"It is ordained," said they,
"both here and in heaven, that you are first to enter into the temple,
and remain there for three days and three nights and after this
initiation you are to enter the houses of the city, which are so many
chapels consecrated by us to divine worship, and in every house join the
congregation in a communion of prayers, praises, and repetitions of holy
things; you are to take heed also that nothing but pious, holy, and
religious subjects enter into your thoughts, or make a part of your
conversation." After this the angel introduced his companions into the
temple, which they found filled and crowded with many persons, who on
earth had lived in exalted stations, and also with many of an inferior
class: guards were stationed at the doors to prevent any one from
departing until he had completed his stay of three days. Then said the
angel, "This is the second day since the present congregation entered
the temple: examine them, and you will see their manner of glorifying
God." On their examining them, they observed that most of them were fast
asleep, and that those who were awake were listless and yawning; many of
them, in consequence of the continual elevation of their thoughts to
God, without any attention to the inferior concerns of the body, seemed
to themselves, and thence also to others, as if their faces were
unconnected with their bodies; several again had a wild and raving look
with their eyes, because of their long abstraction from visible objects;
in short, every one, being quite tired out, seemed to feel an oppression
at the chest, and great weariness of spirits, which showed itself in a
violent aversion to what they heard from the pulpit, so that they cried
out to the preacher to put an end to his discourse, for their ears were
stunned, they could not understand a single word he said, and the very
sound of his voice was become painful to them.
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