PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE
And may He be further with him until he be eternally united with Him in His kingdom! . . . I am a Sunday child; and the mother of my children, my late wife, was also a Sunday child, and all my children were Sunday children except Catharine, who was born at Upsal on the third day of Easter." After Emanuel came six sons and daughters, the last being Margaretha, born in 1695, their good mother dying the following year, when Emanuel was nine years old.
It was in 1719 that the family was ennobled by Queen Ulrica Eleonora with the name of Swedenborg, and Benzelius with the name of Benzelstierna, after which they were entitled to seats in the Diet. The Bishop, however, worked quietly on under his old name till his death in 1735, preaching, writing, and publishing without ceasing, though with small encouragement and few sales. Of his numerous publications he said, "If I had all the money which I have invested in the printing of books, I would be worth now from sixty to seventy thousand dalers in copper." These were largely sermons and other religious works, but also books on the Swedish language, grammar and lexicons, school-books,
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