The Emigrants (15 page)

Danjel threw the farm’s still on the scrap pile; not only did he discontinue the manufacture and sale of brännvin, he also stopped using alcoholic drinks, nor did he offer them in his home. He forbore swearing and the use of all profane language. Earlier he had sometimes been irritable and quickly angered—now his speech was always mild and gentle. Only about the clergy who had persecuted his uncle did he use hard words.

From now on Danjel considered all his possessions as gifts from God which, while they lasted, he must share with poorer brethren. He took into his house a few helpless creatures and gave them a permanent home in Kärragärde, where they received both food and clothing. Two of them were the most notorious people in the parish, known for whoring, drunkenness, idleness, and general debauchery.

Danjel used no more bolts or locks in his house, but left all doors unlocked at night. Why would he need locks and latches when the Lord stood guard over his house? Could a weak lock, made by human hands, protect his abode better than the hand of the Omnipotent? Those who locked their doors did not trust in God; they committed the trespasses of doubt and disbelief, man’s greatest sins.

To Danjel, as earlier to Åke, there were neither high nor low classes, neither exalted nor simple people—all were equal, equal as children in God’s family. He discriminated only between those who continued to live in their old bodies and those who were reborn in Christ, between those who lived in the flesh and those who lived in the spirit.

After his rebirth he no longer shared his bed with his wife. Because Inga-Lena still lived in the flesh, they were no longer a true married couple. Those marriages where the mates lived in their old bodies were joined by the devil, and the same was true if only one of the couple was reborn. If Danjel now had sought his wife, he would have committed adultery. He therefore told her that they no longer could have marital relations.

They must also abstain because of future children. A clean offspring must be conceived without lust, therefore it must be conceived by sin-free, reborn parents. Danjel and Inga-Lena already had three children, born while they themselves still lived in the flesh, and he felt great anguish for the sake of these children. As they had not been conceived in a true marriage, they must be considered the result of adultery, he thought. But he prayed continually that his offspring might through God’s grace be purified and accepted as clean.

Inga-Lena, the housewife of Kärragärde, was in a difficult dilemma. She was devoted to her husband—next to God he was dearer to her than anyone. She lived only to serve him, and followed his will in everything: by nature she was irresolute, relying on him for decisions; he was the lord and master. After his conversion she still tried to please him but found it difficult to accept his new ideas, and the consequent changes in their lives. She would willingly share her loaf of bread with a hungry beggar who might come to the farm. But she was filled with sadness and anxiety when the number of house folk increased by four people whom her husband invited and whom the house must feed. And when she also must receive into her home Ulrika of Västergöhl, the most detested woman in the parish, she spoke to her husband with mild reproach. She wished to do naught against his will, nor say that he was wrong when he allowed Ulrika and her illegitimate daughter to live with them, but what would others think or say when he housed in their home the Glad One, the great whore herself? Danjel answered: We must obey God above man. Let that woman who is without sin come here and throw the first stone at Ulrika.

Inga-Lena was greatly disturbed, too, when her husband repeated the doings and actions of the Åkians. Åke Svensson had aimed to establish a kingdom in which the Holy Ghost and not the King reigned, and where no one called anything his own, but all earthly possessions were common property. No wonder he had been sent to the insane asylum, where he had suffered a pitiful death after a few years—despite his being a young and hale person. (Though there were those who thought injustice had been done to him, who were convinced he had been tortured to death at Danvik.)

The fate of Åke had terrified all in the region, but no one was surprised; he who insisted that all were equal, and that they must hold their possessions in common and share them as brothers and sisters, such a one must come to an ill end; people were right in this.

Inga-Lena feared now that Danjel’s path in his uncle’s footsteps would lead to an equally horrible end. If you set yourself up against the ordinance of authority, you angered the clergy and came to no good.

But Danjel said that if you walked in Christ’s bloody footsteps you were bound to cause anger and be persecuted by the church, the clergy, and worldly powers as well.

She began to worry about their belongings when her husband no longer locked the house. One night thieves went into the unlocked larder and stole pork and flour. Danjel said they kept a greater store of food than God allowed them, and that was why He had not prevented the theft. But Inga-Lena did not comprehend this. God Himself in His fifth commandment had forbidden theft. It was her responsibility that the food in the house should suffice for all; henceforth, unbeknownst to her husband, she locked the larder door in the evening.

But her conscience bothered her each time she disobeyed him. The Bible’s words in Ephesians were clear and distinct: “For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. . . . Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing.”

Inga-Lena, furthermore, had a feeling of being a defiled and unclean woman when her husband deserted the marital bed. She had disturbing and painful dreams during her lonely nights; she awakened, and called on God for advice and help. She confessed in her prayers that she was a woman of only poor understanding; her knowledge was insufficient to comprehend Åke’s religion. She prayed God to enlighten her. Danjel prayed the same prayer.

And after a while the couple’s prayers were heard: the Spirit came to Inga-Lena and she experienced her rebirth. She came to understand that she must obey her husband, not her own inadequate intelligence. Danjel was right in spiritual things, she had been wrong. And so their marriage became a true marriage. Danjel returned to the marital bed, and again knew his wife.

By now there was a small flock of Åkians in Kärragärde. The paupers who made their home on the farm, as well as a few of the neighbors, embraced the Åkian teachings and saw in Danjel Andreasson a new Lord’s apostle on earth.

But his wife Inga-Lena still committed, in secret every evening, the gross sin of doubt when she locked the farm’s larder for the night.

