lbeit, not improbably, with a touch (as was
thought by several) of mental aberration, the result of his illness, he
threw himself, with characteristic energy, into the work of religious
proselytism, in support of the special views with which he was now
inspired. He became a kind of religious clairvoyant, living an ecstatic
existence in communion with angels and spirits. He printed accounts of
various "Arcana," as he termed them; visions granted to him of heaven and
hell; the state after death, the true worship of God, the inner spiritual
sense of the scriptures; and so forth. He held spiritual intercourse
with the dwellers in other planets, conversing with Apostles, with
Luther, Calvin, Melancthon, &c. "Things hidden since the days of Job (he
declared) were revealed to himself."

Followers gradually gathered round him, inspired by his own enthusiasm.
He visited England frequently; and before his death, in London, A.D.
1772, he had established congregations in England, Ireland, Wales,
France, Holland, Sweden, Russia, and even in Turkey and America. It is
said that several Anglican clergy adopted his views, though still
retaining charges in their own church.

The special tenets of the sect, which he founded, seem to have been,
that, while believing in one God, they held that He was the Christ; that
Christ always existed in human form, but not in human soul; and that in
His Person there was a real Trinity; that the bible was to be understood
in a spiritual sense, which was first revealed to Swedenborg. Their
ritual, which was based on that of the Anglican Church, included a
splendid priesthood and an elaborate ceremonial.

Swedenborg's very numerous writings included a number of mystic works,
especially connected with what he called the "Spiritual Influx," which
was not limited to locality but pervaded everywhere. Translations of all
his works have been issued by the Swedenborg Society, located at No. 1,
Bloomsbury Street, London, W.C., and at Horncastle they may be borrowed
from the New Church Free Library in Croft Street. The Horncastle branch
has also its own monthly magazine, _The New Church Advocate_.

The following is a brief account of the Society's origin and progress, in
Horncastle, from particulars furnished to the present writer, by the
esteemed minister, Rev. R. Mayes, in 1903 (the second year of his
ministry), and by Mr. Edwin Townell, who has been secretary for a quarter
of a century. The Society