The Gates Ajar - Softcover

Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart

3.27 out of 5 stars

101 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1983944068 ISBN 13: 9781983944062

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018

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"The writer of 'The Gates Ajar,' who became Mrs. Herbert D. Ward in 1888, was one of the pioneers in the individualistic assertion of women. In 1877, when she delivered in Boston a course of lectures on 'Representative Modern Fiction,' it was 'the first thing of the sort ever attempted by a woman in America.' She never became one of the 'new women, however, refusing to follow those fearless leaders....A Prussian Army officer is reported to have said of 'The Gates Ajar' that he understood it 'had made more Christians than all the preachers.' This book, published in 1868, figured as a best seller of that day." -The Literary Digest

"It is probably safe to predict that it will be the best read book of the season. For ourselves we must confess to finishing it at one reading....The glimpses of the occupations, joys, and reunions of the heavenly existence - all this is conveyed with a tenderness, a reverence, and a vivid power, which make a profound impression upon the reader's mind....The effect of the book is to make this life better worth living, and the next life better worth desiring. The author's conception of heaven are wholly pure and lofty, yet warm with human love and interest. They touch the deepest yearnings of the soul, and serve to strengthen faith and quicken aspiration." -Boston Journal

"It is a literary product of a high order. The supposed experiences of a soul in the other world are related with Miss Phelps's accustomed skill. Refinement and delicacy of feeling, and beauty and purity of style mark every page. From a literary point of view, the description of the departure of the soul from the body to the spirit world is quite perfect. The scene is fascinating, the language vivid, and the feeling wrought up to a high pitch without shock by an inappropriate word or inartistic sight." -Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"No one who takes it up can fail to read it through to the end, and whether it is to be considered as the record of a vision, a theory, or an absolute belief, it will be acknowledged as a remarkable story of the unseen world, beautifully and reverently told. A description of the land 'beyond the gates,' with all its possible activities and experiences may suggest the dreams of Swedenborg, but it is Swedenborg refined, spiritualized, and glorified with all the rare and tender graces of so charming a story-teller as Miss Phelps." -Brooklyn Times

"There is in every heart at times a longing almost insupportable to pierce into the mysteries of the unseen world, and to gain some idea of the state of those who have passed before us into it. Miss Phelps has bid the wings of imagination bear her where no word of revelation has ever opened the way and pictured things unutterable and unknowable." -Pittsburgh Telegraph

"Few will deny that it is inspired by a pure, delicate, and wholesome feeling, and that its general tendency is elevating and religious." -New York Tribune

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About the Author

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward (August 31, 1844 – January 28, 1911) was an early feminist American author and intellectual who challenged traditional Christian beliefs of the afterlife, challenged women's traditional roles in marriage and family, and advocated clothing reform for women. (Wikipedia)

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