The Cook County news-herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Cook County, Minn.) 1909-current, 1916-12-20
A CHRISTMAS PhANTAsm
BY G. {. Mccarthy
In Grand Rapids Herald Review

1t must have been a dream-but l
am not sure. All men, suspect,
have had similar experimentation
it was difficult, even impossible, to
really know whether they were a
wake or asleep, whether they were
really seeing or only dreaming. Even
at our best can we clearly see or de-
termine the boundary line between
the subjective and objective worlds?
Do we know the true relation be-
ween the spiritual and material? Is
not all phenomena, including our
lives, a mystery? What is existence!
l was standing upon an exceeding
high mountain and all the earth was
spread out like plain before me. l
saw all the lands, and continents,
and oceans, and seas, and the is
lands of the sea; and all the king
doms, empires, nations, peoples,
tribes and tongues of the world. l
saw the nations at war, thousand
million people at war. l heard the
sound of it, and the sound filled the
whole earth. 1t was as the sound OF
many waters, the thunder of oceans,
the roar of volcanoes, the rumble OF
earthquakes, the believing and BOOM
ing of hurricanes. The mountain
trembled and the earth shook with
the noise and force of it. And I saw
kingdoms falling, empires crumbling,
nations disappearing, civilization
vanishing; and l saw that all the
works of men-the products of la
Dor, and toll, and effort, and art,
and genius, and devotion, and conse-
Grafton, and sacrifice-six thousand
years of human history were be-
ing destroyed; and the horror of it,
and the stencil of it filled all the
earth and rose to Heaven.
And as l looked saw the founda-
lions of the world crumbling and
giving way, even the foundations of
spiritual life. The consciences, and
minds, and spirits, and souls Of men
became poisoned and made sick and
diseased, even unto death, with the
noise and stencil of war. And saw
faith, the faith Of the Fathers, fail
ing and vanishing, and in the univer-
sal anarchy vice took the place of
virtue, sin assembled the throne once
occupied by righteousness, insanity
characterized the actions of all men,
and all things came under the dom
inion of false and unreal. And saw
the foolishness and insanity, the
shame and degradation of it all.
And then I saw all the religions of
the world-and l saw the Christian
religion. And the churches! o, the
churches! The Christian churches of
the world! I saw them everywhere,
with their spires pointing to Heaven.
And the bell! o, the bells! Ringing,
ringing, and l heard them all, all the
bells of all the Christian churches of
the world. And the choirs! The
music of the choirs, anthems sung
by millions of voices, and songs of
praise, "Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallel-
utah." and mingled with it all l
heard the deep booming of the guns,
the crash of bursting shells, the roar
of burning cities, the rumble of fall
ing walls, the groans and gasps of
dying men, the cry of famished
babes at withered breasts, the walls
of children starving in desolate
fields, the sobs of mothers, weeping
DER the dead, all mingled and COM
mingled in one vast wave of sound
that rose to Heavens gate even to
the throne of God.
And then wonderful thing trans
pired. saw that all the Christian
churches of the world were being
transformed into the form and like
ness of men, and where but a mo-
ment before there were all the chur-
ches there stodd twelve men. And
these twelve men had the garb, and
features and form, and bearing of
~A~ o"NA'S uAoSAplSS VI Lne C0r1SC,
the twelve apostles of the Christian
religion. But still they were the
Christian churches of the world, and
l could hear the bells ringing. the
organs deep notes rising, and the
voices of the choirs singing, "hallel-
utah, hallelujah, hallelujah," all min
gled with the hideous noise and con-
fusion of war; and yet there they
were, twelve men, the twelve disci-
pies of our Lord; and these twelve
men looked upon the world.
And l looked and behold a second
wonder: I saw the world trans
formed into the form and likeness
of a man. And still it was the world:
and l could see the armies in the
fields, and hear the roar Of guns. and
shrek of shells, and smell the poi-
sonous gas, and see the leaping ton
cues of liquid fire, the heaps Of torn
and mangled dead, the churches with
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