In a letter addressed to the universities of Upsala, Lund and Abo by Emanuel Swedenborg, dated July 23, 1770, he says that the Gothenburg Trial “has been the most solemn brought before any council during the last 1700 years.” He adds that this is so “since it concerns the New Church which is predicted by the Lord in Daniel and in the Apocalypse and agrees with what the Lord says in Matthew 24 : 22.” The reference is to the tribulations which will accompany the Lord’s second coming.