By this time he became very much excited and agitated:  seizing his cap he ran out of the house, leaving his wife and myself in mute astonishment at his strange tale.

I went home pondering over the meaning of this dream, and was struck at the amount of truth in it.  I thought—­How fair are the promises of the world to begin with, and how delusive and disappointing they are at the end!  Of course, Satan, the god of this world, will make the way to hell as bright and pleasing as he possibly can; and if people take outward circumstances and pleasing prospects for indications of safety, they wilfully lay themselves open to this deadly delusion.  What a number there are who know, or might know, that they are on the road to hell; that they cannot miss; and yet they go on!  And then how many people there are who rake cinders; that is, when thoughts of death, or judgment, or hell, obtrude themselves, how readily they cover them over with hopes of escape, or some good intentions to be better, before it is too late!  How often parents do the same for their children, for they cannot bear to think of their being lost forever; so they hope that somehow they will be changed before they die!  How often preachers rake cinders also, by addressing their hearers as if they were all safe, and only wanted a little teaching now and then; and it may be a little warning occasionally!  They cannot bear to tell them plainly that they are lost now, and may be lost for ever, if they do not repent and believe the Gospel; they would rather “be persuaded better things of them, and things which accompany salvation,” though they know for certain that there are many unsaved ones in their congregation.  They entertain them with good hearty services and pleasing sermons, and then let them go on their way to the solemn end, perfectly unconscious of any danger.

The Lord Jesus had no such false charity as this.  He has told us plainly that we are all perishing creatures, and that there is no hope for any one of us while we are still on the broad road to ruin and in an unchanged state; that we must be born again or we cannot see the kingdom of God; that we must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, who died in our stead on the cross, or perish for ever.  Preachers therefore ought to be more faithful, because life is so uncertain, and the warnings of God so sure.

Well did John dream that they did not look like human beings, who were raking cinders to keep the fire out of sight.

After some days I got light on the subject of this awful dream, and hastened to tell John that I had found the way out of that fearful place for him.  He would not hear me for some time; but I told him, that the prodigal son said, “I will arise and go to my Father, and say unto Him, I have sinned.”  “You see, John,” I continued, “he came back the way he went, and he found pardon; that is the way for you.”

I then knelt down and prayed, and he knelt with me at his table.  There he remained for four hours, without speaking a word, until I was thoroughly exhausted and obliged to go.  No sooner had I gone, than John’s heart failed him, and he burst out crying aloud, and said to his wife, “Oh, Mary, what shall I do?  What shall I do?”