“The great Swedenborg was a man of uncommon humility. He was of a catholic spirit, and loved all good men of every church, making at the same time all candid allowance for the innocence of involuntary error. However self-denying in his own person, as to gratifications and indulgences, even within the bounds of moderation, yet nothing severe, nothing of the precisian, appeared in him; but on the contrary, an inward serenity and complacency of mind were manifest in the sweetness of his looks and outward demeanor. It may reasonably be supposed that I have weighed the character of our illustrious author in the scale of my best judgment, from the personal knowledge I had of him, from the best information I could procure respecting him, and from a diligent perusal of his writings; and according thereto, I have found him to be the sound divine, the good man, the deep philosopher, the universal scholar, and the polite gentleman; and I further believe, that he had a high degree of illumination from the spirit of God, was commissioned by Him as an extraordinary messenger to the world, and had communication with angels and the spiritual world far beyond any since the time of the Apostles. As such, I offer his character to the world, solemnly declaring, that, to the best of my knowledge, I am not herein led by any partiality or private views whatever, being now dead to every worldly interest, and accounting myself as unworthy of any higher character than that of a penitent sinner.” Two others of Swedenborg’s English friends were Dr. Messiter and Dr. Hampé, who had been preceptor to George I. From a letter of Dr. Messiter’s, we extract the following remarks on Swedenborg’s character:— “I have had the honor of being frequently admitted to Swedenborg’s company, when in London, and to converse with him on various points of learning, and I will venture to affirm that there are no parts of mathematical, philosophical, or medical knowledge, nay, I believe I might justly say, of human literature, to which he is in the least a stranger; yet so totally insensible is he of his own merit, that I am confident he does not know that he has any; and as he himself somewhere says of the angels, he always turns his head away on the slightest encomium.” Swedenborg’s stay in England at this time does not seem to have been longer than sufficed for the transaction of his business; for in September, 1769, he sailed for Stockholm, arriving there at the beginning of October. But we must now suspend the narrative of his life to offer a few remarks on his little works,—“A Brief Exposition of the Doctrine of the New Church,” and “The Intercourse Between the Soul and the Body.” CHAPTER XXIV. _“Brief Exposition of the Doctrines of the New Church,” and “The Intercourse between the Soul and the Body.”_