The Dream Of John Paul Richter

Prof. Proctor elosed his lecture on the stellar universo iu New York by quoting Richter's dream in which he shows the feebleness of inan's iinagination in presence of the infinite wonders of tho universe. It is translated by De Quincy : God called ud froui dreams a man into tho vestibule of Heaven, saying : " Come thou hither and see the glories ui Sly Kingdom,'? and to the angels that stood around His throne He said : " Takehim! Strip from him his robes of flesh, cleanse his visión, and put a new breath into his nostrils ; only touch not with any change his human heart, ths heart that weeps and trembles." It was done, and with a mighty angel for bis guide the man stood ready for his infinite voyages and from the terraces of heaven without sound or farewell, on a sudden they swept into infinite space. Sometimes with the solemn flight of angel wings, they passed through the horrors of darkness, through wildernesses of death that divided the worlds of lito ; sometimes they passed over tlfresholds that were quickening uuder prophetic motions from God ; then, from beyond distances that wero counted only in Heaven, light dawned as through a sliapeless film ; by unutterable pace they passed a light, a light of unutterable pace passed them. In a moment the blaze of 6uns was upon thpm, in a moment the rush of planets was upon them. Then came eternities of twilight that revealed but wero not revealed, on the right hand and on. tho left towered gigantic constellations that by self repetitions and answers from afar, that by counter-positions, built up triumphal gateways whose archways, whose architiuves, horizontal, upright, raised and rose at altitude of spans that seemed ghostly from inlinitude ; without measuro were tho architraves, beyond memory the gates, past number tho archways. Within were stars that scaled eternities around ; above was below and bolow was abovo to man stripped of gravitating body. Depth was swallowed up in hcight insurmountable: height iu dopth unfathoniable. On a suddon, as thus they rodo from infinity to infinity, on a sudden, as thus they tilted over abysmal worlds, a mighty cry aróse that systems more niysterious, that worlds more billowy, other lights, other depths, were coming, were nearing, were at hand. Xhen the man sighed and stopped, shuddered and wept. His overladon heart uttered itself in tears and ho said : " Angel, I will go no farther, for the spirit of man achcth with this infinity. Insufferable is tho glory of God. Let me lie down, and hido me in tho grave from the persecution of the infinite, for end I see there is none." And from all tho listening stars that shono around there issued a choral voice : " Ihe man speaks truly. End is thero none that over yet we heard of." " End is there nono ? there is indeed no end, and is this the sorrow that kills yon?" But no voico answered, that he might answer himself. Then the last angel throw up his glorious hands to the heaven of heavens, saying. " End is there none to the Universo of God ! Lo ! also, is therc no beginning '("