A REVERIE OF BEULAH.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 70

A REVERIE OF BEULAH.

By a Banker. A child of earth, resting after a day of hard brain-work, falls into that state of trance-like urconsciousness which is so nearly allied to dreamland that the one merges into the other. He dreams that his span of life has run out, that he has said farewell to those gathered round him, that the retrospect of his entire h r e Las flashed through his brain in a moment of time with that vividness and reality ot %vhic>i he l.ad often read, and that the chamber was becoming rapidly darker and darker. .'tuJdenly lit hears his name called in a clarion mo'oojcus voice as of silver trumpets. "With a so,. 4 , of painless wrench, his spirit parts company from its corporeal home, and, with a shout of glad exultation, he finds himself clothed in dazzling radiance, free and untrammelled, and in the company of a number of bright spirits, one of whom informs him that he has been his guardian angel throughout his life, and is commissioned still to bq his companion and guide. He now starts on spirit wing, and finds that he can progress with the flasiiing rapidity of thought. - .Looking fondly back at the eaith which he has left, and Hfhich is 'So crowded with -multitudes of pleasing reminiscences, he , sees it as a gigantic crescent of. light hanging in space; soon, however, as he progresses upwards, to disappear in the far-ofi. distance. His course lays past" the earth's magnificent neighbour, the giant-ringed Saturn, the marvel^ . lous splendour of which- fills him with, the 'most-profound astonishment'; which is changed to almost terrified awe as he approaches thecentre of our system and beholds the furiously raging and fiery, tempest-torn source of our light and heat, its blazing hurricanes of mighty flames violently belching forth from all parts of the terrific furnace. Not lingering here, however, he pioceeds on his rapid journey through the ether, passing many a mighty sun with its attendant worlds, some immature, some inhabited with beings like ourselves, gome dead and cold, though none fairer than our earth, until he has left far behind all those myriads which are revealed to us by even the most powerful telescopes. But he finds that these untold millions of suns arc but the fringe of the universe, and that as he continues to pierce the profound and awful depths of the great abyss of space, it is everywhere studded with the same serried array of rapidlymoving, blazing suns. But now in the far-off distance he sees a mighty sphere, infinitely greater both in vast expanse and in overpowering brilliancy than anything he had yet seen, which, he is_ informed, is the pivot round which the entire Universe revolves. Rapidly approaching, he soon realises that this is none other than the bourne to which he is speeding, the efrulgent abode of the Great and Mighty Creator of all. At length he reaches this- dazzling realm of glory, the excessive splendour dazing even his ethereal vision. Everything shines with scintillating colours in all manner of vivid hiies. The glittering decorated mansions appear to be formed of great sparkling diamonds, sapphires, and emeralds; the ground itself is like golden crystal, and the entire surroundings are of altogether inconceivable beauty and radiant coruscating effulgency. But now ke is led by his guide to make his" obeisance to the Eternal, and with fear and', trembling approaches the rainbow-circled, throne, where He sits in majesty, surrounded by, angel and archangel, and all the hierarchy of Heaven. He dare not look upon the exces-' sive glory, but he sees Him who once came to this earth to save him, he sees the scars of those dread wounds which those madmen had inflicted tipon His sacred Person, and falling with his face to the ground he pours out his soul in a pssan of thanksgiving to the Saviour of the world, for dying that he might, by clainiin°- the benefits of that Atonement, attain to these glories. And the loving greeting which he then received filled his very soul with such intense rapture that he awoke. / And behold, it was a dream!