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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37718-0.txt b/37718-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5079f25 --- /dev/null +++ b/37718-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5996 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Elias, by Orson F. Whitney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Elias + An Epic of the Ages + +Author: Orson F. Whitney + +Release Date: October 11, 2011 [EBook #37718] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIAS *** + + + + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Jean-Michel +Carter, Ben Crowder, Eric Heaps, Tod Robbins. + + + + + + +ELIAS + +_An Epic of the Ages_ + +BY +ORSON FERGUSON WHITNEY + +_Progress eterne! thou goest hand in hand +With Life eterne, and naught but death e'er dies_. + +REVISED AND ANNOTATED EDITION + + + + +Copyright, 1914 +O. F. Whitney +Salt Lake City, Utah + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"Elias" was begun in the spring of 1900, and was first published in +the autumn of 1904, when an edition de luxe, limited to one hundred +and fifty copies, and two less pretentious editions, were subscribed +for by friends of the author. He was hardly a party to the project, +the initial step being taken without his knowledge. Prior to that time +he had read the poem to select gatherings in private homes and in two +of the leading church schools, but had no thought of printing it so +early, until solicited by a committee of prominent citizens to allow +them to undertake, in his behalf, its publication. + +That committee consisted of Governor Heber M. Wells, Senator George +Sutherland, President Anthon H. Lund, Major Richard W. Young, and Mr. +H. L. A. Culmer. These gentlemen, out of pure public spirit and a +friendly feeling for the author, had associated themselves together +for this purpose. Though aware of many defects in his work, and +anxious to mend them before facing the public and the critics, he +nevertheless accepted gratefully the very generous offer. All the +members of the committee gave to the enterprise their hearty support, +and two of them, Major Young and Mr. Culmer, conducted most of the +business necessary to putting the book through the press. + +Since the original issuance the author has endeavored to bring the +work into a more finished state, and the results are now before the +reader. The poem is in twelve parts--a prelude, ten cantos, and an +epilogue. Following these are explanatory notes, for the benefit of +students; the introduction of the epic as a text book into the schools +being one of the purposes for which it was written. + +The character and scope of the work are partly indicated by the title, +"Elias--An Epic Of The Ages." It is an attempt to present, in verse +form, historically, doctrinally, and prophetically, the vast theme +comprehended in what the world terms "Mormonism." + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +DEDICATION + +(SEE NOTE.) + + + This song to thee, friend, chieftain, sixth to rise + From him, the foremost of a seeric line, + Mock of the worldly, marvel of the wise,-- + His martyred brother's son! May light divine, + Which 'lumined them, forever on thee shine, + Flooding with splendors new thy lineal fame; + And ancient rays with modern beams combine + To glorify a brow whose stalwart aim, +To merit heaven's high praise, nor fear a world's false blame! + + + + +THEME + +(SEE NOTE.) + + +"And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was to come to +gather together the tribes of Israel and restore all things." + + + + +ARGUMENT + + +The aim of this poem is to point out those manifestations of the +Divine Mind and those impulsions from human enterprise which have +contributed in all ages to the progress of the race toward perfection. + +Thus it deals not only with man's origin and destiny, with earth's +creation, redemption, and ultimate glorification, but with events and +epochs leading up to and having those greater ends as their decreed +consummation. The Christ theme, in its heavenly and earthly phases, is +supplemented by the sacred and secular history of man upon both +hemispheres. God's direct dealings through prophets, apostles, and +other inspired agents, and His indirect dealings through poets, +painters, philosophers, inventors, discoverers, statesmen, kings, +conquerors and the like, are indicated, and the experiences of the +Church of Christ in various dispensations portrayed. + +The title "Elias," signifying restoration and preparation,--the lesser +going before the greater with those objects in view,--is used to +denote and personify the Genius of Progress, whose beneficent +workings, under the guidance of the Infinite Spirit, through the aeons +and the ages, behind the scenes and upon the stage of human action, +are the warp and woof of the entire poem. The medial point is the +Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, the era of restitution, when the +House of God is to be set in order, and all things in Christ are to be +gathered into one. + + + + +CONTENTS + +Prelude--The Author's Purpose + +Canto One--As From a Dream + +Canto Two--The Soul of Song + +Canto Three--Elect of Elohim + +Canto Four--Night and the Wilderness + +Canto Five--The Messenger of Morn + +Canto Six--From Out the Dust + +Canto Seven--The Arcana of the Infinite + +Canto Eight--The Lifted Ensign + +Canto Nine--Upon the Shoulders of the Philistine + +Canto Ten--The Parted Veil + +Epilogue--The Angel Ascendant + +Notes + + + + +PRELUDE + +(SEE NOTE.) + + + The work for Him I asked and aimed to do, + Ere death should claim my dust, my spirit free,-- + That, looking down from where the wise and true + Inherit glory, gracious eyes might see + A spark I kindled beaming endlessly, + And lighting other wanderers to the goal + Where blends the life that is with life to be;-- + Now done, or well or ill, the lettered scroll +Of what is writ on heart and mind I here unroll. + + + + +CANTO ONE + +As From a Dream[1] + + +Youth's morn was breaking, when I dreamed a dream, +Splendid as springtime's weft of wonders rare; +Idyllic vision, beauteous, bright romance, +Glory of love and glamor of renown. +I dreamed that fame held all of happiness, +Save the sweet charm that lurked in woman's smile. + +Wealth wooed I not, nor power--to wear the sign +And wave the symbol of authority; +To speak, and have hosts tremble; or to frown, +And find all pale and prostrate at my feet. 10 +But oh! to sway, like swinging forest boughs +In summer breeze, men's yearning hearts and minds,-- +Sway them in duty's name, in virtue's cause, +By tongue of thunder or by pen of flame, +Leaving some wise, sublime, benefic deed, +Some word or work of merit and of might, +To fix the fleeting gaze of centuries! + +Glory and love--these were my guides divine, +The planet passions of my destiny, +The Baal and Astoreth[2] to whom I bowed, 20 +At human shrines a worldly worshiper, +Adoring beauteous dust, my fellow clay, +And coveting an earthly immortality. + +And at the feet of these dear deities, +Careless of great Jehovah's smile or frown, +In the fresh morning of my youth's fair might, +Slumbering I dreamed, till golden grew the dawn. + +A strange and stern awakening--a sky, +Pearl, gold, and sapphire, clear and calm till then, +Cloud-curtained, grim, with anger audible, 30 +Tortured and torn with swift-flung darts of fire; +Booming and crashing, bolt on bolt descends; +Earth, air, and heaven are wrapt in roaring flame. + +And when the rifted storm has rolled away, +And stillness reascends her solemn throne, +Ruin looks forth from retrospection's tower, +And memory weeps where desolation reigns. + +It was the end. Dispelled illusion's dream. +Youth's fond ideals, thunder-stricken, strewn, +Lay level with the dust. But light had come! 40 +My soul had cast its fetters and was free. + +I slept and dreamed no more; I was awake! +And saw and heard with other eyes and ears, +Which taught me things unseen, unheard, before; +Things new yet old--old as eternity, +Old e'en to time, though new and strange to me. + +I talked with Truth on solemn mountain tops; +I soared with winged thought the sunlit dome; +Studied the midnight stars; and when anon +The hurrying, far-flung legions of the storm 50 +In supermortal might went forth to war, +Would fain have charioted the charging plain, +Or spurred the tempest as a battle steed, +Grasping the volted lightnings as they flew, +And thundering through the mists on things below. + +Rejoicing in my new-found strength, I gave +Glory to Him, the Source and Sire of all; +That God whom I had neither loved nor feared, +That God whom now I worshipt and adored. +Who girdled me with Light, truth's triple key[3], 60 +Unlocking what hath been, what yet shall be, +Probing death's gloom, life's three-fold mystery, +Solving the secret--Whither, Whence and Why. + +Oh, wondrous transformation! when with wand +Of wakening might, that all-uplifting power +Waved o'er the cross where hung fond hopes impaled, +Waved o'er the tomb where loved ambitions lay, +Touched the strewn fragments of my shattered dream, +Bidding the dead arise in bodies new, +Building, on ruined hope, faith's battlement, 70 +Love's palace, peace-domed, pinnacled in light, +In glory greater than earth's grandest dream, +Than glittering fame's most splendid spectacle; +Ideal transcending ideality, +Ideal made real past all reality! + +Whose earth-dimmed eye could see what then I saw? +Whose earth-dulled ear such harmonies could hear? +When the all-searching Spirit tore the veil +Of things that seem, and showed me things that are. + +Beauty, both good and evil--lamp to heaven 80 +Or lure-light o'er the marshes of despair. +Beauty, divine--but not divinity; +Not parent--child of purity and truth; +Nor fount, nor stream, but bubble lost in air, +Nor tree, nor fruit--only a fragrant flower, +Flung from ambrosial gardens[4], here to grow +That life might be the less a wilderness. + +But lo! a loveliness that blooms for aye, +That, withering here, is there revivified, +A loveliness made lovelier evermore; 90 +The beauty of the restful and the risen, +Of Paradise[5] and Glory's higher home. + +Pure as the mountain monarch's ice-crowned crest, +Pure as the snow-king's mantle, diamond-strewn, +Pure as the cascade's limpid crystalline, +Leaping from cliff to chasm, the breeze-flung flood +Blown into spirit spray of dazzling sheen; +So pure the love that warmed my boyish breast, +And lit the yearning of my youthful eye. + +But pure love, e'en the purest, may be blind. 100 +Truth spake--then fell the blindness from Love's eyes[6], +Revealing life in hues of hopefulness; +Love's rainbow dream, that only time's vale spans +To human vision, widening now till lost +Beyond the pale peaks of eternity. + +Heaven's gold love is, though mixt with earth's alloy-- +Dross, that betimes a needful part doth play +In nature's wise and true economy. + +Love dies not--'t is love's seeming that dissolves, +Low to its serpent level, native dust, 110 +A grave unmemoried in lethean ground[7]. +The while see heaven-born, heaven-aspiring love, +Immortal spirit of the universe, +Soaring past sun and stars to worlds unknown! +Heir to herself, a self-succeeding queen, +Still regnant on life's throne when life is o'er. + +O thou, of beauty[8], loveliest form and phase! +Kindler and keeper of the quenchless flame! +Partner and peer of human majesty! +Sharing with him life's dual sovereignty, 120 +Well canst thou wait for thrones and diadems. +Queen of the future, Eve of coming worlds, +Mother of spirits that shall people stars, +And hail thee empress of a universe! + +No more I deemed of crowning consequence, +That mortal clay to mortal eye should shine; +That human mites should shout and sing in praise +Each of the other's midget mightiness-- +A molecule, by atoms glorified! + +Apple of ashes[9] to the longing lip! 130 +Brine to the burning throat and thirsting soul! +Phantom, delusion, misty ghost of fame! +Voidest and vainest of all vanities! + +"Be not beguiled!" A vibrant thunder note, +Pealing from clouds that canopied my life, +The warning, lightning-winged to purify, +Up-kindling all the summits of the soul. +"Be not beguiled; not what men think and say, +But what God sees and knows, is what avails. + +"Who knoweth aught, unknowing of the all? 140 +Unknowing all, who knoweth perfectly +'Twixt small and great, 'twixt failure and success, +'Twixt heights of glory and the gulfs of shame? +What cares eternity for time's decrees? +Defeat hath oft deserved the conqueror's crown; +Dishonor worn the wreath of victory. + +"Greatness--is it to loom 'mid glittering show? +Goes power but hand in hand with prominence? +Largeness or littleness, or high or low, +Has but to breathe, and straightway he is known. 150 +What speech conceals, the spirit manifests. + +"Fame, place, and title find a fitting use, +And rightfully demand all reverence due. +But envy not the empty lot of him +Who, winning without merit, wins in vain. + +"Greatness, true greatness, mightiness of mind, +And greater greatness, grandeur of the soul, +Tell but one tale--capacity, not place; +Capacity, whose sire, experience, +Whose ancestors, innate intelligence, 160 +Original, inborn nobility, +As oft in hut as mansion have their home. + +"'Tis not the crowning that creates the king. +Man's proper place where God hath need of him. + +"Naught can be vain that leadeth unto light; +Struggle and stress, not plaudit, maketh strong; +Victor and vanquished equally may win[10], +Climbing far heights, where fame, eternal fame, +White as the gleaming cloak of Arctic hills, +Rests as a mantle, fadeless, faultless, pure, 170 +On loftiest lives, whose snowy peaks, sun-crowned, +Receive but to dispense their blessedness. + +"Eternal life demands a selfless love. +Hampered by pride, greed, hate, what soul can grow[11]? +Conceive a selfish God! Thou canst not, man! +Then let it shame thee unto higher things. +Who strives for self hates other men's success; +Who seeks God's glory welcomes rivalry. +Seeking, not gift, but Giver, thou shalt find +No sacrifice but changes part for whole. 180 + +"Fare on, full sure that greatest glory comes, +And swiftest growth, from serving humankind. +Toil on, for toil is treasure, thine for aye; +A pauper he who boasts an empty name." + +So spake the Spirit of the Infinite[12]. +The Messenger and Mind of Holy Twain. + +Some men I found embodiments of all +The goodness, all the greatness, I had dreamed; +Men seeming gods, bestowing benefits +As suns their beams, as seas and skies their showers. 190 +Others as dwarfs, as despots, by compare, +Devoured with greed, consumed with jealousy. + +But truth taught charity, gave me to see, +As face to face one sees familiar friend, +Why men are not alike in magnitude. + +Some souls, than others, have more summits climbed, +More light absorbed, more moral might evolved. +Dowered are they with wealth from earlier spheres; +Hence wiser, worthier, than those they lead +Through precept's vale, up steep example's height, 200 +To where love, beauty, wealth, power, glory, reign. + +While some, innately noble, are borne down +By weight of weaknesses inherited, +By passions fierce, propensities depraved, +Malific legacy of centuries, +That much of their true worthiness obscures, +While spirit strives with flesh for mastery, +For higher culture and for added might. + +And yet anon such souls effulgent shine-- +As bursts the April beam through banks of cloud-- 210 +In glory from which envy shades its eyes, +While stands detraction staring, stricken dumb; +The glory of a great intelligence, +Which mortal mists can dim but for a time. + +Spirits, like stars, still differ in degree, +And cannot show an even excellence, +Unequal in their first nobility. +Great tells of greater--littleness of less; +Time's hills and vales[13] but type eternity. + +Truth taught me more, but bade me silent be; 220 +And I had teachers else--toil, prayer, and pain, +With days and nights of misery's martyrdom, +Alone and lorn in grief's Gethsemane: +Till storm above, and earthquake underneath, +Shook down thought's prison house, broke bolt and bar, +And agony set inspiration free. + +'Tis thus the Great Musician tunes the harp +That He would strike--strikes thus the harp in tune; +Sweeping with sorrow's hand the quivering strings, +That they may cry aloud, and haply sound 230 +A loftier and more enduring lay. + + + + +CANTO TWO + +The Soul of Song[1] + + + Alone my soul upon a mighty hill, + Ancient with lingering snows of vanished years, + Where towering forms the templed azure fill, + Wooed by the breath of woodland atmospheres; + Where Nature, throned in solitude, reveres + The God whose glory she doth symbolize, + And on these altars, watered by her tears, + Spreads far around the fragrant sacrifice +Whose incense wafts her sweet memorial to the skies. 