Tempo:
INTERIOR VISION. 65
Thou, really, hast not that half century which thou proposest to live. Live at once; in leading a new life. Prate not in thy vanity, but get thyself to thy knees, thou foolish man! And confess thyself a very child — ay, more than a child—in the ¢rue wisdom. Recall thy mind to better things than thy wretched traflic, in which by far too much thou imitatest the muckworm. Make much of the holy affections which, like flowers, heaven hath planted in the mind of thee (if thou, like an ox, wouldst not tread them so daily out with thy brutish feet); and of thy children. Each of thine innocent little children contradicteth thee. Thine own youth is that which the most completely exposeth thy false policy. Think that thou hast but the poorest portion of life in thy present life. Thy widest margin of profit, and thy very mound of bonds and of bank-notes, alike shall prove but clogs — ay, but as tons of dead weight —in the hour when unexpected afiliction shall start up before thee, or in that time that thou hast thy real summons out of this world. Chains are wealth —ay, chains of heaviest link; hell-forged, but self-wound in one’s unconsciousness of acquisition — of which, for its escape, in the last hour the angels have, perhaps, to free the struggling soul! The blessings of the orphan and of the widow — of the lately down-trodden, of but the now rescued — shall be the wings upon which, in triamph out of thy clay, shalt thou Tmaount to the face of God! Then to thy heart shall penetrate, and to thine ears shall reach, that blessed assurance, welcoming thee within the doors of the eternal places: ‘Even as thou didst it to the meanest of these thine earthly brethren, hast thou done it unto me!’
“The roads of heaven, out of this mere, miserable, transitory man’s world —this world of disputes and difficulties, of the struggle, and of the eagerness, to live, but of the compelled and confused haste when death arrests — this place of weariness and discomfort, of —in the real reasons of things — very frequently, the high-placed low, and of the lowly-placed high — the ways, leading beyond those clouds of heaven towards which thou gazest, thou longing man! have not those solid barriers of division, between body and spirit, which thou, sometimes, art taught to believe! Look out into the universe —important as thou thinkest thine own globe -~-dnd imagine what innumerable ‘ mansions’ thy ‘ Father’s house’ hath! By how many ways may the hope (which may be all of thee) travel into the celestial spaces! By how many natural and ethereal wickets the blessed may, according to their natures, enter! Are not the stars as bright doors, opening into the glory?
“¢@od called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, saying, “‘Come thou hither, and see the glory of my house.” And to the servants that stood around his throne he said, ‘Take him and undress him from his robes of flesh; cleanse his vision, and put a new breath into his nostriis; arm him with sail-broad wings for flight. Only touch not with any change his human heart —the heart that weeps and trembles.”
“<¢Tt was done; and, with a mighty angel for his guide, the man stood
Thou, really, hast not that half century which thou proposest to live. Live at once; in leading a new life. Prate not in thy vanity, but get thyself to thy knees, thou foolish man! And confess thyself a very child — ay, more than a child—in the ¢rue wisdom. Recall thy mind to better things than thy wretched traflic, in which by far too much thou imitatest the muckworm. Make much of the holy affections which, like flowers, heaven hath planted in the mind of thee (if thou, like an ox, wouldst not tread them so daily out with thy brutish feet); and of thy children. Each of thine innocent little children contradicteth thee. Thine own youth is that which the most completely exposeth thy false policy. Think that thou hast but the poorest portion of life in thy present life. Thy widest margin of profit, and thy very mound of bonds and of bank-notes, alike shall prove but clogs — ay, but as tons of dead weight —in the hour when unexpected afiliction shall start up before thee, or in that time that thou hast thy real summons out of this world. Chains are wealth —ay, chains of heaviest link; hell-forged, but self-wound in one’s unconsciousness of acquisition — of which, for its escape, in the last hour the angels have, perhaps, to free the struggling soul! The blessings of the orphan and of the widow — of the lately down-trodden, of but the now rescued — shall be the wings upon which, in triamph out of thy clay, shalt thou Tmaount to the face of God! Then to thy heart shall penetrate, and to thine ears shall reach, that blessed assurance, welcoming thee within the doors of the eternal places: ‘Even as thou didst it to the meanest of these thine earthly brethren, hast thou done it unto me!’
“The roads of heaven, out of this mere, miserable, transitory man’s world —this world of disputes and difficulties, of the struggle, and of the eagerness, to live, but of the compelled and confused haste when death arrests — this place of weariness and discomfort, of —in the real reasons of things — very frequently, the high-placed low, and of the lowly-placed high — the ways, leading beyond those clouds of heaven towards which thou gazest, thou longing man! have not those solid barriers of division, between body and spirit, which thou, sometimes, art taught to believe! Look out into the universe —important as thou thinkest thine own globe -~-dnd imagine what innumerable ‘ mansions’ thy ‘ Father’s house’ hath! By how many ways may the hope (which may be all of thee) travel into the celestial spaces! By how many natural and ethereal wickets the blessed may, according to their natures, enter! Are not the stars as bright doors, opening into the glory?
“¢@od called up from dreams a man into the vestibule of heaven, saying, “‘Come thou hither, and see the glory of my house.” And to the servants that stood around his throne he said, ‘Take him and undress him from his robes of flesh; cleanse his vision, and put a new breath into his nostriis; arm him with sail-broad wings for flight. Only touch not with any change his human heart —the heart that weeps and trembles.”
“<¢Tt was done; and, with a mighty angel for his guide, the man stood
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