Hush, Jane! you think too much of the love of human beings; you are too impulsive, too vehement; the Sovereign hand that created your frame, and put life into it, has provided you with other resources than your feeble self, or than creatures feeble as you. Besides this earth, and besides the race of men, there is an invisible world and a kingdom of spirits: that world is round us, for it is everywhere; and those spirits watch us, for they are commissioned to guard us; and if we were dying in pain and shame, if scorn smote us on all sides and hatred crushed us, angels see our tortures, recognise our innocence…God waits only the separation of spirit from flesh to crown us with a full reward. Why, then, should we ever sink overwhelmed with distress, when life is soon over, and death is so certain an entrance to happiness – to glory?

– Charlotte Bronte

Jane Eyre, Chapter 8. Helen Burns consoles Jane after her humiliation by Brocklehurst. Helen has a very strong Christian faith and a very religious way of thinking about adversity. Here she addresses Jane’s statement that she needs to be loved by others and would sacrifice almost anything for that. She chides Jane for thinking too much about human love. She advises her to have faith in God’s love and tells her that his angels watch over and guard us, seeing our pain and recognizing our innocence. Death and the separation of the spirit from the body offers the reward of eternal happiness and the glory of Heaven, Helen assures her. This foreshadows how Helen herself will succumb to illness, leading to her death.