240 + + Here will I rest, where I have loved to roam, + From childhood's rose-hued, scarce-remembered day, + And found my pensive soul's congenial home + Far from the depths where human passions play. + Born at their feet, my own have learned to stray + Familiar o'er these pathless heights, and feel, + As now, the mind assume a loftier sway, + Soaring for themes that o'er its summits steal, +Beyond all thought to reach, all utterance to reveal. + + Here let me linger. O my native hills! 250 + Solemn and watchful o'er the silent waste! + How great the joy his bounding bosom thrills, + Whose steps, aspiring, mar your summits chaste! + Language! thy richest robe, thy rarest taste, + How clothe description in befitting dress, + When halts imagination's wingéd haste, + Awe-spelled in wonder's conscious littleness, +Where loom the cloud-crowned monarchs of the wilderness? + + Grim, storm-plumed guardians! Warriors tempest-mailed, + Federal with freedom, fortressing her land! 260 + Had primal man the sacred garden[2] tilled, + 'Ere earthly scenes your early vision scanned? + In spirit form took ye your titan stand[3], + Ere rolled a world-creating fiat forth? + Or came ye at convulsion's fierce command, + 'Mid loud-tongued thunders bursting from the earth, +The martial music that proclaimed your war-like birth? + + Vast, voiceless oracles, whose intelligence + Sleeps in the caverns of each stony heart, + Yet breathes o'er all a boundless eloquence, 270 + What wealth historic might your words impart! + Lone, looming, hermit of the hills, apart + From where thy banded mates in union dwell! + A master lyrist seemingly thou art, + Chief harper of a host that round thee swell; +And thine the Orphean boon[4], what could withstand thy spell? + + E'en now it whispers from the graven rock, + Scribed with the lightning's pen, in sculpture bold, + Defying time and tide and tempest shock, + Frowning where seas and centuries have rolled. 280 + "Oh were my words[5] thus writ!" That sage of old, + Knew he not well, ye mighty tomes of clay, + How firm the trust your flinty page might hold? + Have ye not scorned the fiats of decay? +Are ye not standing now where nations passed away? + + Thrice wondrous things, once thine to wisely scan, + Fast as thy frozen snow-crown, still in store, + Hadst thou the melting gift[6]--of sovereign man + The sunlike glory--mightest thou restore, + Till learning's tide o'erwhelmed the shining shore, 290 + With rich revealings of lost realms that rose + And fell like frost-hewn flowers thy face before; + Blightings which brought them an untimely close-- +Perchance, of spirit lore, some mystic mine disclose. + + But like the laboring brain that burns to speak + Mind's inmost thought, in deepest dungeon pent; + Or liker still to inward boiling peak + Of fires volcanic, vainly seeking vent + Where adamantine bolts and bars prevent;-- + Thou'rt doomed to utter stillness, and shalt keep 300 + The burden of thy bearing till is rent + Yon heavenly veil, and earth and air and deep +Tell secrets that shall rouse the dead from solemn sleep. + + And must I be as mute, O silent mount! + Muse of all Melody, shall I not sing?-- + Burst these dumb bars, when e'en yon babbling fount + May find in every breeze a wafting wing, + Afar its lightest murmured word to fling? + Where art thou, ancient Soul of Solemn Song? + Asleep? Then wake! Wherefore art slumbering? 310 + The world hath need of thee, and waiteth long. +Strike, strike again thy harp, and thrill the listening throng! + + Thus musing, lone upon a beetling brow, + Quaffing from unseen fount, those wilds among, + The spirit of the sun-kissed torrent flow, + Methought some lofty, caverned cliff had rung + With echoings of a more than mortal tongue; + Though softly clear the mournful cadence broke, + As notes from off the weird-toned viol flung. + Or was it yon lone cloud that muttering spoke, 320 +Heralding the storm king's wrathful shout and shivering stroke? + + Amazed I listened. Did I more than dream? + Had random word aroused unhoped reply? + Or was it sound whose import did but seem? + Hark!--for again it rolls along the sky: + "Then question hast thou none? Or none wouldst ply, + Save to thy soul in meditative strain, + Or heedless winds that wander idly by? + So be it; still to me thy purpose plain, +Thy hidden wish revealed, nor thus revealed in vain." 330 + + While freshening waves of woodland-scented air + Widened the spell of that immortal tone; + While, as on threshold of a lion's lair, + Speechless I stood, as stricken into stone; + Methought the sun with lessening splendor shone, + As if that wandering cloud obscured his gaze. + Then burst the glory from his midday throne! + Turning, mine eye beheld, in rapt amaze, +What memory ne'er would lose were life of endless days. + + A stately form, of giant stature tall; 340 + Of hoary aspect, venerable and grave; + Whose curling locks and beard of copious fall + Vied the white foam of ocean's storm-whipt wave. + The firm-fixt eye flashed lightnings from its cave; + Far-darting penetration's gaze combined + With wisdom's milder light. Of study gave + Deep evidence that brow by learning lined, +Thought's towering throne, where ruled his realm a monarch + mind. + + The spirit's garb--for spirit so he seemed-- 350 + Fell radiant in many a flowing fold; + A robe antique, by modern limners deemed + Befitting monk or eremite of old. + Head, hands, and feet were bare; the presence bold + With majesty, e'en as a god might wear, + While condescending to a mortal mould. + He spake--the voice no longer thrilled with fear; +Like some vast organ swell, it charmed, enchained, the ear. + + "Long have I watched and waited, but no sound + Broke the wild stillness of this stern abode, 360 + Save thunder's fiery foot-print smote the ground, + Or far beneath some torrent's fury flowed; + Anon the screaming eagle past me rode; + The seeker after gold, with toilsome stride, + And eager eye to fix the shining lode, + Hath paused and panted on the hill's steep side; +But none, for greater things, till now have hither hied. + + "And thou, O pensive crier in the waste, + Invoker of the Voice now visible! + Prepared art thou a mystery to taste, 370 + Whose fruit is joy or woe ineffable? + Pluck not of wisdom's branches bending full, + Drink not of that divine philosophy, + Save thou canst bravely suffer wrong's misrule, + Thy best intent thought ill; save thou canst be +What men deem "fool," real fools despising, pitying thee. + + "Not all my ministry to lift the gloom + Yet hovering o'er this mystic hemisphere. + List while I tell, for I am one by whom + Future and past as present shall appear. 380 + In me behold Messiah's Minister, + Ancient of time and of eternity, + Spirit of song that moved the Hebrew seer, + Voice of the stars[7] ere earth's nativity; +Exile, for ages gone, of mortal minstrelsy. + + "See now my sacred heritage, the prey + Of ribald rhymesters, sensuous, half obscene; + Of gloating censors, glad o'er my decay, + And deeming all but best I ne'er had been! + The body's bard[8] throned, sceptering the scene, 390 + A groveling worshiper of earth and time. + Arise! and with thy soul's celestial sheen, + Shame these false meteors, change the ruling chime; +My minstrel, I thy muse, sing thou the song sublime! + + "Sing, poet, sing! but not of new--of old, + Of old and new--eternal truth thy theme, + That holdeth past and future in her fold, + That maketh present but a passing dream, + While time and earth and man as trifles seem; + That knoweth not of new, or old, or strange; 400 + Whose everduring, all-redemptive scheme, + Fixt and immutable 'mid worlds of change, +On, on, from universe to universe doth range. + + "Faint not, nor fear, for all shall fare thy way-- + My way, His way, the Master's, evermore. + East shall seem West, rethrown the rising ray, + Shining afar from this most ancient shore[9], + And man shall rise[10] e'en where man fell before. + Fools may deride, may jeer at destiny; + They mock to mourn, oblivion earths them o'er; 410 + While they that champion truth, by truth shall be +Exalted, e'en in time, to live eternally." + + The ancient paused, and, unperceived till then, + A wondrous harp his bosom swung before, + Such harp as played the shepherd psalmist[11] when + A maddening rage his monarch seized and tore, + And music's magic quelled satanic power. + Seated, his form against the crag reclined, + He waved me to his feet, and forth did pour, + As pours Niagara on the plaintive wind, 420 +Floods of majestic song, falling from mind to mind. + + Full tale of wonders told, I may not tell, + Though mind be heir to all of mystery; + With milk of truth the breasts of wisdom swell, + Sufficing past and present infancy. + But matching all the modern eye may see + With marvels promised to the future sight, + 'Twas as the shrub unto the sheltering tree, + The floating swan unto the eagle's flight, +The hillock to the snow-crowned summit, lost in light. 430 + + Silent he towered above me, harp in hand,-- + Was it a dream? Could dream so vivid be?-- + And with his mantle's fold my forehead fanned. + Then leapt to life the flame of poesy! + Was it a vision of my destiny? + Upon the mount, as erst, I stood alone, + And naught was there of muse or minstrelsy; + Save that afar still trembled that strange tone, +And something said within: "That harp is now thine own." + + + + +CANTO THREE + +Elect of Elohim[1] + + +Sing I a song of aeons gone, 440 + Of life from mystery sprung, +Ere sun, or moon, or rolling stars + Their radiance earthward flung; +Ere spirit-winged intelligence + Forsook those shining spheres. +Exceeding glory there to gain + Through mortal toil and tears. + +A song they learn whose lives eterne + Transcend yon twinkling night, +Pale Olea's silver beam[2] outsoar, 450 + Shinea's golden flight; +Passing the angel sentries by, + Mounting o'er stars and suns, +To where the orbs that govern burn, + Royal and regnant ones. + +Declare, O Muse of mightier wing, + Of loftier lore, than mine! +Why God is God, and man may be + Both human and divine; +Why Sons of God, 'mid sons of men, 460 + Unrecognized may dwell, +So masked in dense mortality + That none their truth can tell. + +From worlds afar, from heavenmost star, + Heard I, or seemed to hear, +A sweet refrain, as summer rain, + A cadence soft and clear. +A voice, a harp,--Was it the same?-- + Harping those harps among, +Leading the lyric universe, 470 + On those high hills of song? + +In solemn council sat the Gods; + From Kolob's height supreme, +Celestial light blazed forth afar + O'er countless kokaubeam; +And faintest tinge, the fiery fringe + Of that resplendent day, +'Lumined the dark abysmal realm + Where earth in chaos lay. + +Silence. That awful hour was one 480 + When thought doth most avail; +Of worlds unborn the destiny + Hung trembling in the scale. +Silence self-spelled, and there arose, + Those kings and priests among, +A power sublime, than whom appeared + None nobler 'mid the throng. + +A stature mingling strength with grace, + Of meek though godlike mien; +The glory of whose countenance 490 + Outshone the noonday sheen. +Whiter his hair than ocean spray, + Or frost of alpine hill. +He spake;--attention grew more grave, + The stillness e'en more still. + +"Father!" the voice like music fell, + Clear as the murmuring flow +Of mountain streamlet trickling down + From heights of virgin snow. +"Father," it said, "since one must die, 500 + Thy children to redeem +From spheres all formless now and void, + Where pulsing life shall teem; + +"And mighty Michael[3] foremost fall, + That mortal man may be; +And chosen saviour Thou must send, + Lo, here am I--send me! +I ask, I seek no recompense, + Save that which then were mine; +Mine be the willing sacrifice, 510 + The endless glory Thine! + +"Give me to lead to this lorn world, + When wandered from the fold, +Twelve legions of the noble 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 God 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, God'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 flashing 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 shore + 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 God, 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 Gods, + Whose strength shall in thee dwell! +Go down betime and rescue earth, + Dethroning death and hell. +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 God shall be, + As God 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 gods 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 shine[16]; +The waning moon, that bathed in blood, + Ere sank the Sun divine. + +"Glory to God!--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 lust, +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--God scorned by man!-- + And spurned the truth He taught. + +O bane of damning 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 lust, + 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 God, + 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 God 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. +Hell'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 Japheth, 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 + +Whoe'er hath swayed, or yet shall sway, the world, +By tongue or pen, by sword or sceptered rule, +Hath served, or yet shall serve, the sovereign aim +Of Him who wills the welfare of mankind; +For or against, promoting still His plan, +Helping, not hindering, a conquering Cause. + +Gone the great Sun--set but to rise again, +More glorious from a night of martyrdom; +Set here to rise on realms and times untold; +All worlds, God's lofty vineyards[8], visiting. 730 + +Linger the spirit Moon and speaking Stars[9], +Crowning with light the Woman Wonderful[10]. + +Fair as the morn, though tearful as the eve; +Risen as from the rocky sepulchre, +Where slept betimes the body of her Lord; +Clothed, crowned, and shod, with glory's symboling[11]; +Ere winging to the vast invisible, +Returning to the restful wilderness, +She bides to hope, to labor, and endure, +All depths, all heights, with Him inheriting. 