A Vision of Judgment 



would be too heavy a burden for man to bear upon his 

 shoulders — he would sink in the mire, broken down before 

 his time, and life would become at once a state of torment 

 instead of trial. 



" But when the trial is ended, there is no reason why- 

 reward or punishment should not be complete. For this 

 end, memory of all the predominant good or evil of our 

 past lives will be sufficient : and supposing the evil prevails, 

 imagine what a revelation that would be. Stripped of the 

 semi-transparent bandage in which she went half-blindfold 

 upon earth, the soul will be laid bare, to be haunted without 

 respite by all those hideous nightmares of sin, and shame, 

 and horror, which now and then, one at a time, peep, 

 dimly seen, beneath the corner of the curtain. 



" We shall awake, amid a confused huddle of ghosts — a 

 cloud is still before our eyes. A trumpet sounds behind 

 the veil 1 It opens, and rolling away on either side, reveals 

 a blinding blaze of glory — to these how beautiful — to those 

 how dreadful ! An influence like a mighty rushing wind 

 divides the multitude. On one hand kneel myriads of 

 bright and blessed spirits, bowed in adoration ; on the 

 other, shivering, stand a crowd of dismal demons, self- 

 convinced of their just condemnation ! 



" To the one a smiling heaven of sunshine opens, with a 

 voice of heavenly music, crying, 'Come, ye faithful !' — to 

 the other, through falling darkness, a thunder-tone of wrath 

 muttering, ' Depart, ye wicked 1 ' " 



We emerged from the forest at a small village called 

 Cazar6n. Here, in the middle of the market-place, were a 

 party of men and women, with a great heap of the cones of 

 the pine and a fire. They singe them in the flames to get 

 rid of the stickiness, and then open them on a block with a 

 small one-handed adze. We bought a cUartillo (about a 



357 



