"Word that was G.o.d, is G.o.d, and shall be aye; Sire by the spirit, and by flesh the Son; In glory with the Father ere the world, 980 And now with that same glory glorified.
Image and likeness of creation"s cause, Mirror and model of humanity[40], Of man the parent and the prototype.
Lover of light, hating and righting wrong; Anointed Lord of Lords and Sire "mid Sons; The Sole-begotten, He that doeth here All He hath seen erstwhile the Father do.
Elias? Nay, Messiah, Saviour, King, That Greater whom Elias said would come." 990
Sufficeth it. What now, ye learned ones, School-taught, self-sent, man-missioned ministers, Creators of a vain divinity!
Daring the thunders of the decalogue, Disputing Moses, Christ, and prophets all, Gird up your loins and answer--What of G.o.d?
"G.o.d?--Mystery incomprehensible[41]; All things made He from nothing"--Hold, enough!
Night and gross darkness--darken it no more.
Yet give to man his meed. Hath he not kept, 1000 Albeit in empty urn, the Name of Names, And toiled and suffered sore transmitting it From sire to son through shaded centuries?
Messiah"s coming did he not proclaim?
And, trodden yet beneath oppression"s heel, h.o.a.rds he not still the precious prophecy?
The Jew, the Christian, each hath played his part, Each as a star[42] hath heralded a morn.
And what of him, the fierce iconoclast, Agnostic, doubting or denying all, 1010 Ofttimes in hate and horrid ribaldry?
Maintains he not life"s equilibrium, A tempering shadow to the torrid beam, A brake upon the wheel of bigotry, A jet to cool fanaticism"s flame, Unquelled, devouring, devastating all?
An angel, past control, a demon were.
Bold unbelief, reform"s rough pioneer, Unwittingly a warrior for the Cross, A weapon for the right[43] he ridicules. 1020
G.o.d"s perfect plan an ocean is, where range As minnows, monsters, of the wide wave-realm, Men"s causes, creeds, and systems manifold; Free as the will of Him who freedom willed, Within the bounds ordained by law divine.
E"en Lucifer, arch-foe to liberty, Is free, though fettered to his fallen sphere; Enticing, tempting all, compelling none, And aiding aye the Power he fain would foil.
All human schemes, all h.e.l.l"s conspiracies, 1030 All chance, all accident, all agency, All loves, hates, hopes, despairs, and blasphemies, All rights, all wrongs, to one high purpose bend.
No backward glance gives progress. Upward! on!
Life triumphs ever in death"s victory.
Dross hath its ministry no less than gold; And honest, erring zeal, wherever found, Hath wrought more good than ill to humankind.
But morn must rise, and night dismiss her stars; And ocean summon home his seas and streams; 1040 And truth the perfect, truth the part fulfill, As knowledge faith, as history prophecy.
Day from his quiver drew a shining shaft, And "thwart the night the flaming arrow flew.
Hark, to a cry that cleaves the wilderness, Pealing the clarion prelude to the dawn!
CANTO FIVE
The Messenger of Morn[1]
"Wake, slumbering world! Vain dreamer, dream no more!
The shadows lift, and o"er night"s dusky beach Ripple the white waves of morn. Awake! Arise!
"Ocean of dispensations--rivers, rills, 1050 Roll to your source! End, to thine origin!
And Israel, to the rock whence ye were hewn[2]!
For He that scattered, gathereth His flock, His ancient flock, and plants their pilgrim feet On Joseph"s mountain top and Judah"s plains; Recalls the children of the covenant From long dispersion o"er the Gentile world, Mingling their spirits with the mystic sea, Which sent them forth as freshening showers to save The parched and withered wastes of unbelief[3]. 1060 j.a.pheth! thy planet pales[4], it sinks, it sets; Henceforth "t is Jacob"s star must rise and reign.
"Daughter of Zion! be thou comforted, And wash from thy wan cheek all trace of tears.
Gone are the days of dole and widowhood, The days of barrenness that brought thee scorn; Thy wilderness now weds, thy desert blooms.
