8. After this the angel returned to the house of assembly, and called to
him those who had conceived the joys of heaven and eternal happiness to
consist in paradisiacal delights; to whom he said, "Follow me, and I
will introduce you into your paradisiacal heaven, that you may enter
upon the beatitudes of your eternal happiness." Immediately he
introduced them through a lofty portal, formed of the boughs and shoots
of the finest trees interwoven with each other. After their admission,
he led them through a variety of winding paths in different directions.
The place was a real paradise, on the confines of heaven, intended for
the reception of such as, during their abode on earth, had fancied the
whole heaven to be a single paradise, because it is so called, and had
been led to conceive that after death there would be a perfect rest from
all kinds of labor; which rest would consist in a continual feast of
pleasures, such as walking among roses, being exhilarated with the most
exquisite wines, and participating in continual mirth and festivity; and
that this kind of life could only be enjoyed in a heavenly paradise.
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