e son of a bishop of
West Gothnia, in the kingdom of Sweden, whose name was Swedberg, a man of
considerable learning and celebrity in his time. The son was born at
Stockholm, January 29, 1688, and died in London, 1772. He enjoyed early
the advantages of a liberal education, and, being naturally endowed with
uncommon talents for the acquirement of learning, his progress in the
sciences was rapid and extensive, and he soon distinguished himself by
several publications in the Latin language, which gave proof of equal
genius and erudition. It may reasonably be supposed that, under the care
of his pious and reverend father, our author's religious instruction was
not neglected. This, indeed, appears plain from the general tenor of his
life and writings, which are marked with strong and lively characters of a
mind deeply impressed with a sense of the divine Being, and of all the
relative duties thence resulting. He was ennobled in the year 1719, by
Queen Ulrica Eleonora, and named Swedenborg, from which time he took his
seat with the nobles of the equestrian order, in the triennial assembly of
the states.

Baron Swedenborg had many eccentricities; but perhaps the most remarkable
circumstance respecting him was his asserting that, during the
uninterrupted period of twenty-seven years, he enjoyed open intercourse
with the world of departed spirits, and during that time was instructed in
the internal sense of the sacred Scriptures, hitherto undiscovered.

_Articles of Faith, Of the New Church, signified by the New Jerusalem in
the Revelation._

"1. That JEHOVAH GOD, the Creator and Preserver of heaven and earth, is
Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, or Good Itself and Truth Itself: That he is
One both in Essence and in Person, in whom, nevertheless, is the Divine
Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which are the Essential Divinity,
the Divine Humanity, and the Divine Proceeding, answering to the soul, the
body, and the operative energy, in man: And that the Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ is that GOD.

"2. That JEHOVAH GOD himself descended from heaven, as Divine Truth, which
is the Word, and took upon him Human Nature for the purpose of removing
from man the powers of hell, and restoring to order all things in the
spiritual world, and all things in the church: That he removed from man
the powers of hell, by combats against and victories over them; in which
consisted the great work of Redemption: That by the same acts, which wer