"Rejoice, Jerusalem! thou art redeemed; Again thy temple and thy towers arise; Heard is the harp of David in thy halls; 1070 Greater than Solomon"s thy wisdom shines.
"From spirit heights, where thou art beautiful, Lamp of the nations, send thy light afar!
Take on thy new name--One and Pure in Heart!
For thou shalt see thy G.o.d, His presence thine.
"Time, mighty daughter of Eternity!
Mother of centuries[5]--seventy, seven-crowned!
a.s.semble now thy children at thy side, And "ere thou diest teach them to be one[6].
Link to its link rebind the broken chain 1080 Of dispensations, glories, keys, and powers, From Adam"s fall unto Messiah"s reign; A thousand years of rest, a day with G.o.d, While Shiloh reigns[7] and Kolob once revolves.
"Six days thou, Earth, hast labored[8], and the seventh, Thy sabbath, comes apace! Night"s sceptre wanes, And in the East the silvery Messenger Gives silent token of the golden Dawn.
"Once more the ancient tidings[9] among men!
Once more the sign and seal of heavenly power! 1090 Renewal of an endless covenant, Elias, rest.i.tution, unity!
"His burden! Hear it, nations! Hear it, isles!
Ere falls an hour, night"s darkest hour of doom.
The trial ends, the judgment now begins.
Out, out of her, my people, saith your G.o.d!"
Who towers aloft, as mountain girt with hills, Amid the strength of Ephraim"s stalwart sons, To trumpet thus the closing acts of time?
Speak, oracle, what sayest thou of thyself? 1100 Who art thou, man of might and majesty?
"Would G.o.d I might but tell thee who I am!
Would G.o.d I might but tell thee what I know[10]!"
Then was he of the Mighty--one with those Descended from the Empire of the Sun, Adown the glowing stairway of the stars?
Regnant and ruling ere they left the realms Of life supernal, left their sovereign thrones, To wander oft as outcasts of mankind, Unknown, unhonored, e"en like One who came 1110 Unto His own, by them spat on and spurned?
Avails it aught, their name or nation here?
Their state and standing there, the vital tale.
Peers of that Empire, n.o.bles of the skies, The sceptered satraps of the King of Kings, The royal retinue of Him who reigns First-born of many brethren--Gibborim[11], Great ones worthy the Word[12] that was to come; Foreknown, elect, predestined, preordained, Sons of the G.o.ds, and saviours of mankind, 1120 Building the highway for Messiah"s feet, And wheresoe"er He fareth following.
I saw in vision such a one descend, And garb him in a guise of common clay; His glory veiling from the gaze of all, Who wist not that a great one walked with men; Nor knew it then the soul incarnate there, Betwixt the temporal and spirit spheres So dense forgetfulness doth intervene; Yet learned his truth betime by angel tongues, 1130 By voice of G.o.d, by heavenly whisperings.
But who remains his mystery to solve, His letter to unlock with spirit key?
The veil to lift by death and silence thrown O"er all the splendors of that life sublime?
Sound, Angel, sound! thou fifth of seven[13], ordained To usher in the world-millennials, To storm the dungeon doors of history, And liberate the thoughts and deeds of men!
Sound, trump of G.o.d! Voice of a thousand years, 1140 Call of the Christ--His clear familiar tone, Heard in the ages and the aeons past, Told to the times and worlds that went before; Call of the Spirit, answered by the blood, Voice of the Shepherd, by the sheep well known.
A living prophet unto dying time, Heralding the Dispensation of the End, When Christ once more His vineyard comes to prune, When potent weak confound the puny strong, Threshing the nations by the Spirit"s power, 1150 Rending the kingdoms with a word of flame; That here the Father"s work may crown the Son"s, And earth be joined a holy bride to heaven, A queen "mid queens, crowned, throned, and glorified.
Wherefore came down this angel of the dawn, In strength divine, a stirring role to play In time"s tense tragedy, whose acts are seven.
His part to fell the false, replant the true, To clear away the wreckage of the past, The ashes of its dead and dying creeds, 1160 And kindle newly on earth"s ancient shrine The Light that points to Life unerringly; Crowning what has been with what now must be; A mighty still bespeaking mightier.