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ANECDOTES COLLECTED BY MR. KOBSAHM. ’^
" T find myself necessitated at this period to have recourse to your majesty’s
protection, having met with usage of such a nature, as no other person has ex-
perienced since the establishment of Christianity in Sweden, and much less since
there has been liberty of conscience. The following is an abridgment of the
particulars that are the occasion of my requesting your Majesty’s interference
—On my arrival in Sweden from foreign parts, T was informed, that Bishop
Filenius had suppressed and seized Uie copies of my treatise, De Amove Conju-
giali, which I had printed in Holland, and which were sent to Norkjoping.
Havin.g inquired of some bishops, whether Bishop F. ha<l acted in this manner
from his own authority, or from that of the clerical body, they replied, that they
liad heard of the affair, but that none of them had been consulted about it, or
had given his consent thereto ; and that there was not one word set down in the
journal of the ecclesiastical court concerning it. Some ecclesiastics at Gotten-
burg, being emboldened by this inconsiderate and violent conduct of the bishops,
tegan to speak and declaim loudly against my WTitings, and so far succeeded
as to have an assembly appointed for their examination, consisting of some
bishops and professors in divinity. This assembly continued sitting for the
space of some months, and at length made a favorable report, which stopped
the mouths of those accusers at once ; their attempts were then thought to cease,
and the affair to have an end. To prevent all thought of its being re-kindled, it
was concluded, that a petition should be presented to your majesty, to issue
orders to the chancellor of justice, to give an information of the authors who had
raised the disturbance at Gottenburg. The bishop and deacon of that place,
who w^ere the principal movers in this affair, seeing the little success of their
project to engage the body of the clergy, to light up the fire for which they had
made ready the materials, had recourse to calumnies and injuries, and filled
twenty printed leaves with invectives, which they circulated amongst the
public. I was farther informed, that your majesty, hearing of this dispute, took
it under your own consideration, decided it in the senate, and ordered the chan-
cellor to forward letters relative thereto to the consistory a;t Gottenburg.
" I Lad no notice sent me of all these proceedings; my person, writings, and
sentiments on the worship of the Lord our Saviour, w^ere attacked and persecuted,
and I have neither been called to make my defence, nor been heard respecting
it: but truth itself has answered for me. The accounts that were published at
Gottenburg on this matter, did not touch the substance of the cause, and were
filled with invectives and gross injuries. The first account I had of these
papers, was from a general commissary of war at Elsineur,* and a friend at
Stockholm, who lent them to me for a day; and I found therein two letters of
Bishop Filenius, wherein it is said, that he should meddle no more in it. I am
desirous to convince the world, that all these proceedings, from their beginning
to their end, have been carried on without my having ever been heard. A
rumor has, nevertheless, spread throughout Stockholm, that the chancellor of
justice has declared in writing to the consistory at Gottenburg, that my works
are prohibited from being brought into that place, under the penalty of fifty
dollars ; and that my writings have been declared false, and not true. I have
* General Tuxea, mentioned abov<?>
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