740 + +Henceforth with her another Comforter, +Vicegerent[12] of the vanished Majesty, +Of heavenly Three, the unembodied One[13], +Proceeding from the presence of the Sire, +To manifest the meaning of the Son; +Giver of gifts from Him, the glory-crowned, +Fountain of memory and of prophecy. + +After and ere,[14] Messiah's Minister, +Creative hand, omnific arm of God; +Holder with Christ of resurrection's key, 750 +The quickener of the living and the dead. +Lamp of the worlds, life of the universe, +Eternal spring of energy divine-- +Life, Light, and Love, magnetic mystery, +Whereby all things upheld and heavenward drawn. + +Prophet still pleading[15] in the wilderness, +The promise of a perfect yet to come; +Proclaimer of the heavenly commonweal, +Kingdom upon and yet not of the earth, +Whose portal none can enter, none can see, 760 +Save born anew--born of a dual birth, +By mystic fatherhood and motherhood +Begotten sons and daughters unto God, +Whose Spirit, omnipresent, immanent, +Unwearied, strives by countless ministries, +By might of word, by miracle of deed, +Mankind to win, wooing while hope remains. + +Henceforth with her that holy gift and guide, +Truth's high revealer and interpreter; +Henceforth with her the Father and the Son, 770 +Absent, yet present by the Comforter; +Of great lights twain, the lesser, ruling night, +Moon to that Sun, whose realm the rounded Day. + +Resplendent night, while flame those fluent stars[16], +That still a spotless brow bediadem; +Circling forever round their central Light, +And, Him withdrawn, repeating from afar, +And gladdening with His rays a gloom-hung world. + +As set that Sun, sinking in seas of blood, +Sinking to soar above a mightier morrow, 780 +Follow the lingering stars, save haply one[17], +Through mystic night of ages sparkling lone, +And speaking in high splendor things to come. +Most lustrous of the living lamps of God, +'Mid human lights, divinely luminant. +Rarest of twelve, remaining oracle, +Reserved unto a wondrous destiny; +Pilot of peoples, nations, tribes and tongues, +Leading the lost[18] ones from captivity. +Beloved of Love--life's King, death's Conqueror, 790 +Tarrying by will of Him through troubled time, +Lighting the way unto eternity. + +And thou, e'en thou, O Woman Wonderful! +Safe for a season from the She-Wolf's maw, +Far borne, east, west, on power's imperial wings, +Nourished 'neath Caesar's shield, till Caesar's sword +Hath turned upon and made thee desolate. +Thou too must pass--not perish--in thy time. +Betrayed to foes without, by false within, +E'en as thy Lord thou sufferest martyrdom. 800 + +But what avails to baffle Him or bind? +Vain, dragon, vain thy deluge of deceit, +Thy flood of lies, thou false one from of old! +Vain, wrath of devils and of men combined, +Bent to defile the sacred Bride of Christ. +Triumphs the Man-Child[19], heaven now summons home; +Triumphs the Woman in the wilderness, +'Scaping the jaws, the hungering gates of hell, +That 'gainst the mortal part alone prevail; +Body, not spirit, crushed and all o'ercome. 810 + +Throned upon higher worlds, she reigneth still; +And here shall rise unto the regnant place, +When rolls the stone upon the image doomed, +When God hath fanned with fire His threshing floor. + +Till then proud Japheth sways[20], while Jacob mourns, +Fainting 'neath yokes and fardels, prostrate, prone, +With Judah undermost, the last of all +The trampled tribes to taste of liberty. +Haply ordained a lesser power to wield, +Antaeus-like[21], from touching of the ground; 820 +Bent, curst, yet clutching, and by might of gold +Conquering his dust-adoring conqueror[22]. + +For God, through all, remembers Abraham, +Ordained of old His lineal house to be. +Came not the Christ their covenant to fulfill? +Who but an Israel might offer Him? +Whose hand than Judah's might Jehovah slay? +"His blood be on our head"--Ay, rests it there! +Weightier than worlds by that high death redeemed. + +World-wandering Saul! Was this thy symboling: 830 +The Jew struck blind that Gentile hosts might see[23]? + +Predestined Israel, martyred, immolate[24], +That nations, blood-besprent, might look and live; +A burden-bearer for the universe, +Outcast and homeless for humanity, +Descending like his Lord all else below, +And yet with Him to rise all else above, +Extremes of woe and weal encompassing, +Wisdom by sweet and bitter made more wise. + +From blight springs blessing, and from darkness day; 840 +E'en Canaan's neck from 'neath the yoke[25] shall come. +Japheth shall feel the Spirit minister, +And Jacob see and hear his risen Lord[26]. + +Departed now the Woman Wonderful, +Gone with the spirit gift and guiding power; +O'ercome, world-conquered, sinks degenerate +The washed one to his wallowing in the mire[27]; +A drowsy dreamer of the self-same dreams +Dispelled erewhile by lightnings of her eye; + +The heaven-lit torch[28] that made the pathway plain 850 +O'er rugged mount, through mazy catacomb, +Now dimmed with incense from Diana's shrine[29], +And dashed in pieces 'gainst a pagan throne, +Where prematurely changed was cross for crown, +And Christ's flock fleeced by shearing compromise[30]. + +God still with man, though not with man's misrule; +Still with the just, though Christian-pagan turn +His prurient ear to fables, from the truth, +And, virtueless as Judah's pharisee, +And graceless as Iscariot, self-hung, 860 +Parts in the midst, as wide as East from West[31], +False church and faithless empire, faction-torn, +Twain as the imaged legs of Babel's dream, +A split colossus, fallen 'twixt Greece and Rome. + +God still with man, though not with man's misrule, +Never with thee, daughter of force and fraud, +Mother of guile--thy refuge and thy shame! +Never with thee, thou wanton by the way, +Roaming tradition's tangled wilderness, +Lost in a night that seemeth to thee day; 870 +In crooked paths that fain would straight appear; +Warming thy withered fingers o'er the coals +Alive 'mid ashes of the ancient fires, +Where She was wont[32] to kindle faith, hope, love, +And flash the beacon o'er a wandering world. +There holding to thy heart an empty urn, +There cherishing a name, a memory, +Mumbling vain prayers, "Lord, Lord," protesting still, +And still forgetful of thy Lord's command! + +Nay, not with thee, thou crimson courtesan[33], 880 +Robed in the horrid hue of countless crimes! +Fierce dragon's maw, thrice-cruel murderess, +Thy hands a-reek with blood of innocence, +With blood of prophets, blood of priests and kings, +Whose martyred souls sue vengeance, judgment-sworn! +Vengeance on thee, thou slaughterer of saints, +Vengeance on him, thy sceptered paramour, +Whose princes ten (while Mammon's host shall wail), +Loathing where once they loved all lustfully, +And lived, as thou hast lived, deliciously, 890 +When found no more God's wheat 'mid Satan's tares, +When thou art saltless, saintless, savorless, +When thou art ripened unto rottenness, +Shall give thy crumbling body to be burned. + +Nay, Anti-Christ, presuming tyranny, +Never with thee, usurping power of sin! +Plotting to sway Jehovah's sovereignty, +To rear thy throne where His alone shall stand; +Perdition, warring 'gainst the Saints of God, +And overcoming till the Judgment sits[34], 900 +When swift-winged morn shall overtake the night, +And glory lift the gloom[35] of centuries. + +Meanwhile the mission of the Moonlike One[36], +Brooding above the waters of the world, +Stronger than storms, mightier than wind or wave, +Moving on mortal seas, on human souls; +Dynamic impulse of Divinity, +Impelling to all action[37] wise, sublime. + +That high Ambassador of Elohim, +The Spirit Messenger Omnipotent, 910 +Declare His goings-forth, His sendings tell. + +Ye patriarchs and prophets of old time! +Ye seers and bards of sacred Israel! +Elect of God, earth-wandering witnesses, +Sowers on goodly and on stony ground! +Souls mercy-sent, man's erring steps to win +From folly's paths of wickedness and strife, +To wisdom's way of purity and peace! +Shepherds to fold and feed a wolf-torn flock, +Holding the hallowed keys that loose and bind! 920 +Tell me--are ye alone truth's harbingers? +Are ye alone forerunners of the Light? + +Nay, for as kings and conquerors they come; +Anon, as champions of democracy; +Founders of faiths and stern iconoclasts; +Sword, tongue and pen of progress and reform. +The fountain lights of literature, whose rays +Spill their white splendor on the hills of fame; +Masters of melody, whose strains awake +The slumbering memories of eternity; 930 +Pilgrims to continents and climes unknown, +Uncurtained for the play of liberty, +Now nearing the finale of her dreams, +Dreams that shall waken to reality; +Waste-winners; probers of the polar way; +Invention's wizards, wielding magic might-- +Launching fleet words on atmospheric wave, +Cleaving with bird-like wing the shoreless blue, +Outspeeding speed, outblazing brilliancy, +Thrilling the world with lightning's vivid wand, 940 +Ruling all realms with scintillating sway; +Sages in art, in science past profound, +Subduing matter and exploring mind, +Sounding the depths of psychic mystery, +Scaling thought's pinnacles, that pierce the night, +To greet the early glintings of the morn. +These also are the mighty, kin to those, +Divinest of Jehovah's messengers. +Each hath his freedom, and succeeds or fails, +But all subserve the Will Omnipotent. 950 + +What though some wayward son of Deity[38], +Builder, o'erthrower, of imperial thrones, +In wrongful act of rightful agency, +Here drench with blood, here pave with shattered bones, +To heights of crumbling power and futile fame! +Is God then mocked? Made void His vast design? +Creator foiled by creature? Vain the fear! +Speeds ne'er to earth a spoiler of His plan, +Nor spares His rod a recreant messenger. + +Whate'er betide, the soul that sins atones: 960 +The grievous sceptre and the slaughtering sword, +The bloodstained ax, the gory guillotine, +The tyrant wrong, the tyrant-trampling right, +Join to make justice of the direst doom. + +All oracles of light, all arms of power, +Preparers of the way one face before; +Their strength but part of His omnipotence, +Their fault God-given lest man be deified, +And pride in him dethrone humility. + +Declare His truth, His generations tell, 970 +O'er whom the many marveled, some to say +Elias, slain of Herod, lives again; +While some said Jeremias[39]. Who say ye, +Man-hated, though God-missioned ministers, +Unctioned with fire, anointed from on High! +Guardians yet watchful o'er the widening fold! +Who say ye was your Master, Teacher, Friend? + +"Word that was God, is God, 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 God? +"God?--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, +Hoards 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 + +God'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 hell'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 +Japheth! 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 God, His presence thine. + +"Time, mighty daughter of Eternity! +Mother of centuries[5]--seventy, seven-crowned! +Assemble 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 God, +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, restitution, 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 God!" + +--- + +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 God I might but tell thee who I am! +Would God 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, nobles 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 Gods, 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 God, 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 God! 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. + +--- + +Earth rose from wintry sleep[14], baptized and cleansed, +And on her tranquil brow, that seemed to feel +The holy and confirming hand of Heaven, +The warm light in a wealth of comfort streamed; +Nature's great floor green-carpeting anew +For some glad change, some joyful happening, 1170 +Told in the countless caroling of birds, +Gilding the foliage, glorying the flowers, +Mirroring mingled hues of earth and sky. + +Glad happening, in sooth, for ne'er before, +Since burst the heavens when Judah's star-lit hills +Heard angel choristers peal joy's refrain +Above the mangered Babe of Bethlehem, +Had earth such scene beheld, as now within +The bosom of a sylvan solitude, +Hard by the borders of a humble home, 1180 +Upon that fair and fateful morn was played. + +Players, immortal twain and mortal one, +Standing but fourteen steps upon life's stair, +An unlearned boy, thinker of thoughts profound, +Boy and yet man, dreamer of lofty dreams. + +Not solemn, save betimes, when hovered near +Some wingéd inspiration from far worlds, +Some great idea's all-subduing spell-- +His heart grew humbler then, his look more grave; +Not melancholy--mirthful, loving life, 1190 +And brimming o'er with health and wholesome glee. +A stalwart spirit in a sturdy frame, +Maturing unto future mightiness. + +Bowing to God, yet bending to no creed, +Adoring not a loveless deity, +That saved or damned regardless of desert, +Ne'er reckoning the good or evil done; +Loving and worshipping the God of love, +The gracious God of reason and of right, +Long-suffering and just and merciful, 1200 +Meting to every work fit recompense, +Yet giving more, far more, than merit's claim; +Bowing to Him, but not to man-made gods, +And shunning shameful strife where peace should dwell, +He holds aloof from those degenerate sects, +Bewildering Babel of conflicting creeds, +And pondering the apostolic line, +"Let any lacking wisdom, wisdom ask, +And God will freely give, upbraiding none," +He puts the promise to the utter test. 1210 + +What pen can paint the marvel that befell? +What tongue the wondrous miracle portray? +Than theirs, the Vision's own, what voice proclaim +Whose dual presence[15] dimmed the noonday beam, +Communing with him there, as friend with friend, +And giving to that prayer reply of peace? + +Tell how, as Moses on the unknown mount[16], +From whom in rage fled baffled Lucifer, +Who fain had guised him as the Son of God, +To win the worship of that prophet pure-- 1220 +Tell how with gloom he strove ere glory dawned, +And black despair met bright deliverance. +Tell how in heart of that sweet solitude, +Within the silent grove, sequestered shade, +While spirit hosts unseen spectators stood, +Watching the simple scene's sublimity, +Eternity high converse held with time; +Time, parent of the hovering centuries, +Mother of dispensations, travailing, +And bringing forth her last and mightiest child; 1230 +Heaven's awful Sire, through Him both Sire and Son, +There blazoning the beginning of the end. + +Wane the swift years; the boy a youth now grown; +And on his brow, woe-carved, a world of care. +Bending, an Atlas,[17] 'neath the titan's load, +Daily he climbs the hill of sacrifice, +Viewing from far the mount of martyrdom. + +Nor marvel at his lot; hath he not told-- +A crime man ne'er forgave in fellowman-- +Told the wise world that God hath spoke again? 1240 + +"'Twas from below!" Thus bigotry in rage. +"Nay, from above," the meek though firm reply. +"No vision is there now--the time is past." +"But I have seen," affirms truth's constancy. +"God is a mystery, unknowable." +"God is a man--I saw Him, talked with Him." +"Man?" "Ay, of holiness--Exalted Man[18]." + +A strife of words, of warring tongues, now waged, +And weapons vied with words the truth to slay; +Nor truth alone, but her brave oracle, 1250 +A boy, by men, by neighborhoods, oppressed. + +Still through his soul the solemn warning rang, +Still from his mouth the startling message flamed: +"No church the Christ's. None, therefore, can I join. +All sects and creeds have wandered from the way. +Priestcraft in lieu of Priesthood sits enthroned. +Dead forms deny the power of godliness. +Men worship with their lips, their hearts afar. +None serve acceptably in sight of heaven. +Wherefore a work of wonder shall be wrought, 1260 +And perish all the wisdom of the wise[19]." + +The wrangling sects forgave--well nigh forgot +Their former feuds and fears and jealousies; +And, joining hands, as Pilate Herod joined, +One guilty day when God stood man-condemned, +In friendly reconcilement's cordial clasp, +They doomed to death and hell "this heresy." +None sought, from "Satan's wile," a soul's reclaim, +But all were bent his humble name to blast; +And pious, would-be murder led the van 1270 +Of common hatred and hostility. + +But Truth, thou mother of the living thought, +The deathless word, the everduring deed! +What puny hand thy giant arm can stay? +When crushed or backward held, thine hour beyond? +Can bigot frown or tyrant fetter quell +Thy high revolt, O Light Omnipotent! +When God would speak with man, who tells Him nay? +Can hell prevent when heaven on earth would smile? + +Pillowed in prayerful thought the wakeful seer. 1280 +Without, broods darkness o'er a dreaming world; +Within, an angel's face turns night to day: +"A messenger from God[20] to thee I come; +Thy sins are pardoned through thy penitence; +Henceforward heard in every creed and clime +The good and evil tongues that trump thy fame. +Behold!" + + Amazement now fresh wonder views; +And while enwrapt, as wave-like visions roll +Their spirit splendors on that gifted gaze, 1290 +In words akin to these the tale tells on: + +"A slumbering secret hides in yonder hill, +Graven on gold, in characters unknown-- +Unknown to thee, but known to me and mine, +The language of my people, ages gone. +Beside the sacred volume, buried there +At His behest who gave my sire command, +The seer-stones, Urim, Thummim, named of old, +Whereby thou shalt dispel the mystery +That hangs above this heaven-favored land, 1300 +And Joseph, speaking from the dust, shall join +With Judah, page to page[21], God's grace to tell. + +"But be aware, lest Mammon's charm allure, +And tempt from truer wealth that shines within. +More than the lamp the light--be this thy quest: +Seek thou the gold that gilds eternity. + +"The winter of the Gentile reign is o'er, +And Israel's springtime putteth forth its leaves. +Fruit planted in the gardens of the past +Hath ripened and is ready for the fall[22]. 