»
He said something about your being so pert.
He said something about your being so pert.
Warner - World's Best Literature - v09 - Dra to Eme
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5164
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
OPEN SESAME
"I"
had on
T WAS once upon a time" so the fairy stories begin.
At that particular time there was a government clerk, not
precisely young, and a little moth-eaten in appearance, who
was on his way home from the office the day after his wedding.
On the wedding day itself he had also sat in the office and
written until three o'clock. After this he had gone out, and as
usual eaten his frugal midday meal at an unpretending restaurant
in a narrow street, and then had gone home to his upper cham-
ber in an old house in the Österlånggata, in order to get his
somewhat worn dress coat, which had done good and faithful serv-
ice for twelve years. He had speculated a good deal about buy-
ing a new coat for his wedding day, but had at last arrived at
the conclusion that, all in all, it would be a superfluous luxury.
The bride was a telegraph operator, somewhat weakly, and
nervous from labor and want, and of rather an unattractive ex-
terior. The wedding took place in all quietness at the house of
the bride's old unmarried aunt, who lived in Söder. The bride
a black-silk dress, and the newly married pair drove
home in a droschke.
So the wedding day had passed, but now it was the day after.
From ten o'clock on he had sat in his office, just as on all other
days. Now he was on the way home his own home!
That was a strange feeling; indeed, it was such an overpower-
ing feeling that he stood still many times on the way and fell
into a brown study.
A memory of childhood came into his mind.
He saw himself as a little boy, sitting at his father's desk in
the little parsonage, reading fairy tales. How many times had he
read, again and again, his favorite story out of the Arabian
Nights of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves! How his heart
had beaten in longing suspense, when he stood with the hero of
the story outside the closed door of the mountain and called,
first gently and a little anxiously, afterwards loudly and boldly:
Sesame, Sesame! Open Sesame! ”
And when the mountain opened its door, what splendor! The
poor room of the parsonage was transformed into the rich treas-
ure chamber of the mountain, and round about on the walls
gleamed the most splendid jewels. There were, besides horses
and carriages, beautifully rigged ships, weapons, armor - all the
## p. 5165 (#337) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5165
best that a child's fantasy could dream. His old father looked
in astonishment at his youngest child, it was so long since he
himself had been a child, and all the others were already grown
up. He did not understand him, but asked him half reprovingly
what he was thinking about, that his eyes glistened so.
Thus he also came to think about his youth, about his student
years at Upsala. He was a poet, a singer; he had the name of
being greatly gifted, and stood high in his comrades' estimation.
What if any one had told him at that time that he should end as
a petty government clerk, be married to a telegraph operator,
and live in the Repslagaregata in Söder! Bah! Life had a
thousand possibilities. The future's perspective was illimitable.
Nothing was impossible. No honor was so great that he could
not attain it; no woman so beautiful that he could not win her.
What did it signify that he was poor, that he was only named
Andersson, and that he was the eighth child of a poor parson,
who himself was peasant-born ? Had not most of the nation's
gifted men sprung from the ranks of the people ? Yes, his en-
dowments, they were the magic charm, the Open Sesame! ”
which were to admit him to all the splendors of life.
As to how things, later on, had gone with him, he did not
allow himself to think. Either his endowments had not been as
great as he had believed, or the difficulties of living had stifled
them, or fortune had not been with him: enough, it had hap-
pened to him as to Ali Baba's wicked brother Casim, who stood
inside the mountain only to find out to his horror that he had
forgotten the magic charm, and in the anguish of death beat
about in his memory to recall it. That was a cruel time - but
it was not worth while now to think about it longer.
Rapidly one thought followed upon another in his mind. Now
he came to think upon the crown princess, who had made a royal
entrance into the capital just at this time. He had received per-
mission to accompany his superiors and stand in the festal pavil-
ion when she landed. That was a glorious moment. The poet's
gifts of his youth were not far from awakening again in the
exaltation of the moment; and had he still been the young
applauding poet of earlier days, instead of the neglected govern-
ment clerk, he would probably have written a festal poem and
sent it to the Post.
For it was fine to be the Princess Victoria at that moment.
It was one of the occasions that life has not many of. To be
## p. 5166 (#338) ###########################################
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ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
nineteen years old, newly married to a young husband, loved and
loving, and to make a ceremonious entry into one's future capital,
which is in festal array and lies fabulously beautiful in the
autumn sun, to be greeted with shouts of joy by countless
masses of men, and to be so inexperienced in life that one has
no presentiment of the shadows which hide themselves back of
this bright picture — yes, that might indeed be an unforgettable
moment; one of those that only fall to the lot of few mortals, so
that they seem to belong more to the world of fable than to
reality! Had the magic charm, "Open Sesame! ” conjured up
anything more beautiful ?
And yet! yet! - The government clerk had neared his home
and stood in front of his own door. No, the crown prince was
surely not happier when he led his bride into his rejoicing capi-
tal, than was he at this moment. He had found again the long-
lost magic charm. The little knob there on the door — that was
his Open Sesame! ” He needed only to press upon it, when
the mountain would again open its treasures to him — not weap-
ons and gleaming armor as in his childhood — not honors and
homage and social position as in his youth—no, something better
than all these. Something that forms the kernel itself of all
human happiness, upon the heights of life as well as in its most
concealed hiding-places- a heart that only beat for him, his own
home, where there was one who longed for him—a wife! Yes,
a wife whom he loved, not with the first passion of youth, but
with the tenderness and faithfulness of manhood.
He stood outside his own door; he was tired and hungry, and
his wife waited for him at the midday meal; that was, to be
sure, commonplace and unimportant - and yet it was so wonder-
fully new and attractive.
Gently, cautiously as a child who had been given a new play-
thing, he pressed upon the little knob on the door - and then
he stood still with restrained breath and listened for the light
quick step that approached.
It was just as though in his childhood he stood outside the
mountain and called, first gently and half in fear, and then
loudly and with a voice trembling with glad expectation, «Sesame,
Sesame! Open Sesame ! »
Translated for (A Library of the World's Best Literature,' by William H.
Carpenter
1
## p. 5167 (#339) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5167
A BALL IN HIGH LIFE
From A Rescuing Angel
T.
He counselor's wife sat down on the sofa with her hands
folded in her lap. Arla remained standing a little farther
away, so that the green lamp-shade left her face in shadow.
“My little girl,” began her mother in a mild voice, do not
feel hurt, but I must make a few remarks on your behavior
to-night. First of all, you will have to hold yourself a little
straighter when you dance. This tendency to droop the head
looks very badly. I noticed it especially when you danced with
Captain Lagerskiöld — and do you know, it looked almost as if
you were leaning your head against his shoulder. ”
Arla blushed; she did not know why, but this reproach hurt
her deeply.
«The dancing-teacher always said that to dance well one must
lean toward one's partner,” she objected in a raised voice.
“If that is so, it is better not to dance so well,” answered her
mother seriously. And another thing. I heard you ask Mr.
Örn to excuse you.
And you danced the cotillon after all. ”
“I suppose one has a right to dance with whom one pleases. ”
“One never has a right to hurt others; and besides, you said
to Mr. Örn that you were tired out and not able to dance again.
How could you then immediately after —
«Captain Lagerskiöld leads so well,” she said, lifting her head,
and her mother saw that her eyes were shining. “To dance
with him is no exertion. ”
Her mother seemed inclined to say something, but hesitated.
“Come a little nearer,” she said. « Let me look at you. "
Arla came up, knelt down on a footstool, hid her face in her
mother's dress, and began to cry softly.
"I shall have to tell you, then,” said her mother, smoothing
her hair. “Poor child, don't give yourself up to these dreams.
Captain Lagerskiöld is the kind of a man that I should have pre-
ferred never to have asked to our house. He is a man entirely
without character and principles - to be frank, a bad man. ”
Arla raised her tear-stained face quickly.
