1787 — pp. (x) 178 + Publisher's broadsheet (1). 12mo. Damp and age stained. Stencil and manuscript ownerships of Robert Gill. Plain modern wraps. Swedish philosopher, scientist and religious writer, Emanuel Sewdenborg (Swedenbourg) [1688-1772] established himself as an inventor and scientist. He started having visions in 1743, and devoted himself thereafter to psychical and spiritual research. interpreting the scriptures as the immediate voice of God. He taught that all scripture contains an inner, spiritual sense which is not at all obvious from the natural sense of the word, or our understanding of the world. Among other things, he taught: that the universe is filled with inhabited planets, which are peopled by perfect human forms just like those on our earth; that their spirits in the spirit world can be seen and contacted, and he proceeds to describe some of their inhabitants ('Worlds in Space'); in 'Heaven and Hell' he describes in detail the heaven and hell of the spirit world, and how people and societies there function and are organized; in 'Divine Love and Wisdom' he describes the nature of that divine Spirit which emanates from the Deity, called in the scriptures the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost, and which appears in the spirit world as the sun, and gives light and heat to the inhabitants of that world - its light having the effect of intelligence, and its heat having the effect of love; in 'The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord' he discusses the spiritual interpretation of the doctrine of the Godhead; Etc. Although he never preached publicly or formally founded a religious sect, his followers which included many artisits and freethinkers (among them William Blake) constituted a considerable society which became known as the New Jerusalem Church. This is the rare "Second Edition" published in the same year as the first. **PRICE JUST REDUCED! W140Rt