1310 + +"Elias comes[23], Messiah's Messenger, +God's host to summon, and His house to save-- +First by persuasion's pleading; that contemned, +By voice of wrath and stroke of violence. +He speaks--the mountains kneel, the valleys rise; +Rolls to the north the land-dividing wave; +Equality--nay, justice, holds the helm, +Each hath his own, the lost lamb finds the fold. +Elias comes--'tis restitution's reign, +And order hurls disorder from the throne. 1320 + +"War sheathes his fangs, aloft on fearless wing +Peace broods above a restful universe; +A common faith and interest unite, +But conscience still her fullest freedom[24] sees. +Wider than Church extends the Kingdom's bound: +The law from Zion, and the royal word, +The Monarch's edict, from Jerusalem; +A centralized diffusion's balanced sway, +God's might, man's right, in equilibrium. + +"Babel no more--stilled all her strifeful tongues; 1330 +The primal language[25] o'er the world prevails; +And all is found again as at the first, +While ransomed hosts, rejoicing, shout and sing: +The Lord His ancient people hath redeemed; +The Lord hath gathered all things into one; +And earth becomes a heaven, for she is clothed +In garments as the glory of His light +Who reigneth in the midst, Life's Majesty. + +"But ere it break, that bright millennial day, +There falls a nightlier hour than night hath known, 1340 +When sun shall frown, moon blush, when dizzy stars, +Drunken with fumes of man's iniquity, +Shall hurl them headlong from their sparkling thrones, +And grovel darkly in the deep abyss; +While heaven shall tremble as if palsy-struck, +Earth as an aspen shaken in the wind. +Men's hearts shall fail, and where be safety found? +For tribulations till that hour unknown, +Save in the feeble typings of the past, +Terrors of famine, fire, and pestilence, 1350 +Terrors of whirling wind and whelming wave, +Allied to horrors strange as manifold, +Shall stalk abroad to humble humankind, +To lift the lowly and abase the proud, +To straight the crooked and make smooth the crude, +Jehovah's awful pathway to prepare-- +Jehovah, He who cometh to his own, +And by His own at last is recognized. + +"No more a lowly Lamb, to slaughter led; +A Lion in his risen majesty-- 1360 +Lion and Lamb, for gentleness and might, +Mercy and justice, there go hand in hand. + +"But first, the sickle in the ripened grain, +Reaping where faith is found, while hope endures, +Drawing the Gentile unto Israel's God, +And gathering the strewn of Abraham. + +"Wells truth from earth, pours righteousness from heaven, +Till wisdom's waters inundate the world. +Bestirred the wave by angel trumpets blown, +Wafting the chosen seed to safety's strand, 1370 +Winning the West ere yet the East be spoiled. + +"Elijah comes--Elijah, he whose rays +Bespeak the Lord of Glory, from whose light +All splendors, paling, hide their tapers dim. +He comes the world to reap, the vineyard prune, +The wheat to garner, and the tares to burn; +He comes, his face a furnace, melting pride, +Consuming wickedness and cleansing worth. +He comes the hearts of sons and sires to turn, +To plant anew the promises of old, 1380 +Binding the present to the parent past, +Part unto whole, time to eternity. +He comes the priestly fulness to unfold, +The capstone of life's temple here to lay. +He comes lest man be taken unaware, +And laggard earth be smitten with a curse. + +"Hark to that prophet--outstretched Arm of God, +Who comes the ancient order to restore; +And list to him who leads, as Moses led, +The gathered house and host of Abraham!" 1390 + +Thrice through the night the radiant messenger +In burning words breathed forth the marvel told; +Till memory's page, as traced with pen of fire, +Glowed with each utterance ineffable. + +And on the morrow stood the sacred twain-- +Mortal, immortal, present linked with past-- +Above the spot where slumbering truth reposed; +Not to be wakened yet till autumns four +Had rained their dews upon its resting-place. + +Meanwhile the unschooled prophet, angel-taught, 1400 +In prayer and patience disciplined his soul; +And visiting yearly that revealing mount, +Learned from its lips a story of the past, +Affirmed in full when risen truth revealed +The pent-up secret of the centuries. + +Words of the angel, Ramah's sentinel, +Custodian of Cumorah's[26] archive old: + + + + +CANTO SIX + +From Out The Dust[1] + + + Jehovah's land--thy country--once mine own, + A sacred soil, a consecrated shore, + Where cometh up the universal Throne, 1410 + Dominion that endureth evermore. + Whose God, with gods, in solemn council swore + No tyrant should this chosen land defile; + And nations here, that for a season bore + The palm of power, must righteous be[2] the while, +Or ruin's avalanche ruin on ruin pile. + + Though not till brimmed with guilt their cup of crime, + Ripened the harvest of iniquity. + To races, nations, men, there is a time + To come and go, as wisdom shall decree,-- 1420 + Wisdom supreme, Tongue of Eternity. + But strikes the hour as men and nations will. + Unfettered in their choice of destiny, + They, by their deeds, the fateful measure fill; +Electing to be clean, or unclean lingering still. + + Race upon race has perished in its pride; + And nations lustrous as the lights of heaven + Have sinned and sunk in reckless suicide, + Upon this ground, since that dread word was given. + Realms battle-rent, and regions tempest-riven; 1430 + The wrath-swept land for ages desolate; + A wretched remnant blasted, curst, and driven + Before the furies of revengeful fate; +Till wonder asks in vain, What of their former state[3]? + + Wouldst know the cause, the upas-tree that bore + The blight of desolation? 'Tis a theme + To melt earth's heart, and move all heaven to pour + With sorrow's heaving flood; as when supreme + O'er fallen Lucifer, the generous stream + Of grief half quenched the joy of victory. 1440 + Mark how the annals of the ages teem + With repetition. Time, eternity, +The same have taught; but few, alas! the moral see. + + There is a sin called self, which binds the world + In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong; + A sin most serpentine, round all men curled, + And in its fatal fold earth writhes full long; + Crime's great first cause, the primal root of wrong, + Parent of pride, and tree of tyranny. + To lay the axe doth unto thee belong. 1450 + Strike, that the world may know of liberty, +And Zion's land indeed a land of Zion be! + + A choice land, blest above all other lands, + Since earth, reborn, rose sinless from the flood; + Beloved by Him whose holy feet and hands + Were pierced to pour the all-redeeming blood. + Here stands the ancient Altar[4], and here stood + The Ark, till borne triumphant o'er the wave-- + The hungry wave that made all flesh its food, + All save a few, whom godly living gave 1460 +To see life's single way and shun death's dual grave[5]. + + The Old World, not the New, by man misnamed; + Cradle and grave of mouldering nations vast; + Whose stalwart spirit stature, seen, had shamed + The mightiest of known empires, present, past. + The land where Adam dwelt[6], where Eden cast + From flaming gate the heaven-appointed pair, + Who fell that man might be; a fall still chaste[7], + Albeit they sinned, descending death's dread stair, +To fling life's ladder down, Love's work[8] and way prepare. 1470 + + Here rose the Zion of primeval days[9], + Type of a greater Zion yet to rise; + Here Enoch's walls and towers reflung the rays, + Rolled back the flooding splendors of the skies, + Whose portal wide gave welcome. Upward flies + The sainted city, self denied, dethroned: + In all things one, their power e'en death defies: + In dust they ne'er shall slumber; cleansed, condoned, +They wait the final change[10], through Him who hath atoned. + + Here cometh up the New Jerusalem[11]; 1480 + Here cometh down that risen realm of old, + Jehovah's seat, earth's jeweled diadem, + Joy of the world, by prophet tongues extolled. + Japheth, here joined with Shem[12], finds Israel's fold, + An ark of peace[13] amid a world of war. + The ensign[14] on the mountains here behold! + 'Tis Joseph signals Jacob[15] from afar, +And points him to the goal where God and glory are. + + Ancient of Days[16] here sits, as at the first, + When time and earth and Adam's race were young; 1490 + When, bowed with age, a great soul's sunset burst + In blessings on his seed. Prophetic tongue, + Thy patriarchal tone through time hath rung! + Michael, the prince, the monarch of our race, + Sire of a world from dust and spirit sprung; + Here sits he, throned in fire; before his face +Ten thousand times ten thousand throng the judgment place. + + Wherefore this land must unpolluted be; + Or, if defiled, by blood again made clean + From grime of sin, from grind of tyranny; 1500 + Free from the ills that other lands have seen, + Free from the blots that now dim freedom's sheen. + No nation by vain boasting shall abide; + Bid thine beware, lest here the sanguine scene + Reacted be, and ruin, spawn of pride, +Spring from the soil where nations great as thine have died. + + Hesperia[17], be just--the right maintain, + And foe without, nor foe within, prevails! + Here nations slay themselves, if they be slain,-- + Brother 'gainst brother, sire 'gainst son, till fails 1510 + The fount of widow's tears and orphan's wails. + Hear thou that servant[18] whom the Father sends-- + Hear him and heed, ere Japheth's planet pales, + That peace and freedom may remain thy friends, +While hither, from all lands, all worlds, God's legion[19] wends. + + A gathering from all glories thou shalt see, + Blest land of Joseph[20], honored, lifted high! + Thy brother lands come bending unto thee, + And Gog and Magog[21] menace but to die. + While they that serve the Lord with single eye 1520 + Shall see Him in the midst; the goal then won, + When time no longer flecks eternity, + Nor need is there of star, or moon, or sun, +Since He, light's self, is risen, and heaven and earth are one. + + Thus far the angel, Ramah's sentinel, + His vigil keeping on that lonely hill; + And thus the spelled yet speechful auditor, + Around the hearthside of that humble home. + There sire and matron, trusted kith and kin, + Give faithful credence to the story strange, 1530 + Pondering the tidings wise and wonderful. + + Thence oft above that mount of mystery, + Of buried lore the solemn sepulchre, + Meet modern seer and ancient oracle. + And while humility at wisdom's feet + Expectant waits, where truth from earth shall spring, + Comes, as from riven tomb, this wondrous tale: + + Where Joseph[22], where wast thou, that time when torn + Was earth asunder; ocean's cleaving sword + The wedded lands wide severing[23]? Where, when borne 1540 + Deep through the watery world, as there devoured + By wind and wave that harmless o'er them roared, + The pilgrim sons of Shinar[24]--favored band, + From that far clime where Babel's folly towered + And language foundered on confusion's strand-- +Won here a precious heritage, a promised land? + + Preserver of the pure and primal tongue[25], + Most faithful found 'mid living sons of men, + Their leader looked on God; then wrestling wrung + By spirit might, and paged with fiery pen, 1550 + The full of what would be, of what had been; + Sealing the secret till an hour should chime + When faith as mighty unto mortal ken + Would bring the marvel of a book sublime[26], +Bridging with lightful lore the shadowy gulf of time. + + But pilgrim prows now part the unknown wave; + Above, around, baptismal billows[27] roll. + Divinity, their guide, protection gave, + Else had engulfing seas entombed the whole. + Though tight each launch, where lines of lustre stole 1560 + From molten stones, late struck from Shelem's height[28], + And lit by touch divine. Unto the goal + Of that grim voyage, banishing the night, +Those crystal miracles gave forth their friendly light. + + Till loomed to wistful eyes this waiting land, + Spreading with wing-like continents[29] afar, + As if to welcome worlds. The Chaldean band + The Northland chose, lured by a favoring star, + For South, as North, of human soul was bare. + But liberty loves most a northern zone, 1570 + Where nature's ramparts e'en 'gainst nature's war + Put forth protection. Liberty alone +Mahonri's realm[30] might rule--no king, no crown, no throne. + + Still, mighty spirit, thou art manifest! + What creed or clan shall win Columbia's crown? + Though freedom weep, by anarchy opprest, + Hesperia's face reflect Europa's frown, + Sceptered religion ne'er shall tread men down. + Belief and unbelief here find one plane, + That freedom's greater cause[31] be not o'erthrown, 1580 + But spring and spread till every tongue maintain +The kingdom of the King whose throne all worlds sustain. + + Here dawns that universal liberty-- + Theme of the prophet tongue, the poet pen-- + When, winged with power and crowned with purity, + Earth shall be heaven, and gods shall dwell with men; + Fraternity divine, that e'er hath been, + And e'er shall be, the blissful lot of those + Who, conquering self, bind Satan, fetter sin, + And soar beyond the reach of mortal woes, 1590 +Rising to sainted heights, as all past Zions rose[32]. + + Till then no king upon this crownless land, + Reserved to freedom and to righteousness. + 'Gainst her none prosper, lifting hostile hand. + Blest haven, fortressed by God's mightiness[33]! + Kingcraft and priestcraft plant their sure distress. + The past hath spoken--heed the warning tone: + Of pride beware, and baser sordidness-- + Self's groveling tyranny, with heart of stone, +Whereby, in ages gone, this land did grieve and groan. 1600 + + "Give us a king[34]!" their cry, when power had come, + When wealth was massed, and men were multiplied; + "A king! A king!"