death within this unapproachable place, if he would buy the favor of Heaven for these children of the captivity!’ “But while this dialogue was held, behold, a form fairer than the morning dawn, and full of the glory of heaven, is seen descending from that chariot. Casting, as he passes, a glance of infinite benignity upon the hapless tenants of that burial-ground, he approaches, and asks of Justice: ‘Wilt thou accept of me?’ ‘I will,’ said Justice, ‘for greater art thou than heaven and the whole universe.’ “‘Behold, then,’ said the stranger, ‘I come: in the volume of the book has it been written of me. I will go down, in the fulness of time, into the sides of the pit of corruption. I will lay hold of this nature, and take upon me the dust of Eden, and, allied to that dust, I will pour into thy balance, Justice, blood of such worth and virtue that the court of heaven shall pronounce its claims satisfied, and bid the children of the great captivity go free.’ “Centuries have rolled by, and the fulness of time is now accomplished; and see, an infant of days is born within the old burial ground of Eden. Behold a Son given to the dwellers of the tomb, and a spotless Lamb, the Lamb of God, is seen within that gloomy enclosure. When the hour came at which the ministers of the Divine Justice must seize upon the victim, I see them hurrying towards Gethsemane. There, in heaviness and sorrow of soul, praying more earnestly, the surety is seen bowed to the earth, and the heavy burden he had assumed is now weighing him down. Like a lamb, he is led towards Golgotha—the hill of skulls. There are mustered all the hosts of darkness, rejoicing in the hope of their speedy conquest over him. The monsters of the pit, huge, fierce, and relentless, are there. The lions, {116a} as in a great army, were grinding fearfully their teeth, ready to tear him in pieces. The unicorns, {116b} a countless host, were rushing onwards to thrust him through, and trample him beneath their feet. And there were the bulls of Bashan, {116c} roaring terribly; the dragons {116d} of the pit are unfolding themselves, and shooting out their stings, and dogs {116e} many are all around the mountain. ‘It is the hour and power of darkness.’ I see him passing along through this dense array of foes, an unresisting victim. He is nailed to the cross; and now Beelzebub and all the master-spirits in the hosts of hell have formed, though invisible to man, a ring around the cross. It was about the third hour of the day, or the hour of nine in the morning, that he was bound as a sacrifice, even to the horns of the altar. The fire of divine vengeance has fallen, and the flames of the curse have now caught upon him. The blood of the victim is fast dropping, and the hosts of hell are shouting impatiently: ‘The victory will soon be ours.’ And the fire went on burning until the ninth hour of the day, or the hour of three in the afternoon, when it touched his Deity,—and then it expired.