The following anecdote, narrated to Robsahm by the gardener’s wife, places Swedenborg’s moral courage in a strong light, and shows the use of judicious plain speaking. Bishop Halenius, the successor of Swedenborg’s father, paying Swedenborg a visit one day, the conversation turned on the nature of common sermons. Swedenborg said to the bishop, “You insert things that are false in yours;” on this, the bishop told the gardener, who was present, to retire, but Swedenborg commanded him to stay. The conversation went on, and both turned over the Hebrew and Greek Bibles, to show the texts that were agreeable to their assertions. At length the interview ended, by some observations intended as reproaches to the bishop on his avarice and various unjust actions; “You have already prepared yourself a place in hell,” said Swedenborg: “but,” added he, “I predict that some months hence you will be attacked with a grievous illness, during which time the Lord will seek to convert you. If you then open your heart to his holy inspirations, your conversion will take place. When this happens, write to me for my theological works, and I will send them to you.” Some months after, an officer from the province and bishopric of Skara visited Swedenborg. On being asked how bishop Halenius was, he replied: “He has been very ill, but at present he is quite recovered, and has become altogether another person, being now a practicer of what is good, full of probity, and returns sometimes three or four-fold of the property which he had before unjustly taken into his possession.” From that time to the hour of his death, he was one of the greatest supporters of the doctrine of the New Church of the Lord, and declared openly, that the theological writings of Swedenborg were the most precious treasures given for the welfare of mankind. What a blessed result was this of the few severe but really kind words of Swedenborg, spoken in season!
In Stockholm, Swedenborg was very accessible, and visitors sought his advice for all purposes. Widows went to him to inquire about the state of their husbands in the other world; and others fancying him a wizard, beset him with questions about lost and stolen property. Notwithstanding the number and frequency of these visits, from people of all ranks, he would never receive any particular ones, and more especially those of females, without one of his domestics being present. He also required his visitors to speak in the language of the country, saying, “I will have witnesses of my discourse and conduct, that all pretensions to malicious assertions and scandal may be taken away.” He had probably suffered from the tongues of busybodies: it would have been strange if he had not; and it was prudent for him to take this effectual plan to cut away the foundation of all idle and malicious gossip.
Nicholas Collin, a young clergyman, at this time visited Swedenborg, and thus pleasantly narrates his interview. “In 1765, I went to reside at Stockholm, where I continued for nearly three years. During that time, Swedenborg was a great object of public attention in the metropolis, and his extraordinary character was a frequent topic of discussion. He resided at his house in the southern suburbs, which was in a pleasant situation, neat and convenient, with a spacious garden and other appendages. There he received company. Not seldom he also appeared in company, and mixed in private society; sufficient opportunities were therefore given to observe him. I collected much information from several respectable persons who had conversed with him; which was the more easy, as I lived the whole time as a private tutor in the family of Dr. Celsius, a gentleman of distinguished talents, who afterwards became bishop of Scania. He, and many of the eminent persons that frequented his house, knew Swedenborg well.
“In the summer of 1766, I waited on him at his house. Introducing myself with an apology for the freedom I took, I assured him that it was not in the least from youthful presumption. I was then twenty, but had a strong desire to converse with a character so celebrated. He received me very kindly. It being early in the afternoon, delicate coffee, without eatables, was served, agreeable to the Swedish custom; he was also, like pensive men in general, fond of this beverage. We conversed for nearly three hours; principally on the nature of human souls, and their states in the invisible world; discussing the principal theories of psychology by various authors. He asserted positively, as he often does in his works, that he had intercourse with spirits of deceased persons. I presumed, therefore, to request of him, as a great favor, to procure me an interview with my brother, who had departed this life a few months before, a young clergyman, and esteemed for his devotion, erudition, and virtue. He answered, that God, having for good and wise purposes separated the world of spirits from ours, a communication is never granted without cogent reasons; and asked what my motives were. I confessed that I had none besides gratifying brotherly affection, and an ardent wish to explore scenes so sublime and interesting to a serious mind. He replied, that my motives were good, but not sufficient; but that if any important spiritual or temporal concern of mine had been the case, he would then have solicited permission from those angels who regulate these matters. He showed me his garden. It had an agreeable building, a wing of which was a kind of temple, to which he often retired for contemplation; its dim religious light rendering it suitable for such a purpose.
“We parted with mutual satisfaction; and he presented by me, to the said Dr. Celsius, an elegant copy of his Apocalypsis Revelata, then lately printed in Amsterdam.”
Swedenborg was of a very mild temper, upright, just, and incapable of perverting the truth. Robsahm, one day, asked him if a certain preacher, lately deceased, and greatly esteemed in Stockholm for his flowery sermons, had a place in heaven. “No,” said Swedenborg, “he went directly into the abyss; for he left his devotion in the pulpit: he was not pious, but a hypocrite; proud and greatly vain of the gifts he had received from nature, and the goods of fortune he was continually seeking to acquire. Truly,” continued he, “false appearances will stand us in no stead hereafter; they are all separated from man at his decease; the mask then falls from him; and it is then made manifest to all, whether he is inwardly good or evil.”
The exact month of Swedenborg’s next foreign travel is uncertain; but just before he undertook it, Robsahm met him in his carriage, and asked him how he could venture to take a voyage to London, at the age of eighty, and expressed a fear lest he should not see him again. “Be not uneasy, my friend,” said he, “if you live, we shall see one another again, for I have yet another voyage of this kind to make.”
At Elsinore, on these voyages, he frequently visited M. Rahling, the Swedish Consul, and during this transit, he made the acquaintance of General Tuxen, at the Consul’s table. The General asked him how a man might be certain whether he was on the road to salvation or not. Swedenborg answered, “That is very easy. A man need only examine himself and his thoughts by the Ten Commandments; as, for instance, whether he loves and fears God; whether he is happy in seeing the welfare of others, and does not envy them; whether on having received a great injury from others, which may have excited him to anger and to meditate revenge, he afterwards changes his sentiments, because God has said that vengeance is His, and so on; then he may rest assured that he is on the road to heaven: but when he discovers himself actuated by contrary sentiments, he may know that he is on the road to hell.”
This led Tuxen to think of himself, as well as others; and he asked Swedenborg whether he had seen King Frederick V. of Denmark, deceased in 1766, adding that though some human frailty attached to him, yet he had certain hopes that he was happy. Swedenborg said, “Yes, I have seen him, and he is well off; and not only he, but all the kings of the house of Oldenburg, who are associated together. This is not the happy case with our Swedish kings.” Swedenborg then told him that he had seen no one so splendidly ministered to in the world of spirits as the Empress Elizabeth of Russia, who died in 1762. As Tuxen expressed astonishment at this, Swedenborg continued: “I can also tell you the reason, which few would surmise. With all her faults, she had a good heart, and a certain consideration in her negligence. This induced her to put off signing many papers that were from time to time presented to her, and which at last so accumulated that she could not examine them, but was obliged to sign as many as possible on the representation of her ministers; after which she would retire to her closet, fall on her knees, and beg God’s forgiveness, if she, against her will, had signed anything that was wrong.”
At the conclusion of this interesting interview, Swedenborg went on board his vessel, leaving a firm friend and future disciple in General Tuxen. Some years after, Tuxen wrote: “I thank our Lord, the God of heaven, that I have been acquainted with this great man and his writings. I esteem this as the greatest blessing I ever experienced in this life, and hope I shall profit by it in working out my salvation.”