"I know that,” she said almost triumphantly. “He told me
so himself. ”
Her mother was silent with astonishment, and Arla continued,
rising, «He has never had any parents nor any home, but has
## p. 5168 (#340) ###########################################
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ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
always been surrounded with temptations. And,” she went on
in a lower voice, he has never found any one that he could
really love, and it is only through love that he can be rescued
from the dark powers that have ruled his life. ”
She repeated almost word for word what he had said. He
had expressed himself in so commonplace a way, and she was so
far from suspecting what his confession really meant, that she
would not have been able to clothe them in her own words.
She had only a vague impression that he was unhappy and sin-
ful — and that she should save him. Sinful was to her a mere
abstract idea: everybody was full of sin, and his sin was very
likely that he lived without God. He had perhaps never learned
to pray, and maybe he never went to church or took the com-
munion. She knew that there were men who never did. And
then perhaps he had been engaged to Cecilia, and had broken
the engagement when he saw that he did not really love her.
“And all this he has told you already! ” exclaimed her mother,
when she got over her first surprise. “Well then, I can also
guess what he said further. Do you want me to tell you ? You
are the first girl he has really loved — you are to be his rescuing
angel-
Arla made a faint exclamation.
“You do not suppose I have been listening? ” asked her
mother. "I know it without that; men like this always speak
so when they want to win an innocent girl. When I was young
I had an admirer of this kind — that is not an uncommon experi-
1
ence. ”
Not uncommon! These words were
not said
to her only;
other men had said the same before this to other young girls!
Oh! but not in the same way, at any rate! thought Arla. As he
had said them — with such a look —- such a voice — no, nobody
else could ever have done that.
“And you didn't understand that a man who can make a
young girl a declaration of love the first time he sees her must
be superficial and not to be trusted ? ” continued her mother.
"Mamma does not know what love is,” thought Arla. « She
does not know that it is born in a moment and lasts for life.
She has of course never loved papa; then they would not be so
matter-of-fact now. ”
“And what did you answer? ” asked her mother.
Arla turned away. “I answered nothing,” she said in a low
voice.
## p. 5169 (#341) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5169
( Then
was
The mother's troubled face grew a little brighter.
« That was right," she said, patting her on the cheek.
you left him at once. ”
Arla was on the point of saying, "Not at once, but she
could not make this confession. Other questions would then fol-
low, and she would be obliged to describe what had happened.
Describe a scene like this to her mother, who did not know
what love was! That was impossible! So she said yes, but in
so weak and troubled a voice that her mother at once saw it
was not true. This was not Arla's first untruth; on the con-
trary, she had often been guilty of this fault when a child. She
so shy and loving that she could not stand the smallest
reproach, and a severe look was enough to make her cry; conse-
quently she was always ready to deny as soon as she had made
the slightest mistake. But when her mother took her face be-
tween her hands and looked straight into her eyes, she saw at
once how matters stood, for the eyes could hide nothing. And
since Arla grew older she had fought so much against this weak-
ness that she had almost exaggerated her truthfulness.
She was
now as quick to confess what might bring displeasure on herself,
as if she were afraid of giving temptation the slightest room.
The mother, who with deep joy had noticed her many little
victories over herself, was painfully impressed by this relapse.
She could not now treat Arla as she had done when she was a
little girl. Instead of this, she opened the Bible by one of the
many book-marks, with a somewhat trembling hand.
“Although it is late, shall we not read a chapter together,
as we always do before we go to bed ? ” she asked, and looked
up at her daughter.
Arla stepped back, and cast an almost frightened glance at
the little footstool where she had been sitting at her mother's
knee every evening since she was a little girl. All this seemed
now so strange - it was no longer herself, it was a little younger
sister, who used to sit there and confess to her mother all her
dreams and all her little sorrows.
“I don't want to — I cannot read to-night. ”
Her mother laid the book down again, gave her daughter a
mild, sad look and said, “Then remember, my child, that this
was the consequence of your first ball. ”
Arla bent her head and left the room slowly. Her mother
let her go; she found it wisest to leave her to herself until her
IX—324
.
## p. 5170 (#342) ###########################################
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ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
emotion had somewhat worn itself out. Arla would not go into
her own room; she dreaded Gurli's chatter; she had to be alone
to get control over her thoughts. In the drawing-room she
found her father.
“Is mamma in her room ? ” he asked.
« Yes. ”
“Is she alone ? Are the children asleep? ”
“Yes, mamma is alone. ”
“Well! Good-night, my girl. ” He kissed her lips and went
into the bedroom.
Arla opened a window in the drawing-room to let out the hot
air, and then began to walk up and down wrapped in a large
shawl, enjoying the clear cold winter moonlight, which played
over the snow and hid itself behind the trees in the park outside
the window. There they were to meet to-morrow! Oh, if only
he had said now, at once! If only she could slip out now in her
thin gown, and he could wrap his cape around her to keep her
warm — she did not remember that the men of to-day did not
wear capes like Romeo — and if then they could have gone away
together - far, far away from this prosaic world, where nobody
understood that two hearts could meet and find each other from
the first moment.
She was not left alone long; a door was opened, light steps
came tripping, and a white apparition in night-gown stood in the
full light of the moonbeam.
“But Arla, are you never, never coming ? ”
“Why, Gurli dear, why aren't you asleep long ago ? ”
“Eh? do you think I can sleep before I have heard some-
thing about the ball ? Come in now; how cold it is here ! »
She was so cold that she shivered in her thin night-gown, but
clung nevertheless to her sister, who was standing by the window.
"Go; you are catching cold. ”
"I don't care,” she said, chattering. “I am not going till you
come. ”
Arla was, as usual, obliged to give in to the younger sister's
strong will.
She closed the window and they went into their
room, where Gurli crept into bed again and drew the cover up
to her very chin. Arla began to unfasten her dress and take the
flowers out of her hair.
“Well, I suppose you had a divine time," came a voice from
the bed behind chattering teeth. There was nothing to be seen
## p. 5171 (#343) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5171
of Gurli but a pair of impatient dark eyes, under a wilderness of
brown hair.
Arla was sitting at the toilet-table, her back to her sister.
"Oh yes,” she said.
“I see on your card that you danced two dances with Captain
Lagerskiöld. I suppose he dances awfully well, eh? ”
“Do you know him ? ” asked Arla, and turned on the chair.
"Oh yes, I do. Didn't he ask for me?
“Yes, now I remember. He said he had seen you with the
children on the coasting-hill. You must have been a little rude
to him ?
The whole head came out above the cover now.
“Rude! how ?
»
He said something about your being so pert. ”
“Pert? Oh, what a fib you do tell! » cried Gurli, and sat up
in bed with a jump.
"I don't usually tell stories,” said Arla with wounded dignity,
but blushed at the same time.
“Oh yes, you do now, I am sure you do. I don't believe
you, if you don't tell me word for word what he said. Who
began talking of me? And what did he say? And what did you
say ? )
You had better tell me why you are so much interested in
him,” said Arla in the somewhat superior tone of the elder sister.
« That is none of your business. I will tell you that I am no
longer a little girl, as you seem to think. And even though I
am treated like a child here at home, there are others who —
who- »
"Are you not a child ? ” said Arla. “You are not confirmed
yet. ”
“Oh, is that it ? That 'confirmation' is only a ceremony,
which I submit to for mamma's sake. And don't imagine that it
is confirmation which makes women of us; no indeed, it is some-
thing else. ”
“What then ? ” asked Arla, much surprised.
“It is - it is — love," burst out Gurli, and hid her head under
the covers.
