Heaven -- Christianity; Near-death experiences -- Religious aspects; Private revelations
The immense dome, at that moment filled with a luminous cloud, was
upheld by three rows of massive pillars of gold. The walls and floors
were of pearl, as also the great platform that filled at least
one-third of the Temple upon the eastern side. There were no seats of
any kind. The great golden pillars stood like rows of sentinels upon
the shining floor. A railing of gold ran entirely around the platform
upon the three sides, so that it was inaccessible from the body of the
Temple. Beneath this railing, upon the temple-floor, a kneeling-step
passed around the platform, also of pearl. In the center of the
platform an immense altar of gold arose, supported by seraphs of gold
with outspread wings, one at each corner; and underneath it, in a great
pearl basin, a fountain of sparkling water played, and I knew
intuitively it was the source of the magical river that flowed through
the gardens of heaven and bore from us the last stains of death and sin.
Nothing living, beside ourselves, was within the Temple except two
persons who knelt with bowed heads beside the altar-rail upon the
farther side; but by the altar stood four angels, one upon either side,
dressed in flowing garments of white, with long, slim trumpets of gold
uplifted in their hands, as though waiting in expectancy the signal for
their trumpet call. Long draperies of silvery gossamer hung in heavy
folds back of the altar platform. Suddenly, in the moment that we
looked, we saw the draperies tremble and glow until a radiance far
beyond the splendor of the sun at mid-day shone through them, and the
whole Temple was "filled with the glory of the Lord." We saw, in the
midst of the luminous cloud that filled the dome, the forms of angelic
harpers, and as we dropped with bowed heads beside the altar-rail and
hid our faces from the "brightness of His coming," we heard the
trumpet-call of the four angels about the altar, and the voices of the
celestial harpers as they sang:
"Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea.
Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty,
God in three persons--blessed Trinity. Amen!"
The voices softly died away; the last notes of the golden trumpets had
sounded; "and there was silence in heaven." We knew that the visible
glory of the Lord was, for the present, withdrawn from the Temple which
is his throne; still we knelt with bowed heads in silent worship before
him. When at last we arose I did not lift my eyes while within the
Temple; I desired it to remain upon my memory as it appeared when
filled with his glory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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