7] Eccl. ix. 10.

Arthur stopped--from exhaustion, Tom thought; but what between his
fear lest Arthur should hurt himself, his awe, and longing for him to
go on, he couldn't ask, or stir to help him.

ARTHUR'S VISION.

Presently he went on, but quite calm and slow. "I don't know how long.
I was in that state. For more than a day, I know; for I was quite
conscious, and lived my outer life all the time, and took my
medicines, and spoke to my mother, and heard what they said. But I
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, forever and ever, the
black dead wall was cleft in two, and I was caught up and borne into
the light by some great power, some living mighty spirit. Tom, do you
remember the living creatures and the wheels in Ezekiel?[18] 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 forever. 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[19] was on the foreheads
of all. And I longed to see what the work was, and could not; so I
tried to plunge into the river, for I thought I would join them,