“Love! But Gurli, how you do talk! What do you know
about that? You, a little schoolgirl! ”
"Don't say little schoolgirl — that makes me furious,” cried
Gurli, as she pushed the cover aside with both hands and jumped
## p. 5172 (#344) ###########################################
5172
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
out on the floor. « Then you are much more of a schoolgirl than
I. Is there perhaps any man who has told you that he loves
you? Is there ? »
"Oh, but Gurli, what nonsense,” said Arla laughing out-
right. "Has really one of Arvid's friends -->
«Arvid's friends! ” repeated Gurli with an expression of in-
describable contempt. “Do you think such little boys would
dare? Ph! I would give them a box on the ear,— that would be
the quickest way of getting rid of such little whipper-snappers.
No indeed; it is a man, a real man a man that any girl would
envy me.
She was so pretty as she stood there in her white gown, with
her dancing eyes and thick hair standing like a dark cloud around
her rosy young face, that a light broke on Arla, and a suspicion
of the truth flashed through her mind.
“It is not possible that you mean of course you don't mean
– him — that you just spoke of — Captain Lagerskiöld ? ”
“And what if it were he! ” cried Gurli, who in her triumph
forgot to keep her secret. Arla's usual modest self-possession
left her completely at this news.
Captain Lagerskiöld has told you that he loves you! ” she
cried with a sharp and cutting voice, unlike her usual mild tone.
“Oh, how wicked, how wicked! »
She hid her face in her hands and burst out crying.
Gurli was frightened at her violent outbreak. She must have
done something awful, that Arla, who was always so quiet, should
carry on so. She crept close up to her sister, half ashamed and
half frightened, and whispered:–«He has only said it once. It
was the day before yesterday, and I ran away from him at
once — I thought it was so silly, and — »
“ Day before yesterday! ” cried Arla and looked up with
frightened, wondering eyes. "Day before yesterday he told you
that he loved you ? ”
« Yes; if only you will not be so awfully put out, I will tell
you all about it.
He used to come up to the coasting-hill a great
deal lately, and then we walked up and down in the park and
talked, and when I wanted to coast he helped me get a start,
and drew my sleigh up-hill again. At first I did not notice him
much, but then I saw he was very nice — he would look at me
sometimes for a long, long time — and you can't imagine how he
does look at one! And then day before yesterday he began by
## p. 5173 (#345) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5173
((
saying that I had such pretty eyes — and then he said that such
a happy little sunbeam as I could light up his whole life, and
that if he could not meet me, he would not know what to do »
“Gurli! ” cried Arla, and grasped her sister's arm violently.
"Do you love him ? »
Gurli let her eyes wander a little, and looked shy.
“I think I doI have read in the novels Arvid borrowed in
school - only don't tell mamma anything about it; but I have
read that when you are in love you always have such an awful
palpitation of the heart when he comes — and when I merely
catch sight of him far off on the hill in Kommandörsgatan, I felt
as if I should strangle. ”
'Captain Lagerskiöld is a bad, bad man! » sobbed Arla, and
rushed out of the room, hiding her face in her hands.
The counselor's wife was still up and was reading, while her
husband had gone to bed. A tall screen standing at the foot of
the bed kept the light away from the sleeper. The counselor
had just had a talk with his wife, which most likely would keep
her awake for the greater part of the night; but he had fallen
asleep as soon as he had spoken to the point.
You must forgive me that I cannot quite approve your way
of fulfilling your duties as hostess,” he had said when he came
in to her.
His wife crossed her hands on the table and looked up at him
with a mild and patient face.
“You show your likes and dislikes too much,” he continued,
« and think too little of the claims of social usage. For instance,
to pay so much attention to Mrs. Ekström and her daughters –»
“It was because nobody else paid any attention to them. ”
“But even so, my dear, a drawing-room is not a charity in-
stitution, I take it. Etiquette goes before everything else. And
then you were almost rude to Admiral Hornfeldt's wife, who is
one of the first women in society. ”
“Forgive me; but I cannot be cordial to a woman for whom
I have no respect. ”
The counselor shrugged his shoulders with a gesture of great
impatience.
“I wish you could learn to see how wrong it is to let your-
self be influenced by these moral views in society. ”
His wife was silent; it was her usual way of ending a conver-
sation which she knew could lead to no result, since each kept
his own opinion after all.
## p. 5174 (#346) ###########################################
5174
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
1
1
“Did you notice Arla ? ” asked the counselor.
« Yes. Why? ”
« Did you not see that she made herself conspicuous by taking
such an interest in this outlived Lagerskiöld ? »
"I asked you not to invite Captain Lagerskiöld,” said his wife
mildly.
“The trouble is not there,” interrupted her husband; "but
the trouble is that your daughter is brought up to be a goose
who understands nothing. That is the result of your convent
system. Girls so guarded are always ready to fall into the arms
of the first man who knows somewhat how to impress them. ”
This was the counselor's last remark before he fell asleep. It
awakened a feeling of great bitterness and hopelessness in his
wife. Her heart felt heavy at the thought of all the frivolity, all
the impurity into which her girls were to be thrown one after
another. When Arla, in whose earnestness and purity of charac-
ter she had so great a confidence, had shown herself so little
proof against temptation, what then would become of Gurli, who
had such dangerous tendencies ? And the two little ones who
were now sleeping soundly in the nursery?
« To what use is then all the striving and all the prayers ? ”
she asked herself. What good then does it do to try to protect
the children from evil, if just this makes them more of a prey
to temptation ? ”
She laid her arms on the table and rested her forehead on her
hands. The awful question “What is the use of it? what is
the use of it ? ” lay heavy upon her.
Then there came a soft knock at her door; it was opened a
little, and a timid voice whispered, “Is mamma alone? May I
come in ? »
A ray of happiness came into the mother's face.
"Come in, my child,” she whispered, and stretched out her
hands toward her. "Papa sleeps so soundly, you need not be
afraid of waking him. ”
Arla came in on tiptoe, dressed in white gown and dressing-
sack and with her hair loose. There were red spots on her
cheeks, and her eyes were swollen from crying. She knelt down
gently beside her mother, hid her face in her mother's dress, and
whispered in a voice trembling with suppressed tears, “Will you
read to me now, mamma? ”
Translated for (A Library of the World's Best Literature,' by Olga Flinch
## p. 5175 (#347) ###########################################
5175
JONATHAN EDWARDS
(1703-1758)
BY EGBERT C. SMYTH
ROBABLY for most persons the influence of Edwards will longest
survive through his wonderful personality. From the days
of Plato,” says a writer in the Westminster Review, “there
has been no life of more simple and imposing grandeur. ” There
are four memoirs. The earliest is from Samuel Hopkins, D. D. , a
pupil and intimate friend. It has the quaint charm of Walton's
Lives. ” The second, by Sereno Edwards Dwight, D. D. , is much
more complete. He first brought to light
the remarkable early papers on topics in
physics, natural history, and philosophy.
Dr. Samuel Miller's, in Sparks's Library
of American Biography,' is mainly a brief
compend. The latest Life is by Professor
Alexander V. E. Allen, D. D. It endeavors
to show “what he [Edwards) thought, and
how he came to think as he did, and is
an interesting and important contribution
to a critical study of his works. There is
still need of an adequate biography, which
can only be written in connection with a
thorough study of the manuscripts.
JONATHAN EDWARDS
A
more full and critical edition of Edwards's writings is also much to
be desired.
