"I had been told by narrow people that all who were not Christians would be punished, and naturally my soul revolted, since I knew of wonderful men who had lived and died for truth as they saw it in the pagan lands.

But in Heaven and Hell [by Emanuel Swedenborg] I found that "Jesus" stands for Divine Good, Good wrought into deeds, and "Christ" Divine Truth, sending forth new thought, new life and joy into the minds of men; therefore no one who believes in God and lives right is ever condemned."

So I grew to womanhood... I took more and more to the New Church doctrines as my religion. No one encouraged me in this choice, and I cannot explain it any more than anyone else. I can only say that the Word of God freed from the blots and stains of barbarous creeds has been at once the joy and good of my life..."

"Swedenborg was an eye among the blind, an ear among the deaf . . . one of the noblest champions true Christianity has ever known."

(From My Religion by Helen Keller)

"Swedenborg’s message is like the rock smitten by Moses, yielding sweet streams of healing water, even an abundance of truths for those who hunger and thirst in their pilgrimage through an age of materialism and selfishness. The doctrines set forth by Swedenborg bring men by a wondrous way to God’s city of light. I have walked through its sunlit ways of truth, I have drunk of its sweet waters of knowledge, and the eyes of my spirit have been opened, so that I know the joy of vision which conquers darkness and circles heaven."

(From Dr. Helen Keller's Introduction to The True Christian Religion )

"To my mind the only light that has been cast on the other life is found in Swedenborg's philosophy... "It explains much that was incomprehensible."

"I can venture to assert that as a moralist Swedenborg is above all praise; and that as a naturalist, psychologist and theologian, he has strong and varied claims on the gratitude and admiration of the professional and philosopical faculties..."

"Emanuel Swedenborg had the sanest and most far-reaching intellect this age has ever known..."

"Swedenborg was a man of great and indisputable cultivation, strong mathematical intellect, and the most pious, seraphic turn of mind; a man beautiful, lovable and tragical to me... More truths are confessed in his writings than in those of any other man... One of the loftiest minds in the realm of mind... One of the spiritual suns that will shine brighter as the years go on."

Richard Yardumian dedicated his Symphony No. 2 "Psalms" to the Reverend Theodore Pitcairn, a close friend and priest in the The Lord's New Church Which Is Nova Hierosolyma, of which he was a member.

"Richard's devotion to his church has strongly influenced his compositions, from the overt use of religious texts and musical genres to less obvious symbolism in the actual musical structure."