Page:Swedenborg, Harbinger of the New Age of the Christian Church.djvu/294

. "Being then at the close of his eighty-fourth year, near Christmas, Swedenborg had a paralytic stroke that deprived him of speech and caused him to lie in a lethargic state for more than three weeks, in which he took no other nourishment than a little tea or cold water from time to time. By the last of February he told Mrs. Shearsmith what day would be his last, and with "a sound mind, memory, and understanding" to his last hour, on Sunday evening, March 29, 1772, about five o'clock, pleased to find the hour had come, this Sunday child thanked his friends, asked God to bless them, and with a gentle sigh yielded his last breath. Friendly Swedes in London took charge of the last services, at which their pastor, Arvid Ferelius, officiated, and the body was deposited in the vault of the Swedish Ulrica-Eleonora church. In this little church which had often welcomed Swedenborg as a worshipper, his remains reposed until the building itself was no longer required in its location and was to be taken down. Then at the request of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences the Swedish Government, having obtained permission of the English Government,