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II

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG: PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE

In the middle of the seventeenth century was living an honest, God-fearing, and prosperous miner named Daniel Isaksson, with his wife Anna, daughter of a Swedish pastor, on his homestead called Sweden, a hundred and twenty miles northwest from Stockholm. Grateful for the large family Heaven sent them, Daniel would often say at dinner, "Thank you, my children, for this meal, for I have dined with you and not you with me: God has given me food for your sakes." His second son Jesper, born in 1653, took the name Swedberg from the homestead. Later, when for his services to church and state his family was ennobled, Jesper's children received the name Swedenborg, though the father himself retained the name Swedberg. Inheriting his father's piety, on being rescued in boyhood from imminent death—caught under a mill-wheel—he resolved never to forget either morning or evening to commit ​himself to God's keeping and to the protection of His holy angels.

Having received an excellent education at Upsal and abroad, in 1685 Jesper Swedberg was ordained and appointed first chaplain to the King's regiment of Life Guards, later royal chaplain at Stockholm. To the soldiers he taught the catechism and to King Charles XI he preached boldly without fear or favor, yet so pleasing the King that their Majesties stood as godfather and godmother to one of his daughters. "Ask of me," said the King, "what you will and you shall have it." But Swedberg, as he says, never asked the least thing for himself or his family, using his influence only for the appointment of faithful men to office. For a time he was the beloved pastor of a small parish, then on the King's insistence became Professor, and afterward Rector of the University at Upsal. By the King's orders he prepared and published, largely at his own expense, a revision of the Swedish Bible, which was however suppressed by the jealousy of the clergy. At Upsal where Emanuel passed his childhood Swedberg during several professorships and as Dean of the cathedral devoted himself to the well-being ​of the students, and so successfully that he was constantly cheered by their affection, and he could say after his ten years' life with them that in all that time the King had never received a single bad report of them.

In 1703 this pleasant life at Upsal was interrupted, to Swedberg's entire surprise, by his receiving from the young King Charles XII an appointment as Bishop of Skara, whither he then removed and settled at Brunsbo. He was now fifty years old, and here he remained till his death at eighty-two, never until the last few years neglecting to officiate in public worship. He preached indefatigably from the Gospels and the Epistles, his sermons always flowing without any straining from the text; for, said he, "then God recognizes His own Word." But though always making the duties of his sacred office his chief care, the good bishop was a devoted husband and father. He had married in 1683 Sara Behm, of good family, her father long holding the same office later held by her son Emanuel, that of Assessor in the College of Mines. By a previous marriage to the then Dean of Upsal she had inherited a considerable fortune, which later proved ​of great assistance in the support of Bishop Swedberg's family and in his numerous publications.

Jesper and Sara's first child was a son who died in his twelfth year. Asked by his father what he should do in heaven, he answered, "I shall pray for my father and brothers and sisters." The second child was Anna, to whom and to her husband Ericus Benzelius—in 1742 made Archbishop of Sweden—Emanuel was always tenderly attached. He was the next child, born January 29, 1688, while his father was serving as royal chaplain at Stockholm. Of the name given him his father wrote in his autobiography, "I am fully convinced that children ought to be given such names as will awaken in them and call to their minds the fear of God and everything that is orderly and righteous. . . . The name of my son Emanuel signifies God-with-us—that he may always remember God's presence, and that intimate, holy, and mysterious conjunction with our good and gracious God into which we are brought by faith, by which we are conjoined with Him and are in Him. And blessed be the Lord's name! God has to this hour been with him. ​And may He be further with him until he be eternally united with Him in His kingdom! . . . I am a Sunday child; and the mother of my children, my late wife, was also a Sunday child, and all my children were Sunday children except Catharine, who was born at Upsal on the third day of Easter." After Emanuel came six sons and daughters, the last being Margaretha, born in 1695, their good mother dying the following year, when Emanuel was nine years old.

