son to believe that they would be seriously affected by his embracing and teaching the entire pneumatology of Swedenborg, so far, at least, as this can be shown to be in agreement with Scripture, reason, experience, and the known laws of the human soul.
But the strongest evidence of the truth of Swedenborg's revealings about Heaven, and that which, above all else, should commend them to the thoughtful and earnest inquirer, is their wholesome practical tendency—their unquestionably elevating and benign influence upon the believer's life and character. The author hopes that the reader will not lose sight of this consideration, nor forget to give to it the weight which its importance demands: Remembering these divine words:
"For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble-bush gather they grapes."
And no more should we expect that wholesome and benign influences would be shed forth upon the believer's mind and heart, from false or fantastic teachings, from the speculations of a mere theorist, the hallucinations of a dreamer, or the oracular utterances of an innocent but self-deluded fanatic.
Germantown, June 24, 1885.
