The Christian's Dream by Henry Quarles Nicholson

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Sep 13, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 36.

The Christian's Dream

By Henry Quarles Nicholson

I SAW the face of nature change erewhile; On lightning wings my fancy sped the air; The world was once again redeemed of guile, Nor sin nor lust again found lodgment there. The soul-inspiring songs of spirits free, Resounded through ethereal space so clear; The light celestial shone as one vast sea, Its brightness penetrating everywhere.

No longer Death, unfettered, roamed at will; No longer Satan plied his fiendish power; There was no guilt the trusting heart to chill, Since Love, sublime, supremely ruled the hour. Such was the scene my fancy feasted on. While thus entranced, I saw, through space afar, A crystal veil, more dazzling than the sun. 'Twas turned aside, and looped up by a star.

Within this opening, with enraptured view, I gazed spellbound. The Great One thronéd high Brightened the place. With rapture then I knew The wondrous glory of the Deity. No pen can paint, no tongue can words command, However deep in poesy they're skilled, To tell the beauties of that wondrous land, That spread before me and my senses thrilled.

My brightest hopes conceived not, nor my mind, With all its endless reasoning, soared so far Within the bounds of fancy's realms to find A faint conception of the bliss was there. The wild, enchanting dreams of fairy days, With all the vast, luxurious splendor wrought, The mind bewildering in their charmed displays, Were lispings in the alphabet of thought.