It was in 1719 that the family was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleonora with the name of Swedenborg, and Benzelius with the name of Benzelstierna, after which they were entitled to seats in the Diet. The Bishop, however, worked quietly on under his old name till his death in 1735, preaching, writing, and publishing without ceasing, though with small encouragement and few sales. Of his numerous publications he said, "If I had all the money which I have invested in the printing of books, I would be worth now from sixty to seventy thousand dalers in copper." These were largely sermons and other religious works, but also books on the Swedish language, grammar and lexicons, school-books, ​his new Swedish Bible, and a commentary. His autobiography is preserved which he wrote for his children, and he had much correspondence with the colonial missions, especially that of Pennsylvania and Delaware. This mission had been established by his influence with the King and had elected Swedberg their first bishop, as had also the Swedish churches at London and Lisbon, with the King's sanction.

With these functions and labors of the father we are concerned only as they throw light on the character and ability transmitted to the son. We learn his piety, his faith manifested in charity and good works, his loving zeal in the cares intrusted to him, his learning, his integrity and boldness for the right, and his indefatigable industry. All these traits were indispensable for the discharge of the mission to be intrusted to the son. And another characteristic, less common with other races, he held from his Scandinavian ancestry, of utmost importance to the son—his constant sense of Divine and angelic supervision of the affairs of men. In his first year at Upsal Jesper had such a wonderful dream that he did not know whether he ought not to call it a ​revelation. He said, "No human tongue can pronounce and no angel can describe what I then saw and heard." He firmly believed that "God's angels are especially present in this sacred office [of Divine worship]." He felt sure that he was specially protected by angels from malign influences and directed in his studies at the University. How essential was this trust and confidence in Divine and heavenly influences to the service in store for his son Emanuel we shall see as we go on.

Of Emanuel's childhood he himself wrote late in life in answer to the inquiries of his friend Dr. Beyer, "From my fourth to my tenth year I was constantly engaged in thought upon God, salvation, and the spiritual experiences of men; and several times I revealed things at which my father and mother marvelled, saying that angels must be speaking through me. From my sixth to my twelfth year I used to delight in conversing with clergymen about faith, saying that the life of faith is love, and that the love which imparts life is love to the neighbor; also that God gives faith to every one, but that those only receive it who practise that love." Thus early was he ​imbued, doubtless by his father, with what remained the contention of his life. Born in Stockholm, removed with his father to Upsal when four years old, he received there his education as a schoolboy and later as a student in the University. His thesis at the conclusion of his course was a series of selections from Greek and Latin authors, together with some from Scripture, presenting certain moral and religious sentiments accompanied with apposite reflections, indicating his trend of thought at that time of life. Little more is known of his life at the University, but he was doubtless living with his sister Anna and Benzelius, his father having removed to his bishopric. From his letters to these much loved friends we learn what we know of his next ten years of study pursued mostly abroad. Within a few months after leaving the University he wrote from his father's home at Brunsbo begging of Benzelius letters to some English college, that he might there improve himself in mathematics, or in physics and natural history. He adds to his request—

"As I have always desired to turn to some practical use and also to perfect myself in the studies which I selected with your advice and ​approval, I thought it advisable to choose a subject early which I might elaborate in course of time, and into which I might introduce much of what I should notice and read in foreign countries. This course I have always pursued hitherto in my reading; and now at my departure I propose to myself, as far as concerns mathematics, gradually to gather and work up a certain collection, namely, of things discovered and to be discovered in mathematics—or, what is nearly the same thing, the progress made in mathematics during the last one or two centuries." "Much kind love" he sends to his sister Anna.

