An old woman came out from her little log cabin in the woods.
Although it was only a week day, she was dressed in her best, as if
for church. After locking her door she put the key in its usual
place, under the stoop.
When the old woman had gone a few paces, she turned round to look
at her cabin, which appeared very small and very gray under the
shadow of the towering snow-clad fir trees. She glanced at her
humble home with an affectionate gaze. "Many a happy day have
I spent in that little old hut!" she mused solemnly. "Ah me! The
Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away."
Then she went on her way, down the forest road. She was very old
and exceeding fragile, but she was one of those who hold themselves
erect and firm, however much old age may try to bend them. She had
a sweet face and soft white hair. She looked so mild and gentle
that it was surprising to hear her speak with a voice that was as
strident and solemn as that of some old evangelist.
She had a long tramp ahead of her, for she was going down to the
Ingmar Farm to a meeting of the Hellgumists. Old Eva Gunnersdotter
was one of the most zealous converts to Hellgum's teachings. "Ah,
those were glorious times," she mumbled to herself as she trudged
on, "in the beginning when half the parish had gone over to
Hellgum! Who would have thought that so many were going to
backslide, and that after five years there would be hardly more
than a score of us left--not counting the children, of course!"
Her thoughts went back to the time when she, who for many years had
lived in solitude in the heart of the forest, forgotten by every
one, all at once had found a lot of brothers and sisters who came
to her in her loneliness, who never forgot to clear a path to her
cabin after a big snowfall, and who always kept her little shed
well filled with dry firewood--and all without her having to ask
for it. She recalled to mind the time when Karin, daughter of
Ingmar, and her sisters, and many more of the best people in the
parish, used to come and hold love feasts in her little gray cabin.
"Alas, that so many should have abandoned the only true way of
salvation!" she sighed. "Now retribution will come upon us. Next
summer we must all perish because so few among us have heard the
call, and because those who have heard it have not continued
steadfast."
The old woman then fell to pondering over Hellgum's letters, those
letters which the Hellgumists regarded as Apostolic writings and
read aloud at all their meetings, as the Bible is read in the
churches. "There was a time when Hellgum was as milk and honey to
us," she reflected. "Then he commanded us to be kind and tolerant
toward the unconverted, and to show gentle forbearance toward those
who had fallen away; he taught the rich that in their works of
charity they must treat the just and the unjust alike. But lately
he has been as wormwood and gall. He writes about nothing but
trials and punishments."
The old woman had now reached the edge of the forest, from where
she could look down over the village. It was a lovely day in
February. The snow had spread its white purity over the whole
district; all the trees were deep in their winter sleep, and not a
breath of wind stirred. But she was thinking that all this
beautiful country, wrapped in peaceful slumber, would soon be
awakened only to be consumed by a rain of fire and brimstone.
Everything that was now lying under a cover of snow, she seemed to
see enveloped in flame.
"He hasn't put it into plain words," thought the old woman, "but
he keeps writing all the while about a _sore trial_. Mercy me! Who
could wonder at it if this parish were to be punished as was Sodom,
and overthrown like Babylon!"
As Eva Gunnersdotter wandered through the village, she could not
look up at a single house without picturing to herself how the
coming earthquake would shake it and crumble it into dust and
ashes. And when she met people along the way, she thought of how
the monsters of hell would soon hunt and devour them.
"Ah, here comes the schoolmaster's Gertrude!" she remarked to
herself as she saw a pretty young girl coming down the road. "Her
eyes sparkle like sunbeams on the snow. She feels happy now because
she expects to be married in the fall to young Ingmar Ingmarsson. I
see she has a bundle of thread tucked under her arm. She is going
to weave table covers and bed hangings for her new home. But before
that weaving is done, destruction will be upon us."
The old woman cast dark glances about her. She could see that the
village had grown and developed into an astonishing thing of
beauty, but she thought that all these pretty white-and-yellow
houses, with their fancy gables and their big bowed windows, would
collapse the same as her humble gray cabin, where moss grew in the
cracks between the logs, and the windows were only holes in the
wall. When she reached the heart of the town, she stopped short and
struck her cane hard against the pavement. A sudden feeling of
indignation had seized her. "Woe, woe!" she cried, in so loud a
voice that people in the street paused and looked round. "Yea, in
all these houses live such as have rejected the Gospel of Christ
and cling to the enemy's teaching. Why didn't they listen to the
call and turn away from their sins? On their account we must all
perish. God's hand strikes heavily. It strikes both the just and
the unjust."
