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136 [Doc. 10.
SWEDENBORG’S ANCESTRY.
of rule ; and that with more courage and fervour than Arch
bishop Steuchius, who was put down by them , he declared in
the name of the clergy, that they could not on any account
consider themselves justified in depriving royalty of that power
with which God in His Word had invested Kings ; for no King
in the whole Sacred Scripture had ever sạch a limited power
às they proposed to assign to the Queen. "If the royal
power is so reduced, I shall be turned from one college to
another, from one hole to another, and shall have to wait a
whole year before I receive an answer. In Skara, in the Con
sistory, I have much more power among its members. We
ought to be very careful not to tie the hands of royalty so
tightly, that it will one day break these bonds, and restore a
despotism.” The truth of this expression of Swedberg was
proved by the revolution in 1772 ; but the men of 1719 were
unwilling to see it. “ This language did not sound well in the
ears of those who desired to become Kings themselves, and
to over-ride the King ." Swedberg was excluded from the
private committee, of which he had been a member, and
compelled to return home two months before the close of
the Diet. It is not to be wondered at that he was unwilling
to appear at the Diet next year. He was too much of a
genuine priest to care for the debates in the Diet. He
would, too, have been very much pleased, if he had been
allowed to stay away from the Diet in 1723 ; for then he had
even more to fear from party hatred. But the King and Queen
persuaded him to come, promising to protect him . He came,
and saw, but conquered as little as he had done the time
before. But if he was unable to contribute as much as in
former times towards the welfare of the country, still he did
all that he could. His views and his words found an echo in
the House of the Peasants.
When the constitution of 1720 was to be established,
as the “ pillar upon which Sweden’s welfare should rest,"
a peasant of Dalecarlia, and another of Swedberg’s former
parishioners at Vingåker, rose, and said with much zeal :
"God preserve us from such a pillar as this, for it is a frail
one. No, God’s Word and the ancient laws of Sweden are
our safest pillar, upon which Sweden’s welfare rests; with
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