Louis Lambert — Honoré de Balzac, trans. Katharine Prescott Wormeley

‘‘Swedenborg was especially attached to Baron Seraphita, whose name, according to an old Swedish custom, had from time immemorial taken the Latin suffix ws. The Baron was the Swedish prophet’s most zealous disciple; the eyes of his inner man had been opened by the Seer, who had prepared him to live in conformity with commands from on high. He was in search of a woman with the angelic spirit,

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and Swedenborg showed her to him ina vision. His bride was the daughter of a shoemaker in London; in her, said Swedenborg, the life of heaven shone brightly, and she had gone through the first tests. After the prophet was translated, the Baron came to Jarvis to solemnize his heavenly nuptials in the practice of prayer. For my part, Sir, I, who am no seer, could only note the earthly life of the couple, and it was undoubtedly that of the saints whose virtues are the glory of the Roman Church. They alleviated the sufferings of the inhabitants, giving them a portion which does not suffice to live on without work, but which is then sufficient for their needs; those who lived with them never saw them moved to anger or impatience; they were invariably gentle and beneficent, full of amiability, graciousness, and true kindness; their marriage was the harmony of two souls in constant union. Two eider-ducks in equal flight, a sound and its echo, the thought and the word, are but imperfect images of that union. Here they were loved by everybody with an affection which can only be compared to the love of plants for the sun.

‘‘The wife was simple in her manners and beautiful to behold; her face was lovely, and her dignity worthy of the most august personage.

‘‘In 1783, in the twenty-sixth year of her age, this woman bore a child; it was a time of solemn rejoicing. The husband and wife took leave of the world, telling me that they had no doubt that they should be transformed when the child should have shed the garb of flesh, which would need their care until she should have received strength to live by herself. The child was born, and was this Seraphita with whom we are just now concerned; for the nine months before her birth her father andp. 82 mother lived in greater retirement than before, uplifting themselves to heaven by prayer. Their hope was that they might see Swedenborg, and faith procured its fulfilment. On the day of Seraphita’s birth, Swedenborg appeared in Jarvis, and filled the room where the babe was born with light. His words, it is said, were:

‘*«The work is accomplished; the heavens rejoice!’

‘“‘The servants in the house heard strange sounds of music, brought, they declared, by the winds from the four points of the compass.

“The spirit of Swedenborg led the father out of the house and out on the fiord, where it left him. Some men of Jarvis, going up to the Baron, heard him repeating these soothing words from Scripture—‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings!’

‘‘T was setting out from the manse to go to the castle, intending to baptize the child, and carry out the duties enjoined on me by law, when [ met the Baron.