Myriads of angels were flocking together, without confusion; all alike yet all dissimilar, simple as the flower of the fields, majestic as the universe.
Wilfrid and Minna saw neither their coming nor their going; they appeared suddenly in the Infinite and filled it with their presence, as the stars shine in the invisible ether.
The scintillations of their united diadems illumined space like the fires of the sky at dawn upon the mountains.Waves of light flowed from their hair, and their movements created tremulous undulations in space like the billows of a phosphorescent sea.
The two Seers beheld the SERAPH dimly in the midst of the immortal legions.Suddenly, as though all the arrows of a quiver had darted together, the Spirits swept away with a breath the last vestiges of the human form; as the SERAPH rose he became yet purer; soon he seemed to them but a faint outline of what he had been at the moment of his transfiguration,--lines of fire without shadow.
Higher he rose, receiving from circle to circle some new gift, while the sign of his election was transmitted to each sphere into which, more and more purified, he entered.
No voice was silent; the hymn diffused and multiplied itself in all its modulations:--"Hail to him who enters living! Come, flower of the Worlds! diamond from the fires of suffering! pearl without spot, desire without flesh, new link of earth and heaven, be Light! Conquering spirit, Queen of the world, come for thy crown! Victor of earth, receive thy diadem!
Thou art of us!"
The virtues of the SERAPH shone forth in all their beauty.
His earliest desire for heaven re-appeared, tender as childhood.The deeds of his life, like constellations, adorned him with their brightness.His acts of faith shone like the Jacinth of heaven, the color of sidereal fires.The pearls of Charity were upon him,--a chaplet of garnered tears! Love divine surrounded him with roses; and the whiteness of his Resignation obliterated all earthly trace.
Soon, to the eyes of the Seers, he was but a point of flame, growing brighter and brighter as its motion was lost in the melodious acclamations which welcomed his entrance into heaven.
The celestial accents made the two exiles weep.
Suddenly a silence as of death spread like a mourning veil from the first to the highest sphere, throwing Wilfrid and Minna into a state of intolerable expectation.
At this moment the SERAPH was lost to sight within the SANCTUARY, receiving there the gift of Life Eternal.
A movement of adoration made by the Host of heaven filled the two Seers with ecstasy mingled with terror.They felt that all were prostrate before the Throne, in all the spheres, in the Spheres Divine, in the Spiritual Spheres, and in the Worlds of Darkness.
The Angels bent the knee to celebrate the SERAPH'S glory; the Spirits bent the knee in token of their impatience; others bent the knee in the dark abysses, shuddering with awe.
A mighty cry of joy gushed forth, as the spring gushes forth to its millions of flowering herbs sparkling with diamond dew-drops in the sunlight; at that instant the SERAPH reappeared, effulgent, crying, "ETERNAL! ETERNAL! ETERNAL!"The universe heard the cry and understood it; it penetrated the spheres as God penetrates them; it took possession of the infinite;the Seven Divine Worlds heard the Voice and answered.
A mighty movement was perceptible, as though whole planets, purified, were rising in dazzling light to become Eternal.
Had the SERAPH obtained, as a first mission, the work of calling to God the creations permeated by His Word?
But already the sublime HALLELUJAH was sounding in the ear of the desolate ones as the distant undulations of an ended melody.Already the celestial lights were fading like the gold and crimson tints of a setting sun.Death and Impurity recovered their prey.
