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with a spirit, is all which he does with me. soul, a living soul, I am; and I will think this strongly, and so feel myself to be God's. And God's I am for ever. And bright and beautiful is what his eye looks on, as my place in heaven, that is to be.

CHAPTER VII.

My soul such pleasure oft in sleep receives,
That death begins to seem a pleasant thing,
Not to be armed, perchance, with such a sting,
Or taste so bitter, as the world conceives.

For if the mind alone sees, hears, believes,

While every limb is dead and languishing,
And greatest pleasure to herself can bring
When least the body feels, and least perceives,
Well may the hope be cherished, that, when quite
Loosed from the burden of her earthly chain,
She hears, and sees, and knows her true delight.
Rejoice, thou troubled spirit! though in pain.

If thou canst take, even here, so sweet a flight,
What wilt thou in thy native seats again?

SANNAZARO.

ONE weary evening in illness, I fell asleep, it having been just before a subject of prayer with me, that God would grant me a right frame of mind to die in. For, as I said to myself at the end of my prayer, "It would be dreadful in death if sight were to fail me, and I could see no friendly face, and hearing were to fail me, and I could hear no comforting voice, and in my soul there were to be doubts and an agony of doubt." And as I thought this, weakness overcame me, and I slept; and very soon I dreamed.

And in my dream I heard voices and footsteps. And it was as though many persons were going

to and fro, in great gladness and in light. But I could not myself see at all, and I was like one blind. And I was persuaded that I had died in my sleep, and that I was at the gate of the city of God, and unable to enter in, on account of my darkness. And I was afraid to move; for I did not know but that, in one step, I might fall headlong from the narrow way that leads into life. And I said in myself, "Unblessed art thou, and not able to see God; and thou must have died in impurity of heart; and always, always thou wert fearful, and like one not quite believing." I was terrified. I felt, as it were, the pit of destruction yawning against me; I was to be an example of the just judgment of God; and in my end was to be seen how, without any great wandering, the path of the commandment may be kept up to the last step, and that last step be perdition, through weakness of faith. O the dread I was in, and the terror !

I listened, and there was silence. It was as though all things were hushed by the awfulness of what was to happen to me. I was there, a spectacle to the spirits of men and to angels. My faith had failed me at the very last, and in the littleness of it I was to perish. There were witnesses of my wretchedness nigh me; that I could feel; and I could feel that there was sorrow amongst them. And within myself I thought,

"Thy unbelief was thy own misery on earth, and now, at the very gate of heaven, it is a grief to the angels, and it is what God has no pleasure in." And now, at once, I was calm. Hell might be under my feet, but it could not open, except by the will of God; and that blessed will was what I would pray to have done, though destruction had hold of my feet the while. I bowed my head, and covered my face with my hands, and I cried, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." Then a voice of triumph said, "Now he has overcome, and has got the victory!" And other glad voices said, "The victory, the victory!" But there was one which said, "Almost, he has."

For a moment I could see, and then I was blind again. When I feared, then I was in a horror of darkness; but every hopeful thought flashed through me, like lightning out of a midnight sky. I wondered what was to happen. But happen what might, I thought I could perish gladly, if it were by the will of God, and for God's good purpose.

And now, with this perfect love of God, my fear was cast out. And I was not in blindness any longer. The God whom I loved, I could see by. I could see; and, O, by what a light! For there was no shadow in it, because it did not shine from a sun or a moon, or from any one

quarter. But it was uncreated light, and was the visible presence of God, and was itself a joy to see by.

There were spirits standing round me. And some of them I knew, by their looks, were natives of the same world as myself. But towards others, I felt as though I did not know them, and yet as though I knew them well. O the blessedness which went through me from their looks! Compassed about with them, it was as though I could have remained for ever, and not have moved. But behind those who were nearest me, I saw standing a friend of mine, who had died many years before. His face was glorified; but whether it was changed or not, I cannot tell. His look made the same feeling in me that his best words used to do, and so it was I knew him, as I think. And I saw another person whom I knew. Then I said, "O my brethren, am I then amongst you, at last? And am I come out of the earth so safely?"

Then I learned that I had yet to die. And many high things were said to comfort and encourage me. I was in a tumult of glory, and joy, and wonder. Then I asked, "Shall I remember these great things when I come to die? And then one answered, "No. Nor in the body will he remember them at all. of our spiritual life no knowledge

For of the way can be kept by