THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. IQ/ 
more after it, even to the years of many gene¬ 
rations. A fire devoureth before them; and 
behind them a flame burneth; the land is as the 
garden of Eden before them, and behind them 
a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall 
escape them. The appearance of them is as 
the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so 
shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on 
the tops of the mountains shall they leap, like 
the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the 
stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. 
Before their face the people shall be much 
pained; all faces shall gather blackness. They 
shall run like mightly men; they shall climb 
the wall like men of war; and they shall 
march every one on his ways, and they shall 
not break their ranks; neither shall one thrust 
another; they shall walk every one in his path ; 
and when they fall upon the sword, they shall 
not be wounded. They shall run to and fro in 
the city; they shall run upon the wall, they 
shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter 
into the windows like a thief. The earth shall 
quake before them; the heavens shall tremble ; 
the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the 
stars shall withdraw their shining: and the 
