The night before him was as black as it had been, and behind him the little American clock was still striking the hour of midnight.

Therefore he could not have remained insensible for longer than a few seconds.
A few seconds, yet how much he had seen in them.

Truly his want of faith had been reproved--truly he also had been "warned of God in a dream,"-- truly "his ears had been opened and his instruction sealed." His soul had been "kept back from the pit," and his life from "perishing by the sword;" and the way of the wicked had been made clear to him "in a dream, in a vision of the night when deep sleep falleth upon men." Not for nothing had he endured that agony, and not for nothing had he struggled in the grip of doubt..