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Doc. 10.] 107
BISHOP JESPER SWEDBERG .
of salary and not of service, others were preferred, who under
stood how to press themselves forward ; and “ this," added
Swedberg, “ was also much better for me. ” It was satisfaction
enough for him to know that he had a sincere friend in the
King, “ who was not displeased, but rather liked, when an
earnest, zealous servant of the Lord preached severe truth , and
did not keep anything in the background, but stood forward
boldly, proving everything clearly from God’s Word, without
doing it violence .” So did Swedberg ; he kept nothing back, but
preached the naked truth, even if the refined sensibilities of
the higher classes should thereby be wounded. This indeed
frequently happened. For instance, it was a difficult duty for
him to denounce the hardness with which his royal friend
carried out the policy of reduction ;* but as he looked upon
this as his duty, truth carried the day, and put into his mouth
the words ofMicah, Chap. iii, from which he undauntedly deduced
such an application as could not fail to be understood : “ Ye
hate the good, and love the evil ; ye pluck off their skin from
them , and their flesh from off their bones, and eat the flesh
of my people ; and when ye have flayed their skin from off
them , ye break their bones also in pieces," &c. An officer
of the reduction, who was among the hearers, went to the
King, and asked him : "Shall the parson speak in this style ?"
The King asked him significantly: “ Did the parson confirm
his sermon by God’s Word ?” When the complainant was
obliged to give an affirmative answer, the King put an end to
it with this reply : “ If the parson has God’s Word, the King
has nothing to say against it." The King also never withdrew
his favour from Swedberg, in spite of efforts made to bring this
about. Swedberg could therefore write as follows : "The King’s
favour towards me became every day more overflowing; the
King also said to me, once when we stood alone in the castle,
and spoke together : ’You have many enemies.’ I then said,
“A servant of the Lord is not good for much, if he has no
enemies. Look upon the prophets, the apostles, and Christ
himself. What enemies and antagonists did not Christ have ?’
* That is, the policy of sequestration exercised against the manorial rights
of the nobility.
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