companion of man, is usually regarded as one of the most important results of the establishment of Christianity in the world. It would appear to have originated, not in any just appreciation of her character and attributes-for, to the present day, these are very imperfectly understood-but in the softening, humanizing tendencies of the new religion; and in a degree of respect for the sex as sharers in the benefits of redemption, and the destined partakers of a common heaven. It was reserved for the New Church to complete this elevation, and give permanence, by clearly revealing the interior grounds of difference between the sexes-their distinguishing characteristics, and the true value and importance of the principle from which woman derives her predominant attributes. You will, perhaps, allow me to transcribe a passage from Mr. Noble's "Appeal," containing what is generally received as the doctrine of our Church upon this subject :

it

"The only means of effecting this, [the union of two minds, so that they might become one] was, so to form the human race, as that in some minds affection might most decidedly predominate, and in others intellect and who can deny that this constitutes the first distinction of the male and female character? The difference between the male and female exists quite as decidedly in their minds as in their outward forms; so that if it were possible to abolish all difference in the shape of their persons, this would by no means be sufficient to abolish all real distinction of sex. The sex is in the mind also, and can never be extirpated thence. On every subject whatsoever, one part of the species will ever think and feel as men, and the other as The minds, it is true, both of men and women, are constituted both of will and intellect, affection and intelligence; but who does not see that man takes his distinguishing character from the predominating strength of his intellect, and woman hers from the predominating strength of her affections? Great disputes have been agitated on the question, whether there is an inferiority on the part of females

women.