A Short Account of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg and His Theological Writings

by Robert Hindmarsh

A Short Account of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg
Title not held by The Wolf Law Library at the College of William & Mary.
Author	Robert Hindmarsh
Editor
Translator
Published	Baltimore: Samuel and John Adams
Date	1792
Edition	Reprint from 1787 London
Language	English
Volumes	volume set
Pages	[32]
Desc.	Octavo (16 cm.)

Born in 1759 in Alnwick, Northumberland, Robert Hindmarsh was a precocious student who studied religion avidly from a young age. After learning about the works of Emanuel Swedenborg through his work in a print shop, Hindmarsh became a believer in Swedenborg's ideas. In fact, he was so persuaded by Swedenborg’s theological views that Hindmarsh "confidently expected that every person of sound judgment or common sense would receive these with the same ease and delight as he. But in this he soon found himself grievously disappointed." While Hindmarsh greatly respected Swedenborg’s views, Swedenborg’s reputation was poor. Many believed him, and other mystics, to be foolish and unprincipled. Nonetheless, Hindmarsh remained faithful to Swedenborg’s works, and devoted himself to promoting his beliefs. By 1783, Hindmarsh gathered a small number of like-minded people to read Swedenborg’s works together on a weekly basis. This eventually grew into the New Church, or "The Theosophical Society, instituted for the purpose of promoting the Heavenly Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, by translating printing and publishing the Theological Writings of the Honorable Emanuel Swedenborg." Hindmarsh engaged in the translation and publication of many of Swedenborg’s works through his association with this group.

In A Short Account of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg and His Theological Writings, Hindmarsh provides a guide through Swedenborg’s works, offering recommendations regarding important information within the texts. Hindmarsh particularly highlights the ways in which he believes Swedenborg’s work unlocks a new understanding of humanity, moving beyond doctrinal interpretation to offer an entirely restructured view of what is natural and what is spiritual. Hindmarsh thus promotes Swedenborg's view that the natural and the spiritual are united in the human form.

Aside from advocating for the value of Swedenborg’s theological insights, Hindmarsh also explicitly defends Swedenborg from his critics. Hindmarsh took particular offense to the presumption that Swedenborg went mad, insisting that "this insinuation is such a palpable contradiction to truth, and such an insult to common sense, being over-ruled by every page of our author’s writings, and well as by every act of his life […]". Hindmarsh makes clear that his book is a response to the prejudicial treatment of Swedenborg. Hindmarsh states that the wide-spread judgements against Swedenborg serve only "[…] to prejudice them against a character which otherwise they would revere, and against writings from which they would otherwise receive the most welcome instruction […]". Writing about Swedenborg thus has the dual purpose of spreading his theological lessons while also pushing back against those who question his sanity, and his value as a theologian.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

A 1792 letter from Robert Carter to George Wythe is reprinted in an article by John Whitehead in a Swedenborgian newsletter, the New-Church Messenger (Chicago) from 1917, "The Early History of the New Church in America, VIII." In the letter, dated October 11, 1792, Carter states he is sending Wythe four volumes of Swedenborg's writings: Nine Queries Concerning the Trinity (1786, or 1790), A Short Account of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg and His Theological Writings, by Robert Hindmarsh (1792), The Liturgy of the New Church Signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation (1792), and the first volume of True Christian Religion, published in Philadelphia by Francis Bailey, 1789. Carter also mentions Swedenborg's A Treatise Concerning Heaven and Hell (London: W. Chalklen, 1789) being sold by a local merchant in Richmond:

Under a particular Influence I present to you the following Books, viz., the first vol. of the True Christian Religion, 9 Questions concerning the Trinity proposed to E. S. by the Rev. Thos. Hartley, also, His Answers. A short account of the honorable E. S. and His Theological Writings, and the Liturgy of the New Jerusalem Church. The Liturgy is a Production arising from the Baron's Writings; for Societies are established in several of the most principal towns in Great Britain, styled members of the New Jerusalem Church, which was foretold was to be by the Lord, by the Prophet Daniel and the Evangelist John in the Revelation.

It is said that many copies of a Treatise on Heaven and Hell by E. S. were imported by a merchant of Richmond Town, which work communicates much comfort to Believers.

Wythe replied in October, 1792, thanking Carter for the books and stating, he wished "I had power to remunerate your beneficence by sending books to you which would do to you no less good than those handed to me by Mr. Dawson ought in your opinion to do to me." Swedenborg's works do not appear in Thomas Jefferson's inventory of books received from Wythe's estate after his death in 1806. Wythe may not have kept the four books gifted from Carter, giving them away or otherwise disposing of them. To date, the Wolf Law Library has been unable to locate a copy of A Short Account of the Honourable Emanuel Swedenborg and His Theological Writings.

See also

• The Liturgy of the New Church Signified by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation
• "The Early History of the New Church in America, VIII"
• Nine Queries Concerning the Trinity, &c. Proposed to The Hon. Emanuel Swedenborg by the Rev. Thomas Hartley
• True Christian Religion: Containing the Universal Theology of the New Church
• Wythe to Robert Carter, 17 October 1792
• Wythe's Library