eep
it out of sight. They were so absorbed in their work that they did not
heed my question, though I pleaded more and more earnestly. At last, I
observed that one of them ceased from his strange work, and looked at
me; whereupon I addressed myself to him, begging him to show me the way
out of the place." John added, "If I ever prayed in my life I prayed
then; but he shook his head as if he pitied me, and said mournfully,
'The way you came in,' I replied, 'I cannot find it'; then again he
shook his head as if to say, 'You never will.' I was obliged to rise
from my knees, for the ground was so hot, and in my despair I ran I know
not whither. As I passed along in haste, I came to cracks in the ground
full of fire; I stepped over them one after another, and ran on till I
came to such a large chasm, that I could not jump over it. I turned and
went in another direction, leaping and running, in a state of terror,
till at last I came upon a sheet of glowing fire, into which I fell.
Then I awoke. For fourteen years this has followed me; there is no hope
for me!"

By this time he became very much excited and agitated: seizing his cap
he ran out of the house, leaving his wife and myself in mute
astonishment at his strange tale.

I went home pondering over the meaning of this dream, and was struck at
the amount of truth in it. I thought--How fair are the promises of the
world to begin with, and how delusive and disappointing they are at the
end! Of course, Satan, the god of this world, will make the way to hell
as bright and pleasing as he possibly can; and if people take outward
circumstances and pleasing prospects for indications of safety, they
wilfully lay themselves open to this deadly delusion. What a number
there are who know, or might know, that they are on the road to hell;
that they cannot miss; and yet they go on! And then how many people
there are who rake cinders; that is, when thoughts of death, or
judgment, or hell, obtrude themselves, how readily they cover them over
with hopes of escape, or some good intentions to be better, before it is
too late! How often parents do the same for their children, for they
cannot bear to think of their being lost forever; so they hope that
somehow they will be changed before they die! How often preachers rake
cinders also, by addressing their hearers as if they were all safe, and
only wanted a little teaching now and then; and it may be a little
warning occasionally! They cannot