While awaiting letters, the royal permission, and perhaps money for his expenses, the young graduate learns the art of bookbinding and practises music, occasionally filling the organist's place at church. At length in 1710, the permission having been obtained by his father, he sets out for London, whence in October he writes to Benzelius—

"This island has also men of the greatest experience in this [mathematical] science; but these I have not yet consulted, because I am not yet sufficiently acquainted with their language. I study ​Newton daily, and I am very anxious to see and hear him. I have provided myself with a small stock of books for the study of mathematics, and also with a certain number of instruments. . . . The magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral was finished a few days ago in all its parts. . . . The town is distracted by internal dissensions between the Anglican and Presbyterian churches; they are incensed against each other with almost deadly hatred. . . . Were you, dear brother, to ask me about myself, I should say I know that I am alive, but not happy; for I miss you and my home. . . . I not only love you more than my own brothers, but I even love and revere you as a father. . . . May God preserve you alive, that I may meet you again! "

Again he writes in the following April—"I visit daily the best mathematicians here in town. I have been with Flamsteed, who is regarded the best astronomer in England, and who is constantly taking observations, which, together with the Paris observations, will give us some day a correct theory respecting the motion of the moon and of its appulse to fixed stars. . . . Newton has laid a good foundation for correcting the irregularities ​of the moon in his Principia . . . You encourage me to go on with my studies; but I think that I ought rather to be discouraged, as I have such an 'immoderate desire' for them, especially for astronomy and mechanics. I also turn my lodgings to some use, and change them often. At first I was at a watchmaker's, afterward at a cabinetmaker's, and now I am at a mathematical-instrument maker's. From them I learn their trades, which some day will be of use to me. I have recently computed for my own pleasure several useful tables for the latitude of Upsal, and all the solar and lunar eclipses which will take place between 1712 and 1721. . . . In undertaking in astronomy to facilitate the calculation of eclipses, and of the motion of the moon outside that of the syzygies, and also in undertaking to correct the tables so as to agree with the new observations, I shall have enough to do."

A letter of January, 1712, answers various questions on scientific matters referred to him by Benzelius and the Literary Society of Upsal. Among other things our young student wanted to send home some English globes, but when mounted they were very dear as well as difficult ​to transport, and he tried in vain to buy paper sheets to be mounted at home. Characteristically he learned to engrave on copper and drew and engraved the plates for a pair of globes. At the same time he learned from his landlord to make brass instruments, and could when at home mount the globes. Of his studies he says—

"With regard to astronomy I have made such progress in it as to have discovered much which I think will be useful in its study. Although in the beginning it made my brain ache, yet long speculations are now no longer difficult for me. I searched closely for all propositions for finding the terrestrial longitude, but could not find a single one; I have therefore originated a method by means of the moon, which is unerring, and I am certain that it is the best which has yet been advanced. In a short time I will inform the Royal Society that I have a proposition to make on this subject, stating my points, If it is favorably received by these gentlemen, I shall publish it here; if not, in France. I have also discovered many new methods for observing the planets, the moon, and the stars; that which concerns the moon and its parallaxes, diameter, and inequality, ​I will publish whenever an opportunity arises. I am now busy working my way through algebra and the higher geometry, and I intend to make such progress in it as to be able in time to continue Polheimer's discoveries. . . . When the plates for the globes arrive in Sweden, Professor Elfvius will perhaps take care to have them printed and made up. I shall send a specimen very soon; but no impression is to be sold." In this same letter he mentions valuable English books, and names all the principal poets as well worth reading for the sake of their imagination alone. In mild terms he complains of his father's not supplying him better with money; and we find the complaint quite pardonable when we remember that the father was borrowing his children's inheritance from their mother for his own enterprises, and when we learn that Emanuel had received from him but two hundred rixdalers—about two hundred and twenty-five dollars—in sixteen months. He says it is hard to live without food or drink.

