A FIRMAMENT ABLAZE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2569, 10 June 1903, Page 77

A FIRMAMENT ABLAZE.

-«. By a Banker.

In what varied rnooel does our great orb o! light bid adieu to us for other climes and sink slowly out of sight, leaving ua in darkness, and blotting out from our view the beautiful face of Nature. Now ho assumes a pale, sickly hue, his disc barred with numerous belta like the great planet Jupiter ; and as we watoh his disappearance beneath, a bank of far-off mist, wo know lhat that pallid, ashy tint presages &i coming storm. Or now, still wan and colourleas, he is shrouded in a veil of indigo, angry, drifting wisps of clouds hasting at a furious speed along th» horizon, while a yellow ahTOud. mingled -with purple, hangs over the west. Then we know that we must bo iprepared for. a great outburst of tho artillery of heaven, and that very soon the air will resound with rolling peals of thunder, and that the wild fury of the elements will soon be poured out in all their ire. But far more beautiful, and infinity mors impressive, is the aspect ©f the western skies as sometimes seen from the lofty heights of an * alpine mountain. As the great luminary sinks down, the azure of the heavens is metamorphosed into a. bright vivid orange, which gradually gives place to a lovely mauve, -which, wheru the sinking orb has completely disappear«d, gives place to a bright violet, turning the blue waters of the lake beneath into a sea of indigo. But only ior a few moments, for soon everything is changed into blood; the skies, tha snowy summits of the mountains, the lake itself, are all dyed in a vivid carmine-vermilion, weird ami supeirb. And- as lower and lower the ensanguined luminary sinks beneath the fiery horizon, the blood-red hue assumes an. ever darkening tinge; and the lake, which lias appeared like a groat fiery caldron of flowing blood, gradually deepens from scarlet to from sepia to umber, and from umber into darkness and obscurity. But oven this wondrous spectacle was far «:- ceeded in .glory and in splendour by the sfftrtling sunsets which en- # -<J soon after the great discharge of volcanic st at Krakatoa a few \ears since. Then, and notably at Biarritz and the west of France, evening after evening tho firmament was veritably on fire, glowing in every colour of the rainbow — rose-pink, a lovely cerulean blue, amber, scarlet, and purplishgieon — while tho rippling waters of the bioatl Atlantic were gemmed as with emeralds and sapphires, fire-opals and diamonds, nmethysta and rubies, sparkling and scintillating in everchanging hues, a lovely reflection _, of the gorgeous pageant above. And so it continued, a> spectacle of flashing glory, gradually transmuted into more and more sober < hues. Until the wondrous, speotaclo at length ' faded away, and gave place to the sombroufvreign of night. And as, lo&t in wonder and in admiration at the brilliant vision, we watch the raj?id grndation, from lighi to darkness, we a,re r&niinded of the change in ourselves though in the opposite direction. For until -we rally understand the reality of the great Atonement and realise that the Redeemer suffered the penalty due to us for our misdeeds, and that thereby, if we will, wo are absolved and purified, we are but in darkness. But when by the aid of the Holy Spirit we understand it all, then the glorious light of Heaven shines upon us, and we know that w« have ncught to fear in the great hereafter, if wo will but come to Him for pardon.