“Listen!” added my Angel-guide.  “Thou hast not travelled so far as yet to remain in ignorance.  That burning Ring thou seest is the result of the Creator’s ever-working Intelligence; from it all the Universe hath sprung.  It is exhaustless and perpetually creative; it is pure and perfect Light.  The smallest spark of that fiery essence in a mortal frame is sufficient to form a soul or spirit, such as mine, or that of Azul, or thine, when thou art perfected.  The huge world rolling within the Ring is where God dwells.  Dare not thou to question His shape, His look, His mien!  Know that He is the Supreme Spirit in which all Beauty, all Perfection, all Love, find consummation.  His breath is the fire of the Ring; His look, His pleasure, cause the motion of His World and all worlds.  There where He dwells, dwell also all pure souls; there all desires have fulfilment without satiety, and there all loveliness, wisdom or pleasure known in any or all of the other spheres are also known.  Speak, Azul, and tell this wanderer from Earth what she will gain in winning her place in Heaven.”

Azul looked tenderly upon me and said: 

“When thou hast slept the brief sleep of death, when thou art permitted to throw off for ever thy garb of clay, and when by thine own ceaseless love and longing thou hast won the right to pass the Great Circle, thou shalt find thyself in a land where the glories of the natural scenery alone shall overpower thee with joy—­scenery that for ever changes into new wonders and greater beauty.  Thou shalt hear music such as thou canst not dream of.  Thou shalt find friends, beyond all imagination fair and faithful.  Thou shalt read and see the history of all the planets, produced for thee in an ever-moving panorama.  Thou shalt love and be beloved for ever by thine own Twin Soul; wherever that spirit may be now, it must join thee hereafter.  The joys of learning, memory, consciousness, sleep, waking, and exercise shall all be thine.  Sin, sorrow, pain, disease and death thou shalt know no more.  Thou shalt be able to remember happiness, to possess it, and to look forward to it.  Thou shalt have full and pleasant occupation without fatigue—­thy food and substance shall be light and air.  Flowers, rare and imperishable, shall bloom for thee; birds of exquisite form and tender voice shall sing to thee; angels shall be thy companions.  Thou shalt have fresh and glad desires to offer to God with every portion of thy existence, and each one shall be granted as soon as asked, for then thou wilt not be able to ask anything that is displeasing to Him.  But because it is a joy to wish, thou shalt wish! and because it is a joy to grant, so also will He grant.  No delight, small or great, is wanting in that vast sphere; only sorrow is lacking, and satiety and disappointment have no place.  Wilt thou seek for admittance there or wilt thou faint by the way and grow weary?”

I raised my eyes full of ecstasy and reverence.