Writing again to Benzelius, August, 1712, he repeats his confidence in his new method of finding the longitude, which Dr. Halley admitted to ​him orally was the only good method that had been proposed. "But," he adds, "as I have not met with great encouragement here in England among this civil and proud people, I have laid it aside for some other place. When I tell them that I have some project about longitude, they treat it as an impossibility; and so I do not wish to discuss it here. . . . As my speculations made me for a time not so sociable as is serviceable and useful for me, and as my spirits are somewhat exhausted, I have taken refuge for a short time in the study of poetry, that I might be somewhat recreated by it.^[1] I intend to gain a little reputation by this study on some occasion or other during this year, and I hope I may have advanced in it as much as may be expected from me; but time and others will perhaps judge of this. Still after a time I intend to take up mathematics again, although at present I am doing nothing in them; and if I am encouraged, I intend to make more discoveries in them than any one else in the present age. But without encouragement this would be sheer trouble, and it would be like non profecturis litora ​tubus arare—ploughing the ground with stubborn steers. . . . Within three or four months, I hope with God's help to be in France; for I greatly desire to understand its fashionable and useful language. I hope by that time to have, or to find there, letters from you to some of your learned correspondents. . . . Your great kindness and your favor, of which I have had so many proofs, make me believe that your advice and your letters will induce my father to be so favorable toward me as to send me the funds which are necessary for a young man, and which will infuse into me new spirit for the prosecution of my studies. Believe me, I desire and strive to be an honor to my father's house and yours, much more strongly than you yourself can wish and endeavor. . . . I would have bought the microscope if the price had not been so much higher than I could venture to pay before receiving your orders. This microscope was one which Mr. Marshall showed to me especially; it is quite new, of his own invention, and shows the motion in fishes very vividly. There was a glass with a candle placed under it, which made the thing itself, and the object, much brighter; so that any one could see the ​blood in the fishes flowing swiftly, like small rivulets; for it flowed in that way, and as rapidly. At a watchmaker's I saw a curiosity which I cannot forbear mentioning. It was a clock which was still, without any motion. On the top of it was a candle, and when this was lighted, the clock began to go and to keep its true time; but as soon as the candle was blown out, the motion ceased, and so on. . . . He told me that nobody had as yet found out how it could be set in motion by the candle. Please remember me kindly to sister Anna, my dear sister Hedvig, and also to brother Ericus Benzel, the little one, about whose state of health I always desire to hear."

The next letter that has come down to us was dated Paris, August, 1713. Meanwhile Swedenborg had left London and made a considerable stay in Holland. "I left Holland," he says, "intending to make greater progress in mathematics, and also to finish all I had designed in that science. Since my arrival here I have been hindered in my work by an illness which lasted six weeks, and which interfered with my studies and other useful employments; but I have at last recovered, and am beginning to make the acquaintance of ​the most learned men in this place. I have called upon and made the acquaintance of De La Hire, who is now a great astronomer and who was formerly a well-known geometrician. I have also been frequently with Warrignon, who is the greatest geometrician and algebraist in this city, and perhaps the greatest in Europe. About eight days ago I called upon Abbé Bignon, and presented your compliments, on the strength of which I was very favorably received by him. I submitted to him for examination, and for introduction into the Society, three discoveries, two of which were in algebra. [The third was his new method of finding longitude.] . . . Here in town I avoid conversation with Swedes, and shun all those by whom I might be in the least interrupted in my studies. What I hear from the learned, I note down at once in my journal; it would be too long to copy it out and to communicate it to you. . . . During my stay in Holland I was most of the time in Utrecht, where the Diet^[2] met, and where I was in great favor with Ambassador Palmquist, who had me every day at his house; every day ​also I had discussions on algebra with him. He is a good mathematician and a great algebraist. ... In Leyden I learned glass-grinding [for telescopes], and I have now all the instruments and utensils belonging to it. . . . You may rest assured that I entertain the greatest friendship and veneration for you; I hope therefore that you will not be displeased with me on account of my silence and my delay in writing letters, if you hear that I am always intent on my studies, so that sometimes I omit more important matters."

