The Spirit of Christmas

It was the hour of rest in the Country Beyond the Stars. All the silver bells that swing withthe turning of the great ring of light which lies around that land were softly chiming; andthe sound of their commotion went down like dew upon the golden ways of the city, andthe long alleys of blossoming trees, and the meadows of asphodel, and the curving shores ofthe River of Life. At the hearing of that chime, all the angels who had been working turned to play, and allwho had been playing gave themselves joyfully to work. Those who had been singing, andmaking melody on different instruments, fell silent and began to listen. Those who hadbeen walking alone in meditation met together in companies to talk. And those who hadbeen far away on errands to the Earth and other planets came homeward like a flight ofswallows to the high cliff when the day is over. It was not that they needed to be restored from weariness, for the inhabitants of thatcountry never say, "I am tired." But there, as here, the law of change is the secret ofhappiness, and the joy that never ends is woven of mingled strands of labour and repose, society and solitude, music and silence. Sleep comes to them not as it does to us, with adarkening of the vision and a folding of the wings of the spirit, but with an opening of theeyes to deeper and fuller light, and with an effortless outgoing of the soul upon broadercurrents of life, as the sun-loving bird poises and circles upward, without a wing-beat, onthe upholding air. It was in one of the quiet corners of the green valley called Peacefield, where the littlebrook of Brighthopes runs smoothly down to join the River of Life, that I saw a company ofangels, returned from various labours on Earth, sitting in friendly converse on the hill-side, where cyclamens and arbutus and violets and fringed orchids and pale lady's-tresses, andall the sweet-smelling flowers which are separated in the lower world by the seasons, werethrown together in a harmony of fragrance. There were three of the company who seemedto be leaders, distinguished not only by more radiant and powerful looks, but by a tone ofauthority in their speech and by the willing attention with which the others listened tothem, as they talked of their earthly tasks, of the tangles and troubles, the wars andmiseries that they had seen among men, and of the best way to get rid of them and bringsorrow to an end."The Earth is full of oppression and unrighteousness," said the tallest and most powerful ofthe angels. His voice was deep and strong, and by his shining armour and the long twohanded sword hanging over his shoulder I knew that he was the archangel Michael, themightiest one among the warriors of the King, and the executor of the divine judgmentsupon the unjus