When she had crossed the river she was overtaken by some of the
other Hellgumists. They were Corporal Felt and Bullet Gunner and
his wife, Brita. Shortly afterward, they were joined by Hök Matts
Ericsson, his son Gabriel, and Gunhild, the daughter of Councilman
Clementsson.
All these people in their gayly coloured national costumes made a
pretty picture walking along the snow-covered road. But to the mind
of Eva Gunnersdotter, they were only doomed prisoners being led to
the place of execution, like cattle driven to slaughter.
The Hellgumists looked quite dejected. They walked along, their
eyes on the ground, as if weighed down by a terrible load of
discouragement. They had all expected that the Celestial Kingdom
would suddenly spread over the whole earth, and that they would
live to see the day when the New Jerusalem should come down from
the clouds of heaven. But now that they had become so few in
number, and could not help seeing that theirs was a forlorn hope,
it was as if something within them had snapped. They moved slowly
and with dragging steps. Now and then a sigh would escape them, but
they seemed to have nothing to say to each other. For this had been
a matter of supreme earnest with them. They had staked their all
upon it, and had lost.
"Why do they look so down-in-the-mouth?" wondered the old woman.
"They don't seem to believe the worst, and don't want to understand
what Hellgum writes. I've tried to explain his words to them, but
they won't even listen to me. Alas! those who live on the lowlands,
under an open sky, can never understand what it is to be afraid.
They don't think the same thoughts as do those of us who live in
the solitude of the dark forest."
She could see that the Hellgumists were uneasy because Halvor had
called them together on a week day. They feared that he was going
to tell them of more desertions from their ranks. They glanced
anxiously at one another, with a look of distrust in their eyes
that seemed to say: "How long will you hold out? And you--and you?"
"We might as well stop right now," they thought, "and break up the
Society at once. After all, sudden death would be easier than
slowly wasting away."
Alas! that this little community with its gospel of peace, this
blissful life of unity and brotherly love which had meant so much
to all of them, that this should now be doomed.
As these disheartened people walked along toward the farm the
sparkling winter sun rolled merrily on across the blue sky. From
the glistening snow rose a refreshing coolness, which should have
put life and courage into them; while from the fir-clad hills
encircling the parish, there fell a soothing peace and stillness.
At last they were at the Ingmar Farm.
In the living-room of the farmhouse, close to the ceiling, hung an
old picture which had been painted by some local artist a hundred
years before their time. It represented a city surrounded by a high
wall, above which could be seen the roofs and gables of many
buildings, some of which were red farmhouses with turf roofs.
Others were white manor houses with slate roofs. Others, again,
showed massive copper-plated towers, after the manner of the
Kistine Church at Falun. Outside the city wall were promenading
gentlemen, in kneebreeches and buckled shoes, who carried Bengal
canes. A coach was seen driving out of the gateway of the town, in
which were seated ladies in powdered wigs and wearing Watteau hats.
Beyond the wall were trees, with a profusion of dark green foliage;
and on the ground, between patches of tall, waving grass, ran
little shimmering brooklets. At the bottom of the picture was
painted in large, ornate letters: "This is God's Holy City
Jerusalem."
The old canvas being hung like that, so close to the ceiling, it
seldom attracted any notice. Most of the people who visited the
Ingmar Farm did not even know of its being there.
But that day it was enframed in a wreath of green whortleberry
twigs, so that it instantly caught the eye of the caller. Eva
Gunnersdotter saw it at once, and remarked under her breath: "Aha!
Now the folks on the Ingmar Farm know that we must perish. That's
why they want us to turn our eyes toward the Heavenly City."
Karin and Halvor came forward to greet her, looking even more
gloomy and low spirited than the other Hellgumists. "It's plain
they know now that the end is near," she thought.
Eva Gunnersdotter, being the oldest person present, was placed at
the head of the long table. In front of her lay an opened letter,
with American stamps on the envelope.
"Another letter has come from our dear brother Hellgum," said
Halvor. "This is why I have called the brothers and sisters
together."
"I gather that you must think this a very important document,
Halvor," said Bullet Gunner, thoughtfully.
"I do," replied Halvor. "Now we shall learn what Hellgum meant when
he wrote in his last letter that a great trial of our faith was
before us."
