Elias Part 3

"Give me to lead to this lorn world, When wandered from the fold, Twelve legions of the n.o.ble ones That now Thy face behold; Tried souls[4], 'mid untried spirits found, That captained these may be, And crowned the dispensations all With powers of Deity.

"Who blameless bide the spirit state, 520 Clothe them in mortal clay, The stepping-stone[5] to glories all, If man will G.o.d obey, Believing where he cannot see, Till he again shall know, And answer give, reward receive, For all deeds done below.

"The love that hath redeemed all worlds[6]

All worlds must still redeem; But mercy cannot justice rob-- 530 Or where were Elohim?

Freedom--man's faith, man's work, G.o.d's grace-- Must span the great gulf o'er; Life, death, the guerdon or the doom, Rejoice we or deplore."

Still rang that voice, when sudden rose Aloft a towering form, Proudly erect as lowering peak 'Lumed by the gathering storm; A presence bright and beautiful, 540 With eye of flas.h.i.+ng fire, A lip whose haughty curl bespoke A sense of inward ire.

"Send me!"--coiled 'neath his courtly smile A scarce concealed disdain-- "And none shall hence, from heaven to earth, That shall not rise again.

My saving plan exception scorns[7].

Man's will?--Nay, mine alone.

As recompense, I claim the right 550 To sit on yonder Throne!"

Ceased Lucifer. The breathless hush Resumed and denser grew.

All eyes were turned; the general gaze One common magnet drew.

A moment there was solemn pause-- Listened eternity, While rolled from lips omnipotent The Father's firm decree:

"Jehovah, thou my Messenger[8]! 560 Son Ahman, thee I send; And one shall go thy face before,[9]

While twelve thy steps attend.

And many more on that far sh.o.r.e The pathway shall prepare, That I, the first, the last may come, And earth my glory share.

"After and ere thy going down, An army shall descend-- The host of G.o.d, and house of him 570 Whom I have named my friend[10].

Through him, upon Idumea[11], Shall come, all life to leaven, The guileless ones, the sovereign sons, Throned on the heights of heaven.

"Go forth, thou Chosen of the G.o.ds, Whose strength shall in thee dwell!

Go down betime and rescue earth, Dethroning death and h.e.l.l.

On thee alone man's fate depends, 580 The fate of beings all.

Thou shalt not fail, though thou art free-- Free, but too great to fall.

"By arm divine, both mine and thine, The lost thou shalt restore, And man, redeemed, with G.o.d shall be, As G.o.d forevermore.

Return, and to the parent fold This wandering planet bring[12], And earth shall hail thee Conqueror, 590 And heaven proclaim thee King."

'Twas done. From congregation vast, Tumultuous murmurs rose; Waves of conflicting sound, as when Two meeting seas oppose.

'Twas finished. But the heavens wept; And still their annals tell How one was choice of Elohim, O'er one who fighting fell.

A stranger star that came from far 600 To fling its silver ray, Where, cradled in a lowly cave, A lowlier infant lay; And led by soft sidereal light, The orient sages bring Bare gifts of gold and frankincense, To greet the homeless King.

O wondrous grace! Will G.o.ds go down Thus low that men may rise?

Imprisoned here the Mighty One, 610 Who reigned in yonder skies?

Hark to that chime!--What tongue sublime Now tells the hour of noon[13]?

O dying world! art welcoming Life's life--Light's sun and moon[14]?

Proclaim Him, prophet harbinger!

Make plain the Mightier's way, Thou sharer of His martyrdom!

Elias? Yea and Nay[15].

The crescent moon, that knew the Sun, 620 Ere stars had learned to s.h.i.+ne[16]; The waning moon, that bathed in blood, Ere sank the Sun divine.

"Glory to G.o.d!--good will to man!-- Peace, peace!"--triumphal tone.

"Why peace?" Is discord then no more?

Are earth and heaven as one?

Peace to the soul that serveth Him, The monarch manger-born; There, ruler of unnumbered realms; 630 Here, throneless and forlorn.

He wandered through the faithless world, A prince in shepherd guise; He called his scattered flock, but few The Voice did recognize; For minds upborne by hollow pride, Or dimmed by sordid l.u.s.t, Ne'er look for kings in beggar's garb, For diamonds in the dust.

Wept He above a city doomed[17], 640 Her temple, walls, and towers, O'er palaces where recreant priests Usurped unhallowed powers.

"I am the way, the life, the light!"

Alas! 'twas heeded not.

Ignored--nay, mocked--G.o.d scorned by man!-- And spurned the truth He taught.

O bane of d.a.m.ning unbelief!

When, when till now so rife?

Thou stumbling stone, thou barrier 'thwart 650 The gates of endless life!

O love of self, and mammon l.u.s.t, Twin portals to despair, Where bigotry, the blinded bat, Flaps through the midnight air!

Through these, gloom-wrapt Gethsemane[18]!

Thy glens of guilty shade Grieved o'er the sinless Son of G.o.d, By gold-bought kiss betrayed; Beheld Him unresisting dragged, 660 Forsaken, friendless, lone, To halls where dark-browed hatred sat On judgment's lofty throne.

As sheep before His shearers, dumb, Those patient lips were mute; The clamorous charge of taunting tongues He deigned not to dispute.

They smote with cruel palm a face Which felt yet bore the sting; Then crowned with thorns His quivering brow, 670 And, mocking, hailed him "King!"

Transfixt He hung,--O crime of crimes!-- The G.o.d whom worlds adore.

"Father forgive them!" Drained the dregs; Immanuel[19]--no more.

No more where thunders shook the earth, Where lightnings tore the gloom, Saw that unconquered Spirit spurn The shackles of the tomb.

Far-flaming might, a sword of light, 680 A falchion from its sheath, It cleft the realms of darkness, and Dissolved the bands of death.

h.e.l.l's dungeons burst, wide open swung The everlasting bars, Whereby the ransomed soul shall win Those heights beyond the stars.

CANTO FOUR

Night And The Wilderness[1]

A World o'ershadowed by an Eagle's wings[2], From Scythian snows to hot Hamitic sands, From Ganges on to Tiber and the Thames. 690

Where goeth forth, unwittingly the tool Of Truth Eterne, a pathway to prepare, The law and legion of imperial Rome, Mighty to crush and to consolidate, Humbling the hard, the haughty, making way For peace to flow[3] wider than war can wound Servant unknowingly of Him she slew, In pandering to Judah's jealousy.

Victim now Victor, conqueror captive led, Debtor to justice, darkness serving day, 700 Upon her knotted neck Jehovah's heel, Her iron hand the Nazarene's defense, Holding in quell the hierarchal hate, Curbing the cruel wrath of Greek and Jew; Israel from Israel's madness made secure-- Lamb from the Lion, by the She-Wolf's might[4].

Ere rose the Iron-Limbed[5], all conquering, Throned on the wreck of empires earlier born, Wrought well for Him the brazen loin of power, The pard-like phalanx, swift, invincible, 710 Spreading the glories of a sapient tongue, The wing whereon a higher wisdom flew, Till teemed, of Aryan clans, the Asian kin[6], Seedlings of j.a.pheth, sire of the Gentile world.

Soul-widening word, broad-sown by Grecia's hand, To blossom on a furrowed heathen ground.

Servant, erstwhile, the silver-breasted realm, Kingdom of Kurush[7], shepherd of the King, Whose sword, that gave the Jew deliverance, To golden Babylon the guillotine. 720