Edwards's first publication (1731) was a sermon preached in Boston
on ‘God Glorified in Man's Dependence. The conditions under which
it was produced afford striking contrasts to those attendant upon
Schleiermacher's epoch-making “Reden über Religion'; but the same
note of absolute dependence upon God is struck by each with mas-
terly power. A yet more characteristic and deeply spiritual utter-
ance was given in the next published discourse, entitled (A Divine
and Supernatural Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the
Spirit of God, Shown to be both a Scriptural and Rational Doctrine)
(1734). These two sermons are of primary significance for a right
understanding of their author's teaching. All is of God; faith is
sensibleness of what is real in the work of redemption; this reality
## p. 5176 (#348) ###########################################
5176
JONATHAN EDWARDS
as
is divinely and transcendently excellent; this quality of it is revealed
to the soul by the Holy Spirit, and becomes the spring of all holi-
ness. «The central idea of his system,” says Henry B. Smith, "is
that of spiritual life (holy love) as the gift of divine grace. ” All of
Edwards's other writings may be arranged in relation to this princi-
ple, -as introductory, explicative, or defensive.
When the sermon on the Reality of Spiritual Light' was delivered,
the movement had begun which, as afterwards extended from North-
ampton to many communities in New England and beyond, is known
The Great Awakening. ” The preaching of Edwards was a promi-
nent instrumentality in its origination, and he became its most effect-
ive promoter and champion, and no less its watchful observer and
critic. Among the published (1738) sermons which it occasioned
should be specially mentioned those on Justification by Faith Alone,'
(The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners,' (The Excellency
of Jesus Christ, (The Distinguishing Marks of a work of the Spirit
of God, applied to that uncommon operation that has lately appeared
on the minds of many of the people of New England: with a partic-
ular consideration of the extraordinary circumstances with which this
work is attended? (1741). The same year (1741) appeared the sermon
on ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Some five years previ-
ous, moved by the notice taken in London by Dr. Watts and Dr.
Guise of the religious revival in Northampton and several other
towns, and by a special request from Rev. Dr. Colman of Boston,
Edwards prepared a careful Narrative, which, with a preface by
the English clergymen just named, was published in London in 1737,
and the year following in Boston. The sermon on the Distinguish-
ing Marks of a Work of the True Spirit of God was followed by the
treatise entitled “Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of
Religion, and the way in which it ought to be acknowledged and pro-
moted? (1742); and four years later, by the elaborate work on (Re-
ligious Affections. The latter sums up all that Edwards had learned,
through his participation in the movement whose beginnings and
early stages are described in the Narrative,' and by his long-con-
tinued and most earnest endeavor to determine the true hopes of the
spiritual life which had enlisted and well-nigh absorbed all the pow-
ers of his mind and soul. It is a religious classic of the highest
order, yet, like the De Imitatione Christi, suited only to those who
can read it with independent insight. They who can thus use it will
find it inexhaustible in its strenuous discipline and spiritual richness,
light, and sweetness. Its chief defect lies in its failure to discover
and unfold the true relation between the natural and the spiritual,
and to recognize the stages of Christian growth, the genuineness and
value of what is still “imperfect Christianity. ”
## p. 5177 (#349) ###########################################
JONATHAN EDWARDS
5177
The «revival,” with the endeavor to discover and apply the tests
of a true Christian life, brought into prominence as a practical issue
the old question of the proper requirements for church membership.
The common practice failed to emphasize the necessity of spiritual
regeneration and conversion, as upheld by Edwards and his followers.
The controversy became acute at Northampton, and combined with
other issues, resulted in his dismissal from his pastorate. His meek
yet lofty bearing during this season of partisan strife and bitter ani-
mosity has commanded general admiration. Before he closed the
he published two works which, in the Congregational
churches, settled the question at issue in accordance with his princi-
ples — viz. , An Humble Inquiry into the Rules of the Word of God
concerning the Qualifications requisite to a Complete Standing and
Full Communion in the Visible Christian Church, and Misrepre-
sentations Corrected and Truth Vindicated in a Reply to the Rev.
Solomon Williams's Book,' etc.
The reply to Williams was written and published after Edwards's
removal to Stockbridge. The period of his residence there (1751-1758,
January) was far from tranquil. His conscientious resistance to
schemes of pecuniary profit in the management of the Indian Mission
there, brought upon him bitter opposition. For six months he was
severely ill. In the French and Indian war a frontier town like Stock-
bridge was peculiarly exposed to alarm and danger. Yet at this
time Edwards prepared the treatises on the Freedom of the Will,' the
(Ultimate End of Creation,' the Nature of Virtue,' and (Original Sin. '
The first was published in 1754, the others after his death (1758), as
were many of his sermons, the History of Redemption, and extracts
from his note-book (Miscellaneous Observations,' Miscellaneous
Remarks'). Early in 1758, having accepted the presidency of the
College of New Jersey, he removed to Princeton, where he died
March 22d.
That with enfeebled health, and under the conditions of his life
at Stockbridge, he should have prepared such works as those just
enumerated, is a striking evidence of his intellectual discipline and
power. It would probably have been impossible even for him, but
for the practice he had observed from youth of committing his
thoughts to writing, and their concentration on the subjects handled
in these treatises. A careful study of his manuscript notes would
probably be of service for new and critical editions, and would seem
to be especially appropriate, since only the work on the Freedom of
the Will' was published by its author.
It is impossible in the space of this sketch to analyze these elab-
orate treatises, or to attempt a critical estimate of their value. Fore-
going this endeavor, I will simply add a few suggestions occasioned
## p. 5178 (#350) ###########################################
5178
JONATHAN EDWARDS
1
principally by some recent studies, either of the originals or copies
of unpublished manuscripts.
Edwards's published works consist of compositions prepared with
reference to some immediate practical aim. When called to Prince-
ton he hesitated to accept, lest he should be interrupted in the prep-
aration of “a body of divinity in an entire new method, being thrown
into the form of a history. ” It was on his “mind and heart,» «long
ago begun," "a great work. The beginnings of it are preserved in
the History of Redemption' posthumously published, but this was
written as early as 1739, as a series of sermons, and without thought
of publication. The volume of miscellanies, also published after his
death, are extracts from his note-book, arranged by the editor.
Nowhere has Edwards himself given a systematic exposition of his
conception of Christianity. The incompleteness of even the fullest
edition of his works increases the liability of misconstruction. It
would not be suspected, for instance, to what extent his mind dealt
with the conception of God as triune, or with the Incarnation.
His published works show on their face his relation to the re-
ligious questions uppermost in men's minds during his lifetime. He
that would know,” writes Mr. Bancroft, the workings of the New
England mind in the middle of the last century and the throbbings
of its heart, must give his days and nights to the study of Jonathan
Edwards. ” And Professor Allen justly adds, He that would under-
stand
the significance of later New England thought, must
make Edwards the first object of his study. ” Besides these high
claims to attention, one more may be made. The greatness of Ed-
wards's character implies a contact of his mind with permanent and
the highest truth - a profound knowledge and consciousness of God.
Human and therefore imperfect, colored by inherited prepossessions,
and run into some perishable molds, his thought is pervaded by a
spiritual insight which has an original and undying worth. It is not
unlikely that the future will assign him a higher rank than the past.
In one of the earliest, if not the first of his private philosophical
papers, the essay entitled Of Being,' may be found the key to his
fundamental conceptions. An exposition of his system, wrought out
from this point of view, will show that he has a secure and eminent
position among those who have contributed to that spiritual appre-
hension of nature and man, of matter and mind, of the universe and
God, which has ever marked the thinking and influence of the finest
spirits and highest teachers of our race.
Edwards was born October 5th, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut.
He was the son of Rev. Timothy and Esther Stoddard Edwards; was
graduated at Yale College in 1720; studied theology at New Haven;
from August 1722 to March 1723 preached in New York; from 1724
## p. 5179 (#351) ###########################################
JONATHAN EDWARDS
5179
to 1726 was a tutor at Yale; on the 15th of February, 1727, was or-
dained at Northampton, Massachusetts; in 1750 was dismissed from
the church there, and in 1751 removed to Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
He was called to Princeton in 1757, and died there March 22d, 1758.
