All these, and other persons like
them,
people of little consideration in the world, but now seemingly
all full of
great contentment and an inward gladness that made their steps
light,
were in the company that passed along the road, talking together
of
things past and things to come, and singing now and then with
clear voices from which the veil of age and sorrow was lifted.
John Weightman joined in some of the songs--which were familiar
to him
from their use in the church--at first with a touch of
hesitation,
and then more confidently. For as they went on his sense of
strangeness and fear at his new experience diminished, and his
thoughts
began to take on their habitual assurance and complacency. Were
not these
people going to the Celestial City? And was not he in his right
place
among them? He had always looked forward to this journey.
If they were sure, each one, of finding a mansion there, could
not he be
far more sure? His life had been more fruitful than theirs.
He had been a leader, a founder of new enterprises, a pillar of
Church and State, a prince of the House of Israel. Ten talents
had been
given him, and he had made them twenty. His reward would be
proportionate.
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