A man ran to Rhydwen and related to Aben the manner of Dan’s death.  Aben went into a field and sat as one astonished until the light of day paled.  Then he arose, shook himself, and set to number the ears of wheat which were in his field.

VII

SAINT DAVID AND THE PROPHETS

God grants prayers gladly.  In the moment that Death was aiming at him a missile of down, Hughes-Jones prayed:  “Bad I’ve been.  Don’t let me fall into the Fiery Pool.  Give me a brief while and a grand one I’ll be for the religion.”  A shaft of fire came out of the mouth of the Lord and the shaft stood in the way of the missile, consuming it utterly; “so,” said the Lord, “are his offenses forgotten.”

“Is it a light thing,” asked Paul, “to defy the Law?”

“God is merciful,” said Moses.

“Is the Kingdom for such as pray conveniently?”

“This,” Moses reproved Paul, “is written in a book:  ’The Lord shall judge His people.’”

Yet Paul continued to dispute, the Prophets gathering near him for entertainment; and the company did not break up until God, as is the custom in Heaven when salvation is wrought, proclaimed a period of rejoicing.

Wherefore Heaven’s windows, the number of which is more than that of blades of grass in the biggest hayfield, were lit as with a flame; and Heman and his youths touched their instruments with fingers and hammers and the singing angels lifted their voices in song; and angels in the likeness of young girls brewed tea in urns and angels in the likeness of old women baked pleasant breads in the heavenly ovens.  Out of Hell there arose two mountains, which established themselves one over the other on the floor of Heaven, and the height of the mountains was the depth of Hell; and you could not see the sides of the mountains for the vast multitude of sinners thereon, and you could not see the sinners for the live coals to which they were held, and you could not see the burning coals for the radiance of the pulpit which was set on the furthermost peak of the mountain, and you could not see the pulpit—­from toe to head it was of pure gold—­for the shining countenance of Isaiah; and as Isaiah preached, blood issued out of the ends of his fingers from the violence with which he smote his Bible, and his single voice was louder than the lamentations of the damned.

As the Lord had enjoined, the inhabitants of Heaven rejoiced:  eating and drinking, weeping and crying hosanna.

But Paul would not joy over that which the Lord had done, and soon he sought Him, and finding Him said:  “A certain Roman noble labored his horses to their death in a chariot race before Caesar:  was he worthy of Caesar’s reward?”

“The noble is on the mountain-side,” God answered, “and his horses are in my chariots.”

“One bears witness to his own iniquity, and you bid us feast and you say ‘He shall have remembrance of me.’”