Had he been a farmer’s or a tradesman’s son, instead of being a bishop’s, his fate might have been very different. Bishop Filenius, however, succeeded in gaining the appointment of a committee of the House of Clergy on the Swedenborgian case. Its deliberations were kept secret. Nothing came of it that was unfavorable to Swedenborg. They disregarded the charges of Filenius, and spoke “very handsomely and reasonably of Swedenborg.” Filenius gained one point, however, in the presentation of a memorial to the king, requesting the attention of the Chancellor of Justice to the troubles at Gottenburg. To this request the king yielded; and the members of the Consistory of Gottenburg were commanded to send in an unequivocal representation of the light in which they regarded Swedenborg’s principles. On January 2d, 1770, Dr. Beyer, as one of the members of the Consistory, rose, and gave his bold and honest testimony in favor of Swedenborg and his writings. He said: “Convinced by experience, I must in the first place observe, that no man is competent to give a just and suitable judgment on those writings, who has not read them; or who has read them superficially, or with a determination in his heart to reject them, after having perused, without examination, some detached parts only; neither is he competent, who rejects them as soon as he finds anything that militates against those doctrines which he has long cherished and acknowledged as true, and of which perhaps he is but too blindly enamored; nor is he competent, who is an ardent, yet undiscriminating biblical scholar, who, in explaining the meaning of the Scriptures, confines his ideas to the literal expression or signification only: and, lastly, neither is he competent, who has altogether devoted himself to sensual indulgences, and the love of the world.” He then entered into the details of New Church doctrine, and concluded in these words: “In obedience, therefore, to your Majesty’s most gracious command, that I should deliver a full and positive declaration respecting the writings of Swedenborg, I do acknowledge it to be my duty to declare, in all humble confidence, that as far as I have proceeded in the study of them, and agreeably to the gift granted to me for investigation and judgment, I have found in them _nothing but what closely coincides with the words of the Lord himself, and that they shine with a light truly divine_.” These were noble and brave words to speak in the midst of enemies.