--vibrant the echoing dome + From northern lake to gulf and ocean tide; + For Satan in their hearts had planted pride. + Grieved was the nation's wise and watchful sire; + Grieved was the faithful kinsman at his side; + From eyes of both shot gleams of righteous ire, +As voiced ambitious will its ominous desire. + + They sighed: "This leadeth to captivity-- 1610 + Perchance destruction, ending dark and dire. + Yet must we yield to human liberty + Its own, e'en though a brand from freedom's fire + Kindle for freedom's self the fatal pyre." + So saying, they anointed one their king + Who craved the crown, by patriot son and sire + Put by in pure denial, lest it bring +First care, then crime, and waken woes then slumbering. + + For though a king see duty's pathway plain, + And walk therein, as he who now arose; 1620 + What monarch from misrule can all refrain, + When privilege lifts power o'er friends and foes? + Bare is the reign untarnished to the close, + And rarer still the blameless dynasty. + Ofttimes as princes the unkingliest pose, + Because, forsooth, they come of some tall tree, +Whose root and trunk were sound, while branches blasted be. + + True kingliness--what else proves man a king? + A slave, though throned and sceptered, bides a slave; + Nor pride, nor pelf, nor all that power may bring, 1630 + Can make the serf a sovereign, or yet save + The dust of either from the common grave. + Royal the soul must be, or comes to end + All royalty. Spirit, then blood, God gave; + And each at last its separate way doth wend +Home to the parent source, to meet no more, nor blend. + + Scarce gone the goodly ruler when his realm + Saw fierce rebellion rear its horrent head. + Usurping treason seized the civic helm, + Wrong trampled right, and justice, judgment, fled. 1640 + Ages looked on while battling kingdoms bled. + Lifted the warning voice--its pleading vain: + A blood-drowned continent, a sea of dead, + And, of a mighty people, fallen, self-slain, +A prophet and a king, a solitary twain[35]. + + That prophet saw the coming of the Lord + Unto the Old, the New, Jerusalem; + Saw Israel returning at His word + From wheresoe'er His will had scattered them; + The realm's wide ruin saw, and strove to stem. 1650 + That king, sole scion of a perished race, + Casting his blood-stained sword and diadem, + Lived but to see another nation[36] place +Firm foot upon the soil, then vanished from its face. + +--- + + Wondrous, indeed, that ancient word and wise; + But wiser and more wondrous still the tale-- + The after tale[37] of silent centuries, + Tongued by the guardian of the tome of gold: + + Again, athwart the wilderness of waves + Surging old East and older West between, 1660 + Where the lone sea a flowery southland laves, + And Zarahemla reigns as ocean queen, + Braving the swell, a storm-tossed bark is seen. + From doomed Jerusalem, to Jacob dear, + Albeit a leper[38], groping, blind, unclean, + Goes forth Manasseh's prophet pioneer[39], +Predestined to unveil the hidden hemisphere. + + His lot to reap and plant on this rare shore + The promise of his fathers: Joseph's bough[40], + From Jacob's well, the billowy wall runs o'er; 1670 + Abides in strength the archer-stricken bow, + Unto the utmost bound prevailing now, + Of Hesper's heaven-upholding hills. Bend, sheaves + Of Israel, as branches bend with snow, + Unto his sheaf grown mightiest! Here, as leaves +For multitude, the son the great sire's glory weaves. + + Ere chimes for him the earth-departing hour, + Summoning a weary soul to restful toil + In risen worlds, where life puts on all power, + Lehi his house convenes,--their hearts the while 1680 + Aglow beneath the burning words that pile + A pyramid of prophecy whose spire + Empierces heaven,--and lest they soil + The prospect pure, and tempt Jehovah's ire, +Warns them 'gainst ways of pride and paths of dark desire. + + He speaks of Joseph's, Judah's, destiny; + Of blighting and of blessings yet to pour; + Proclaims deliverance his own shall see, + When cometh one the wandering to restore; + Forenames a chosen seer[41] (revealed of yore, 1690 + When the boy dreamer's star o'er Egypt rose), + Bringing from dust a blest land's buried lore[42]. + Seals then his benison, and eyelids close +To wake on worlds divine, whither, past all, he goes. + + The favored son[43] of that prophetic sire-- + Favored because most faithful and most just-- + Hath soared to sacred mysteries still higher, + And tongued to envious ears the heavenly trust. + And serpent self, that demon of the dust, + Hath coiled and clung around rebellious souls, 1700 + Ne'er friendly though fraternal, whose distrust + And jealousy breed bitterness that rolls +Rivers of wormwood 'twixt two races and their goals. + + Now peoples twain the Promised Land divide: + Northland and Southland see their tribes increase, + From Arctic floe to far Antarctic tide; + From where the Eastern waves their thunders cease, + To where the Western waters are at peace. + White and delightsome, they that worship God; + They that deny Him, dark, degenerate, these, 1710 + Doomed the stern wild to penetrate and plod-- +Transgression's scourge and school, the Chastener's heavy rod[44]. + + The throneless ruler of the regnant race-- + King, but no tyrant--prophet, priest, and seer, + Meets upon sacred summits, face to face + (As when to Moses drew Jehovah near), + The Infinite and Spirit Minister[45], + Meets Him as man meets man, and by His grace + The power is given, with seeric eye to peer, + Time's vista viewing through prophetic glass: 1720 +Plain to his gaze revealed, the unborn ages pass. + + War, slaughter, conquest; heroes, sages, famed; + Kingdoms, republics, empires, rise and fall; + Till pride unknown, and tyranny unnamed, + Where righteous rule brings blessedness to all. + Then self again, the universal thrall. + The faithful, dead or dwindled to a few, + Crime begets crimes the heavens to appall. + Now arrows of God's anger pierce them through, +And horrors piled on horrors make misery's retinue. 1730 + + All this and more the prophet-prince foresaw[46]; + Messiah's self--Jehovah--Him beheld,-- + The Perfect One, in whom was found no flaw, + Though slander as an ocean round Him swelled. + Life's deathless tree--deathless, though demon-felled; + The crash resounding to this far-off shore, + Whose winnowed remnant welcomed Him, revealed + In risen glory, when had ceased the roar +Of wrecking tempests, flung His radiant face before. + + At Whose rebuke the haughty mountains bowed. 1740 + Shorn by the whirlwind, sunk, or swept away, + No more their frown the lowly valleys cowed, + Rising like billows 'mid the wrathful fray, + And dashing 'gainst the skies their dusty spray. + Rocks, boulders, hills, no titan strength could lift, + Hurtle as pebbles in the storm-fiend's play. + Earth opes her jaws, and through the yawning rift +Cities, peoples, vanish; of hope, of life bereft. + + Three hours of tempest, and three days of night; + Thick darkness, thunder-burst, and lightning flash; 1750 + Millions engulfed, millions in prostrate plight, + Groveling as slaves that feel or fear the lash, + Mingling their groans and cries with grind and crash + Of crags the cyclone's catapult impels, + Whose shrieking flails the fields and forests thrash! + Wild o'er the land roused ocean's anger swells, +And flame's relentless tongue the final doom[47] foretells. + + Three hours of stormful strife--then all is still, + Save for a voice the universe might hear, + Proclaiming what hath hapt as heaven's high will, 1760 + Dispensing pardon and dispelling fear. + Anon a mightier marvel doth appear; + Uprolls the misty curtain of the sky-- + The midday sun no more their minister, + Greater hath risen! and glories multiply, +As angels in their gaze earthward and heavenward fly. + + He greets them as a shepherd greets his flock; + Shows them His wounded side, His hands, His feet; + Then builds His church upon the stricken Rock, + Where flow life's healing waters, limpid, sweet, 1770 + As infant innocence[48], that joys to meet + Its great Original. With holy hand + He ministers, bids death and hell retreat, + And singles twelve from out the sainted band, +To sow with words of life the trembling, tear-worn land. + + He bids them prize the truth from heaven outpoured-- + What late His tongue hath told, and all that seers + Of earlier days, who owned Him as their Lord, + Have sounded in a world's unwilling ears; + That truth with truth may blend in after years, 1780 + As rivers many to one ocean flow; + That when Messiah in his might appears, + Men all may see Him as he is, and know +The Majesty of Heaven, 'mid nations bending low. + + He greets them as His "other sheep"[49]--a fold + Unknown to Judah, but to Jesus known; + And tells of others still, whose fate untold + Hath been the skeptic's scoff and stumbling stone. + All Israel must hear, and one alone + The shepherd be, to guide and govern all. 1790 + Where'er, from torrid belt to icy zone, + They wander, they must heed the warning call, +And flee to Zion's shore ere crumbling Babel fall. + + He numbers them with Joseph, known of old, + Whose flock the wolves shall tear in time to come; + Because a wasteful heir his portion sold, + A prodigal forsook the parent dome, + To riot in the wilderness and roam, + Feeding on husks: yet, turning at the last, + Redeemed from darkness, to the Father's home; 1800 + And there, the hour of retribution past, +Forgiven, at His dear feet their weary souls they cast. + + Anon He pictures Japheth's destiny[50]: + The Gentile prospering in the Promised Land, + The guardian of the ark of liberty, + So long as he for human right shall stand, + Nor trample on Jehovah's high command. + But woe to them of flinty heart and face + Who from Him turn, to smite with ruthless hand + The withered remnant of a star-ruled race! 1810 +For Laman yet shall spring, a lion to the chase[51]. + + Vexing the vexer with a vengeance sore, + Who, false to highest hope of human need, + Shall tyrant turn, and play the part no more + Of nursing parent unto Joseph's seed, + For whom a nation founded was and freed, + That from its hand to his fierce house might flow + The promise of his fathers. God shall plead + With Japheth, till his pride shall melt like snow, +Swept from the mountain side, chased by the sun's red glow[52]. 1820 + + His word now builds the New Jerusalem-- + (Earth-born, though basking in eternal rays)[53], + Which Japheth, blent with Jacob, joined with Shem, + Shall rear on Joseph's land in modern days. + The Father's work of wonder He portrays:-- + A servant, marred[54], though hurt not, and yet healed, + Whom wisdom hearkens to, whom faith obeys; + Arm of the Lord, long lying unrevealed, +Uplifted and made bare, His flock to fold and shield. + + Sounds then a parting note, a plaint of woe, 1830 + 'Gainst coming ages of iniquity, + Ere purifying floods o'er earth shall flow, + And man from sin and self delivered be. + Then, of the twelve, he sanctifieth three[55], + With power o'er death, and gives them to remain + Till comes He in His glory, Lo! they see + The opening heavens receive Him once again; +And marvels else behold, that mortal tongues must chain. + + Three generations pass in righteousness; + A fourth begins, and still from strand to strand 1840 + Peace rules, love reigns, and wealth and wisdom bless + The banded nations, walking hand in hand; + Christ's word supreme above a willing land, + Where rich and poor, common their goods, their gold, + Seeking God's glory, free and equal stand, + Loving each one his neighbor, as of old; +Forebeam of day divine[56], when night's dull mists have rolled. + + That restful day shall dawn; but e'en as storm, + Darkness and devastation, judgments dire, + Changed with convulsive throe the land's first form, 1850 + Made mountains plains, plains mountains, purged with fire + And flood this soil--as saw my nation's sire, + Ere light and peace looked down from realms above;-- + So shall it be[57], and more, when heaven's hot ire, + Besoming a world's iniquity, shall move, +In burning, melting might, the gold, the dross, to prove. + + Two centuries of love the land caress; + Buried the ancient feud, and banished vice; + When pride, to breed anew the old distress, + Crawls like a serpent to this paradise: 1860 + Again the tempter's wiles the weak entice; + Again the fall, the sorrow and the shame; + Again, while angels weep, do fiends rejoice; + For now divided hearts, with hate aflame, +Belie with wicked deeds their righteous faith and fame. + + Farewell to peace and power forever past! + Deepest in crime the once delightsome race, + Which melts as would the avalanche if cast + Into the furnace of the red sun's face[58]. + Men vie in deeds that devils would debase; 1870 + Southland 'gainst Northland strives with might insane; + Backward, still backward, bends the bloody chase[59]; + Crimson the land with carnage; main to main +Surges a sea of slaughter--millions are the slain! + + The white dissolves; the swart, the red, remains. + Night clothes the continents, and 'thwart the gloom + No ray descends on shadowed peaks or plains, + From history's sun. Darkness, a living doom, + Mantles mind, soul, making the land one tomb. + Then bursts the dawn--breaks forth the East in light, 1880 + Where Japheth, cramped and straitened, cries for room. + Rent mystery's veil, naked, in savage plight, +Now occidental realms greet oriental sight[60]! + + First found by him whose faith was mightiest, + And now by one whose patience[61] most excels. + Ere storm-pushed prow hath pierced the wordless West, + A kingly soul, unthroned, uncrowned, compels + The homage of a queen. His mind dispels + The gathered gloom of ages; mutineers + And malcontents his presence calms and quells. 1890 + Past threatening reefs of bigotry he steers, +And builds a bridge of life that binds the hemispheres. + + The Gentile comes, as destiny decrees, + To Zion's land[62], for freedom held in store, + And Israel's triumph. Friends of freedom, these, + Like to the pilgrim bands that long before + A refuge found upon this sheltering shore. + But followers of right oft wrong the right; + Oppressed become oppressors[63] in an hour; + And now, as day that pushes back the night, 1900 +The strong the weak assail, enslave, and put to flight. + + Nor yet can fate forsake them: Japheth's hand + 'Gainst Jacob's wrath-doomed remnant still prevails. + Tyrants oppress him from the motherland[64]; + The Lord of Hosts a champion arms and mails, + To quell whose might no human power avails; + Nor grander cause or chieftain e'er came forth. + Him as its sire the new-born nation hails, + And e'en would crown the man of matchless worth[65], +Did heaven vouchsafe such king to shame the kings 1910 + of earth. + + But thou hast heard: No king upon this land + From Japheth's loins. Yet shall there come a King, + And Japheth's host with Jacob's equal stand, + While bending nations to that Monarch bring + Their gold, their glory--friendship's offering. + What though invasion, anarchy, shall strive + To strangle right, to poison freedom's spring? + Naught that conspires 'gainst Zion's weal can thrive. +Jehovah--He shall reign, and righteous rule survive. 1920 + + Forerunner thou, and thy forerunners these, + Prophet of Ephraim, Joseph's namesake seer[66]! + More than those ancient bridgers of the seas, + Unveiler of the long hid hemisphere, + Whose mystery lies booked and buried here. + Mass thou the might of Joseph, yet to join + With Judah's might, Messiah's throne to rear; + That on this sacred shore may rise and shine +The City Pure-in-Heart--Kingdom of King divine. + + Woe to the tongue that 'gainst thee shall contend! 1930 + Break weapons all that smite this iron rod[67], + Beginning of the burden of the end-- + The promised fulness of the word of God; + The voice of ages whispering from the sod. + That voice withstood, remaineth shut and sealed + The mightier things in mystery's abode, + Volume on volume slumbering unrevealed, +While wake these lesser truths till now from man concealed. + + Speak thou to Laman's remnant, and reveal + The great things done, the greater yet to do, 1940 + That bring deliverance unto Israel. + To white, to red, to men of every hue, + To all redeemed His mighty merit through, + Teach thou the way--tell how by Grace sublime + The spirit gardens[68] of the endless blue + Are visited, each vineyard in its time, +While glad sabbatic bells ring out their grateful chime. + + Earth's hour is nigh--her blest millennial hour, + And dawn there shall a higher, holier day, + Prepared for by these principles of power, 1950 + Divinest laws that loftiest worlds obey, + Where gods and angels honor them alway. + There greatest by humility are known, + There order reigns, and right doth all realms sway; + Like claiming like, and cleaving to its own, +Sovereign and subject sharing the glory of the Throne. + + But earth's proud will must bend to will of heaven, + Or twain can ne'er be one, that one for all;-- + By angel love the demon lust be driven, + And man set free from self's ignoble thrall. 