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YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
Almeda 0. Vickery

THREE DREAMS

THE WORKS OF HUGH BLACK
ftiet^tetidship Series
Friendship Work
Comfort Happiness

Culture and Restraint
Listening to God
Christ's Service of Love
The Gift of Influence

The world seemed laid out like a great race-course . . . and eager
runners trampled over the bodies of the failures to reach the
goal. Worst of all, J saw that THERE WAS NO GOAL

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COPYRIGHT, 1912
BY FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

Mxk7 356

1 HERE are times when we live as
in a dream, when the whole world is
other than it seems. The dreamer of
dreams lives in another world. He
walks in a beautiful light that never
was on sea or land, and the glory is
over all. In the hearts of many
around us there is such joy of the
dream that they can hardly keep
from laughter and singing — a dream
of beauty and peace and love that
changes the world and illumines all
life.

THREE DREAMS
never to know that there is darkness
at all. They see beauty, and are
compassed about by love. They see
God in the world and feel Him in
their hearts, and live as simply and
naturally as the lilies and the birds.
Others wake out of the. dream dis
illusioned, and know what darkness
and despair are, and how bitter is
the death of a dream.
Happy to live in Beulah Land all
the years; and happy even to see
once the Delectable Mountains far
off. Blessed to grow up in the King--
dom and never stray from its bounds;
and blessed even to see the Kingdom
once.

I

[8]

!

In my dream I saw that the world
I/ill was fair> tnat beauty was all around,
that the human verdict on creation
as well as the divine verdict was
|[ | that it is very good. The whole
universe chanted a psean of praise,
the stars in their courses sang aloud
for joy, the hills danced, and the trees
clapped their hands. Praise went
up like incense, and there was not a
discord in the whole harmony. The
earth praised God in every fiber of
it and every power, even the dragons
and the deeps — fire and hail, snow
and vapors, stormy wind fulfilling
His word, mountains and hills, fruit
ful trees and cedars, beasts and cat
tle, creeping things and flying fowl.
The sun and the moon praised him,
and the stars of light, and the heaven
[9]

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1

THREE DREAMS
of heavens, and all that is above the
heavens. I saw the earth clothed with praise
as with a garment. And I said, I
too will extol thee, my God 0 King,
and I will praise Thy name for ever
and ever. Great is the Lord and
greatly to be praised, and His great
ness is unsearchable. One fenera
tion shall praise Thy works to another,
and shall declare Thy mighty acts.
They shall speak of the glory of Thy
Kingdom and talk of Thy power, to
make known to the sons of men the
mighty acts and the glorious majesty
of Thy Kingdom. I saw in my dream
that it was so. The world of men
praised the God of the living, as the
world of nature praised the God of
the dead.
I saw the militant Church as
a great army terrible with banners
[10]

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THREE DREAMS
coming home after its bloodless vic
tories, and on every banner gleamed
the triumphant cross, that had drawn
all men to it. Every eye that saw the
sacred symbol glowed with joy, and
every knee was bent, and every tongue
confessed that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father. And the
nations of the earth repented them of
their sins of hatred and strife. They
turned their swords into ploughshares
and their spears into pruning-hooks,
and they followed war no more.
I saw kings and princes and rulers
cast down their crowns and scepters
before the conquering Christ. He
had come to His own, and His own
at last had received him. Men took
back the symbols of their place and
power at His hands, humbly to serve
Him and praise Him with their gentle
and generous deeds. ii]

THREE DREAMS
I saw the rich bring their wealth
to His feet, pouring out their treas
ures, and they took it back from His
hands, sanctified and purified, to be
used in His service. I learned that
the service of the Son of Man was
the service of men. All who had
power, or position, or wealth, or
gifts of brain or hand, had learned
the same lesson.
I saw the poor, truly poor in
spirit, without envy or jealousy or
malice, praising the King in their
hearts, serving the Master in their
work. There was no strife nor fear
nor discord; for love reigned su
preme. The cross had conquered
and was in every heart, and the
knowledge of the love of God, with
its attesting fact of the love of men,
covered the whole earth as the waters
cover the sea.

