The Face of Heaven Read Online Free Page B

most of them to do with what he was saying to the Amish leaders, but others touching on feelings she had never experienced before for any man in the community. She closed her eyes and put her head in her hands. What was happening?
    This time the silence after Nathaniel’s words was even longer. Finally Samuel Eby spoke again. “Still, we are commanded to obey the law of the land. It is Paul himself who tells us that in Romans.”
    Lyndel lifted her head from her hands in surprise. Now it was her brother, quiet Levi Keim, who was talking. “Pastor Eby, we Amish do not obey the law when it comes to war, do we? The government tells us we must fight, but we say no, we will not fight. Why do we not obey the law then, Pastor Eby?”
    The pastor didn’t respond. Lyndel listened to her brother answer his own question. “The law of the land tells us to go to war but we do not go to war because we say God’s law is higher and that he commands us not to kill. So do you not think God requires us to answer to a higher law when it comes to slavery? Do you not think we should obey God rather than man, as Peter and John argued in Acts? Do you not think we should treat slaves as fellow human beings in the eyes of God and grant them the same liberties we enjoy since they are made in his image just as we are?”
    Nathaniel spoke up softly as Levi finished. “The Scriptures say that God ‘hath made of one blood all nations of men.’ ”
    “Not to mention,” Lyndel’s father said in the hush that followed Levi’s and Nathaniel’s words, “that Paul tells us in Timothy that the law is not made for the righteous but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and the sinner, for the unholy and profane. And he includes murderers among those who are lawless and unholy—he includes those who commit adultery, those who commit perversions, those who are liars and perjurers. He includes those who are slave traders—yes, slave traders. He reached for Nathaniel’s open Bible, now setting again on the table. Reaching his place, he read, “ Knowing this,that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient…for menstealers —slave traders— and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine; according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust. ”
    “Amen.” Lyndel just made out Abraham Yoder’s whisper.
    Suddenly there was hammering at the door. Without thinking Lyndel shot to her feet. But none of the men saw her—they had all turned toward the door and several were out of their chairs. Lyndel’s mother was rushing down the staircase without her candle and she cried, “The yard, it is full of men with torches and guns!”
    Lyndel watched her father swing open the door to Sheriff Jackson. The sheriff had a grim look on his face. Behind him several men were clutching blazing torches in one hand and long rifles in the other.
    “What is it?” Lyndel’s father demanded. “Why do you come to my house at such an hour and in such a manner?”
    “Bishop Keim,” the sheriff replied in a dark voice, “it’s my understanding that you are harboring fugitives on your property. I must order you now, in the name of the law, to give them up to these men so they can be returned to their rightful owners in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”

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    L yndel’s father stood firmly in the doorway and would not move.
    “This is a matter we have just been discussing among our leadership,” he told the sheriff. “We will need a bit more time.”
    “A bit more time for what?” growled a man with a torch just behind Sheriff Jackson. “To make sure our slaves get clear to the border?”
    “Are they in the house, Bishop Keim?” asked the sheriff.
    Lyndel’s father hesitated. “They are resting.”
    “Where are they resting?”
    “In a room upstairs. They cannot be disturbed. One of them is wounded.”
    “Cannot be disturbed?” The man behind Sheriff Jackson