1960 + Let not the mighty task thy mind appall. + What God hath done shall He not do again? + A day of power shall batter down the wall; + The willing heart shall rend the hampering chain; +And o'er this ransomed world, first Son, then Sire, shall reign. + + Proclaim the Dispensation of the End, + Era pre-destined, pre-ordained of yore, + When all of Christ's, on earth, in heaven, shall blend, + And build the Empire of the Evermore. + Ascendeth One who all things shall restore-- 1970 + The dead to life, the dew-drop to its source. + Spirit must reign, the carnal rule no more; + And this lest earth, winging the sunward course, +Unmeet for such a change, melt 'neath consuming curse. + + Smite thou that sin of self, which binds the world + In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong; + That sin most serpentine, round all men curled, + Within whose fatal fold earth writhes full long. + To loose the coil doth unto thee belong. + To free the soul from sordid tyranny, 1980 + Be sacrifice the burden of thy song. + Ay, sacrifice shall set the prisoner free, +And men this truth shall learn, that light is liberty. + + + + +CANTO SEVEN + +The Arcana Of The Infinite[1] + + +Flake upon flake, then slide succeeding slide, +The marvel and the wonder multiplied. + +Garnered in one vast mind[2] the glacial store, +The glittering avalanche of heavenly lore, +Whose living streams shall slake the burning thirst +Of time unborn, of nations yet unnurst; +Torrent of truth, river of prophecy, 1990 +Rolling through worlds to find fulfillment's sea. + +He stands, as Moses on the mystic mount, +Where knowledge pours from wisdom's purest fount; +Stands 'neath the droppings of the crystal eaves, +Stands on the loftiest summit man achieves, +Where light eternal--was, is, and to be-- +'Lumines the vistas of immensity, +The ultimates of human destiny. + +He walks and talks with God, as friend with friend; +He reads the Book of Time from end to end, 2000 +And in the Volume of Eternity +Peruses past and far futurity; +Ranges to realms of wider mystery-- +Ne'er-ending hope, ne'er-ending history; +While from all depths that sink, all heights that soar, +Come voices, visions, of the Evermore. +Like unto like, above, beneath, the skies, +Deep calls to deep, and faith to faith replies. + +He hears the solemn dispensations[3] chime, +From morn till eve, from birth to death, of time; 2010 +He notes the markings of the horologe, +The set times of the great unerring Judge; +Then sees those dispensations as they run +Their 'lotted course, like hours 'twixt sun and sun. +Wave after wave rolls o'er the shining sand, +Wave after wave breaks higher up the strand, +With all of weal or woe the ages send. +As sundered ocean tides that shoreward tend, +Now past and future o'er the present pend, +Till on the narrow isthmus sea meets sea, 2020 +And time no longer parts eternity. + +He hears the soundings of the trumpets seven[4], +Whose angels, stooping from the heights of heaven, +Proclaim, in tones to rend the echoing spheres, +The secrets of the Seven Thousand Years; +The secret of a book with seven seals, +That all of mortal mystery reveals; +Man's course, God's chronicle, life's tale told true, +Nor tinged with favor's tint, with hatred's hue; +Earth's week of history, whose sabbath chime 2030 +Summons to rest the weary soul of time. + +The Holy Order[5] that for aye hath reigned, +For loyal faith and lofty deeds ordained; +The all-creating, all-controlling chain, +Whereby the Gods perpetuate their reign, +Whereby the higher, bending, lift the lower; +Wielding the sceptre of Almighty Power, +Ruling by right the nations, ill aware +Whence came the thrones that have been, thrones that + are; 2040 +Which sets up one and puts another down, +Their fate proclaimed as fortune's smile or frown; +The power that reigns not save in righteousness, +Persuades in meekness, chastens but to bless; +The might of heaven, the pure and potent chain +Stainless, save mortal links their lustre stain, +And plunged through fire are purified again, +He sees extending through the storms of time, +Anchor and cable of a ship sublime. + +Pilots of life on death's fierce tempest tossed, 2050 +Love's legionaries, saviors of the lost; +A sacred army's solemn pride and boast, +The janissaries of the heavenly host; +The jeweled circlet of the Central Gem, +Jehovah's body-guard--the Gibborim. + +The guileless followers of the guiltless Lamb, +Of Israel ere Earth knew Abraham[6]; +Sealed in the forehead with the sacred Name, +Bearing the Ark of God, the Sword of Flame[7]; +Behold them coming, coming, as they came 2060 +Whene'er was kindled here the beacon blaze +By each Elias of the olden days! +Truth, error, shine and shadow[8], alternate, +As oft as mankind proves degenerate. + +But ever, as the day-beam sinks and dies, +The stars reset their lanterns in the skies; +And unto Moses in the wilderness +Comes greater light, succeeded by the less[9]. +Till truth the fulness of its ray restores, +And heaven o'er earth the holy unction pours, 2070 +By ministers upon each hemisphere,[10] +Sent to proclaim what every soul must hear. + +The promise past, fulfillment now is seen, +The Perfect Church[11], resplendent in the sheen +Of risen Righteousness, whose arm once more +Puts forth in power to rescue and restore. +Gray grows to crimson, crimson melts to gold, +And dawns the day by starry night foretold, +Whose lamps prophetic pale their silvery rays, +Lost in the golden light of Latter Days. 2080 +A twofold Church, a dual Bride he sees; +Time's the full reflex of Eternity's. + +Visioned the Dispensation of the End, +Where Zions meet, where dispensations blend, +And time's sad rivers cease their mighty moan +In sobbing requiem o'er his sunken throne, +Till death departs, and joy, from zone to zone, +Welcomes the rightful Heir unto his own. + +Visioned the Council of the Ancient One[12], +Where stars make ready for the rising Sun; 2090 +Where Adam yields the mortal world he won, +Unto the Sabbath Lord, till sabbath done, +And Sire receives the Kingdom from the Son. +Ere when, award of fulness is there none; +Though great ones gain the far celestial shore, +Shining and perfect as they shone before. + +'Lumed by the Lamp that giveth endless view, +Discerns he spirits false and spirits true; +Unmasking Satan with the keys of light[13], +That blind may see and deaf may hear aright, 2100 +A message marvelous to eyes and ears, +The rhythmic message of the songful spheres. + +"Truth is eternal!"--Thus the solemn voice-- +"'Twas not her birth made morning stars rejoice, +Nay, but her mission to a new-born sphere, +Whither, as oft, her shining bark would steer +With spirit crew, kin to the kingly race +Peopling the burning orbs of bourneless space. + +"Truth is eternal, endless as its God, +Author and framer of the changeless code, 2110 +Ever-returning, oft-repeating plan, +Redeeming from all worlds the race of man. +Life-saving line, far flung from heaven to earth, +To rescue souls--God's wealth, supremest worth-- +Rescue the fallen and the penitent, +Who else must bide in hopeless banishment. +Unending were their mortal prisonment, +Did ne'er truth's sunlight gild the gloomy sod, +Gospel of mercy, gift of the gracious God, +Who gave up life to bridge the dark gulf o'er, 2120 +And close its cruel jaws forevermore; +Love, striving with belief and unbelief, +Gleaning life's harvest to the latest sheaf. + +"A God whose glory is intelligence, +A God whose knowledge gives omnipotence, +Who makes, maintains, redeems, and glorifies, +Bending to lift the lowliest to the skies, +By triple lever, by the mystic birth, +By Three in heaven, the typed of three on earth: +Water, that signifies obedience, 2130 +Sure test of faith, true sign of penitence; +Spirit whereby the flesh is justified, +And blood, whereby the soul is sanctified;-- +Lifting by these, but not by these alone, +By every word from Him upon the Throne, +Spirit 'mid spirits, most intelligent[14], +Wherefore their Sovereign Sire benevolent, +Giver of life and light whereby the rest +Press on and on till all things are possessed. + +"Intelligence, eternal[15], uncreate, 2140 +Though God-begotten in the spirit state, +Where all creations see maturity, +Ere launched as souls upon the mortal sea, +To prove their worth, make choice 'twixt wrong and right, +And walk by faith as erst they walked by sight; +As free to sound the gulf as soar the height. + +"Man a divinity in embryo, +Who, ere he reign above, must serve below; +His spirit in earth element baptize, +For birth and death are baptism[16] to the wise. 2150 +The space that parts the lower from the higher, +Spanned by development of son to Sire, +Of daughter unto Mother's high estate, +Where man and woman are inseparate. + +"Time a probation; earth, through time, a school, +Where justice reigns, though oft the unjust rule. +Pain, trouble, toil, preceptors of the soul; +Death, birth, but portals to and from life's goal-- +Life's fount, where all as infant spirits sprang, +And sons of God in countless chorus sang, 2160 +Unheeding earthly sorrow[17]--parent pang +Of after joy, o'er which their triumph rang. + +"The fall, whereby the worlds are put in pawn, +And held in durance till redemption dawn, +A plan divine that changeth part to whole, +Immortal spirit to immortal soul. + +"Second estate[18] here interlinked with first, +For godliness where spirit life was nurst, +And Satan's rebel host, heaven's third, were sent +To unentabernacled banishment; 2170 +Tempters, beguilers, triers of the true, +Who now reap greater gain, or sadly rue +The loss of all, surrendering to him +Who warreth endlessly 'gainst Elohim, +And, shorn of glory, would all light bedim; +Where many, wrecked, to awful depths go down, +While few return to wear the waiting crown, +Reigning where others serve. + + "Each woe, each bliss, +In after worlds, the yield of life in this; 2180 +Here garnered are the fruits from fields of yore, +And sown the harvest of the evermore. + +"The called are not the chosen past mischance; +The sanctified to glorified advance, +And stewardship becomes inheritance. +Redemption free, for God hath paid the price; +All else man wins by toil and sacrifice. + +"As sun, or moon, or varying star[19], appears +Each heir of glory in those endless spheres: +Sun-like the souls that live celestial laws, 2190 +And moon-like they who at terrestrial pause-- +Who honor not the Saviour in the flesh, +But after, in the spirit realm, refresh +Their fainting, fettered lives at mercy's fount, +And, far as merit buoys them, upward mount; +Saved, glorified, by faith and penitence, +Made valid, through vicarious ordinance[20], +For all who Him believe, who Him obey, +And own in other worlds His sovereign sway. +Nor lost forever souls unsaved today: 2200 +Telestial they who taste the pangs of hell, +And pay guilt's debt ere they in glory dwell, +Twinkling as stars whose numbers none can tell. + +"Souls that to high celestial realms have won, +Dwell with the gods, beholding Sire and Son; +While bounds are set that bar terrestrial heirs +(With whom the Gracious One his presence shares), +And dwellers in the far telestial spheres, +To whom the Holy Spirit ministers. +God's servants these, but to His glorious home-- 2210 +The loftiest heights of heaven--they cannot come. + +"Justice and Mercy each shall have its own, +Nor one thrust other from the dual throne; +Each shoal and deep a final fullness see, +And like clasp like through all eternity. + +"But who shall sound the bottomless despair +Of one condemned the second death to share? +If, re-ensnared in Satan's subtle mesh, +A soul redeemed its Saviour pierce afresh, +Spurning the Spirit, scorning proffered ruth, 2220 +A traitor utterly to light and truth, +Then flames perdition's gulf, death's last abyss, +The lake of fire, all life's antithesis. +All power then powerless to change its plight; +For what avails the burnt-out lamp to light? +Justice can lay no blame on blameless shelves, +Nor mercy save when souls will damn themselves. + +"Twofold is death, but life has threefold sway; +What ne'er created was, endures alway. +The organized disorganized may be, 2230 +But not the life that lives undyingly. +Nothing bides nothing: that which is shall be; +Though form, not essence, change unceasingly. +Space, spirit, matter, all eternal are, +And death but on creation wages war. +Whate'er beginning had may have an end, +But life eternal doth itself defend. + +"Man's inmost spark, his being's primal fire, +As birthless and as deathless as its Sire,-- +No more the maker of that unmade germ 2240 +Than man the framer of the spirit form, +Born and begotten in the first estate, +God's creature, whom God's power can uncreate. +Spirit to spirit, dust to dust returns, +But bright intelligence forever burns, +Though banished from the presence of the light, +Exiled and wandering in the outer night, +Remembering past, and mourning present blight, +The end whereof, a mystery to man, +Unsolved while bending 'neath the mortal ban, 2250 +None but the doomed partaker e'er shall scan. + +"Higher than heaven, deeper than hell, profound, +His course wherein no crookedness is found-- +An onward, upward, never-ending round. + +"Comes forth all life at resurrection's call, +When soul immortal sheds its mortal thrall; +The just first rising, who with Christ shall reign, +While sinners tarry till He sounds again, +Late issuing, in shame and self contempt, +When Lucifer, unbound, shall newly tempt, 2260 +Still striving for a glory not his own, +Till by the Arm Almighty overthrown. + +"Spirit and body, blending, make the soul, +As halves, uniting, form the perfect whole. +Spirit and element, commingled, one, +Inheriting the Glory of the Sun, +Symbol a greater union yet to be, +When heaven and earth shall wed eternally, +And restitution's edict seal and bind +Eternal matter to eternal mind, 2270 +Like unto like, for night weds not with day, +And order's mandate e'en the gods obey. + +"The sealing of the sexes, mate to mate, +Earnest of exaltation's lofty state, +Where evermore they reign as queens and kings, +And endless union endless increase brings; +While serve as angels the unwedded ones, +Abandoning their right to royal thrones. + +"One are the human twain, as sheath and sword-- +Woman and man, the lady and the lord; 2280 +Each pair the Eve and Adam of some world, +Perchance unborn, or into space unhurled. + +"From endless spirit, endless element, +The worlds that glow in glory's firmament. +Created all and governed all by law, +Perfect they shine, or show sin's fatal flaw; +Their Maker's will obey or disobey, +And felons found a felon's debt[21] must pay; +While wiser orbs, obedient at school, +Are robed in radiance, and have learned to rule-- 2290 +Are lords of light, resplendent and supreme, +E'en as great Kolob 'mid the kokaubeam. + +"Earth a celestial law hath magnified[22], +And by that law shall she be sanctified, +And by the same shall she be glorified; +By fire refined, the gold from dross set free, +Shining forever as a crystal sea, +Celestial seer-stone[23], making manifest +All things below to souls upon her breast-- +Chosen, omniscient, children of the Sun, 2300 +Offspring of Adam, Michael, Ancient One, +Who comes anon his fiery throne to rear, +His council summoning from far and near. +Ten thousand times ten thousand bow the knee, +And "Father" hail him, "King," eternally. + +"For so are governed all those worlds of fire, +That chorus in a universal choir +The glory of the Lord Omnipotent, +Whose power hath framed through infinite extent +The splendors of the flashing firmament; 2310 +Sire of the universe, and King of Kings, +O'er countless realms; each dusty dot that springs +To blazing being, empire of a god, +Who equals Him, yet owns His sovereign rod, +The Central Scepter of Omnipotence, +The God of Gods, Supreme Magnificence, +Regnant o'er all that is or e'er shall be, +Throned on the summit of eternity. + +"Souls there above who once below all things, +All things inherit, and are priests and kings, 2320 +Pillars immovable, princes unto God, +No more outgoing from that high abode, +Where past and future present are alway, +And years a thousand even as a day". + +Who here have lived, or would have lived, the law[24], +Exalted, numbered with the gods, he saw, +One with the wisdom of Omniscience, +And glorious with All Intelligence. +So thorough and so just the perfect plan, +Weighing the motive with the work of man! 2330 + +Nor this the tithe of what those tongues unfold, +Nor tithe of tithe of what can ne'er be told. +As unto Judah's one and Joseph's three[25], +Who tasted of translation's ecstacy; +Or him who, spared from Babel's doom, beheld +Messiah's unclothed spirit[26], faith-compelled; +Or him of Tarsus, tranced, the triple seer[27] +Of things unlawful to be uttered here;-- +As unto souls like these was given to see +The marvel past, the mystery to be, 2340 +So upon him, their peer of modern days, +The Source of all-revealing sends its rays. + +Broken the fountains of the upper deep; +Opened the sepulchres where ages sleep; +The past, the future, now the present leaven; +With truth from earth blends righteousness from heaven, +Welding the parted links of being's chain, +Old making new, the dead live again. + +O message marvelous to eyes and ears! +Voices and visions of the mystic spheres! 