I

THREE DREAMS
I saw that the city — the city of
my love — was as the city of God,
with its towers and minarets gleam
ing in the radiance like the stainless
peaks of the Alps. The shame of
the city had been swallowed up,
and the sin of it had become holiness,
and the sorrow of it had disappeared.
The streets of the city were full of
boys and girls playing in the streets
thereof. The work of the fathers
was praise, and the play of the chil
dren was praise. The homes of the
city, the city of my love now the
city of God, were beautiful with
love and peace and sweet content —
Christian homes where children were
taught by example the wondrous
love of God. The cross was every
where. It gleamed high over the
streets on the domes and towers of
the churches. It dominated all the
13]

THREE DREAMS
houses of the people, and most of
all, it left its mark On every heart.
I saw that it was so over all the
world, not only in the city of my
love. Nation vied with nation to
right all wrongs and relieve all op
pressed. Man emulated man in lov
ing service. And the meek inherited
the earth. It had come true at last,
the dream of the dreamers, the vision
of the seers, the hope of the prophets,
the fulfilment of the Christ.
I saw in my dream that there was
joy in heaven, and I beheld and lo !
a great multitude which no man
could number, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands, say
ing, Blessing and glory and thanks
giving and honor and power and
might be unto our God for ever and
ever. And I said Amen.
What are these which are arrayed
[14]

K

THREE DREAMS
in white robes? and whence came
they? And I heard for answer,
These are they which serve God day
and night, and they hunger no more,
neither thirst any more, and God
has wiped away all tears from their
eyes. And I heard as it were the
voice of a great multitude, and as
the voice of many waters, and as the
voice of many thunderings, saying,
Alleluia, for the Lord God omnip
otent reigneth. Let us be glad and
rejoice and give honor to Him. And
I was glad with a great gladness that
thrilled through all my being and
awoke me from my dream.
I awoke and behold it was a-dream.
0 God, it was only a dream!

"^

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Again I seemed to see in a dream,
this time uncolored by the wish to see
anything but the very truth, only the
truth as it is and things as they are.
I saw things as they are, in their
naked reality. I saw the world with
out any disguise, and life without a
mask. The clear cold light of truth
seemed to scatter the films of fancy
from my eyes. I saw that the ma
terial was everything and there was
nothing else, no reality but the out
side, no meaning but the immediate
and the evident, no purpose but the
causal, no God but force. The
heaven seemed to narrow itself down
to the horizon, and there was nothing
beyond. It must have been a dream;
it was too clear-cut and certain for
physical vision. [16]

m

m

THREE DREAMS
In my dream I saw that men lived
out this God-less creed, or want of
creed. Self dominated life. The
cross was displanted and dethroned.
The lust of the flesh drove men in
blind passion; the lust of the eye
lured them unresisting: the pride
of life directed their course. Man
was in the toils of forces without
pity or remorse. Man distrusted
man, and nation feared nation. The
generous instincts died out of princely
hearts; for it was accepted that the
only rule for a sane life was that
every man should be for himself.
Oppression lifted up its head, and
jealousy and envy and fear kept
even the well-disposed from inter
fering. Magnanimity was sneered
on as foolish knight-errantry. No
nation could be generous and risk
anything for the right.
[17]

THREE DREAMS

I saw that class was raised against
class in bitter strife. The rich
clutched their riches the more closely:
the poor thrust out envious hands
to snatch their portion. Some devil's
axioms had taken hold of the minds
of men, that competition was the
rule of life, that the weakest must
go to the wall.
I saw that it was so. For the
world seemed laid out like a great
race-course, broad at the start and
narrowing more and more so that
fewer and fewer could run abreast,
and the course was strewn with the
failures and those crushed to the wall,
and other eager runners trampled
over their bodies to reach the goal.
Worst of all, I saw that there was
no goal. The motto of the race was:
every man for himself and the devil
take the hindmost. And I saw that
[18]