"I don't think that any of us will be afraid to suffer in the
Lord's cause," Gunner assured him.
All the Hellgumists had not yet arrived, and there was a long wait
before the last one finally made his appearance. Old Eva
Gunnersdotter, with her far-sighted eyes, meanwhile sat gazing at
Hellgum's letter. She was reminded of the letter with the seven
seals, in Revelation, and fancied that the instant any human hand
should touch that letter, the Angel of Destruction would come
flying down from Heaven.
She raised her eyes and glanced up at the Jerusalem picture. "Yes,
yes," she mumbled, "of course I want to go to that city whose gates
are of gold and whose walls are of crystal!" And she began reading
to herself: "'And the foundations of the wall of the city were
garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation
was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the
fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the
seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the
tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an
amethyst."'
The old woman was so deep in her precious Book of Revelation that
she started as if she had been caught napping when Halvor went over
to that end of the table where the letter lay.
"We will open our meeting with a hymn," Halvor announced. "Let us
all join in singing number two hundred and forty-four." And the
Hellgumists sang in unison, "Jerusalem, my happy home."
Eva Gunnersdotter heaved a sigh of relief because the dreaded
moment had been put off for a little. "Alack-a-day! that a
doddering old woman like me should be so afraid to die," she
thought, half ashamed of her weakness.
At the close of the hymn Halvor took up the letter and began
unfolding it. Whereupon the Spirit moved Eva Gunnersdotter to
arise and offer up a lengthy prayer for grace to receive in a
proper spirit the message contained therein. Halvor, with the
letter in his hand, stood quietly waiting till she had finished.
Then he began reading it in a tone he might have used had he been
delivering a sermon:
"My dear brothers and sisters, peace be with you.
"Hitherto I had thought that I and you, who have embraced my
teaching, were alone in this our faith. But, praise be to God! here
in Chicago we have found brethren who are likeminded, who think
and act in accordance with the principles.
"For be it known unto you that here, in Chicago, there lived in the
early eighties a man by the name of Edward Gordon. He and his wife
were God-fearing people. They were sorely grieved at seeing so much
distress in the world, and prayed God that grace might be given
them to help the sorrowing ones.
"It so happened that the wife of Edward Gordon had to make a long
voyage across the sea, where she suffered shipwreck and was cast
upon the waters. When she found herself in the most extreme peril,
the Voice of God spoke to her. And the Voice of God commanded her
to teach mankind to live in unity.
"And the woman was saved from the sea and the peril of death, and
she returned to her husband and told him about the message from
God. 'This is a great command our Lord hath given unto us--that we
should live in unity--and we must follow it. So great is this
message that in all the world there is but one spot worthy of
receiving it. Let us, therefore, gather our friends together and go
with them to Jerusalem, that we may proclaim God's holy commandment
from the Mount of Zion.'
"Then Edward Gordon and his wife, together with thirty others who
wanted to obey the Lord's last holy commandment, set out for
Jerusalem, where all of them are now living in concord under one
roof. They share with one another all their worldly goods, and
serve one another, each protecting the other's welfare.
"And they have taken into their home the children of the poor, and
they nurse the sick, they care for the aged, and succour all who
appeal to them for aid, without expecting either money or gifts in
return.
"But they do not preach in the churches or on street corners, for
they say, 'It is our works that shall speak for us.'
"But the people who heard of their way of living said of them:
'They must be fools and fanatics.' And those who decried them the
loudest were the Christians who had come to Palestine to convert
Jews and Mohammedans, by preaching and teaching. And they said:
'What sort of persons are these who do not preach? No doubt they
have come hither to lead an evil life and to indulge their sinful
lusts among the heathen.'
"And they raised a cry against these good people that travelled
across the seas all the way to their own country. But amongst those
who had settled in Jerusalem there was a rich widow, with her two
half-grown children. She had left a brother in her native land, to
whom every one was saying, 'How can you allow your sister to live
among those dreadful people, who are so loose lived? They are
nothing but idlers who live upon her bounty.' So the brother began
legal proceedings against the sister, in order to compel her to
send her children back to America to be reared there.
"And on account of these proceedings, the widow, with her children,
returned to Chicago, accompanied by Edward Gordon and his wife. At
that time they had been living in Jerusalem fourteen years.
"When they came back from that far country, the newspapers had much
to say of them; and some called them lunatics and some said they
were impostors."
