Some philosophers had attempted to deduce all truth from a priori principles; others had attempted to ascend by an inductive process from the particular to the general. What is the methodology that Swedenborg adopted? To answer this question accurately, we should premise, that he set out upon no fixed metaphysical principles whatever; he went to work as a solitary and independent observer, to find truth; and the method to be pursued formed itself as he proceeded. As any unphilosophical thinker naturally would do, he began his career by a wide observation of facts; system, therefore, was cradled in simple inductive processes; it was analytic, or if we may use a word implying authority, it was Baconian. Few perhaps who have only listened to vague rumours respecting this philosophy, would imagine that it commenced in a collection of facts far greater than those of which the father of experimental science himself had any conception. his "After passing successively through the regions of mechanics, with the corresponding properties of matter; after traversing the province of chemistry, throwing light upon the action of imponderable agents, and suggesting the germ of the atomic theory, by pointing out the geometrical relations existing between the ultimate atoms, Swedenborg comes at length to the animal kingdom. Here the course of his research begins to gain point and pregnancy. The human body may be regarded as that in which all the operations of nature are concentrated and perfected. Here, therefore, is a microcosm-a perfect representation of all being-an image of the whole creation; here consequently a theatre, upon which philosophy may achieve its noblest conquests. In this department, then, we begin to see more clearly some of the scientific formulas or methods which, evolved, as he tells us, by intense thought and patient observation, are potent to cast light upon the nature and uses of all things around us. First of all there is the doctrine of forms. Nature, he considered, is purely mechanical in all her movements; hence every higher region in which she appears, from the mineral to the man, is represented by movement in a particular form. All the movements of the mineral kingdom are angular, as seen in the crystal; the next form is the circular, as seen in the bodily organization, in the circulation of the blood, &c.; the highest form is the spiral, the type of spirit itself. * "In developing the physiology of the human body, another philosophical principle comes clearly into view, namely, the doctrine of series. Anxious to know the real structure of the various organs of the human frame, Swedenborg conceived that the doctrine of monads, and of ultimate atoms, would only bring him to a dark, unintelligible point, in which all form or organization ceased; and that the notion of the infinite divisibility of matter would lead to a nonentity, from which nothing could be drawn. Every organ, then, he conceived, must be made up of perfect atomistic organs, each one of which expresses the thing itself far more completely than the whole; just as society is made up of individual men, and each man is the most perfect pattern of humanity. Everything in nature, therefore, consists of a series of perfectly organized atoms-the lungs, e. g. of innumerable microscopic lungs, the heart of numerous smallest hearts, and so forth with all the other organs. "Having gone through the regions of philosophy, Swedenborg came to the confines of the province of Spirit itself. Often, he tells us, had he searched for some light upon the nature of the soul, but as often had been disappointed, until at length he got upon the right track, and entered the sacred chamber. To gaze upon the soul by the "N. B.-There are other and higher forms enumerated, which refer to the spiritual world only." "See his Economy of the Animal Kingdom,' chap. iii., on the Soul; at the commencement of which we have his own account of the method he had pursued." senses was manifestly impossible; but was it not possible to reason up from the material to the immaterial, and from the facts of the one to see into the nature of the other? The validity of such a process was grounded upon the doctrine of degrees; a doctrine, he says, which is necessary to enable us to follow in the steps of nature; since to attempt without it to approach and visit her in her sublime abode, would be to attempt to climb heaven by the Tower of Babel; for the highest step must be approached by the intermediate.' * The doctrine of decrees, accordingly, is that which teaches us, that there is a relation or parallelism between all things in nature, from the lowest sphere in which it exists, to the highest. Thus the brain contains potentially the whole body, and what is essentially true of the body, is true of it. Again, the animal spirits which flow through the nerves, in a higher and more ethereal sphere, perfectly represent the more gross and obdurate human organization; so also the soul itself, in a still higher region, must be a perfect type, or rather coördinate archetype, of the body. Accordingly, all nature by these degrees ascends from the lowest to the highest, and descends from the highest to the lowest; so that by the aid of this philosophical formula, we can study the spiritual world by means of the knowledge we possess of the material.