Elias Part 14

"More would I tell that in my bosom burns, But bigot fires would flame as ne'er before; For truth, rejected, friend to traitor turns, 5000 And d.a.m.ns where fain 'twould save. Six mounting o'er, My spirit to a seventh realm[23] did soar, And saw and heard--Ah, would that I might say!

Though memory but renewed a former lore, What all may learn when full the dawning day, When twinkling, twilight faith to knowledge shall give way.

"Hope not till then to have my history, What life hath scribed to scan; nor tongue nor pen Can tell the tale, dispel the mystery, That hides me from the dim, dull gaze of men. 5010 Sojourning here, within this shadowed scene, A medial stage, a mortal compromise, The spirit's might, the body's weight, between, Deem not that e'en earth's wisest can be wise, Till heaven the blindness touch that seals all human eyes.

"One little fold I lift of that vast veil: How came he G.o.d, to whom all G.o.ds must bow-- The very Sire, whom all the sons now hail As mightiest of the mighty? I avow That even He was once as we are now; 5020 That we like Him can be--yea, by degrees, Mount unto loftiest heights, till on each brow Be writ the Name of Names. Not angels these, But G.o.ds, e'en Sons of G.o.d, through all eternities.

"Weighed in the balance here, nor wanting found; Tried in the fire, triumphant from the test; Though wrung their hearts, their finest feelings ground, Betwixt life's upper, nether, millstones prest, Till proved, of good and brave, the bravest, best.

Less faith than theirs who follow Abraham, 5030 Honoring o'er all Jehovah's high behest, Uplifts no gate of that Jerusalem-- The Bosom of the G.o.ds--the Glory of I AM.[24]

"Bide valiant here, as ye were valiant there.

Whence came delightsome bodies, soaring minds, Aspiring thrones to win and crowns to wear?

Spring not all seeds according to their kinds?

Each act, each word, each thought, delivers, binds, Dwarfs or develops. Man's all-crowning state His own creation. What the Judgment finds, 5040 The soul reveals; and weal or woe the fate, 'Tis freedom's chainless choice, for all on will must wait.

"Stand as ye stood, my legion brave, what time The starry host, celestial symphony, Choraled the anthem seraphic, sublime, To the spelled ear of all eternity!

Lifted your hands for light and liberty[25], When fraud with force progression's path would pave.

Fought we with Michael, drove the dragon, he Who planned to seize all worlds, all worlds enslave, 5050 And would have d.a.m.ned, destroyed, what Christ came down to save.

"As now, in lesser liberty's abode, Incarnate spirit of fell tyranny Would trample on the type of Freedom's Code[26], Befriending human right where'er it be.

But hear me, Heaven! Come life, come death, to me, Jehovah's captain, in His name and fear, I vow to Him His people shall be free-- Ay, free all men, as in that former sphere, 5060 When hurled from yon dread height the power of Lucifer.

"Fear not--Truth's cause shall triumph. Sown the seed Whose harvest knows no failure, no delay.

Crooked shall straighten to the future need, And crudeness unto culture shall give way; And part shall change to perfect in that day.

Firm, strong--not smooth, the building's basic stone, Hidden from view; while rests the heavenly ray On polished wall, on gleaming spire and cone: Jacob's, not Esau's hand[27] shall rear Messiah's throne. 5070

"Great the beginning--glorious the end; Elijah comes, the Kingdom to complete[28].

Farewell! This from your father, brother, friend.

No more your prophet, patriarch, ye meet, Till here all prophets, patriarchs, ye greet, Mingling with G.o.ds, while heaven on earth shall dwell, To drink the wine of wisdom at His feet, The Husbandman and Vine of Israel.

Thus saith the G.o.d of Jacob--Joseph's G.o.d. Farewell!"

Then sank to rest, his mortal mission done. 5080 Hark to those shouts that hail a homing king!

A crimson aureole rounds the sinking sun, Omen of golden dawn swift following; Death's winter promise of eternal spring-- Celestial Edens, empires, throne on throne, And worlds once waste, redeemed, there blossoming.

Future now present, and the past unflown, While all unguised, unveiled, life, death, earth, time, are known.

EPILOGUE

The Angel Ascendant[1]

But what are life, death, earth, and time to thee, Eternal Truth? Thou goest on for aye. 5090 Lives, deaths, earths, times, their plurals multifold, These but the bubbles on thy boundless wave, The sands of thy great gla.s.s, the flickering gleams Of life that knows nor origin nor end.

These but the sparks flung from thy flaming forge, The falling star-dust of thy firmament, Where stars go down that straightway suns may rise.

Each ray of light, each principle of power, Each epoch-measuring hap of history, Had it a tongue would it not testify: 6000 "There cometh after me a mightier; I but prepare the way his face before; I but baptize with water, he with fire?"

Till now tells not the past this oft-told tale, Which yet the future shall proclaim and prove?

Thou Angel, there ascending from the East, Who criest unto four, Hurt not, but spare, Till we the servants of our G.o.d have sealed!

Who art thou and why risest now to view?

