"Let us enter then," said the Angel, and drew me in; and there in the
porch I first of all perceived a large baptismal font, and hard by, a
well of salt water. "What is this doing in the middle of the road?" I
asked. "Because everybody must wash therein before obtaining citizenship
in the Court of Emmanuel; it is called the well of repentance." Overhead
I could see inscribed "This is the gate of the Lord." The gateway, and
street also, widened and became less steep as we went on, and after
proceeding a short distance I heard a voice behind me slowly saying,
"That is the way, walk ye in it." The street trended upwards, but was
very clean and straight, and though the houses there were not so lofty as
those in the City of Destruction, they were fairer to behold; if there
was less wealth, there was also less dissension and care; if the choice
dishes were fewer, pain was more rare; if there was less turmoil, there
was less grief and more undoubtedly of true joy. I wondered at the
silence and sweet tranquility there, when thinking of what was going on
below. Instead of the cursing and swearing, the scoffing, debauchery and
drunkenness, instead of the pride and vanity, the torpitude of one
quarter and the violence of another, yea, for all the bustle and the
pomp, the hurly-burly and the brawl which there unceasingly bewildered
men, and for the innumerable and unvarying sins, there was nothing to be
seen here but sobriety, kindness and cheerfulness, peace and
thankfulness, compassion, innocence and contentment stamped upon the face
of every man, except where one or two silently wept, grieving that they
had tarried so long in the enemy's city.
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