Thus, there was neither order nor completeness, nor life nor
form: nought but this dazing dissonance, this mysterious stupor which
would have made me for ever blind, had not my friend laid bare once more
his vesture of heavenly sheen. By the light he gave I saw before me to
the left the Land of Oblivion, and the borders of the Wilds of
Destruction; and to my right, methought, the base of the ramparts of
Glory. "This is the great abysm between Abraham and Dives," said he,
"which is called Chaos: this is the land of the matter which God did
first create, and here is the seed of every living thing; of these the
Almighty Word created your world and all it doth contain--water, fire,
air, earth, beasts, fishes, insects, birds and the human body; but your
souls are of a higher and nobler origin and stock."
Through the huge, frightful chaos we at length broke forth to the left;
and ere we had journey'd far therein where every object grew uglier and
uglier, I felt my heart in my throat, and my hair erect like a hedgehog's
bristles, even before perceiving anything; but what I did perceive was a
sight no tongue can describe nor the mind of a mortal dwell upon.
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