The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart (1901)/Chapter 51
CHAPTER LI
THE DEATH OF FAITHFUL CHRISTIANS
(Death is pleasant to a Christian.)
Now when I had walked sufficiently among these Christians and beheld their deeds, I at last found that Death walked about among them also; but she was not, as in the world, of morose aspect, naked, unlovely, but she was folded up in the grave-clothes of Christ, that He had left in his sepulchre. She approached now this man, now that one, telling him that it was time that he should leave the world. Oh, how great was the joy and delight of those who received such news! Only that this should befall sooner, they were ready to endure all suffering, the sword, fire, pincers, and every torture. Thus did each of them fall into his slumber, peacefully, quietly, and gladly.
(What befell after their Death.)
2. Then I, who wished to see what would now befall them, beheld God's angel, who, according to His divine command, sought out for each of them a spot where he was to have his little chamber, and where his body should have rest. When it had been laid there either by friends or by enemies, or by the angels themselves, they guarded the sepulchre, that the graves of the holy might be preserved safely from Satan, and that not even the smallest atom of the dust within them should be lost. Meanwhile, other angels took the soul, and carried it upward with splendour and divine rejoicing. Then when I put my glasses of faith aright, I gazed upward, and beheld unspeakable glory.