Though busied with the composition of his works, and immersed in spiritual contemplations, Swedenborg was not forgetful of the world and of his duties to his country. In 1761 he took part in the Swedish Diet or Parliament. Three of his memorials or addresses to the Diet, are preserved. In the first of these he congratulates the House upon its meetings, and counsels the redress of all grievances which cause disaffection. In the second he advocates an alliance with France instead of England from prudential motives, at the same time strongly protesting against the evil of despotic governments, and the danger to liberty in the extension of the Roman Catholic faith. The third memorial is on the subject of finance. Count Hopken, the Swedish prime minister at that time, leaves on record that “the most solid memorials, and the best penned, at the Diet of 1761, on matters of finance, were presented by Swedenborg; in one of which he refuted a large work in 4to on the same subject, quoted the corresponding passages of it, and all in less than one sheet.” He was likewise a member of the secret committee of the Diet, an office to which only the most sage and virtuous were elected. Consider, reader, for a moment, the dignity, the wisdom, and the abounding common sense which must have permeated the whole being of Swedenborg, to enable him to live down the obloquy attached to the name of a “ghost-seer,” and be received with high favor and acceptance by men of the world, sceptical and sensual! Soon afterwards Swedenborg left Stockholm; and we find him in July, 1762, at Amsterdam. Jung Stilling received from a friend the following interesting anecdote respecting him at this time. “I was in Amsterdam,” says he, “in 1762, in a company in which Swedenborg was present, on the very day that Peter III., Emperor of Russia, died. In the midst of our conversation his countenance changed, and it was evident that his soul was no longer there, and that something extraordinary was passing in him. As soon as he came to himself again, he was asked what had happened to him. He would not at first communicate it; but at length, after having been repeatedly pressed, he said: ‘This very hour, the Emperor Peter III. has died in his prison,’ mentioning at the same time the manner of his death. ‘Gentlemen will please to note down the day, that they may be able to compare it with the intelligence of his death in the newspapers.’ The newspapers subsequently announced the Emperor’s death as having taken place on that day.” CHAPTER XVI. _Doctrines of the Lord—The Sacred Scripture, Faith, and Life._ In 1763, Swedenborg published, at Amsterdam, the following works:—1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord; 2. The Sacred Scripture; 3. Faith; 4. Life; 5. Continuation respecting the Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon; and 6. Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. We will now speak of these works seriatim.