*Not until today did I get your letter of December 2. The cause of its late arrival lies with the letter carriers, who allowed it to remain with them for so long. The previous letter, with 30 Daler Silvermynt, has also been duly received, for which I thank you. I have also received the printed letter, about which a large number in the House of the Clergy at first made a lot of noise. Such noise, however, does no harm, for it acts in the same way as ferment in the making of wine, by means of which it later becomes clear; for unless what is unjust is ventilated and rejected, that which is just cannot be seen and accepted.

I have indeed heard about the Ecclesiastical Committee of the revered House of the Clergy, but nevertheless have taken no steps to defend the matter, because I know that the Lord Himself our Saviour defends His Church, especially against those who refuse to enter through the door into the sheepfold, that is, into the Church and so into heaven, namely those who are called thieves and robbers. This is what the Lord Himself says - 'He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs up some other way, that man is a thief and a robber. I am the door: by Me if any man enters in, he will be saved, and will find pasture', John x 1, 7-9. Also, I have been told by means of an angel from the Lord that I may rest securely on my arm at night, by which is meant the night of the world at the present time with regard to matters of the Church.

I have also read the Appendix to the Spionen** n. 48, and in the last statements I see the interior meaning of the author - which is not difficult.

With regard to the two priests of whom your departed wife spoke, since she did not name them, neither can I do so. It is well known that there are deceitful spirits among priests too, and this both in this country and in the whole world. After saying this and more besides she went to the dragonists, who had first spoken through her on the day of her death, and is still with them.

Another communication I have received is your and the Dean's extract from the Minutes of the Consistory of Dec. 6, in which he continues with his usual shameful statements which I may regard as the yapping of a dog, at which I need not trouble myself to pick up a stone to throw and to drive away.

It pleases me that you are translating the little work on the INTERACTION OF THE SOUL AND THE BODY into Swedish. It is very well received everywhere abroad and also by many intelligent persons here in Stockholm.

I remain, etc. Eman. Swedenborg Stockholm 29 December 1769

* After receiving the letter of 30 October Beyer acted on Swedenborg's permission to publish it, with the result that he lost the support of all except Rosen in the Consistory. Public disquiet ensued concerning the two priests who had brought Beyer's late wife into association with dragonist spirits, and in an anonymous letter printed as an Appendix to number 48 of the Goteborg Spionen the demand was made that they be named. Not knowing who these two priests were, Beyer sought Swedenborg's help in his letter dated 2 December. Codex 52 contains the author's primary draft (Ap) as well as the actual letter. ** Den Goteborgske Spionen (The Goteborg Watchman).