Page:The Life and Mission of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/35

 and children of his predecessor he not only allowed the use of the parsonage and all its estate for a year, but surrendered to them half of the income and paid all their taxes. Later in life he said of himself,—"So little was I ever troubled about receiving my stipend, that I never sent a reminder to a farmer who owed me his tithe, but was satisfied with what he gave of his own free-will."

We cannot help pitying the poor people of Vingåker, as we find their pastor compelled the same year, when moving the last of his furniture into the new vicarage, to accept first a professorship and then the rectorship at the University of Upsal. He himself would have been a happy man if he could have remained in the quiet seclusion of a country pastorate. He begged the King to excuse him, as he had been unused to college work for ten years. The King insisted and Swedberg complied, saying, "In God's name it cannot be helped. I shall do my best, and fly to God for help; but your Majesty must protect my back." "I will do that," said the King. Swedberg stretched out his hand, saying, "Will your Majesty give me your hand as an assurance?" which Charles at once cordially did.

Wherever Swedberg was, he must be a zealous reformer; and so in public stations he was sure to encounter opposition from those whose conduct or prejudices he attacked. Some years previously, he had been appointed by the King on a commission to revise the Swedish Bible. In his zealous way he not only pushed forward the revision, but also advanced fifty thousand dalers in copper, belonging to his wife and children, to import the materials and workmen for printing, the King guaranteeing him against loss. The work was fruitless, because of the opposition of the clergy. The same fate was shared at a more advanced stage by a new hymn and psalm-book, on which Swedberg and others bestowed great labor.