Then it had passed, to give way to a strange, thrilling
sense of expectancy. It was as though a servant had opened the door
and had announced: "My master is coming, sir--" He had felt, indeed,
as though he had been lifted up, in the sheet of Paul the Apostle,
to meet his God. There had been the most wonderful sense of
elevation, a clearing of light, a gentler freshness in the air, a
sudden sinking to remoteness of human voices and mundane sounds.
From that moment in the Chapel life had been changed for him. He
never seemed to come down again from that mysterious elevation.
Human voices sounded far away from him; he could be urged, only with
the greatest difficulty, to take his food, and he frequently did not
recognise members of his own congregation when they came to see him.
He waited now, waited, waited, for this visitation that was
approaching him. He could have no doubts of it.
Then one night he woke from a deep sleep. He was conscious that his
room was filled with a smoky light; in his heart was such an ecstasy
that be would have thought that the joy would kill him.
Something spoke to him, telling him to prepare, that he had been
chosen, and that further signs would come to him.
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