5164
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
OPEN SESAME
"I"
had on
T WAS once upon a time" so the fairy stories begin.
At that particular time there was a government clerk, not
precisely young, and a little moth-eaten in appearance, who
was on his way home from the office the day after his wedding.
On the wedding day itself he had also sat in the office and
written until three o'clock. After this he had gone out, and as
usual eaten his frugal midday meal at an unpretending restaurant
in a narrow street, and then had gone home to his upper cham-
ber in an old house in the Österlånggata, in order to get his
somewhat worn dress coat, which had done good and faithful serv-
ice for twelve years. He had speculated a good deal about buy-
ing a new coat for his wedding day, but had at last arrived at
the conclusion that, all in all, it would be a superfluous luxury.
The bride was a telegraph operator, somewhat weakly, and
nervous from labor and want, and of rather an unattractive ex-
terior. The wedding took place in all quietness at the house of
the bride's old unmarried aunt, who lived in Söder. The bride
a black-silk dress, and the newly married pair drove
home in a droschke.
So the wedding day had passed, but now it was the day after.
From ten o'clock on he had sat in his office, just as on all other
days. Now he was on the way home his own home!
That was a strange feeling; indeed, it was such an overpower-
ing feeling that he stood still many times on the way and fell
into a brown study.
A memory of childhood came into his mind.
He saw himself as a little boy, sitting at his father's desk in
the little parsonage, reading fairy tales. How many times had he
read, again and again, his favorite story out of the Arabian
Nights of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves! How his heart
had beaten in longing suspense, when he stood with the hero of
the story outside the closed door of the mountain and called,
first gently and a little anxiously, afterwards loudly and boldly:
Sesame, Sesame! Open Sesame! ”
And when the mountain opened its door, what splendor! The
poor room of the parsonage was transformed into the rich treas-
ure chamber of the mountain, and round about on the walls
gleamed the most splendid jewels. There were, besides horses
and carriages, beautifully rigged ships, weapons, armor - all the
## p. 5165 (#337) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5165
best that a child's fantasy could dream. His old father looked
in astonishment at his youngest child, it was so long since he
himself had been a child, and all the others were already grown
up. He did not understand him, but asked him half reprovingly
what he was thinking about, that his eyes glistened so.
Thus he also came to think about his youth, about his student
years at Upsala. He was a poet, a singer; he had the name of
being greatly gifted, and stood high in his comrades' estimation.
What if any one had told him at that time that he should end as
a petty government clerk, be married to a telegraph operator,
and live in the Repslagaregata in Söder! Bah! Life had a
thousand possibilities. The future's perspective was illimitable.
Nothing was impossible. No honor was so great that he could
not attain it; no woman so beautiful that he could not win her.
What did it signify that he was poor, that he was only named
Andersson, and that he was the eighth child of a poor parson,
who himself was peasant-born ? Had not most of the nation's
gifted men sprung from the ranks of the people ? Yes, his en-
dowments, they were the magic charm, the Open Sesame! ”
which were to admit him to all the splendors of life.
As to how things, later on, had gone with him, he did not
allow himself to think. Either his endowments had not been as
great as he had believed, or the difficulties of living had stifled
them, or fortune had not been with him: enough, it had hap-
pened to him as to Ali Baba's wicked brother Casim, who stood
inside the mountain only to find out to his horror that he had
forgotten the magic charm, and in the anguish of death beat
about in his memory to recall it. That was a cruel time - but
it was not worth while now to think about it longer.
Rapidly one thought followed upon another in his mind. Now
he came to think upon the crown princess, who had made a royal
entrance into the capital just at this time. He had received per-
mission to accompany his superiors and stand in the festal pavil-
ion when she landed. That was a glorious moment. The poet's
gifts of his youth were not far from awakening again in the
exaltation of the moment; and had he still been the young
applauding poet of earlier days, instead of the neglected govern-
ment clerk, he would probably have written a festal poem and
sent it to the Post.
For it was fine to be the Princess Victoria at that moment.
It was one of the occasions that life has not many of. To be
## p. 5166 (#338) ###########################################
5166
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
nineteen years old, newly married to a young husband, loved and
loving, and to make a ceremonious entry into one's future capital,
which is in festal array and lies fabulously beautiful in the
autumn sun, to be greeted with shouts of joy by countless
masses of men, and to be so inexperienced in life that one has
no presentiment of the shadows which hide themselves back of
this bright picture — yes, that might indeed be an unforgettable
moment; one of those that only fall to the lot of few mortals, so
that they seem to belong more to the world of fable than to
reality! Had the magic charm, "Open Sesame! ” conjured up
anything more beautiful ?
And yet! yet! - The government clerk had neared his home
and stood in front of his own door. No, the crown prince was
surely not happier when he led his bride into his rejoicing capi-
tal, than was he at this moment. He had found again the long-
lost magic charm. The little knob there on the door — that was
his Open Sesame! ” He needed only to press upon it, when
the mountain would again open its treasures to him — not weap-
ons and gleaming armor as in his childhood — not honors and
homage and social position as in his youth—no, something better
than all these. Something that forms the kernel itself of all
human happiness, upon the heights of life as well as in its most
concealed hiding-places- a heart that only beat for him, his own
home, where there was one who longed for him—a wife! Yes,
a wife whom he loved, not with the first passion of youth, but
with the tenderness and faithfulness of manhood.
He stood outside his own door; he was tired and hungry, and
his wife waited for him at the midday meal; that was, to be
sure, commonplace and unimportant - and yet it was so wonder-
fully new and attractive.
Gently, cautiously as a child who had been given a new play-
thing, he pressed upon the little knob on the door - and then
he stood still with restrained breath and listened for the light
quick step that approached.
It was just as though in his childhood he stood outside the
mountain and called, first gently and half in fear, and then
loudly and with a voice trembling with glad expectation, «Sesame,
Sesame! Open Sesame ! »
Translated for (A Library of the World's Best Literature,' by William H.
Carpenter
1
## p. 5167 (#339) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5167
A BALL IN HIGH LIFE
From A Rescuing Angel
T.
He counselor's wife sat down on the sofa with her hands
folded in her lap. Arla remained standing a little farther
away, so that the green lamp-shade left her face in shadow.
“My little girl,” began her mother in a mild voice, do not
feel hurt, but I must make a few remarks on your behavior
to-night. First of all, you will have to hold yourself a little
straighter when you dance. This tendency to droop the head
looks very badly. I noticed it especially when you danced with
Captain Lagerskiöld — and do you know, it looked almost as if
you were leaning your head against his shoulder. ”
Arla blushed; she did not know why, but this reproach hurt
her deeply.
«The dancing-teacher always said that to dance well one must
lean toward one's partner,” she objected in a raised voice.
“If that is so, it is better not to dance so well,” answered her
mother seriously. And another thing. I heard you ask Mr.
Örn to excuse you.
And you danced the cotillon after all. ”
“I suppose one has a right to dance with whom one pleases. ”
“One never has a right to hurt others; and besides, you said
to Mr. Örn that you were tired out and not able to dance again.
How could you then immediately after —
«Captain Lagerskiöld leads so well,” she said, lifting her head,
and her mother saw that her eyes were shining. “To dance
with him is no exertion. ”
Her mother seemed inclined to say something, but hesitated.
“Come a little nearer,” she said. « Let me look at you. "
Arla came up, knelt down on a footstool, hid her face in her
mother's dress, and began to cry softly.
"I shall have to tell you, then,” said her mother, smoothing
her hair. “Poor child, don't give yourself up to these dreams.
Captain Lagerskiöld is the kind of a man that I should have pre-
ferred never to have asked to our house. He is a man entirely
without character and principles - to be frank, a bad man. ”
Arla raised her tear-stained face quickly.
