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.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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