“After that I am prepared to hear you say that there is no devil!” “Most certainly I do say so. I have read of the most extraordinary beliefs in witchcraft, sorcery, and the possession by evil spirits, to which all nations used to lend themselves. It was said that they were perpetually at war with all the children of Life-giver, and that the sole purpose of their existence was to prevent people from getting to Heaven. Our great God, whom we call Life-giver, created us in Her image, to be Her associates as soon as our spirits are sufficiently ennobled and purified. Life-giver is good. She has created everything. She loves the creatures She has cast in Her own image. She would not deliberately try to negative Her own work by creating evil spirits to harass us. As for anything being at deliberate war with Her, and going about the world endeavouring to foil Her plans, it is preposterous to believe it. She would at once annihilate anything so monstrous.” “But you surely do not believe that we shall all, good and evil, be awarded the same fate after death?” “No, I do not. Have I not already tried to explain this to you? Our earthly career is our training school. If we take advantage of all our opportunities, and act in accordance with what we conceive to be the wishes of a Divine and Beneficent Creator, we may hope to be translated to ultimate bliss at no distant period after the death of our bodies. But if we deliberately fail to travel in the direction of steady advancement, we condemn our spirit to endure ages of banishment before it is finally sufficiently purified to partake of the happiness which is the portion of those who have pierced the veil of ignorance, and have entered the kingdom of Divine All-knowledge and Beatitude. You talk of a place called Hell! What worse punishment can be needed for erring souls than to know that to their own perversity they are indebted for being debarred from all happiness and association with purer spirits for ages untold!” “One more question. We believe that Jesus of Nazareth was sent to save sinners. Do you reject that doctrine?” “In one sense, yes. In another, no. We believe that from time to time our Creator has permitted individual beings to lead such pure and holy lives as to be a shining example to others, and a stimulus to exertion in the right direction. Jesus of Nazareth was one of the greatest and noblest of these men, and, as such, his name is honoured amongst us. But we do not believe that the Creator awarded incalculable suffering to one creature, in order that we might suffer less. We are sentient beings, and are expected to work out our own salvation.” Thus far Principal Grey had been very patient with me, but as there are limits even to New Amazonian endurance, I resolved to refrain from questioning her further during this walk, and bestowed a little more attention upon surrounding objects, while at the same time carefully weighing the import of our long conversation.