"I know that,” she said almost triumphantly. “He told me
so himself. ”
Her mother was silent with astonishment, and Arla continued,
rising, «He has never had any parents nor any home, but has
## p. 5168 (#340) ###########################################
5168
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
always been surrounded with temptations. And,” she went on
in a lower voice, he has never found any one that he could
really love, and it is only through love that he can be rescued
from the dark powers that have ruled his life. ”
She repeated almost word for word what he had said. He
had expressed himself in so commonplace a way, and she was so
far from suspecting what his confession really meant, that she
would not have been able to clothe them in her own words.
She had only a vague impression that he was unhappy and sin-
ful — and that she should save him. Sinful was to her a mere
abstract idea: everybody was full of sin, and his sin was very
likely that he lived without God. He had perhaps never learned
to pray, and maybe he never went to church or took the com-
munion. She knew that there were men who never did. And
then perhaps he had been engaged to Cecilia, and had broken
the engagement when he saw that he did not really love her.
“And all this he has told you already! ” exclaimed her mother,
when she got over her first surprise. “Well then, I can also
guess what he said further. Do you want me to tell you ? You
are the first girl he has really loved — you are to be his rescuing
angel-
Arla made a faint exclamation.
“You do not suppose I have been listening? ” asked her
mother. "I know it without that; men like this always speak
so when they want to win an innocent girl. When I was young
I had an admirer of this kind — that is not an uncommon experi-
1
ence. ”
Not uncommon! These words were
not said
to her only;
other men had said the same before this to other young girls!
Oh! but not in the same way, at any rate! thought Arla. As he
had said them — with such a look —- such a voice — no, nobody
else could ever have done that.
“And you didn't understand that a man who can make a
young girl a declaration of love the first time he sees her must
be superficial and not to be trusted ? ” continued her mother.
"Mamma does not know what love is,” thought Arla. « She
does not know that it is born in a moment and lasts for life.
She has of course never loved papa; then they would not be so
matter-of-fact now. ”
“And what did you answer? ” asked her mother.
Arla turned away. “I answered nothing,” she said in a low
voice.
## p. 5169 (#341) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5169
( Then
was
The mother's troubled face grew a little brighter.
« That was right," she said, patting her on the cheek.
you left him at once. ”
Arla was on the point of saying, "Not at once, but she
could not make this confession. Other questions would then fol-
low, and she would be obliged to describe what had happened.
Describe a scene like this to her mother, who did not know
what love was! That was impossible! So she said yes, but in
so weak and troubled a voice that her mother at once saw it
was not true. This was not Arla's first untruth; on the con-
trary, she had often been guilty of this fault when a child. She
so shy and loving that she could not stand the smallest
reproach, and a severe look was enough to make her cry; conse-
quently she was always ready to deny as soon as she had made
the slightest mistake. But when her mother took her face be-
tween her hands and looked straight into her eyes, she saw at
once how matters stood, for the eyes could hide nothing. And
since Arla grew older she had fought so much against this weak-
ness that she had almost exaggerated her truthfulness.
She was
now as quick to confess what might bring displeasure on herself,
as if she were afraid of giving temptation the slightest room.
The mother, who with deep joy had noticed her many little
victories over herself, was painfully impressed by this relapse.
She could not now treat Arla as she had done when she was a
little girl. Instead of this, she opened the Bible by one of the
many book-marks, with a somewhat trembling hand.
“Although it is late, shall we not read a chapter together,
as we always do before we go to bed ? ” she asked, and looked
up at her daughter.
Arla stepped back, and cast an almost frightened glance at
the little footstool where she had been sitting at her mother's
knee every evening since she was a little girl. All this seemed
now so strange - it was no longer herself, it was a little younger
sister, who used to sit there and confess to her mother all her
dreams and all her little sorrows.
“I don't want to — I cannot read to-night. ”
Her mother laid the book down again, gave her daughter a
mild, sad look and said, “Then remember, my child, that this
was the consequence of your first ball. ”
Arla bent her head and left the room slowly. Her mother
let her go; she found it wisest to leave her to herself until her
IX—324
.
## p. 5170 (#342) ###########################################
5170
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
emotion had somewhat worn itself out. Arla would not go into
her own room; she dreaded Gurli's chatter; she had to be alone
to get control over her thoughts. In the drawing-room she
found her father.
“Is mamma in her room ? ” he asked.
« Yes. ”
“Is she alone ? Are the children asleep? ”
“Yes, mamma is alone. ”
“Well! Good-night, my girl. ” He kissed her lips and went
into the bedroom.
Arla opened a window in the drawing-room to let out the hot
air, and then began to walk up and down wrapped in a large
shawl, enjoying the clear cold winter moonlight, which played
over the snow and hid itself behind the trees in the park outside
the window. There they were to meet to-morrow! Oh, if only
he had said now, at once! If only she could slip out now in her
thin gown, and he could wrap his cape around her to keep her
warm — she did not remember that the men of to-day did not
wear capes like Romeo — and if then they could have gone away
together - far, far away from this prosaic world, where nobody
understood that two hearts could meet and find each other from
the first moment.
She was not left alone long; a door was opened, light steps
came tripping, and a white apparition in night-gown stood in the
full light of the moonbeam.
“But Arla, are you never, never coming ? ”
“Why, Gurli dear, why aren't you asleep long ago ? ”
“Eh? do you think I can sleep before I have heard some-
thing about the ball ? Come in now; how cold it is here ! »
She was so cold that she shivered in her thin night-gown, but
clung nevertheless to her sister, who was standing by the window.
"Go; you are catching cold. ”
"I don't care,” she said, chattering. “I am not going till you
come. ”
Arla was, as usual, obliged to give in to the younger sister's
strong will.
She closed the window and they went into their
room, where Gurli crept into bed again and drew the cover up
to her very chin. Arla began to unfasten her dress and take the
flowers out of her hair.
“Well, I suppose you had a divine time," came a voice from
the bed behind chattering teeth. There was nothing to be seen
## p. 5171 (#343) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5171
of Gurli but a pair of impatient dark eyes, under a wilderness of
brown hair.
Arla was sitting at the toilet-table, her back to her sister.
"Oh yes,” she said.
“I see on your card that you danced two dances with Captain
Lagerskiöld. I suppose he dances awfully well, eh? ”
“Do you know him ? ” asked Arla, and turned on the chair.
"Oh yes, I do. Didn't he ask for me?
“Yes, now I remember. He said he had seen you with the
children on the coasting-hill. You must have been a little rude
to him ?
The whole head came out above the cover now.
“Rude! how ?
»
He said something about your being so pert. ”
“Pert? Oh, what a fib you do tell! » cried Gurli, and sat up
in bed with a jump.
"I don't usually tell stories,” said Arla with wounded dignity,
but blushed at the same time.
“Oh yes, you do now, I am sure you do. I don't believe
you, if you don't tell me word for word what he said. Who
began talking of me? And what did he say? And what did you
say ? )
You had better tell me why you are so much interested in
him,” said Arla in the somewhat superior tone of the elder sister.
« That is none of your business. I will tell you that I am no
longer a little girl, as you seem to think. And even though I
am treated like a child here at home, there are others who —
who- »
"Are you not a child ? ” said Arla. “You are not confirmed
yet. ”
“Oh, is that it ? That 'confirmation' is only a ceremony,
which I submit to for mamma's sake. And don't imagine that it
is confirmation which makes women of us; no indeed, it is some-
thing else. ”
“What then ? ” asked Arla, much surprised.
“It is - it is — love," burst out Gurli, and hid her head under
the covers.