2350 +Voices of noonday, visions of the night, +Whisperings of angels, and their presence bright! +Voice of the Architect of Life's vast Plan, +Speaking as God to God, as man to man! + + + + +CANTO EIGHT + +The Lifted Ensign[1] + + +Armed now with knowledge, panoplied with power, +With two-edged sword of God's authority, +Girded by heavenly hands on shepherds twain[2], +The first and second of a gathering flock, +Transcribers of the buried book of gold, +Whose mystic page, unsealed by gift divine, 2360 +Save part withheld of mightier mystery, +Now challenges the wise and wondering world;-- +Armed and equipt, with staff, and stone in sling, +Strong in the Lord, the God of Israel, +The dauntless David of a later day +Fares forth to meet the Giant of Untruth[3]. + +Thenceforth a warrior and a wanderer, +A victor hated for his victories; +Targe for the javelin of jealousy; +Hunted and hounded through the wilderness; 2370 +Outlawed by all, all save a loyal few, +The patient sharers of his painful lot, +Companions of his mortal pilgrimage, +Recalled with him, their earthly errand o'er, +To grace the courts of High Jerusalem. + +But ere a day for that departure dawns, +Unveiled once more the face of mystery. +Speaks from the musty tomb of buried time, +The all-remembering Spirit of the Past: + +"Time yet was young[4], but old iniquity, 2380 +Outcast of worlds redeemed, on earth was rife, +And, self-enchained, a fallen race lay prone +At feet of Lucifer. And demons laughed, +And hell rejoiced, and all that ribald host +Clapt hand, and danced and jeered derisively; +While gods and angels wept, their pitying tears +Whitening the spectral mountains cold and lone, +Wakening to virile springs a spirit waste. + +"And there the sainted commonweal[5] arose, +Haven divine, hill of the sanctified, 2390 +Oasis-like 'mid burning sands of sin; +God's people, pure in heart, and one in all, +No poor among them, pride and greed unknown; +Saved by the tidings first to Adam taught, +And next to Enoch's generation told. + +"Righteous, they dreamt no evil, feared no ill, +And death, the universal doom, defied. +Earth not their pillow; they shall one day pass +From mortal to immortal painlessly. + +"Self's chain was sundered[6]; devils glared aghast, 2400 +And gnashed their teeth with disappointed rage, +Trembling in terror lest perdition's pit +Engulf them ere the time. Then gathering power, +As if for Armageddon's conflict[7] dire, +When triumphs Michael o'er the foe unchained, +Hell's molten belch of burning hatred hurled +Upon those hapless sons of earth who scorned +The refuge of the righteous; her bright towers, +Far-beaming with terrestrial radiance[8]-- +The promise fair of full celestial change,-- 2410 +Bidding the vile beware, nor venture near +The awful mountain of God's holiness. + +"Waxed foul the world in wickedness, piled high +A hideous monument of shame and crime, +Which, toppling with its own weight, crashing fell, +Whelming in ruin the guilty race of man, +Whose spirits, as fierce seas their dust devoured, +By fiercer fiends to dungeon deeps were driven. +Nor thence redeemed till He who died for all +Soared from the cross to set the captive free[9]. 2420 + +"The while, on fearless wings of purity, +Cleaving as bird or ransomed soul the air, +The sainted city entered into rest, +Envied of Babel, climbing robber-like[10]; +Bride of the Highest, midway hovering, +Till folded in the bosom of the Gods, +Where Zions from unnumbered worlds have fled. +Type temporal of spirit antitype, +A future moral height foreshadowing. + +"Foreseen the fatal deluge. Ere the doom 2430 +Of all save faithful Noah and his seven,-- +Tri-branching tree[11] of race regenerate, +Yielding anew life's fruit and foliage,-- +Earth mourned as Rachel, Rizpah, o'er the slain, +The slain of men unborn, who yet must die +Degenerate in the days that were to be. + +"Then Enoch wept, and sued in sympathy, +And God gave answer thus: + + 'Earth yet shall rest, +And, sanctified, shall see her Saviour reign, 2440 +Monarch of worlds, His realms as ocean sands. +But it shall be within the latter days, +The days of vengeance and of wickedness, +When men the Sole-begotten crucify, +And He shall go again to judge the world, +Proclaimed by truth, forerun by righteousness, +Gathering the pure-in-heart unto a place-- +A holy place my people shall prepare, +There to await my coming, mine and thine. +Then shown the resurrection's shadowing: 2450 +Zion above, from all creations past, +Shall meet and blend with Zion from below; +Spirits and bodies of the just shall join, +And in the midst my tabernacle be. +Yea, as I live, so will I forth again, +My oath to thee, my covenant, to fulfill; +And earth shall garb in glory of her God, +And Noah's righteous seed in Me rejoice.'" + +These things spake God to Moses, from the mount +Whose name is veiled to ken of humankind; 2460 +And thus that prophet, but through unbelief +And cunning craftiness, at war with Light, +The fulness of his message sleeps till now, +When one like unto him[12] and Him he typed, +Brings forth the buried meaning from its grave. + +On twain of ocean-parted hemispheres, +Saw noon of time a twofold type[13] of peace, +A pledge, a token, of millennial rest, +An earnest of the Commonweal to come; +But no fulfillment of the promise old, 2470 +No ripe fruition of the ancient oath, +To Enoch sworn, through Moses re-affirmed, +By Ephraim's prophet made to live again. + +--- + +Promise now sought fulfillment[14],--it was time; +For weary earth lay groaning 'neath her load. +"Unclean, unclean," her cry, as leprous sin +With foul intent clasped close her shrinking form, +And baned with foetid breathing all her soul. + +Long she had mourned and wept o'er life's decay; +Her waning strength, from age and weariness, 2480 +Her mother powers, unholy passion's prey, +Bringing, in lieu of giants, pygmies forth, +To fall untimely on her withered breast. +Dwindling and dwarfed in all save wickedness, +And knowledge, oft made pander unto ill, +With learning gorged, for wisdom famishing, +Man both a glutton and a starveling seemed. + +For Self, the sordid, sat once more enthroned, +Binding in servile chains a universe, +Where mightily men strove for place and fame, 2490 +Greedy for power, as gluttonous for gold. +And who sought neighbor's weal, save kith and kin +Or petted friendling prest a favored claim? + +Disorder reigned, and satire laughed to scorn +Grotesque, invidious inconsistency: +Talent on title waiting, brain on birth! +Genius at oars, and dullards at the helm! +The prancing war-steed fastened to the plow, +The ass unto the chariot--oft with rein, +Curbing the mettled courser's noble rage, 2500 +Or goading him with needless cruelty! + +Matter was monarch; Spirit stood apart, +Unknown, unseen, or spurned and thrust aside +By thronging myriads, bending supple knee, +And basking in the proud usurper's smile. + +Men bowed not down to sun and moon and stars, +To bird, nor beast, nor reptile, as of yore; +But worshipt still at other creature shrines, +Ignoring the Creator's primal claim. + +Pride sneered at poverty--if poor of purse, 2510 +But gave its hand to beggared intellect, +To bankrupt soul, and greeted them as peers. +Learning, if lowly pillowing its head, +A pauper deemed, and pitied or condemned. +And many, stung by adder glance of scorn, +Shunning a life of noble toil and care, +To Mammon, e'en in marriage, sold themselves, +Offering a lawless fire at passion's shrine, +Or staining hands and heart with sabler sins. + +Shameful the serfdom of the earth-bound soul, 2520 +Base passion's basest slave and prisoner; +Charmed by no music but the clink of coin; +Cankered and crusted o'er with avarice; +Dupe, dreaming shadow real, and substance show. + +Where party more than principle was prized, +Where private gain was labeled "public good," +And "patriotism" masked hypocrisy, +Science, when sordid, or subservient +To worldly ends, to aims material, +Stood pedestaled and robed in honors rare: 2530 +While art fell fainting at the patron's door, +Or starved and froze in cheerless attic den. + +For aye the flesh must first be comforted, +And e'en the body's luxuries abound, +Ere mind of man may clothe its nakedness, +Or hungering heart and spirit have their own. + +Music, the drama, all art, still divine, +Though oft to ends ignoble basely bent, +In atmospheres miasmic, fever-fraught, +To folly pandering and to lechery; 2540 +Or using gifts God-lent for good of all, +Gain's maw to glut, fame's lust to gratify. +Forgot the Giver, and adored the gift, +As in the pagan days of olden time. + +And thou, where thou, O sage philosophy, +Heir to a hundred shadows of thy name! +Where thy spent waves on speculation's strand? +Still striving, finite for the infinite, +Man groping for the mystery of God, +A river that would fain engulf the sea! 2550 + +Religion dead, and poesy so deemed, +Because unwedded to a carnal age, +Unprostituted to its paltry aims, +Or hid beneath vast verbal rubbish heaps, +The dust and debris of the former fires. +Religion dead, but bigotry alive, +And ne'er more active upon earth than now, +When sect 'gainst sect in battle order stood, +And schisms and dissensions multiplied. +Some worshipt nothing, naming it a god; 2560 +Some deemed the mortal dust a thing divine; +Religious, irreligious, bigotry, +Each counted victims by the hecatomb. + +What wonder, when truth's meanings tortured were, +The living God dethroned, and in His stead, +A monster crouching on the Mercy Seat, +Whose mere caprice, naught else, did save or damn? +Wafting the blood-stained criminal to bliss, +If he but gasped, half hung, the holy Name? +Thrusting the spotless infant into hell, 2570 +If un-elect, or unbaptized for sin! +To endless woe or weal forefating all. +What wonder justice, reason, stood aghast, +While faith, revolting, rushed to doubt's extreme? + +Critics, high-soaring, sought to clip the wings +Of arrogance in all creeds save their own. +Half-fledged conclusion, findings premature, +Grounded on tale of rock or ruin old, +More credence had, more reverence, from men, +Than sacred lore of heaven-lit centuries. 2580 +All miracle was myth, nor aught worth while, +Save, leaded down with learned theories, +It crawled, an earth-worm, wanting will to climb +Above the level of the commonplace. + +Fanatics in the state as in the church, +Their prejudices palmed for principle, +Vain vagaries and dreams for doctrine sound; +And woe to him who lisped of liberty, +Or thought aloud one thought unthought before! +Freedom to think and breathe--God-granted boons, 2590 +Alike, to savage, serf, and citizen-- +Was all that freedom signified to some, +Who, as they doled a gift already given, +Boasted themselves magnanimous and wise. +Freedom to speak and act as conscience bade, +As God commanded, crushed or captive bound, +E'en where men vaunted most of liberty. + +And peace was yet a dream unrealized, +For war still sowed and reaped his harvests red; +And Christian guns were mightiest and slew most. 2600 + +Nor yet stood toil 'gainst capital arrayed, +The starving masses 'gainst the Midases, +As erst arose, 'gainst moss-grown old regimes, +The trampled Terror[15], scrawling with fierce hand +On history's flaming scroll his red revenge, +With that blood-reeking pen, the guillotine; +Nor yet faced frowning mass contemning class[16], +Jeering, oblivious of the lurking doom, +The glooming clouds where groaned the gathering storm. +But murderous craft and oath-bound anarchy, 2610 +With secret deeds of darkness, had begun +To sap the life of human government, +And plot against the safety of mankind; +While greeds and lusts and passions manifold, +Preying on frailty and on innocence, +Ran riot 'mid the fairest, brightest, best. + +Where, promise, thy fulfillment, pledged of yore? +'Twas time--full time--the far-seen ensign waved, +Hailing the morn on heights of holiness, +Proclaiming peace and freedom to the world. 2620 +'Twas time disorder fled, time justice reigned, +And rightfully were held dominion's keys; +Time pure religion's sceptre should return, +By poesy extolled, by art adorned, +With science and with reason reconciled; +Time feeble earth her panacea found, +Time health gave life its old longevity, +Time pride should bend, time lust to love should yield, +And self confess the joy of sacrifice. +'Twas time an Enoch came[17], a Zion rose. 2630 + +Sound, trump of God! as when old Jordan's wave +Shook with the thunder-tread of Joshua's host, +Shook with the shouting and the trumpet blasts, +Heard the loud roar of crumbling Jericho, +And in mad haste ran shuddering to the sea! +Speak now the doom foreshadowed by that fall-- +The mightier doom of Modern Babylon: + +Bow down thy head, proud mistress of the world! +Humble thy haughty crest, degenerate queen! +Lift but thine eyes to where God's finger glows 2640 +In fiery warning on thy festal wall, +Drowning in dread the voice of revelry, +Thy saturnalia's ribald shout and song. +Ended thine empire, Weighed-and-Wanting-Found! +Down to the dust in all thy worldliness, +Thou thing of brass, of iron, and of clay! +Sound, trumpet, sound! The looked-for signal looms! +The fateful stone upon the image rolls! + +"On you, my fellow servants, I confer +The priestly power of Aaron, with the keys 2650 +Of angel ministries, of penitence, +Of water-birth that washes free from sin. +And greater things than these shall yet be given-- +The holier powers of high Melchizedek, +Which Mightier by three shall minister." + +And on each head was laid a holy hand[18]; +Time making good the promise plighted there, +Welding another link in wonder's chain, +Writing new chapters of a story strange, +Confounding human learning, fools and wise. 2660 + +--- + +So came once more the panoply of power[19]. +So rose the ensign o'er a waiting world. + +Armed thus with knowledge and authority, +Armed and equipt, with staff, and stone in sling, +Fares forth a champion for Israel, +To grapple with Philistia and prevail. + +Guide unto God, repointer of the path, +Untrodden through a thousand years nigh twained, +The while men roamed, as once o'er trackless wild, +The savage, by the untaught trapper trained; 2670 +Blind leading blind through thick and thorny wold. + +Light 'mid the darkness, beam from heaven's full blaze, +Driving the mists, that comprehended not +His brightness nor their own obscurity; +Holding him blind who saw as few have seen. +He, blind, forsooth, who more than all beheld! + +Sinking deep shafts to mines of mystery, +Shallow and empty to the worldly wise; +Soaring to heights by human lore undreamt, +Yet deemed an earth-mole, groping, groveling. 