Swedenborg's stay in Paris seems to have been less than a year, and here seems to end his aspiration for eminence in pure mathematics. For whatever reason, from this time he began to devote his attention to mechanical and practical investigations. Going from Paris by way of Hamburg to Rostock, in the north of Mecklenburg, he writes from there to Benzelius, Sept. 8, 1714—

"I am very glad that I have come to a place where I have time and leisure to gather up all my works and thoughts, which have hitherto been without any order and are scattered here and there upon scraps of paper. I have always ​been in want of a place and time to collect them. I have now commenced this labor and shall soon get it done. I promised my dear father to publish an academical thesis, for which I shall select some inventions in mechanics which I have at hand. Further, I have the following mechanical inventions either in hand or fully written out, namely—

"1. The plan of a certain ship which with its men can go under the surface of the sea wherever it chooses, and do great damage to the fleet of the enemy.

"2. A new plan for a siphon, by which a large quantity of water may be raised from any river to a higher locality in a short time.

"3. For lifting weights by the aid of water and this portable siphon, with greater facility than by mechanical powers.

"4. For constructing sluices in places where there is no fall of water, by means of which entire ships with their cargoes may be raised to any required height within an hour or two.

"5. A machine driven by fire, for throwing out water; and a method of constructing it near forges where the water has no fall, but is tranquil.

​"6. A draw-bridge which may be closed and opened within the gates and walls.

"7. New machines for condensing and exhausting air by means of water. Also a new pump acting by water and mercury, without any siphon; which presents more advantages and works more easily than the common pumps. I have also, besides these, other new plans for pumps.

"8. A new construction of air-guns, thousands of which may be discharged in a moment by means of one siphon.

"9. A universal musical instrument, by means of which one who is quite unacquainted with music may execute all kinds of airs that are marked on paper by notes.

"10. Sciagraphia universalis. The universal art of delineating shades, or a mechanical method of delineating engravings of any kind upon any surface by means of fire.

"11. A water-clock in which water serves the purpose of an index, and in which by the flow of water all the moveable bodies in the heavens are demonstrated, with other curious effects.

"12. A mechanical carriage containing all ​sorts of works which arc set in motion by the movement of the horses. Also a flying carriage, or the possibility of remaining suspended in the air, and of being conveyed through it.

"13. A method of ascertaining the desires and the affections of the minds of men by analysis.

"14. New methods of constructing cords and springs, with their properties.

"These are my mechanical inventions which were heretofore lying scattered on pieces of paper, but nearly all of which are now brought into order so that when opportunity offers they may be published. To all these there is added an algebraic and a numeric calculation from which the proportions, motion, times, and all the properties which they ought to possess are deduced. Moreover, all those things which I have in analysis and astronomy require each its own place and its own time. O how I wish, my beloved friend and brother, that I could submit all these to your own eyes and to those of Professor Elfvius! But as I cannot show you the actual machines, I will at least in a short time forward you the drawings, with which I am daily occupied. I have now time also ​to bring my poetical efforts into order. They are only a kind of fables, like those of Ovid, under cover of which those events are treated which have happened in Europe within the last fourteen or fifteen years; so that in this manner I am allowed to sport with serious things, and to play with the heroes and the great men of our country. But meanwhile I am affected with a certain sense of shame when I reflect that I have said so much about my plans and ideas, and have not yet exhibited anything: my journey and its inconveniences have been the cause of this. I have now a great desire to return home to Sweden and to take in hand all Polheimer's inventions, make drawings, and furnish descriptions of them; and also to test them by physics, mechanics, hydrostatics, and hydraulics, and likewise by algebraic calculus. I should prefer to publish them in Sweden rather than in any other place, and in this manner to make a beginning among us of a Society for Learning and Science, for which we have such an excellent foundation in Polheimer's inventions. I wish mine could serve the same purpose. . . . A thousand remembrances to my sister Anna. I hope she is not alarmed at the ​approach of the Russians. I have a great longing to see little brother [nephew] Eric again; perhaps he will be able to make a triangle, or to draw one for me, when I give him a little ruler."

1 ↑ An early recreation of his, as shown in some verses written in his twelfth year.

2 ↑ The famous Congress of Ambassadors, by which the Spanish Succession was ended and peace secured for a generation.