“Love! But Gurli, how you do talk! What do you know
about that? You, a little schoolgirl! ”
"Don't say little schoolgirl — that makes me furious,” cried
Gurli, as she pushed the cover aside with both hands and jumped
## p. 5172 (#344) ###########################################
5172
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
out on the floor. « Then you are much more of a schoolgirl than
I. Is there perhaps any man who has told you that he loves
you? Is there ? »
"Oh, but Gurli, what nonsense,” said Arla laughing out-
right. "Has really one of Arvid's friends -->
«Arvid's friends! ” repeated Gurli with an expression of in-
describable contempt. “Do you think such little boys would
dare? Ph! I would give them a box on the ear,— that would be
the quickest way of getting rid of such little whipper-snappers.
No indeed; it is a man, a real man a man that any girl would
envy me.
She was so pretty as she stood there in her white gown, with
her dancing eyes and thick hair standing like a dark cloud around
her rosy young face, that a light broke on Arla, and a suspicion
of the truth flashed through her mind.
“It is not possible that you mean of course you don't mean
– him — that you just spoke of — Captain Lagerskiöld ? ”
“And what if it were he! ” cried Gurli, who in her triumph
forgot to keep her secret. Arla's usual modest self-possession
left her completely at this news.
Captain Lagerskiöld has told you that he loves you! ” she
cried with a sharp and cutting voice, unlike her usual mild tone.
“Oh, how wicked, how wicked! »
She hid her face in her hands and burst out crying.
Gurli was frightened at her violent outbreak. She must have
done something awful, that Arla, who was always so quiet, should
carry on so. She crept close up to her sister, half ashamed and
half frightened, and whispered:–«He has only said it once. It
was the day before yesterday, and I ran away from him at
once — I thought it was so silly, and — »
“ Day before yesterday! ” cried Arla and looked up with
frightened, wondering eyes. "Day before yesterday he told you
that he loved you ? ”
« Yes; if only you will not be so awfully put out, I will tell
you all about it.
He used to come up to the coasting-hill a great
deal lately, and then we walked up and down in the park and
talked, and when I wanted to coast he helped me get a start,
and drew my sleigh up-hill again. At first I did not notice him
much, but then I saw he was very nice — he would look at me
sometimes for a long, long time — and you can't imagine how he
does look at one! And then day before yesterday he began by
## p. 5173 (#345) ###########################################
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
5173
((
saying that I had such pretty eyes — and then he said that such
a happy little sunbeam as I could light up his whole life, and
that if he could not meet me, he would not know what to do »
“Gurli! ” cried Arla, and grasped her sister's arm violently.
"Do you love him ? »
Gurli let her eyes wander a little, and looked shy.
“I think I doI have read in the novels Arvid borrowed in
school - only don't tell mamma anything about it; but I have
read that when you are in love you always have such an awful
palpitation of the heart when he comes — and when I merely
catch sight of him far off on the hill in Kommandörsgatan, I felt
as if I should strangle. ”
'Captain Lagerskiöld is a bad, bad man! » sobbed Arla, and
rushed out of the room, hiding her face in her hands.
The counselor's wife was still up and was reading, while her
husband had gone to bed. A tall screen standing at the foot of
the bed kept the light away from the sleeper. The counselor
had just had a talk with his wife, which most likely would keep
her awake for the greater part of the night; but he had fallen
asleep as soon as he had spoken to the point.
You must forgive me that I cannot quite approve your way
of fulfilling your duties as hostess,” he had said when he came
in to her.
His wife crossed her hands on the table and looked up at him
with a mild and patient face.
“You show your likes and dislikes too much,” he continued,
« and think too little of the claims of social usage. For instance,
to pay so much attention to Mrs. Ekström and her daughters –»
“It was because nobody else paid any attention to them. ”
“But even so, my dear, a drawing-room is not a charity in-
stitution, I take it. Etiquette goes before everything else. And
then you were almost rude to Admiral Hornfeldt's wife, who is
one of the first women in society. ”
“Forgive me; but I cannot be cordial to a woman for whom
I have no respect. ”
The counselor shrugged his shoulders with a gesture of great
impatience.
“I wish you could learn to see how wrong it is to let your-
self be influenced by these moral views in society. ”
His wife was silent; it was her usual way of ending a conver-
sation which she knew could lead to no result, since each kept
his own opinion after all.
## p. 5174 (#346) ###########################################
5174
ANNE CHARLOTTE LEFFLER EDGREN
1
1
“Did you notice Arla ? ” asked the counselor.
« Yes. Why? ”
« Did you not see that she made herself conspicuous by taking
such an interest in this outlived Lagerskiöld ? »
"I asked you not to invite Captain Lagerskiöld,” said his wife
mildly.
“The trouble is not there,” interrupted her husband; "but
the trouble is that your daughter is brought up to be a goose
who understands nothing. That is the result of your convent
system. Girls so guarded are always ready to fall into the arms
of the first man who knows somewhat how to impress them. ”
This was the counselor's last remark before he fell asleep. It
awakened a feeling of great bitterness and hopelessness in his
wife. Her heart felt heavy at the thought of all the frivolity, all
the impurity into which her girls were to be thrown one after
another. When Arla, in whose earnestness and purity of charac-
ter she had so great a confidence, had shown herself so little
proof against temptation, what then would become of Gurli, who
had such dangerous tendencies ? And the two little ones who
were now sleeping soundly in the nursery?
« To what use is then all the striving and all the prayers ? ”
she asked herself. What good then does it do to try to protect
the children from evil, if just this makes them more of a prey
to temptation ? ”
She laid her arms on the table and rested her forehead on her
hands. The awful question “What is the use of it? what is
the use of it ? ” lay heavy upon her.
Then there came a soft knock at her door; it was opened a
little, and a timid voice whispered, “Is mamma alone? May I
come in ? »
A ray of happiness came into the mother's face.
"Come in, my child,” she whispered, and stretched out her
hands toward her. "Papa sleeps so soundly, you need not be
afraid of waking him. ”
Arla came in on tiptoe, dressed in white gown and dressing-
sack and with her hair loose. There were red spots on her
cheeks, and her eyes were swollen from crying. She knelt down
gently beside her mother, hid her face in her mother's dress, and
whispered in a voice trembling with suppressed tears, “Will you
read to me now, mamma? ”
Translated for (A Library of the World's Best Literature,' by Olga Flinch
## p. 5175 (#347) ###########################################
5175
JONATHAN EDWARDS
(1703-1758)
BY EGBERT C. SMYTH
ROBABLY for most persons the influence of Edwards will longest
survive through his wonderful personality. From the days
of Plato,” says a writer in the Westminster Review, “there
has been no life of more simple and imposing grandeur. ” There
are four memoirs. The earliest is from Samuel Hopkins, D. D. , a
pupil and intimate friend. It has the quaint charm of Walton's
Lives. ” The second, by Sereno Edwards Dwight, D. D. , is much
more complete. He first brought to light
the remarkable early papers on topics in
physics, natural history, and philosophy.
Dr. Samuel Miller's, in Sparks's Library
of American Biography,' is mainly a brief
compend. The latest Life is by Professor
Alexander V. E. Allen, D. D. It endeavors
to show “what he [Edwards) thought, and
how he came to think as he did, and is
an interesting and important contribution
to a critical study of his works. There is
still need of an adequate biography, which
can only be written in connection with a
thorough study of the manuscripts.
JONATHAN EDWARDS
A
more full and critical edition of Edwards's writings is also much to
be desired.
