C. “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee.” “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth on me shall never die.”
F. What lies beyond this to the faithful Christian?
C. The blessed rest of paradise and the bright glories of heaven.
The Vision of the Three States.
I saw, in my vision, two glorious creatures walking together through a beautiful garden. I thought at first they must be angels, so bright and happy did they seem. The garden, also, in which they were, seemed too beautiful for earth. Every flower which I had ever seen, and numbers which my eye had never looked upon, grew in abundance round them. They walked, as it were, upon a carpet of flowers. The breeze was quite full of the rich scent which arose from them. The sun shone upon them with a brightness such as I had never seen before; whilst the air sparkled with myriads of winged
things, which flew here and there, as if to shew how happy they were.
All through the garden, too, I saw every sort of beast, in all its natural grace and beauty; and all at peace. Great lions moved about amongst tender sheep; and striped tigers lay down quietly to sleep amongst the dappled fawns which sported around them. But, amidst all these beautiful sights, my eyes followed more than all, the two glorious forms which were walking together with such a kingly majesty through the happy garden: they were, truly, I could see, beings of this earth; they were talking to each other; they were speaking of One who had made them out of the dust of the earth; who had given to them living souls: who was their Father and their Friend; who had planted for them this beautiful garden, and made them the rulers of all that was in it.
Now I marked them as they talked,
and I could see that their eyes were often turned from all the beauty round them towards one far end of the garden; and as I watched them, I saw that they were still passing on towards it. Then I also fixed my eyes there, and in a while I could see that, at the end of the garden to which they were moving, there was a bright light, brighter and purer than the light of the sun; and I thought that in it I could see here and there heavenly forms moving up and down, flying upon silver wings, or borne along upon the light breath of the sunny air. But as I strained my eyes to pierce into it, it seemed to dazzle and confound them by its great lustre. Then, again, I heard the words of the two; and they spake of what was before them; of the bright light, and the heavenly forms: and I found that they were only travellers through this beautiful garden; that the King who had placed them in it dwelt in that light, the brightness
of which had so confounded my gaze; that they were on their way to His presence, and that when they reached it, they should be happy for ever; even as those shining spirits were already, whose golden figures I had been just able to discover.