Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/274

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EMANUEL SWEDENBORG

denborg, among other things, whether he had seen the Empress Elizabeth. Swedenborg answered, 'I have seen her often, and I know that she is in a very happy state.' This answer brought tears of joy into the chaplain's eyes, who said that she had been good and just. 'Yes,' said Swedenborg, 'her kind feeling for her people was made known after her death in the other life; for there it was shown that she never went into council without praying to God and asking for His counsel and assistance, in order that she might govern well her country and her people.' This gladdened the chaplain so much that he expressed his joyful surprise by silence and tears. . . .

"When he [Swedenborg] left Sweden for the last time, he came of his own accord to me at the bank on the day he was to leave, and gave me a protest against any condemnation of his writings during his absence; which protest was based on the law of Sweden, and in which he stated that the House of the Clergy was not the only judge in matters of religion, inasmuch as theology belonged also to the other Houses. On this occasion I asked him the same question as before, namely, whether I should ever see him again. His answer

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