When Halvor had read thus far, he paused a moment, and presently
repeated the substance of what he had read in his own words, so
that everybody would understand it. After which, he went on reading:
"But there is in Chicago a home of which you have heard. And the
occupants of this home are people who try to serve God in spirit
and in truth, who share all things in common, and watch over each
other's lives.
"We who live in this home read something in a newspaper about these
'lunatics' who had come back from Jerusalem, and said among
ourselves, 'These people are of our faith; they are banded together
to work for righteousness, the same as ourselves. We would like to
meet these persons who share our ideals.'
"And we wrote and asked them to come to see us, and those who had
come back from Jerusalem accepted the invitation and called; and we
compared our teachings with theirs, and found that our principles
of faith were the same. 'It is by the grace of God that we have
found each other,' we said.
"They told us of the glories of the Holy City, that city which lies
resplendent on its white mountain, and we deemed them fortunate in
that they had been privileged to tread the paths our Saviour had
trod.
"Then one of our own brethren said: 'Why shouldn't we go along with
you to Jerusalem?'
"They answered: 'You must not accompany us thither, for God's Holy
City is full of strife and dissension, of want and sickness, of
hate and poverty.'
"Instantly another of our brethren cried: 'Mayhap God has sent you
to us because it is His meaning that we shall go with you to that
far country, to help you fight all this?'
"Then one and all of us heard the voice of the Spirit in our hearts
say, 'Yea, this is My will!'
"Then we asked them whether they would be willing to receive us
into their fold, although we were poor and unlettered. And they
answered that they would.
"Then we determined to become brethren in the fullest sense. And
they accepted our faith, and we theirs--and all the while the
Spirit was upon us, and we were filled with a great gladness. And
we said: 'Now we know that God loves us, since He sends us to that
land where once He sent His own Son. And now we know that our
teaching is the right teaching, inasmuch as God wants it proclaimed
from his holy mountain Zion.'
"And then a third member of our own household said: 'And there are
our brothers and sisters at home in Sweden.' So we told the
brethren from Jerusalem that there were more of us than they saw
here; that we also had some brothers and sisters in Sweden. We
said: 'They are being sorely tried in their fight for righteousness,
many of them have fallen away, and the few who have remained
steadfast are obliged to live among unbelievers.'
"Then the travellers from Jerusalem answered: 'Let your brothers
and sisters in Sweden follow us to Jerusalem, and share our holy
work.'
"At first we were pleased at the thought of your following us, and
living with us at Jerusalem, in peace and harmony. But afterward we
began to feel troubled, and said: 'They will never leave their fine
farms and old occupations.'
"And the Jerusalem travellers answered: 'Fields and meadows we
cannot offer them, but they will be allowed to wander along the
pathways where Jesus' feet have trod.'
"But we were still doubtful and said to them, 'They will never
journey to a strange land where no one understands their speech.'
"And the travellers from Jerusalem answered: 'They will understand
what the stones of Palestine have to tell them about their
Saviour.'
"We said: 'They will never divide their property with strangers and
become poor as beggars; nor will they renounce their authority, for
they are the leading people of their own parish.'
"The travellers from Jerusalem answered: 'We have neither power nor
worldly possessions to offer them; but we invite them to become
participants in the sufferings of Christ their Redeemer.'
"When that was said, we were again filled with gladness, and felt
that you would come. And now, my dear brothers and sisters, when
you have read this, do not talk it over among yourselves, but be
still and listen. And whatever the Spirit bids you do, that do."
Halvor folded the letter, saying, "Now we must do as Hellgum
writes; we must be still, and listen."
There was a long silence in the living-room at the Ingmar Farm.
Old Eva Gunnersdotter was as silent as were the others, waiting
for the Voice of God to speak to her. She interpreted it all in
her own way. "Why, of course," she thought, "Hellgum wants us to
go to Jerusalem so that we may escape the great destruction. The
Lord would save us from the flood of brimstone, and preserve us
from the rain of fire; and those of us who are righteous will hear
the Voice of God warning us to flee the wrath to come."
It never for a moment occurred to the old woman that it could be a
sacrifice for any one to leave his home and his native land, when
it came to a question of this sort. It never entered her mind that
any one could doubt the wisdom of leaving his native woodlands, his
smiling river, and his fertile fields. Some of the Hellgumists
thought with fear and trepidation of their having to change their
manner of living, of renouncing fatherland, parents, friends, and
relatives; but not she. To her it simply meant that God wanted to
spare them as He had once spared Noah and Lot. Were they not being
called to a life of supernal glory in God's Holy City? It was to
her as if Hellgum had written that they would be bodily taken up
into heaven, like the prophet Elijah.
