THE DREAM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 355, 6 February 1880, Page 11

THE DREAM.

(Translatel for the Pilot from Jean Paul, by '• L.L.") One sultry night in summer, I lay down to rest on the declivity of a a hill. A cry soon I fell asleep, and had the following wonderful dream :—: — ° I thought that I had been sleeping, and then I awoke in the dead of the night, in a churchyard, surrounded by graves and monuments. The tower clocks in the vicinity struck slowly, one after the other, eleven ; and the solemn tones, falling upon the awful stillness of the place, added not a little to the horror inspired by the situation. All at once the sombre dwellings of the dead seemed to open ; the doors of the church, as if moved by some invisible agency, swun°heavily upon their hinges in and out with a great noise. Shadows flitted to and fro upon the walls, but there was no appearance of the bodies that cast them ; gaunt and livid spectres floated through the air, and children alone, of all the dead in that vast wilderness of tombs, reposed tranquilly in their coffins. The heavens were overcast with dense masses of black cloud, that assumed the appearance of a huge spectral monster. Orerhead I heard as if the noise of falling avalanches ; while beneath me the earth rocked and trembled, as from the first shocks of an earthquake. The church swayed from side to side, like a ship in a heavy sea, and the air was filled with lugubrious sounds, struggling to attune in harmony with each other A few faint lightning-streaks threw a mournful gleam upon the dreadful scene. I was driven by terror to seek shelter in the church, the entrance to which was guarded by two fierce dragons, with eyes of fire. I mingled with the crowd of uuknown visitants from another world, every one of whom bore the marks of a life that had been lived in remote ages. All these disembodied spirits pressed round the dismantled altar, and seemed to breathe only with difficulty, being greatly agitated ; but one dead person who had lately quitted the earth, reposed in peace in his winding-sheet. His repose, however, was not destined to be for long, for as he lay there, smiling as if in a happy dream, a living person went towards him, at whose approach he instantly awoke from the sleep of death. He no longer smiled, but as he raised his heavy eyelids, I perceived that the space for the eyes was void, and in the place where the heart might be, there was a deep wound. He raised his hands and clasped them in prayer, but while in the act of so doing, his arms stretched themselves to an immense length, became detached from his body, and, with the clasped hands, fell to the ground. High up near the apex of a pointed arch was placed the immense clock that marked the time— if time there is in eternity ; there were neither figures nor indexes, but a horrible black hand moved slowly round the dial-plate, and the dead were forced, by some irresistible impulse, to read thereon their unalterable doom. Presently, from the dome over the sanctuary, a noble figure, brilliant as the light of a thousand suns, bearing in his whole appearance the impress of an imperishable sorrow. On perceiving him, the dead rent the air with mournful accents, crying out, — " O Christ, is there no God 1 " and he answered—" None." Whereupon, the poor unhappy ones were seized with a violent trembling, and Christ continued thus :— " I have wandered from world to world, and beyond the very suns of all the worlds, yet found no God. I have descended to the lowest limits of the universe, and looked into the abyss, crying out, " Father, where art thou?" but I heard only the rain which fell drop by drop into the depths ; and the eternal tempest that is ruled by no laws, alone responded to my demand. Gazing aloft towards the arch of the firmament, I «ny only an orbit, void, dark, and seemingly without limits. Eternity reposed upon the bosom of chaos, slowly devouring itself. O souls, redouble your agonizing cries, your heart-rending complaints and regrets, and let those cries and regrets disperse your ghosts, for it is all over with you." The forsaken shades of the dead vanished from the scene like a white vapour condensed by cold ; the church was very soon deserted ; when all at once— O spectacle of horrors !— the dead children, who in their turn were raised to life, rushed in a crowd, and prostrated themselves before the majestic figure enthroned on the altar, and cried out, " Jesus, have we no father ?" And he responded with a torrent of tears, "We are all orphans, you and I ; we have no father." At these words the temple and the children were swallowed down into the bosom of the earth, and the whole structure of the world, in all its immensity, crumbled to pieces before my astonished eyes. The author, in writing the above, wished to depict the horrible anguish of a creature who believes himself really deprived of God.' " Were I so unhappy," says Jean Paul, " as to be divested of all the sentiments that affirm the existence of God, my doubts would be annihilated were I but to re-peruse these pages ; I would be profoundly touched by them, and in them I would inevitably find my salvation."

A meeting of the Cardinal Cullen Memorial Committee was hdld on Friday. October 24th, at three o'clock, under the presidency of His Grace the Archbishop of Dublin. On the motion of the Most Eev. Dr. Moran, it was agreed to receive a former resolution by which it was agreed that the memorial should consist of a statue to be erected in or at the Cathedral, Marlborough street, and that the residue should be applied to the purposes of a Catholic training school. It was agreed on "the motion of Very "Rev. Canon Farrell, P.P., that the execution of the statue should be intrusted to Mr. Thomas Farrell, E.H.A., the accomplished artist of the Sir John Gray Memorial, and of other beautiful works of art. It was agreed on the motion of the Very Key. Canon Murphy, P.P., that £2,000 should be allocated for the statue, and it was resolved on the motion of Mr. James Talbot Power, D.L., to place the statue in the portico of the Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, the other portion of thp memorial to be devoted to the founding of a Cullen College in connection with the Catholic University. The proceedings at the meeting were characterized by the greatest unanimity. A sub-committee has been appointed to carry out the details of the memorial,