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104 [Doc. 10.
SWEDENBORG’S ANCESTRY.
.
reminder to a farmer who owed me his tithe, but was
satisfied with what he gave of his own free will. I had
so much to read, write, and preach about, that I never had
either the time or the desire for such things; neither have I
become poorer thereby, nor been defrauded .”
Although Swedberg looked on his appointment to the chaplain
cy of the regiment, as allowing him much time for his studies
and ministerial work, still it must not be thought that on
that account he neglected his duties as chaplain. On the
contrary, he fulfilled them with the same zeal which he dis
played in everything he undertook. He did not content him
self with preaching, but also gave his regiment regular
instruction in the catechism. We will allow him to give
his own account of this. “In my duties with the regiment of
guards,” he says, “ with God’s grace I gave satisfaction to
high and low, although I was not indulgent with them, either
in preaching or calling them to account. I examined them
diligently in the catechism , in accordance with the royal orders,
at every muster, and at all their meetings - yet in the mildest and
most moderate manner. They had not before been accustomed
to this. Wherefore, whenever they saw me coming, they trembled,
as they afterwards told me, much more than when they went
into battle with the enemy. But after I commenced talking
with them in an affable and mild manner, telling them stories
from the Bible, and strengthening them in their faith and
in their Christian course of life, the company which I had
examined first would not go away, when another came in
to be examined, but they all pressed around me, and almost
bore me down. The officers also voluntarily sat around the
table, and engaged with me in good, useful, and edifying
discourse. Once I made a promise to the whole regiment,
which consisted of upwards of 1,200 men, that on the next
muster, which took place once every year, I would present
every man who could read with a copy of Archbishop
Dr. Swebilius’ catechism. I also wrote in these books the
names, about 300, of all those who could read. A year after
wards, when the whole regiment was mustered near Upsal,
nearly 600 could read. This amounted to 600 dalers in copper;
for each catechism cost a daler. My promise I had to keep,
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