I

THREE DREAMS
the devil could keep pace with the
swiftest, and took not the hindmost
but the foremost, for as the foremost
reached what seemed the goal, he
was dragged down somewhere and
I saw him no more. It was too
terrible, and I felt it must be a
dream. In the terror of it I said, Where
is Christ? Has He done nothing
of what I had dreamed before? Poor
fool was I surely, living in a fool's
paradise; where is the Christ of my
dream? For answer I saw Him, the
purest and the sweetest of the sons
of men, I saw Him, a blighted blasted
thing upon a cross, with heaven's
lightnings playing in derision over
His head, and the jeers of the crowd
in His ears, "Let Him come down
from the cross, if He be the King."
A whisper of hope came to my heart,
[19]

'¥-

TH-ft-EE DREAMS
He can; He will; let Him come
down and convince the ribald crowd.
But there was no answer. The cross
stood dark against the twilight sky,
and the earth shook with the pity
of it all. And the veil of the temple
was rent in twain and I saw behind
it, and there was nothing — wood
and stone and rags, the hocus-pocus
of priests.
I found myself back in the city,
the city of my love which I once
fondly dreamed was the city of God,
and it was night. The smoke of it
went up to heaven, and it was as the
smoke of hell. The streets flickered
weirdly ghostlike in the flickering
light. I knew all the time that it
was a dream, and I was glad. I
my dream the sins of the
I saw into the houses, the
of misery and the dens of
[20]

saw in
streets.
haunts

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THREE DREAMS
shame. I saw that there were in
the city hells where human hearts
wore themselves out in hopeless
pain. I saw the rich fool choking
his soul with gold, and the poor fool
drowning his soul with drink. I saw
children with the light of youth faded
from their eyes, with sly crafty looks,
some with gaunt wolfish cheeks,
some with the iniquity of the fathers
visited upon them to the third and
fourth generations. I said, Thank
God that it is only a dream, a hateful
vision that shall pass.
I saw men so filled with the rage
for gain that they forgot the rights
of their fellows and the ideals of
freedom. It seemed as if they were
quenching the flame of the sacred
torch and defacing liberty in the
lust for gold. It seemed like another
crucifixion. [21]

THREE DREAMS

I saw that there was no thought
of God, no praise of Him in a city of
churches. I heard women cursing
men and yet living, and men cursing
God and yet not able to die. I
comforted myself with the thought
that it was only a dream. I hugged
the thought to my heart that when
I awoke it would be all different.
It was only a nightmare of the fancy.
Until, above the tearless sob of
mourners, the fearful sound of
Rachel weeping for her children,
above the giddy revelry of the gay,
above the laughter and the music
and the sound of dancing, above
the curses and the pathetic make-
belief of joy, through the night there
came a woman's shriek, as if hell
had outclimaxed itself at last, a
piercing shriek of pain and despair
that passed through ear and heart,
[22]

t<fr

THREE DREAMS
bones and marrow like sharp steel,
and it shivered through the air and
lost itself in the God-less sky above.
And I awoke with the agony of it.
I awoke and behold it was not a
dream. 0 God of mercy and of
pity, it was no dream!

