Swedenborg’s long preservation from attack and controversy, at this time came to an end. On the 22d of March, 1769, Dr. Ekebom, Dean of the Theological faculty of Gottenburg, laid before the Consistory there a series of objections against Swedenborg’s theological writings, laden with untruth, and full of personal invective. The Dean branded his doctrine “as in the highest degree heretical, and, on points the most tender to every Christian, Socinian.” He stated, further, that he “_did not know Assessor Swedenborg’s religious system, and should take no pains to come at the knowledge of it_.” As for Swedenborg’s chief works, he “_did not possess them, and had neither read nor seen them_.” Swedenborg’s written reply, transmitted from Holland, was mild and effectual. He cited his writings themselves, and proved that, according to Scripture, the Apostolic Creed, and whatever was not self-contradictory in the orthodoxy of the churches, his doctrine was anything but heretical. But the self-acknowledged ignorance and prejudice of the Dean were not to be removed by anything he might say. “Was not this,” to quote Swedenborg’s own words, “to be blind in the forehead, and to have eyes behind, and even those covered with a film? To see and decide upon writings in such a fashion, can any secular or ecclesiastical judge regard as otherwise than criminal?” About the end of May, or the beginning of June, Swedenborg left Amsterdam for Paris, “with a design which,” in writing to Dr. Beyer, he says, “must not be made public beforehand.” We hardly understand the remark, except that he anticipated some difficulty with regard to the object of his journey,—the publication of another little work, entitled, “The Intercourse Between the Soul and the Body,” in the French capital. On his arrival in Paris, Swedenborg submitted his tract to M. Chevreuil, Censor Royal, who, having read it, informed him that a tacit permission to publish would be granted, on condition, as was customary in the case of doubtful books, that the title should say, “printed at London,” or “at Amsterdam.” This, Swedenborg’s nice sense of truth and honor could not submit to, and he abandoned his intention of publishing it in Paris. His enemies in Gottenburg then circulated a report that he had been ordered to quit Paris, which he, in a letter to Dr. Beyer, pronounced a direct falsehood, and appealed for the truth of the case to the Swedish Ambassador to France.