Preface.
IT is nearly fifty years since the author of the present work commenced a serious and thorough examination of the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. He was told that this illustrious seer claimed to have enjoyed open intercourse with the denizens of the spiritual world for many years, and to have been divinely commissioned to write a detailed account of what he heard and saw in that world; and the treatise known as "Heaven and Hell" was placed in his hands for perusal. After reading a few pages, the book was laid aside, the present writer saying to himself: "All this may be true, or it may not. We have no means of knowing. There is no adequate test whereby the truth or falsity of such alleged disclosures can be determined. Why, then, should I waste time over such a book?"
It is easy for me, therefore, to pardon the incredulity of Christians touching this astounding claim of the great seer, and to excuse the prevailing reluctance to give any thought or attention to his alleged disclosures concerning the other world. For probably most of them think as I did, that we have no means of proving either the truth or falsity of such pretended revelations.