If

Again I seemed to walk as in a
vision and to see as in a dream. I
was led back to the cross, and it
stood clear against the sky. A hand
touched my eyes, and I saw the
pathos of it and the mystery of it and,
most of all, the power of it. I saw
the lightnings, that before seemed to
play derisively above it, gather into
a glory round the sacred head. I
saw sad-eyed women and men and
; angels near it, but the sadness was
swallowed up in love and adoration.
Somehow I was drawn to it, as ail
men shall be drawn to it, and I said
with gathering awe, It is the Master.
; And I fell upon my face and the
mystery enveloped me and the glory
blinded me, and like another doubt-
disciple I could only gasp out

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THREE DREAMS
my repentance and confession, My
Lord and my God.
In the light of the cross I looked
upon all the world and upon all life.
In the light of the cross I saw Satan
fall from heaven like lightning. I
saw the Kingdom of Heaven com
ing in like a resistless tide, never
hasting, never resting, flooding the
creeks and inlets. I saw through
history a power making for right
eousness, not by blind chance, but
as part of a great design, part of a
divine purpose, and I saw it to be a
purpose of love, a purpose to redeem.
I saw even the wrath of man work
ing out the righteousness of God. I
saw that the meek did inherit the
earth, that the proud were brought
down from their seat and those of
low degree exalted.
I saw the world as the garment of
[25]

God, woven at the loom of time, a
garment without seam like that of
the blessed body of His Christ. And
it was very good, with a deeper,
richer, more mysterious beauty than
before. The minor keys and the dis
cords in the vocal score melted into
the full harmony of the music of
the spheres, and the discords were
needed for the harmony.
I saw into the heart of the world,
and it was the heart of God: I saw
into the heart of God, and it was the
heart of Christ: I saw into the heart
of Christ, and it almost broke my
heart when I saw the blood of His
love, a divine, brooding, ineffable love.
Round the cross as round the cradle
there was the same circlet of praise
— the old Christmas song, Glory to
God in the highest and on earth
peace, goodwill to men.

II

THREE

Back once more into the city, and
I saw that it was the city of God,
the scene of His redemptive work.
I saw that amid the grossness and
the slag there nestled the seed per
fection, and the seed burst into a
living thing, and it grew, and it had
hope in its bosom. I saw the beauty
of sacrifice in many a life, and even
soiled characters glorified by an un-.
selfish devotion, and love everywhere
— love everywhere — bringing men
to God. I saw men and women
bending their necks meekly to hard
yokes for love's sake, and humble
duty ennobling many a life. I saw
human love being redeemed from
passion by pain, and gold coming
from the furnace purified by fire,
and sin being washed away by blood.
In the light of the cross I saw that all
things, of joy and sorrow, of gain and
[27]

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THREE DREAMS

loss, of life and death, work together
for good to them that love the Lord.

Was this too a dream? If so, it
was a deeper and a larger one than
the first. It at least was not a blind
ing of the eyes to facts, not a whis
pering of peace when there was no
peace, not a pretense that there was
no pain and sorrow and sin and death.
But it saw these things, and yet saw
them to have a meaning, to be part
of the program, not an unrehearsed
accident but part of the purpose of the
great World- Artist. And I beheld and
lo! a great multitude stood before the
Lamb, clothed with white robes, and
I said, What are these which are ar
rayed in white robes? and whence
came they? These are they which
came out of the great tribulation.
I saw some of these saints in their
[28]

i(HP,j*.***w»,'4

tribulation in the city, and they made
the city the city of God. When I saw
them I seemed to see the Master
Himself, giving Himself for the world
anew, saving it by love, redeeming it
by blood. I saw Him seeking the
lost, making hearts rise with a new
hope, making eyes shine with a new
light. And I follow Him that I may
but touch the hem of His garment.
Is it a dream, this vision of the
Christ and the power of His cross
and the beauty of His love? Is it
a dream that the promise of Christ
mas is being fulfilled? Are we de
luding ourselves when we keep the
birthday of the Prince of Peace?
Is it a dream? Nay, but the lack of it a
dream
And failing it, life's lore and wealth a
dream.
And all the world a dream.
[29]

;

THREE DREAMS
Is it a dream that He comes stilling
the wild tempest of human passion,
creating His eternal brotherhood, es
tablishing His Kingdom of right
eousness and peace and love and joy,
lifting the world in its steep ascent
to God?
From that dream I have not yet
awakened, and I pray God I may
never awake.