Edwards's first publication (1731) was a sermon preached in Boston
on ‘God Glorified in Man's Dependence. The conditions under which
it was produced afford striking contrasts to those attendant upon
Schleiermacher's epoch-making “Reden über Religion'; but the same
note of absolute dependence upon God is struck by each with mas-
terly power. A yet more characteristic and deeply spiritual utter-
ance was given in the next published discourse, entitled (A Divine
and Supernatural Light Immediately Imparted to the Soul by the
Spirit of God, Shown to be both a Scriptural and Rational Doctrine)
(1734). These two sermons are of primary significance for a right
understanding of their author's teaching. All is of God; faith is
sensibleness of what is real in the work of redemption; this reality
## p. 5176 (#348) ###########################################
5176
JONATHAN EDWARDS
as
is divinely and transcendently excellent; this quality of it is revealed
to the soul by the Holy Spirit, and becomes the spring of all holi-
ness. «The central idea of his system,” says Henry B. Smith, "is
that of spiritual life (holy love) as the gift of divine grace. ” All of
Edwards's other writings may be arranged in relation to this princi-
ple, -as introductory, explicative, or defensive.
When the sermon on the Reality of Spiritual Light' was delivered,
the movement had begun which, as afterwards extended from North-
ampton to many communities in New England and beyond, is known
The Great Awakening. ” The preaching of Edwards was a promi-
nent instrumentality in its origination, and he became its most effect-
ive promoter and champion, and no less its watchful observer and
critic. Among the published (1738) sermons which it occasioned
should be specially mentioned those on Justification by Faith Alone,'
(The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners,' (The Excellency
of Jesus Christ, (The Distinguishing Marks of a work of the Spirit
of God, applied to that uncommon operation that has lately appeared
on the minds of many of the people of New England: with a partic-
ular consideration of the extraordinary circumstances with which this
work is attended? (1741). The same year (1741) appeared the sermon
on ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Some five years previ-
ous, moved by the notice taken in London by Dr. Watts and Dr.
Guise of the religious revival in Northampton and several other
towns, and by a special request from Rev. Dr. Colman of Boston,
Edwards prepared a careful Narrative, which, with a preface by
the English clergymen just named, was published in London in 1737,
and the year following in Boston. The sermon on the Distinguish-
ing Marks of a Work of the True Spirit of God was followed by the
treatise entitled “Some Thoughts Concerning the Present Revival of
Religion, and the way in which it ought to be acknowledged and pro-
moted? (1742); and four years later, by the elaborate work on (Re-
ligious Affections. The latter sums up all that Edwards had learned,
through his participation in the movement whose beginnings and
early stages are described in the Narrative,' and by his long-con-
tinued and most earnest endeavor to determine the true hopes of the
spiritual life which had enlisted and well-nigh absorbed all the pow-
ers of his mind and soul. It is a religious classic of the highest
order, yet, like the De Imitatione Christi, suited only to those who
can read it with independent insight. They who can thus use it will
find it inexhaustible in its strenuous discipline and spiritual richness,
light, and sweetness. Its chief defect lies in its failure to discover
and unfold the true relation between the natural and the spiritual,
and to recognize the stages of Christian growth, the genuineness and
value of what is still “imperfect Christianity. ”
## p. 5177 (#349) ###########################################
JONATHAN EDWARDS
5177
The «revival,” with the endeavor to discover and apply the tests
of a true Christian life, brought into prominence as a practical issue
the old question of the proper requirements for church membership.
The common practice failed to emphasize the necessity of spiritual
regeneration and conversion, as upheld by Edwards and his followers.
The controversy became acute at Northampton, and combined with
other issues, resulted in his dismissal from his pastorate. His meek
yet lofty bearing during this season of partisan strife and bitter ani-
mosity has commanded general admiration. Before he closed the
he published two works which, in the Congregational
churches, settled the question at issue in accordance with his princi-
ples — viz. , An Humble Inquiry into the Rules of the Word of God
concerning the Qualifications requisite to a Complete Standing and
Full Communion in the Visible Christian Church, and Misrepre-
sentations Corrected and Truth Vindicated in a Reply to the Rev.
Solomon Williams's Book,' etc.
The reply to Williams was written and published after Edwards's
removal to Stockbridge. The period of his residence there (1751-1758,
January) was far from tranquil. His conscientious resistance to
schemes of pecuniary profit in the management of the Indian Mission
there, brought upon him bitter opposition. For six months he was
severely ill. In the French and Indian war a frontier town like Stock-
bridge was peculiarly exposed to alarm and danger. Yet at this
time Edwards prepared the treatises on the Freedom of the Will,' the
(Ultimate End of Creation,' the Nature of Virtue,' and (Original Sin. '
The first was published in 1754, the others after his death (1758), as
were many of his sermons, the History of Redemption, and extracts
from his note-book (Miscellaneous Observations,' Miscellaneous
Remarks'). Early in 1758, having accepted the presidency of the
College of New Jersey, he removed to Princeton, where he died
March 22d.
That with enfeebled health, and under the conditions of his life
at Stockbridge, he should have prepared such works as those just
enumerated, is a striking evidence of his intellectual discipline and
power. It would probably have been impossible even for him, but
for the practice he had observed from youth of committing his
thoughts to writing, and their concentration on the subjects handled
in these treatises. A careful study of his manuscript notes would
probably be of service for new and critical editions, and would seem
to be especially appropriate, since only the work on the Freedom of
the Will' was published by its author.
It is impossible in the space of this sketch to analyze these elab-
orate treatises, or to attempt a critical estimate of their value. Fore-
going this endeavor, I will simply add a few suggestions occasioned
## p. 5178 (#350) ###########################################
5178
JONATHAN EDWARDS
1
principally by some recent studies, either of the originals or copies
of unpublished manuscripts.
Edwards's published works consist of compositions prepared with
reference to some immediate practical aim. When called to Prince-
ton he hesitated to accept, lest he should be interrupted in the prep-
aration of “a body of divinity in an entire new method, being thrown
into the form of a history. ” It was on his “mind and heart,» «long
ago begun," "a great work. The beginnings of it are preserved in
the History of Redemption' posthumously published, but this was
written as early as 1739, as a series of sermons, and without thought
of publication. The volume of miscellanies, also published after his
death, are extracts from his note-book, arranged by the editor.
Nowhere has Edwards himself given a systematic exposition of his
conception of Christianity. The incompleteness of even the fullest
edition of his works increases the liability of misconstruction. It
would not be suspected, for instance, to what extent his mind dealt
with the conception of God as triune, or with the Incarnation.
His published works show on their face his relation to the re-
ligious questions uppermost in men's minds during his lifetime. He
that would know,” writes Mr. Bancroft, the workings of the New
England mind in the middle of the last century and the throbbings
of its heart, must give his days and nights to the study of Jonathan
Edwards. ” And Professor Allen justly adds, He that would under-
stand
the significance of later New England thought, must
make Edwards the first object of his study. ” Besides these high
claims to attention, one more may be made. The greatness of Ed-
wards's character implies a contact of his mind with permanent and
the highest truth - a profound knowledge and consciousness of God.
Human and therefore imperfect, colored by inherited prepossessions,
and run into some perishable molds, his thought is pervaded by a
spiritual insight which has an original and undying worth. It is not
unlikely that the future will assign him a higher rank than the past.
In one of the earliest, if not the first of his private philosophical
papers, the essay entitled Of Being,' may be found the key to his
fundamental conceptions. An exposition of his system, wrought out
from this point of view, will show that he has a secure and eminent
position among those who have contributed to that spiritual appre-
hension of nature and man, of matter and mind, of the universe and
God, which has ever marked the thinking and influence of the finest
spirits and highest teachers of our race.
Edwards was born October 5th, 1703, in East Windsor, Connecticut.
He was the son of Rev. Timothy and Esther Stoddard Edwards; was
graduated at Yale College in 1720; studied theology at New Haven;
from August 1722 to March 1723 preached in New York; from 1724
## p. 5179 (#351) ###########################################
JONATHAN EDWARDS
5179
to 1726 was a tutor at Yale; on the 15th of February, 1727, was or-
dained at Northampton, Massachusetts; in 1750 was dismissed from
the church there, and in 1751 removed to Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
He was called to Princeton in 1757, and died there March 22d, 1758.
