Dylks, Joseph C. -- Fiction; Frontier and pioneer life -- Ohio -- Fiction; Impostors and imposture -- Fiction
Many of the Little Flock groaned and cried aloud; the Herd of the Lost,
except for one shrill note of bitter laughter, were silent, and only those
who sat near perceived that it was Jane Gillespie who had laughed.
Redfield looked round at her, unconscious of his look.
“I go a long way off,” Dylks proceeded, “and some of my beloved, even my
Little Flock, cannot follow me; but though they cannot follow me, even the
lame, halt, and blind shall be with me in the spirit, and shall behold the
New Jerusalem where I will bring it down.”
Many of the Little Flock at this cried out, “Where will it be, Lord?”
“Where will the New Jerusalem come down?” “How shall we see it?”
“With the eyes of faith, even as ye have seen the miracles I have wrought
among ye, which were shown to babes and sucklings and were hidden from the
wise of this world. But now I go from you, and my feet shall be upon the
mountains and shall descend upon the other side and there I will bring
down the New Jerusalem, and there ye shall be, in the flesh or in the
spirit, to behold the wonder of it.”
Some of the Little Flock cried out again. “Oh, don't leave us, Father!”
“Take us all with you in the flesh!” “We want to be taken up with you!”
and then some of them entreated, “Tell us about it; tell us what it will
be like.”
Dylks lifted his eyes as if in the rapture of the vision. “'Its light
shall eclipse the splendor of the sun. The temples thereof, and the
residences of the faithful will be built of diamonds excelling the
twinkling beauty of the stars. Its walls will be of solid gold, and its
gates silver. The streets will be covered with green velvet, richer in
luster and fabric than mortal eye ever beheld. The gardens thereof will be
filled with all manner of pleasant fruits, precious to the sight, and
pleasant to the taste. The faithful shall ride in chariots of crimson,
drawn by jet-black horses that need no drivers; and their joys shall go on
increasing forever. The air of the city shall be scented with the smell of
shrubs and flowers, and ten thousand different instruments all tuned to
the songs of heaven shall fill the courts, and the streets and the
temples, and the residences, and the gardens with music like ear hath not
heard, swelling the soul of the saved with perpetual delight.'”
Sighs and groans of ecstasy went up from the Flock at each of the studied
pauses which Dylks made in recounting the wonders of the heavenly city,
fancied one after another at the impulse of their expectation. At the end
they swarmed forward to the altar place and flung themselves on the
ground, and heaped the pulpit steps with their bodies. “Take us with you,
Lord!” they entreated. “Take us all with you in the flesh!” “Don't leave
us here to perish among the heathen and the ungodly when you go.” Then
some began to ask, as if he had already consented, “But what shall we eat,
and what shall we drink, and wherewithal shall we be clothed on that far
journey?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account