Shut in by the intangible dark, we are brought up against those
worlds within worlds blotted out by our concrete daily life. The
working of the great microcosm at which we peer dimly through the
little window of science; the wonderful, breathing earth; the
pulsing, throbbing sap; the growing fragrance shut in the calyx of
to-morrow's flower; the heart-beat of a sleeping world that we
dream that we know; and around, above, and interpenetrating all,
the world of dreams, of angels and of spirits.
It was this world which Jacob saw on the first night of his exile,
and again when he wrestled in Peniel until the break of day. It
was this world which Elisha saw with open eyes; which Job knew when
darkness fell on him; which Ezekiel gazed into from his place among
the captives; which Daniel beheld as he stood alone by the great
river, the river Hiddekel.
For the moment we have left behind the realm of question and
explanation, of power over matter and the exercise of bodily
faculties; and passed into darkness alight with visions we cannot
see, into silence alive with voices we cannot hear. Like helpless
men we set our all on the one thing left us, and lift up our
hearts, knowing that we are but a mere speck among a myriad worlds,
yet greater than the sum of them; having our roots in the dark
places of the earth, but our branches in the sweet airs of heaven.
It is the material counterpart of the 'Night of the Soul.' We have
left our house and set forth in the darkness which paralyses those
faculties that make us men in the world of men.
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