"I am that Voice which crieth in the waste; 6010 That wandereth through all worlds, invisible; That sayeth unto all, Prepare, prepare, Behold He cometh! Go ye out to meet.

"As His, my goings forth are from of old: A minister to Earth from Eden's hour, Reopening the guarded heavenward way, Whereby the fallen Michael rose again[2]; Lifting to rest the city sanctified[3], Awaiting there my mandate to descend.

"Wrought I through him whom G.o.ds name Gabriel, 6020 The Noah of a world once water-doomed, By whom was earth besprent with life anew, Nor less with light from truth's rekindled flame, Still burning, though with error's incense dimmed, And fouled with alien fire[4] in many lands.

"Wrought I through him whom men call Abraham, The root of s.h.i.+loh[5], righteous branch of Shem; Quarry of Israel, rock whence he was hewn; Blesser of races with believing blood[6], Sprinkler of spirits faithful o'er the world, 6030 Oceans of nations, fountainward that flow, As the soiled floods unto the filtering sea.

"Led I when Israel cast Egypt's chain[7], And cleft the wave 'twixt bonds and liberty; As lead I shall when one the Shepherd loved Bringeth the sheep from long captivity[8].

Smote I by him who carved to Canaan's land, Whose sword[9] gave Israel his inheritance, Whose high behest e'en day and night obeyed, On Gibeon, in the vale of Ajalon. 6040 Blazed I through him who flamed as fire from heaven At Kishon's brook[10], where sunk the pride of Baal; Sealer, unsealer, of the sending skies, Renewer of the wors.h.i.+p primal, pure.

My hand in his, the anointed, named ere born[11], To sunder brazen-gated Babylon, Foreshadowing the great deliverance Wrought out by Him who died all worlds to win.

"Then burst the long sealed canopy[12] o'er him Revealed to whom were holy Sire and Son, 6050 And angel guardian of the book of gold; That truth might vanquish error, and once more Be known to men the true and living G.o.d.

"When spake the angels of authority, Mine was the hand that gave the Kingdom's keys[13], Lifting an ensign for the gathering; Beginning of an ending yet to be, When I a second time shall set my hand, Judah, with Joseph, joining to the fold, And long lost tribes and remnants ransoming. 6060

"The martyred Seer who gave up life to give The warning unto Ephraim, G.o.d's first born, Came I to him the Abrahamic keys[14], The Abrahamic covenant, to restore; That Jacob, to the end increasing still, Might be as sands and stars for mult.i.tude.

"How tell the sum[15] of all my ministries?

Wrought I through him who gave to East the West, Through him whose pen of fire proclaimed it free, Through him whose blade the blood-bought soil redeemed. 6070 Came I to thee, lone muser on the mount, My minstrel--I thy muse. Dost know me now?

"All, all that make for freedom and for peace, That loose the captive, and the lost restore, That teach, in part or whole, eternal truth, By science, art, or might of melody;-- All these my ministers, who aid my aims.

Elias I, their tasks Elias-given.

"Spirit of Progress, speeding on for aye; Gleam of the glory of Omnipotence; 6080 Hand of the Arm Omnific--cause of all; A mighty making way for Mightier, Coming, as Jacob upon Esau's heel[16], Eternity upon the trail of time.

"Jehovah's ancient covenant Messenger, Come I again, again, His courier, Till plenal powers of great Melchizedek The fullness of the glory here unfold, Whelming, O Earth! as once with watery wave, Thy form with fire, from founts of heavenly flame; 6090 Sealing, unsealing, binding o'er and o'er, Till all is order, as of old ordained.

"Then shall the Watchman on the Wall proclaim: 'Be glad, O Zion and Jerusalem!

Rejoice, O Earth! No longer grieve and mourn.

Ended the empire of iniquity, Broken oppression's rod forevermore.

Gone are the gold, the silver, and the bronze, The conquering iron, and the crumbling clay; World-wide, heaven-high, the Stone of Israel stands; 7000 The Chaldean image as the Chaldean dream[17]!'

"And who is She that looketh forth sublime, Clothed with the sun, shod with the moon's pale beam, Her matchless brow bediademed with stars?

Fairer than eve, mightier than bursting morn, As noon-day majesty magnificent?

"Perfection, heaven-retained unto this hour, Immanuel's Spouse, the glorious Bride of Christ, Arrayed in all her garments beautiful, Adorned and ready[18], waiting for her Lord! 7010

"Now, Heaven's loud trumpets, all Earth's secrets tell!

Death and h.e.l.l's dungeons, liberate your dead!

For 'mid the shouts of saints, the risen, the changed, Day dawns, hour strikes, skies burst--the King descends!

"Await that time destroyers four[19], who give The Gospel, G.o.d's last warning unto man; Await likewise the thousands, twelve times twelve[20], Who for the coming King the way prepare.

Hold I the signet of the Living G.o.d-- Lift unto light, or hurl to darkness down. 7020 The hour is imminent. Heed well the sign: Mark when the Bow's bright promise[21] is withdrawn!"