—2—

The happenings in Kärragärde were soon brought to the attention of Dean Brusander. It was said that people under pretext of devotion met at Danjel Andreasson’s, where he preached the Åkian faith—this heresy had again begun to spread its horrible poison in the parish.

Dean Brusander was a powerful clergyman who guarded the dignity and sanctity of his office well. Always he had maintained the purity of the evangelical-Lutheran church with unflagging zeal; never sparing himself, he watched over the flock God had entrusted to him, protecting it from heterodoxy. Now he sent promptly for the churchwarden, Per Persson of Åkerby, who confirmed the story of the unlawful meetings in Kärragärde. It was said throughout the parish that Åke Svensson had returned in the shape of his nephew. And Per Persson could affirm that Danjel used evil words about the dean, and called him a neglectful shepherd, because brännvin was distilled and sold in the parsonage.

Brusander was provoked that a parishioner should question his lawful right, shared by all the clergy who cultivated land. And on the King’s estates too brännvin was distilled and sold, as well as on the Prince’s manor at Bäckaskog. The farmer in Kärragärde had therefore, through his criticism, committed a serious crime against the Crown. The sale and serving of brännvin in the parsonage was nowadays allowed only on weekdays; the drink was stimulating to laborers and servants after a day’s toil. It was true that the well-known Dean Wieselgren in Västerstad wanted to abolish brännvin altogether, and that in un-Christian hatred he persecuted his colleagues who only enjoyed their legal rights. Wieselgren in his blindness wanted to rob the peasants of their lawful trade; if they were not permitted to distill their grain to brännvin, the agriculture of the country would in a short time be ruined and the farmers impoverished. The price of grain would drop so low that the farmers would be bankrupt, which in turn would make the poor people more insolent; it would be difficult then to obtain servants and day laborers. Who would want to do day labor if a bushel of barley could be bought at six shillings?

Dean Brusander called Danjel Andreasson of Kärragärde to appear at the parsonage, and in the presence of his assistant, Pastor Krusell, and the churchwardens of the parish, he questioned the farmer at length.

—3—

At this inquiry the assistant pastor made notes which were signed by the churchwardens as unbiased witnesses and deposited in the archives of the parish.

“Summoned homeowner Danjel Andreasson was first questioned briefly in religion by Dean Brusander; he showed satisfactory knowledge in the foundation and order of the salvation tenets. Questioned specifically, Danjel Andreasson admitted that at the present time several loose people maintained their residence in his house, to wit: court-martialed soldier Severius Pihl, disabled servant wench Sissa Svensdotter, unmarried female Ulrika of Västergöhl and her illegitimate daughter Elin. Ulrika being known since her youth for her lewd and immoral life, during which she had conceived four illegitimate children of whom three died in infancy. Danjel Andreasson admitted that he fed and protected these people in his house.

“Questioned Dean Brusander: ‘Is it true that in your house you conduct meetings with your housefolk and neighbors?’

“Answered Danjel Andreasson: ‘It is true, Mr. Dean.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘What do you do at these meetings?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘I explain the Bible word to my listeners.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘You admit then that you are practicing the office of the ministry?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘I do what the ministers do not: I preach God’s true word.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘Who has given you power to do this?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘God’s Spirit has given me that power in my heart.’

“Said Dean B.: ‘You are seized by an evil spirit. No one is allowed to be minister unless called and ordained according to the church law. In the presence of these honest and trusted men I herewith command you, Danjel Andreasson, to forgo all ministering pretensions in the future!’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘You, Mr. Dean, have no power to forbid me this.’

“Said Dean B.: ‘God has entrusted your soul to me. I am your spiritual authority. In all spiritual things you must obey me and no one else.’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘The Bible teaches that I must obey God before man. You are a man, Mr. Dean.’

“Said Dean B.: ‘In Romans, Chapter 13, verse 2, the Bible says, “Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.” Do you not admit that my power is from God?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘No, Mr. Dean.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘Do you refuse to obey law and order?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘There is no law over the righteous.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘Are you obsessed by such religious vanity that you call yourself righteous?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘I am possessed by God’s Spirit. The guide for my conduct is the Bible and my conscience.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘Can you tell me: What is conscience?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘He who is reborn will find out what conscience is. I hear that you are not reborn, Mr. Dean.’

“Said Dean B.: ‘The devil, the soul-destroyer, is whispering his answers into your ears! Have you preached that no man has a right to keep possessions for himself alone?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘Yes. You, Mr. Dean, should have preached the same, if you had preached God’s true word.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘Do you accuse me of false teachings?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘In Acts 4, verse 32, it is written of Christ’s church: “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things in common.” You, Mr. Dean, have never preached Christianity for this parish.’

“Said Dean B.: ‘You lean on some words in the Bible while you tear down others. You also have said that I am a negligent shepherd and lead my flock headlong to hell when they are drunk. Is it true you have said this at your unlawful meetings?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘It is true, Mr. Dean.’

“Asked Dean B.: ‘How can you defend this false testimony about your spiritual guide?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘Is it not true, Mr. Dean, that you sell brännvin from the parsonage still?’

“Answered Dean B.: ‘I use my possessions as I see fit. What right have you to deny me my income, to which I am lawfully entitled during my tenure of office?’

“Answered Danjel A.: ‘People get drunk from your brännvin, Mr. Dean, and in their drunkenness they commit violence and adultery and other crimes against the Ten Commandments. Doesn’t he who breaks God’s command earn hell, Mr. Dean?’

“Said Dean B.: ‘You are called in for questioning, not I.’

“Said Danjel A.: ‘As long as I served the devil I received praise from you, Mr. Dean. Now when I serve God I am called in for questioning and receive blame and censure.’