+ "Even in the spirit itself there are degrees. The lowest is that which is only cognizant of sensations; the next above this is the animus, whose office is to imagine and desire; thirdly, there is the mind, which understands and wills; and lastly, there is the soul, whose office is to represent the universe, and have intuition of ends. + Such is man, so far as the form of his being is concerned; but where is the life, which is to animate him? The body is dead matter, but it is vivified by the animal spirits and other imponderable agents; these agents again are vivified by the soul-but whence the life of the soul? It is the love of God. § God, according to Swedenborg, is perfect man. The essence and form of God are respectively perfect love and perfect wisdom; the former is represented in the human will, the latter in the human understanding. "Having thus traced the philosophy of Swedenborg to its highest point, we may look back for a moment upon his whole method of procedure. Evidently it is the inductive and synthetic method combined. Commencing by observation, his mind seized upon certain high philosophical axioms, and from them reasoned downwards to the nature and uses of particular objects. Perhaps it is the only attempt the world has seen (with the exception of the unsuccessful efforts of Comte) at rising upwards to purely philosophical ideas from positive and concrete facts. "Having attained thus to the highest region of philosophy, Swedenborg enters the world of theological truth. For gazing upon the spiritual world, he conceives we have purely spiritual senses, and a spiritual understanding. To most men the spiritual world is closed, because, absorbed in the lower or sensual life, they have no intuition of it. To many, moreover, who do obtain spiritual intuitions, there exists not an enlightened spiritual understanding to interpret what the inward eye beholds. Spiritual or theological truth only becomes clear where both these requisites unite; where the purely moralised or unsensualised soul gazes upon the higher world, and where the spiritual understanding can comprehend what is seen. "Ibid., chap. iii. sec. 210." "This is an application of the doctrine of Correspondences." "Angelic Wisdom, part 1." "Wrapt in his own deep reveries, Swedenborg could not resist the idea that God, by a special act of his providence, had brought the scenery of the spiritual world, and the relations of spiritual truth, before his own mental vision, and within the sphere of his intellection. With a mind fraught with long study upon nature and her works -with a soul habituated to deep meditation upon spiritual things-with a vivid imagination that could trace the analogies of higher truth in the dark windings of material forms-with a moral nature purified to virtue, and an exquisite sensibility of the whole system, he lost himself in the visions of his own inmost soul. Some times he seemed transported out of the body-then anon he would wake up to the world around him; sometimes he pursued his high imaginings, unconscious of the lapse of time; and then he wrote down that he had seen a vision of angels; and thus the high truth, that man, when his nature is elevated, can converse with the spiritual world through the medium of religious faith, became transformed into a special revelation, that was to usher in the purified church and the latter-day glory. Swedenborg was assuredly a great intellectual phenomenon. Seldom, perhaps never, have so many systems concentrated in a single mind. He began a simple observera Baconian analyist; from that he raised himself to the region of rational and ideal truth; and ended a mystic-the favoured channel of a new dispensation to mankind. In him, sensationalism, idealism, mysticism, were united-the only phase through which he never passed was that of scepticism. Had he been fortunate enough to complete the cycle, had a tinge of wholesome scepticism curbed his credulity, we might have had a great philosopher, and an active Christian reformer, unmarred by the enthusiasm that dared to claim the title and the honours of a divine and apostolic messenger."*-Vol. I. pp. 315–323. Such is Mr. Morell's account and estimate of Emanuel Swedenborg, and we cannot but feel reason to be satisfied with it as an advance upon what we have before seen in this country upon the same subject. That Swedenborg should figure in the History of Philosophy at all, is something new; and although we have a strong feeling that he has no business there, yet we would not correct this at present, because his position in these volumes will introduce him, to a certain extent, favorably to a new audience. Our comments upon Mr. Morell's view of Swedenborg shall be as brief as possible. First, it does not appear that his classing of Swedenborg among religious mystics, is founded upon any knowledge of his theology. If Swedenborg had held that there were occult qualities, or mysteries, in theological doctrine, such a designation would be admissible, and it does apply most certainly to those who hold the doctrine of a faith given by invisible grace, and of "conversing with the spiritual world through the medium of religious faith," and other the like. "One of the best expositions of the Swedenborgian philosophy is given in the 'Foreign Aids to Self-reflection,' by J. A. Heraud, Esq. (Monthly Mag. No. 29.) The Swedenborgian Society is now in course of translating and publishing his works complete. The 'Principia,' the 'Economy of the Animal Kingdom,' with an admirable introduction by J. J. G. Wilkinson, Esq., and the Animal Kingdom,' have already appeared; others are forthcoming." unintelligible and unwitnessed matters; but Swedenborg is the very only man in these ages who theologically has no mysticism, but who, where others have a grace point or a mathematical point, sees a world where the soul is freely at home; where others have a puff of wind, sees a human spirit, &c. &c. &c. Therefore we cannot sound the reason of that strange perversity which calls Swedenborg mystical. Is it that he has been where for a few centuries no one else has been, and given a clear account of that of which the most of us professedly know nothing? 