didn't take much
note of time. I thought time was over for me, and that that tomb was
what was beyond. Well, on last Sunday morning, as I seemed to lie in
that tomb, alone, as I thought, for ever and ever, the black, dead wall
was cleft in two, and I was caught up and borne through into the light
by some great power, some living, mighty spirit. Tom, do you remember
the living creatures and the wheels in Ezekiel? It was just like that.
'When they went, I heard the noise of their wings, like the noise of
great waters, as the voice of the Almighty, the voice of speech, as the
noise of an host; when they stood, they let down their wings.' 'And
they went every one straight forward: whither the spirit was to go, they
went; and they turned not when they went.' And we rushed through the
bright air, which was full of myriads of living creatures, and paused
on the brink of a great river. And the power held me up, and I knew that
that great river was the grave, and death dwelt there, but not the death
I had met in the black tomb. That, I felt, was gone for ever. For on the
other bank of the great river I saw men and women and children rising up
pure and bright, and the tears were wiped from their eyes, and they put
on glory and strength, and all weariness and pain fell away. And beyond
were a multitude which no man could number, and they worked at some
great work; and they who rose from the river went on and joined in the
work. They all worked, and each worked in a different way, but all at
the same work. And I saw there my father, and the men in the old town
whom I knew when I was a child--many a hard, stern man, who never came
to church, and whom they called atheist and infidel. There they were,
side by side with my father, whom I had seen toil and die for them, and
women and little children, and the seal was on the foreheads of all. And
I longed to see what the work was, and could not; so I tried to plunge
in the river, for I thought I would join them, but I could not. Then I
looked about to see how they got into the river. And this I could not
see, but I saw myriads on this side, and they too worked, and I knew
that it was the same work, and the same seal was on their foreheads. And
though I saw that there was toil and anguish in the work of these, and
that most that were working were blind and feeble, yet I longed no more
to plunge into the river, but more and more to know what the work was.
And as I looked I saw my mother and