275 Early Childhood Memories in Bryn Athyn

“How did the Bryn Athyn children entertain themselves? They climbed trees for one thing and improvised many little games of their own. There was ‘Pussy wants a Corner,’ jump rope, ‘Tisket-a-Tasket’ and ‘I’m the King of the Castle.’ Baseball was popular which we played in the Acton Field, across the way. . . . 

“We wandered long distances over farm land (which was everywhere then) and well out of Bryn Athyn boundaries. In those days it was safe to stray that far and our parents didn’t seem to be concerned. Continue reading » » » »

270 The Hindi Swedenborg Society (India, 1914)

“Mr. M. R. Bhatt, writing from Baroda, India, after expressing thanks for a parcel of books and tracts, says: ‘I have since had the good fortune of reading many of the wonderful works of Swedenborg, and I have got them together with all the available works of the venerable Dr. Wilkinson. . . . I am a Brahmin [the highest Indian caste] by birth, but already I am a follower of the Heavenly Doctrine revealed by Swedenborg; and I hope I shall be able in due time even to appropriate his doctrine of the Lord. . . .’ Later the same gentleman wrote: ‘In continuation of my last letter I am happy to inform you that since I sent it our Lord has graciously blessed me with the faith I longed for, and I am made a missionary of the New Church. . . .  Already the new light has been hailed in various quarters with more or less delight. I have been reading the Word and translating Heaven and Hell. My wife follows me in the new faith, my mother and sister alternately hope and fear, and my friends and pupils wish to believe . . .’” (”The Swedenborg Society,” New Church Life 1898, 128).

Manishankar Ratnajee Bhatt worked for the spread of Swedenborg’s theological works in India from the 1890s until his death in 1923 (see New Church Life 1924, 61). Bhatt was the first president of the Hindi Swedenborg Society, established in 1914, and oversaw its journal, The Heart of India (see photo, left). He first learned about Swedenborg when he came across a copy of William White’s Life of Swedenborg in a public library in Bombay. He then contacted the Swedenborg Society in London, England, for further reading material, and began a systematic study. When he became convinced of the truth of Swedenborg’s writings, he published a public letter proclaiming his Christian faith and removed from his left shoulder the sacred thread which was the sign of his caste Continue reading » » » »