2. We object to Mr. Morell speaking of "the frequent obscurity with which Swedenborg's thoughts are expressed." In the first place, Mr. Morell has probably read them only in translation. Then, as a verdict, this allegation is quite incorrect. Mr. Morell is himself one of the clearest headed writers we know, but for clearness, where exposition of doctrine is required, he is no more to be compared to Swedenborg than crystal to diamond. Swedenborg's clearness is actually so great, as to have that living property of giving the object seen not only distinctness but added brilliancy. It is indeed the quality of a precious stone-of natural truth translucent with spiritual. . 3. We object to the phrase" the differences of opinion upon many important points, which exist amongst his followers." Upon those points which his own works denote to be most important, we do not believe there is difference of opinion among his followers. On those points which the metaphysicians consider important, there may indeed be the greatest difference, on account of their essential triviality. Thus, whether a man be a Berkleian or a Reidist, a Platonist or an Aristotelian, in his mental temperament and tendencies, is a thing doubtless very vital for metaphysics, but not so for citizenship in the New Jerusalem, which embraces all temperaments, and only demands the development of every man's better part in the rejoicing pathway of the Good and the True. 4. We object to the phrase" suggesting the germ of the atomie theory, by pointing out the geometrical relations existing between the ultimate atoms." If there be any germ in the case, the atomic theory (as it is called) is itself but the germ of that noble fruit of doctrine of which Swedenborg held up an outlined representation in his Chemical Specimens. 5. "With a mind fraught (says Mr. Morell) with long study upon nature and her works-with a soul habituated to deep meditation upon spiritual things—with a vivi imagination that could trace the analogies of higher truth in the dark windings of material forms-with a moral nature purified to virtue, and an exquisite sensibility of the whole system, he lost himself in the visions of his own inmost soul." This fine sentence constitutes one of the best specimens of anti-climax we have ever seen; and if logic dealt with the probable, we should say the last clause of it was to the greatest degree illogical. For ourselves, we humbly think that all the allegations in the first nine-tenths of the sentence, are reasons why Mr. Morell should reconsider his opinion, and ask himself whether, after all, Swedenborg did lose himself, or not: at least, whether such a loss of self was not the way to the veritable heaven and the true God. 6. "In him sensationalism, idealism, mysticism, were united-the only phase through which he never passed was that of scepticism." We object here, because we do not believe that Swedenborg had any sensationalism, idealism, or mysticism, in him, any more than scepti cism: he never passed through one of them as a phasis. He never proposed to himself that any metaphysical account of things was a centre from which to think, or that all together (eclecticism) were the way of truth. We doubt whether he could have understood any system of the kind, however popular, or rather, whether his strong resolvent genius would not have detected at once the intrinsic unintelligibility of such system. For instance, we doubt whether he could possibly have comprehended Berkeley's doctrine; that is to say, we imagine that at the first glance he would have become certified of its mere mystification of plain things, and therefore all explanation would be impossible. For where is the use of arguing about what is seen to be downright wrong, and to have none but an imaginary existence ? Assuredly Swedenborg never passed through scepticism, if by that word be designated the absurdities of Pyrrho, or Hume; but if by "wholesome scepticism" be meant the habit of requiring reasons for every thing, the habit of examining all beliefs under the searching light of truth, then Swedenborg had more scepticism than all the philosophers and metaphysicians put together. Furthermore, if doubting the wisdom and competence of the aforesaid philosophers and metaphysicians be scepticism, then had he a most wholesome-not tinge-but saturation of it. But there were three things which he never doubted, of which the metaphysicians must always doubt, viz., Revelation, Nature, and Humanity, or God, Man, and the Universe. Such was his amazing" credulity." 7. With respect to Mr. Morell's closing verdict on Swedenborg, we have no right to quarrel with it, especially as it is not given as a deduction of reason, but as a matter of feeling. It is simply the manifestation of that metaphysical spirit whose very essence consists in judging of all things at a distance, through the coloured medium of old preconceptions. Mr. Morell implies that it is for ever necessarily a |