But the young man would not agree to this; "Can the story of Askeladden be a comfort to any one?"--"Everything has its own use. The amusing has great power, and this story proves in an amusing way, that that which the world thinks the least of may often be the best,--that everything assists him who is of good cheer, and that that man gets on, who makes up his mind to do so. Do you not think that it does many children good to remember it;--and many grown people with them?"--"But to believe in hobgoblins and trolls is surely superstitious?"--"Who said you must believe in them? They are figures of speech."--"But we are forbidden to use figures and images; for they are the wiles of the devil"--"Indeed;--where do you find that?"--"In the Bible."--Here the dean interposed: "No, that is a mistake, for the Bible itself uses imagery."--All looked at him, "It employs imagery on all sides, as the Eastern people abound in such. We ourselves use it in our churches, in wood, on canvas, in stone, and we cannot conceive of the Godhead except through imagery. And not this alone: Jesus uses figures, and did not the Lord Himself appear in varied forms, when He made Himself known unto the prophets; was it not in the form of a traveller that he came to Abraham in Mamre, and ate at his table? Now if GOD HIMSELF appears in varied forms, and uses imagery, surely man may do the same," They were about to assent, but Odegaard rose and gently tapping the dean on the shoulder: "Thank you! you have shewn most conclusively from the Bible, that the drama is allowable!"--The dean started in surprise; the smoke which he had in his mouth coursed slowly out of itself.
Odegaard went across to the bundle of shawls, and bent over to try to catch a glimpse of her face, but in vain, "Is there anything more you would like to ask," said he, "for you seem to have thought over several things?"--"Oh, the Lord help me, I do not think always right."--"Well; at first after the grace of conversion, one is so absorbed by its wonders, that other things appear useless and wrong; one is like a lover, desiring only the beloved."--"Yes, but look at the early Christians, we must still follow their example."--"No, their difficult position among the heathen is no longer ours; we have other duties; we must bring Christianity into the life that now is."--"But there is so much in the Old Testament against the whole spirit of what you say," said the young man, for the first time without bitterness.--"Yes, but those commands are now dead, they are 'done away,' as Paul says: 'We are the ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit':--again: 'Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.' And:----'All things are needful unto me,' says Paul further, 'but,' he adds, 'all things are not expedient.'--Now we are fortunate in having a man's life before us, that shows us what Paul meant. That is Luther's. Of course you believe that Luther was a good enlightened Christian?" Yes, they believed that.--"Luther's religion was cheerful, IT was the religion of the new testament. His idea of a gloomy faith was, that the devil was always on the watch behind it; and as for fear of temptation, those that fear the least are the least tempted. He used all the powers God had given, the powers of enjoyment too. Shall I give you a few examples? The pious Melancthon once sat so closely at a defence of the true doctrines, that he did not take time to eat; Luther snatched the pen from his hand: 'One does not serve God by work alone,' said he, 'but also in rest and quietness; therefore God gave us the third commandment and instituted the Sabbath.'--Again, Luther used figures of speech, the facetious as well as the serious, and he was full of good, often merry ideas. He also translated some excellent old popular tales into his mother tongue, and said in the preface, that next to the Bible, he scarcely knew any better admonitions than these. He played the lute, as perhaps you may know, and sang with his children and friends,--not psalms only, no, but lively old songs too; he was fond of social games, played at chess, let the young people dance at his house; he desired only that all should be modestly and well conducted.--A simple old disciple of Luther's, pastor Johan Mathesius wrote this down, and gave it to his parishioners from the pulpit. He prayed that it might be a guide to them,--and let us pray for the same."
The dean rose: "Dear friends, now we will conclude for to day." All rose up. "Many words have been spoken for our edification; may God grant His grace upon the seed sown! Dear friends, your homes are in remote parts; you live high up, where the frost more often cuts down the corn than the sickle. Such desolate mountain places ought not to be cultivated, and ought now to be left to tradition, and the grazing cattle. Spiritual life can scarcely flourish up there, it becomes gloomy like the surrounding vegetation. Life is overshadowed by prejudice,--as by the mountains under which they grow up. The Lord gather, the Lord enlighten!--I thank you for this day my friends, it has been a day of enlightenment for me also." He shook hands with each of them, and even the young man gave his cordially, yet without raising his eyes.
"You go over the mountain,--when will you reach home?" asked the dean when they were ready to go.--"Oh, to-night sometime," said Lars; "a good deal of snow has fallen now, and where it has blown off, there are ice-banks."--"Well, my friends, it is worthy of all honour to come to church under such difficulties.--I trust you will get home safely now!" Erik answered in a low tone:
"Is God for me, whate'er there is
That will against me fall,
I can with prayer, and joyfully,
Tread under foot it all!"
"That is true, Erik, this time you have hit the mark!"--"Yes, but wait a moment," said Odegaard just as they were going; "it is not strange that you do not know me;--but I should have relations up at Odegardene." They all turned to him, even the dean, who had known, it is true, but quite forgotten it. "My name is Hans Odegaard, son of Pastor Knud Hansen Odegaard, who once left you, long ago, with his knapsack on his back."--Then it sounded from the shawls: "Goodness,--that is my brother, that."--
They had all gathered round him, but no one was able to say anything. At last Odegaard asked: "Then it was with you I was staying when I was once up there with my father?"--"Yes, it was with me."--"And a little while with me," said Lars; "your father is my cousin."--But Randi said sorrowfully: "So this is little Hans;--yes, time goes."--"How is Else?" asked Odegaard.--"This is Else," said Randi, pointing to the fair-haired woman.--"Are YOU Else!" he exclaimed; "you were in trouble about a love affair then; you wanted to have the musician; did you get him?" No one replied. Although it was beginning to darken, he could see that Else turned very red, and the men looked either away or down--with the exception of the young man, who looked fixedly at Else. Odegaard saw that he had put an unfortunate question, the dean came to his assistance, "No, Hans the musician is unmarried; Else married Lars' son, but now she is free again, she is a widow."--Again she blushed scarlet, the young man saw it, and smiled haughtily.