thee of thy old garments, and so thou mayest enter.”  This occasioned yet more trouble of mind; for I was loth to go naked:  but at last thought it better to go in naked, than not at all.  So I at last fell to stripping, thinking that a few pitiful rags should not hinder me of so great an enjoyment.—­And when I was stripped stark naked as ever I was born, I tried to enter, and found no great difficulty; and so soon as I was entered, one met me, and cast a garment of pure white linen over me, which reached to my feet; and he brought me into a narrow room and said, “Rest here awhile.”  Then I lay me down in so much joy and comfort as is impossible to be expressed; all things were so pleasant about me, and my resting place was so delightful, and my heart was so fully satisfied, that it overcame me with songs of joy.  But I found it my business to be still and quiet in my happy condition, that I was come to enjoy.

[Illustration:  As I was entered, one met me, and cast a garment of pure white linen over me, which reached to my feet; and he brought me into a narrow room and said, “Rest here awhile.”]

I had not been long in this room, before I was called out to see the beauty and comeliness of the house.  As I walked through it, I found every thing so clean and bright, that I was ravished in an admirable manner.  I also met with some people that welcomed me to the house of God with such kindness as refreshed my heart:  and as I came to be acquainted with them, I marked their conversation, and their discourses were exceedingly comfortable to me; no quarrelling, no contention, no high nor hot words, but all passed with meekness and reverence, and due respect one for another.  The young men waited for the words of the ancients, and the virgins carried a reverent respect to the matrons; and there was an universal concord and unity, so that I wondered greatly.  One day as I was opening my mind to an ancient, I told him I admired much, and wondered greatly at the universal concord that I had taken notice of, beyond all I had met with in my life.  He said it must needs be so, and could not be otherwise, for that was the guide to lead me hither, which had been the guide to them all.  And further told me, there could be no contention, but where two spirits strove for mastery; but it was not so in this house.  His answer was so full and satisfactory to me, that I said no more to him at that time, but went on viewing, and beholding the order of every thing I saw, till my soul was filled, and I might say my cup did overflow.  So that my former labours and disappointments, sorrows and perils, did signify nothing to me, having now a full reward, an hundred fold.

[Illustration:  Then he that talked with me, told me it was my work to teach the children so far as I knew, and had learned, and as far as I should from time to time be further instructed.]