EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
mind; and there is nothing but humility, contempt of self, and simple love of truth, that can prevent or remedy the evils we have described.
"But how often does a man labor in vain to divest himself of his own nature! How often, when ignorant or unmindful of the love that creeps upon him, will he betray a partiality to himself and the offspring of his own genius! If an author therefore desires that his studies should give birth to anything of sterling value, let him be advised, when he has committed to paper what he considers to be of particular merit and is fond of frequently perusing, to lay it aside for a while, and after the lapse of months to return to it as to something he had forgotten, and as the production not of himself but of some other writer. Let him repeat this practice three or four times in the year. . . . Should his writings then often raise a blush upon his countenance, should he no longer feel an overweening confidence with regard to the lines which had received the latest polish from his hands, let him be assured that he has made some little progress in wisdom."
At the conclusion of Part First, Swedenborg gives a chapter which he styles An Introduction
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