Recent investigations of Swedenborgians in London place them at the center of intricate and sometimes convoluted connections that tie Swedenborgians to what Al Gabay calls the “covert” Enlightenment—a complicated network of people of various walks of life who were also Swedenborgians, mesmerists, high-order illuminist freemasons, dabblers in alchemy, and spiritualists. With Manoah as an early New Church minister and active astrologer, and his brother Ebenezer an astrologer, alchemist, and freemason, they would seem to be a nexus for these related networks. Upon closer examination, this is unlikely for a variety of reasons. This chapter offers a revisionist look at Manoah’s centrality to the leadership and development of the New Church through its first fifty years, as well as suggesting that Manoah was largely responsible for New Church developments that famously alienated William Blake.
Songs of Innocence
