Through the Ivory Gate; Studies in Psychology and History (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: ? 23 ? CHAPTER III. Back. To Holland?His Treatises On Anatomy?Hib Philosophical Views On The Natobe Of The Soul, And On The Correspondences Of Nature. In 1736, Swedenborg again obtained leave from the king to go abroad for the space of three or four years, that he might compose and publish some literary work. He gave up one-half of his salary to his substitute. He set out on the 10th July from Copenhagen to Hamburg, thence to Holland. We find in his diary the following strange reflections on the Dutch nation: ? " I have considered why it was that it has pleased our Lord to bless such an uncouth and avaricious people with such a splendid country; why He has preserved them from all misfortunes; has caused them to surpass all other nations in commerce and enterprise; and made their country a place whither most of the riches, not only of Europe, hut also of other places flow. The principal cause seems to me to have been that it is a republic, wherein the Lord delights more than in monarchical countries; as appears also from Rome. The result is, that no one deems himself obliged and in duty bound to accord honour and veneration to any human being, but considers the low as well as the high to be of the same worth and consequence as a king and emperor; as is also shown by the native bent and disposition of every one in Holland. The only one for whom they entertain a feeling of veneration is the Lord, putting no trust in flesh; and when the Highest is revered most, and no human being in His place, it is most pleasing to the Lord. Besides, each enjoys his own free will, and from this his worship of God flows; for each is, as it were, his own king, and rules under the government of the Highest; and from this it follows again that they do not, out of fear, timidity, and exces...