They were all sitting with closed eyes, deep in meditation. Some
were suffering such intense mental agony that cold sweat broke out
on their foreheads. "Ah, this is indeed the trial which Hellgum
foretold!" they sighed.
The sun was at the horizon, and shot its piercing rays into the
room. The crimson glow from the setting sun cast a blood-red glare
upon the many blanched faces. Finally Martha Ingmarsson, the wife
of Ljung Björn Olofsson, slipped down from her chair on to her
knees. Then, one after another, they all went down on their knees.
All at once several of them drew a deep breath, and a smile lighted
up their faces.
Then Karin, daughter of Ingmar, said in a tone of wonderment: "I
hear God's voice calling me!"
Gunhild, the daughter of Councillor Clementsson, lifted up her
hands in ecstasy, and tears streamed down her face. "I, too, am
going," she cried. "God's voice calls me."
Whereupon Krister Larsson and his wife said, almost in the same
breath: "It cries into my ear that I must go. I can hear God's
voice calling me!"
The call came to one after another, and with it all anguish of mind
and all feeling of regret vanished. A great sense of joy had come
to them. They thought no more of their farms or their relatives;
they were thinking only of how their little colony would branch out
and blossom anew, and of the wonder of having been called to the
Holy City.
The call had now come to most of them. But it had not yet reached
Halvor Halvorsson; he was wrestling in anguished prayer, thinking
God would not call him as He had called the others. "He sees that I
love my fields and meadows more than His word," he said to himself.
"I am unworthy."
Karin then went up to Halvor and laid her hand upon his brow. "You
must be still, Halvor, and listen in silence."
Halvor wrung his hands so hard that the joints of his fingers
cracked. "Perhaps God does not deem me worthy to go," he said.
"Yes, Halvor, you will be let go, but you must be still," said
Karin. She knelt down beside him and put her arm around him. "Now
listen quietly, Halvor, and without fear."
In a few moments the tense look was gone from his face. "I hear
I hear something far, far away," he whispered.
"It is the harps of angels announcing the presence of the Lord,"
said the wife. "Be quite still now, Halvor." Then she nestled very
close to him--something she had never done before in the presence
of others.
"Ah!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Now I have heard it. It
spoke so loudly that it was as thunder in my ears. 'You shall go to
my Holy City, Jerusalem,' it said. Have you all heard it in the
same way?"
"Yes, yes," they cried, "we have all heard it."
But now old Eva Gunnersdotter began to wail. "I have heard nothing.
I can't go along with you. I'm like Lot's wife, and may not flee
the wrath to come, but must be left behind. Here I must stay and be
turned into a pillar of salt."
She wept from despair, and the Hellgumists all gathered round to
pray with her. Still she heard nothing. And her despair became a
thing of terror. "I can't hear anything!" she groaned. "But you've
got to take me along. You shan't leave me to perish in the lake of
fire!"
"You must wait, Eva," said the Hellgumists. "The call may come. It
will surely come, either to-night or in the morning."
"You don't answer me," cried the old woman, "you don't tell what I
want to know. Maybe you don't intend to take me along if no call
comes to me!"
"It will come, it will come!" the Hellgumists shouted.
"You don't answer me!" screamed the old woman in a frenzy.
"Dear Eva, we can't take you along if God doesn't call you!" the
Hellgumists protested. "But the call will come, never fear."
Then the old dame suddenly rose from her kneeling attitude,
straightened her rickety old body, and brought her cane down on the
floor with a thud. "You people mean to go away and leave me to
perish!" she thundered. "Yes, yes, yes, you mean to go and let me
perish!" She had become furiously angry, and once more they saw
before them Eva Gunnersdotter as she had been in her younger days--
strong and passionate and fiery.
"I want nothing more to do with you!" she shrieked. "I don't want
to be saved by you. Fie upon you! You would abandon wife and
children, father and mother, to save yourselves. Fie! You're a
parcel of idiots to be leaving your good farms. You're a lot of
misguided fools running after false prophets, that's what you are!
It's upon you that fire and brimstone will rain. It is you who must
perish. But we who remain at home, we shall live."