tion. I will tell you what to write.' The vision
lasted but a few moments. The _angel_ was clothed in purple. During that
night the eyes of his _inner man_ were opened, and he was forced to
look into the heavens, into the world of spirits, and into hell,--three
separate spheres; where he encountered persons of his acquaintance who
had departed from their human form, some long since, others lately.
Thenceforth Swedenborg lived wholly in the spiritual life, remaining in
this world only as the messenger of God. His mission was ridiculed by
the incredulous, but his conduct was plainly that of a being superior
to humanity. In the first place, though limited in means to the bare
necessaries of life, he gave away enormous sums, and publicly, in
several cities, restored the fortunes of great commercial houses
when they were on the brink of failure. No one ever appealed to his
generosity who was not immediately satisfied. A sceptical Englishman,
determined to know the truth, followed him to Paris, and relates that
there his doors stood always open. One day a servant complained of this
apparent negligence, which laid him open to suspicion of thefts
that might be committed by others. 'He need feel no anxiety,' said
Swedenborg, smiling. 'But I do not wonder at his fear; he cannot see the
guardian who protects my door.' In fact, no matter in what country he
made his abode he never closed his doors, and nothing was ever
stolen from him. At Gottenburg--a town situated some sixty miles from
Stockholm--he announced, eight days before the news arrived by courier,
the conflagration which ravaged Stockholm, and the exact time at which
it took place. The Queen of Sweden wrote to her brother, the King, at
Berlin, that one of her ladies-in-waiting, who was ordered by the courts
to pay a sum of money which she was certain her husband had paid before
his death, went to Swedenborg and begged him to ask her husband where
she could find proof of the payment. The following day Swedenborg,
having done as the lady requested, pointed out the place where the
receipt would be found. He also begged the deceased to appear to
his wife, and the latter saw her husband in a dream, wrapped in a
dressing-gown which he wore just before his death; and he showed her the
paper in the place indicated by Swedenborg, where it had been securely
put away. At another time, embarking from London in a vessel commanded
by Captain Dixon, he overheard a lady asking if there wer