publication in the Repository, the two letters enclosed, which will be perused with the greatest satisfaction, and with thankfulness to Divine Providence, by the original subscribers and the Committee of the Swedenborg Society. "Yours very truly, 666 Nottinghill, W., Sept. 6, 1871. My Dear Dr. Wilkinson,—I was very glad to hear from my wife that you had been pleased with your trip to Norway. I enclose an account of what I have heard of the reception of the Visdomur Englanna in Iceland, and I cannot tell you how glad I am that my countrymen like it the more, the more they read it. I wish the young clergyman, Mr. Johnson's brotherin-law, of whom I speak, had not left London so soon (he went to Copenhagen last Saturday), or else I should have taken the liberty to introduce him to you, so that you might have heard from his own mouth what he told His testimony is all the more valuable in this respect, as he is not yet a disciple of Swedenborg. We had long talks about his doctrines, and he said that he would make closer acquaintance with him when he came home. Swedenborg's works will be appreciated in Iceland, I am quite sure, because my countrymen are an intelligent people, without being preoccupied by German philosophy (evolutions out of inner consciousness) and materialistic speculations. The only obstacle to the general circulation of Swedenborg's books in Iceland will be the inability of the Icelanders to buy them. me. "I hope to find time to call on you very soon. "Yours ever affectionately, "JON A. HJALTALIN.' 666 66 ***8 VICTORIA Nottinghill, W., Sept. 6, 1871. My Dear Dr. Wilkinson, -I am very glad to be able to inform you that the good work done by Mr. Clissold and the Swedenborgian Society in publishing Swedenborg's Sapientia Angelica de Divino Amore is now bearing fruit among my countrymen, especially among the country clergymen and farmers, for they have not labelled their minds with "No admittance to spiritual truths," as is the case with some of the very few of my countrymen who have been educated at the University of Copenhagen. My countrymen are always slow in receiving new ideas. I was not therefore at all disappointed or surprised, though I did not hear anything about the reception of the doctrines of Swedenborg by the Icelanders for some time after the above-mentioned book had been placed before them. Nevertheless I felt confident that ultimately it would be well received. And in this hope I was not disappointed, for this summer I have received letters from various parts of Iceland, in which the "Divine Love was spoken of in the most eulogistic terms. At the same time they asked me whether there were any possibility of "Heaven and Hell" appearing in Icelandic; for "that book would be eagerly read by many of our countrymen," says one of my correspondents. "Last month a young Icelandic clergyman was on a visit here in London. He was not acquainted with Swedenborg's writings himself, but he told me that he had travelled over the greatest part of Iceland last summer. “On these travels," he said, "I was constantly assailed not only by my brother colleagues, but also by farmers and peasants, with questions concerning the doctrines of Swedenborg, whether I had read his book, and what I thought of it. They seemed to have studied it profoundly, and to be quite in raptures with its contents. An old clergyman said to me, 'I have learned more from that book than from all the professors of the University, and I earnestly advise you to read it yourself, and you will prove the truth of my words. You may read it once or twice without much result, but, if you persevere, a new world of thought and revelation will open to you." 666 'I have not the least doubt of Swedenborg's writings being generally appreciated in Iceland, for the mind of my countrymen is a virgin soil, this book being the first philosophical work ever published in Icelandic. They are most of them of a meditative turn of mind, and fond of thinking in a practical way, not in the abstract. I should, therefore, think there are few people more predisposed to the reception of Swedenborg's doctrines than the Icelanders. 6 "I am, my dear Dr. Wilkinson, yours most sincerely, "Dr. Garth Wilkinson.'" 666 'JON A. HJALTALIN.' AND READING-ROOM, No. 2 HAMILTON PLACE, Opposite Park-Street Church, BOSTON. HEAD-QUARTERS OF THE Mass. Association of the New Jerusalem Church AND THE Massachusetts New Church Union. SWEDENBORG'S WORKS, AND THE COLLATERAL WRITINGS OF THE NEW CHURCH, KEPT FOR SALE. Orders by Mail promptly attended to. Subscriptions received for the "New Jerusalem Magazine," "New Jeru salem Messenger," and "New Church Magazine for Children." RICHARD WARD, Agent. |