Zephon looked not on the abodes of man. The Hierarch alone stood before him, surrounded by a blaze of glory. Ineffable brilliance shone forth from his brow and wings, yet softened into compassionating tenderness was his radiant look, his thrilling voice. A trembling awe spread over the seraph, and involuntarily he bowed before him.

“Thy will is accomplished, youthful brother, thou hast glanced on man,” spake the angelic voice; “yet know, that which thou hast seen is but as a single grain amid the spreading sands of the boundless desert; as a single spark of earthly fire amid the countless stars and blazing suns of heaven, compared with the scenes of woe yon world of beauty holds. When Sin entered, Joy fled trembling up to the heaven whence he came. Twined as he was with purity and innocence, without them earth could have for him no stay, no resting;—man reaps the fruit he sows,—for not in a guilty world may the Eternal mark the distinction between the righteous and the wicked. In that which thou hast seen there was no guilt, no sin. Twin-born in purity, as in their high ethereal essence, yet, from the imperfection of earth, so widely severed their mortal fates, so strangely parted, if such things are, is’t marvel that the hymn of love, of praise, from lips of man should be so faint and weak? Zephon, thou hast looked on earth; thou h............