Page:The World Beyond.djvu/16

 no pain, no death; for the former things the earthly passions, the confusion and disorder of the world, the soul's unrest—have passed away. Its streets are of gold, because all its paths are love, the true gold of life. Its walls are of jasper, because the Word of God is the angel's wall of defence, translucent with the light of Divine wisdom. Its foundations are of all manner of precious stones, because the lives of its denizens are founded on the precious stones of truth laid down or revealed by the Lord himself. Nature's sun grows dark in its beautiful light, for the glory of God illumines its skies. The throne of the Lord is there, and from it the river of water of life flows, and the Tree of Life stands everywhere in its streets, whose leaves heal all the diseases of the soul.

Then the heart cries out as it reads the glowing page lit with the Divine light of inspiration—Beautiful kingdom of heaven! blest dwelling-place of immortal souls! where art thou? what art thou? and for whom were thy wondrous glories formed? O land of the heart beyond the dark river! is there a home there for me? for me, the weary and worn with the troubles and trials of earth?

Revelation was never designed for didactic teaching, like the school-books of our childhood. It does not contain the history of all religions with their dates and epochs; nor the arithmetic of the soul with its faculties and powers labeled and numbered, and with easy rules for the multiplication of its virtues; nor the geography arid climatology of heaven with a catalogue of its chief products and the com-