2680 + +Aloft, alone, an exile among men, +A wanderer in a solitary way, +Pariah of prejudice and unbelief, +Whose lowering features fiercely on him frowned. +Thought's prisoner and truth's, that maketh free +The spirit, though the body pine in chains, +Albeit the tongue, the pen, in durance be, +Consigned to silence, captive unto light, +And crucified betwixt ideal and real. + +But who art thou that lookest forth sublime, 2690 +A soul upsoaring as from sepulture, +Body and spirit pure and free from stain, +As gold and silver tried by seven-timed fire? + +Speak! Art not thou the Woman Wonderful[20], +Summoned from out the silent wilderness, +Arisen from the grave of centuries, +No more to be despoiled or trodden down? +A symbol of exalted sanctity, +The consecration of the contrite heart; +Of ancient types the modern complement, 2700 +Chief splendor of time's sparkling firmament, +Whose silver stars bespoke this sun of gold. + +But when did darkness comprehend the day? +When welcomed pleasure thorn-crowned sacrifice, +Whose higher, holier joys than sin can know, +As dust and ashes to the sensual soul? +Jewels to swine, that, turning, rent the hand, +And fain 'neath foot had torn and trampled all. +Such was Truth's fate, alas! in modern time, +'Mid Christian men;--but not her final fate. 2710 + +For who can stay the sun-like march of Truth? +Who dim with bloody hand her beam divine? +First shall he halt the progress of the stars, +The bright procession of the infinite; +Blot out the day-beam, dull the scythe of time, +Shear morning's wings, roll back eternal night, +Or shake the moveless throne of destiny. + +Lifted an ensign never to be furled, +Unsheathed a falchion evermore to flame, +Till earth-born realms, in one wide empire rolled, 2720 +Hail conquering Christ as life and light of all. + + + + +CANTO NINE + +Upon The Shoulders of The Philistine[1] + + +The Eaglet's nest is empty[2]--void the lair +Of the young Lion. Where, O Ephraim, where? + +Where billows break along a storied strand[3], +Heroic wave, a fair and favored land. +Realm of a rising glory--this thy name! +The cradle of the Kingdom--this thy fame! + +There rose the morn--though flecked with fire and blood-- +The morn benign of human brotherhood, +Foredestined to a passing cloud's eclipse. 2730 + +Self-trammeled cause, harried by hounds and whips +Of persecution, whose infuriate maw, +Usurping oft the form and force of law,-- +To lawless hands a far too ready rod,-- +Had fain engulfed the growing work of God. + +Widowed, bereft, a land left desolate, +A wounded bird that mourns a driven mate, +The plumage from its bleeding body torn, +And scattered wide o'er realms remote, forlorn. + +On, Ephraim, on! thy pilgrim flight renew. 2740 +Land of the Sun--Shinea's land[4]--adieu! + +Yet stay! Ere storm could burst, was visioned there, +Within the portal of the House of Prayer, +A promise, a fulfillment, long foretold: +Elias and Messias there behold! +With angel keepers of the ancient keys +Of gathering and of sealing mysteries. +Haloed with fire, while burns the heavenly glow, +Upon the Prophet they their powers bestow[5]. + +Speed then swift messengers his face before, 2750 +To blaze his sacred name on every shore; +Chosen and missioned from the sending skies, +The slumbering nations to evangelize. +Resounds 'gainst error's shield truth's ringing lance, +Unlettered light 'gainst learned ignorance; +Priestcraft dethroned, by Priesthood downward hurled, +While ancient thunder shakes the modern world. + +Already, to redeem red Laman's bands[6], +Have virile footprints prest those virgin lands, +Where westering empire, in creative might, 2760 +Rolls a new world upon the wondering sight; +Where flower-starred prairies, in the far extent, +Kiss with soft lips the bending firmament, +And sea-like rivers, solitary, lone, +Pour their proud waters toward the burning zone. + +Land of all lands the rarest[7], where shall rise,-- +Mirrored magnificence of earth and skies, +Each gate a pearl, each pinnacle a gem,-- +The jasper walls of New Jerusalem; +The golden glory of the hemispheres, 2770 +Jehovah's throne through all the Thousand Years. +The land where Adam fell, where Enoch rose, +Where time began and history shall close. + +Thereto and thence, by brand and fagot driven, +His fault to man, his fealty to heaven, +With here and there, perchance, an idle word +Vainglorious zeal or vengeful might afford, +Flies Ephraim, scorched and scourged, from Japheth's + wrath[8], +Pushed on and on o'er steep and thorny path, 2780 +Whipt, plundered, wounded, bleeding, to the goal, +Where joy in fullness crowns the conquering soul. + +Then hath not war, that bringeth woe and pain, +The right betimes, like gentle peace, to reign? +What strife, what tempest, wreaks its wrath in vain? +Prosperity and persecution blend, +As sun and storm, faith's branch with fruit to bend. +Twain are the shoulders[9] of the Philistine, +That Israel onward bear, as breeze and brine +The tempest-driven bark that safe o'er sea 2790 +Carried calm Caesar[10] and his destiny. +Progression fails with opposition's flight, +And darkness is but handmaid unto light. + +Mistrustful of "the law of liberty[11]," +Sounding from far the doom of slavery, +Maddened by jealous fear, the Gentile sees +Peril in purling stream, in whispering breeze, +Telling of wondrous thrift, of mystic power, +Of spirit gifts--the Bride's becoming dower; +Sees menace[12] in that migrant fold's increase, 2800 +A menace to his power, his pride, his peace; +And, as of old, when Egypt's despot frowned +On Jacob's increase, growth from fruitful ground, +Or when fell Herod, fain to slay life's Lord, +Pierced Rachel's bosom with unpitying sword; +With feigned or real suspicion of intent +That could but lurk in minds by malice bent, +And ne'er found lodgment in the dreams of those +Now fearfully beset by whelming foes, +Force joins with fraud, impelled by lust of crime, 2810 +And innocence bewails the evil time. + +A second Pharaoh now o'er Israel see! +A Herod[13] in the home of Liberty! +Where wingÄ•d Nemesis shall find her own, +Gathering the whirlwind[14] where the wind was sown. + +Friendless, unsheltered, forth the exiles go, +Lit by their burning homes athwart the snow, +Till crimson footprints stamp the frozen path, +And icy billows bar them from the wrath +Of cruel fiends, whose fellows, masked as men, 2820 +Where languish sons of light in darksome den, +Gloat, while they guard, and flout with jest obscene +The helpless victims of that heartless scene; +Exulting foully, boastingly, the while, +O'er deeds none else than devils would defile. + +Till patience, past enduring, dures no more; +Heard, above jackal's yell, the lion's roar. +Thunders and flames Jehovah's threatening rod, +And shakes the dungeon[15] with the wrath of God-- +A lightning tongue to scorch His cowering foes, 2830 +And scourge them to the kennels whence they rose. +When known such power, such might of word and will, +Since Christ bade tempest sleep and waves be still? + +Free, whereso'er he wends, is hope renewed, +Demons unhoused, disease and death subdued[16]. + +Where Sire of Waters[17] sweeps o'er silvery sands, +Prest by the pilgrim feet of many lands, +Aloft, alone, a sacred city stands. +City, mother of many[18], none more rare, +A blossoming waste shall yield, now burnt and bare; 2840 +City, mother of empire, famed as fair, +Whose birth the solemn muse must yet declare. + +Where groaned the land with dread malarial ill, +Healed by a hand divine, o'er vale and hill +See roof and dome and glittering fane arise! +Unworldly link[19], rewelding Earth and Skies! + +Then comes Elijah's mightier mission[20] forth, +And mortal vows take on immortal worth, +Kindling anew hope's ever living fires, +Turning the mutual hearts of sons and sires, 2850 +While doors to spirit dungeons open swing, +That love to light the living dead may bring! + +But gaze from sinking unto soaring sun! +Beyond the wave the conquering word hath won +Past horrent hosts of Lucifer that rose, +With wrath of man, the message to oppose. +Vain strife, where fiends archangels would assail, +Warring 'gainst mightiness that must prevail-- +Prevail to save a periled ship. 'Tis done; +The crisis past[21] with Albia stormed and won; 2860 +East floweth West--"The Gathering" hath begun. + +And now, to fruitful lands, 'neath favoring skies, +Befriended by the just[22], the brave, the wise, +Till truth, too mighty for the common ken, +Hath put a sword betwixt the souls of men, +Fares garnered Ephraim, earliest offering[23] +Of Israel's hope, Idumea's harvesting. + +Nations besprent with Abrahamic blood +Meet there and mingle in that widening flood. +Impelled by helping hand or hostile power, 2870 +By friendly looks or frowns that darkly lower, +Gathers the flock of faith from every land +Where roving Ephraim mixt with Japheth's band; +Philistia's shoulder bearing Israel's flight, +That Japheth, too, may come to Zion's light, +And Joseph be o'er all his brethren blest, +A saviour in his Egypt of the West[24], +Where corn and wine, 'mid famine, comfort life, +Where peace and plenty shame a world at strife, +And, bending from the ice-barred North, shall come-- 2880 +As bent their stars in his, the dreamer's dome-- +Assyria's long lost captives[25], wending home. + +Westward, far westward, chase the lingering night, +Impelling Spirit! Angel of the Light! +Westward, still westward, till the morn shall burn +In high meridian glory; till shall turn +Fate's restless tide, re-rolling o'er the East, +Spoiling the spoiler, spreading freedom's feast, +Foiling dark anarchy, thy fellest foe, +Land, chosen land! stunned, staggering 'neath its blow; 2890 +Rallying the loyal[26] in a common cause, +Rending the eagle from the bear's red claws; +Hurling invasion backward o'er the Isles, +Building anew upon the olden piles, +Beginnings of the crowning commonhood-- +A modern Zion where the ancient stood. + +Backward, roll backward, river of the blood! +Back to thy fountain, hurrying human flood-- +To Adam's land, the far Edenic shore; +For last is first and old is new once more, 2900 +And nations rise where nations fell before! + +Joseph, uprisen from the grave-like mound, +His ancient and inglorious battle ground[27], +Retreads with modern step the painful path +Where erst he fled[28], a fugitive from wrath; +Fated to flee till ebbs that westward flow, +Bearing from Japheth bitter curse and blow, +While patient heaven holds off the woeful fate +That cometh swift and layeth desolate +The powers that prey on Jacob--all that hate 2910 +The God of Joseph, and the just decree +That builds him here a boundless destiny. + +Westward, burn westward, morn divinely bright! +Morn of Jehovah, morn of Jacob's might! +But stand thou still on Zion, glorious light! +For there must dawn the day that knows no night. + +Beginnings that have here in beauty stood, +Prone, as from withering fire or wasting flood, +A little season wrecked and ruined lie[29], +Till they that build put pride and passion by, 2920 +And, taught by pain, through suffering's fiercest fires, +Part with all lustful, covetous desires. + +When faith shall wear the armor without flaw, +And union such as sainted Enoch saw[30] +Honors the fullness of celestial law, +Then--sword of God and blade of Gideon, +Dazzling, confounding, driving on and on, +Till besomed as with fire the fated land, +Where Zion, guileless, glorious, shall stand, +A terror only to her trembling foes[31], 2930 +Ensign of peace and Eden of repose, +Where life's tree blossoms and light's fountain flows. + +Meanwhile her valiant ones, her tried and true +Daughters and sons, shall they not dare and do? +In vain, alas! in vain of such to sing, +With trembling hand a tuneless harp I string. +For who can count the cost, the painful price, +Measure the sorrow and the sacrifice, +Rare spirits of a more than Spartan race +Compelled their souls of halting dread to face? 2940 +Harp of the Hebrew seer! Be thine to break +The muse's slumber, bid the world awake, +And glow o'er deeds yet done for conscience' sake. +What tongue than Zion's own can loose the spell? +Whose voice than modern Leah's, Rachel's, tell +The story of a burden borne so well? + +Bending, not breaking, 'neath thy load of care, +Sowing to joy, thou shalt not reap despair! +Planting the hope of human purity, +That righteousness may crown futurity,-- 2950 +Patience! endure! for pain shall bring thee power[32]. +Time but a dream--eternity thy dower. +Where perfect love casts forth the jealous fear, +A diamond in thy diadem each tear; +And every sigh that rent thy suffering breast, +A wave of rapture on the shores of rest. +My lot as thine, purest of pure-in-heart! +Be mine the bitter as the better part. + +But sorrows else have shadowed all things there; +The voice of mourning drowns the voice of prayer. 2960 +Dampened e'en now with death's prophetic dew, +Thy cold, pale brow, O fated, fair Nauvoo! + +Remains for thee no peace, for thine no rest, +Till on the parching plain, the frozen crest; +A desert land of unlocked mystery, +Frowning on hope, and dumb to history. + +Yet ere the burning wilderness be won, +Shines down on other deeds the shuddering sun. +City of Joseph[33]! Look! from 'leaguered walls, +Where Calvary's crimson light on Carthage falls! 2970 + +Ere murderous fate the martyr's bolt hath sped, +While deepening darkness glooms a sky of lead, +And thundrous threatenings tone their notes of dread, +Looms to the fore an archangelic form, +A sunlit summit shining o'er the storm; +A towering rock above the rushing tide +Of eager souls that surge on every side, +Where living waters from the fountain play, +And glowing words light up the darkened way. + +Undaunted 'neath the shadow of his doom, 2980 +Calm as a statue, solemn as a tomb, +Heedless of self, while hoarsely rumbles near +Hate's fiery flood, that alien to all fear, +That more than man, nor less than godlike soul, +Erect upon life's summit, at death's goal, +Unlocks time's portal, swings the future's gate, +And opes to Ephraim's gaze his glorious fate. + +O diver in the days and years to be! +Searching the caves of that prophetic sea, +What bringest from the deeps of destiny? 2990 + + + + +CANTO TEN + +The Parted Veil[1] + + + Choice Seer, with spirit eye did he behold + The sanguine scene that told his tragic fate? + Surged by the flood of grief and shame that rolled + Above the murdered honor of a State[2], + Where innocence again fell prey to hate? + There be who say he visioned all to come-- + Forsaken cities, weeping, desolate, + The desecrated fane, the blazing dome[3], +The weary wanderings far in quest of peace and home. + + Saw, then, a tender hopeful tragedy 3000 + (Pathetic omen of his tribe's increase) + Uncurtained 'neath the star-hung canopy: + Babes, new-born babes[4], there slumbering in a fleece + Of moon-lit frost, as buds that bide release, + When winter casts its mantle white and cold, + Protecting life where life hath seemed to cease; + Frail lambs, fresh penned within the Saviour's fold, +And, like Him, manger-nurst, homeless on earth's threshold. + + Homeless a nursing nation, born e'en so-- + Born in a day. O Day! and eyes of Night! 3010 + Watch now the "little one" "a thousand"[5] grow, + As grows the torrent from the trickling height, + The blaze of noonday from the dawning light;-- + The birth-throes of an empire, whose blest reign, + Bounding from lowliness, soars past the sight + Of all save prophecy, while cities twain[6] +Sceptre the universe, with foot on land and main! + + Whose but a prophet's eye such end could see? + Whose but a prophet's tongue the issue tell?-- + A modern march of ancient destiny, 3020 + Another Exodus and Israel, + Bidding his bonds, his all, save hope, farewell; + Widening, 'mid alien wastes, true freedom's fame, + Where bondage, chained to darkness, fain would dwell[7]; + And rearing temples to Jehovah's name, +Where looms the Aztec's altar[8], quenched of its ancient flame. + + There bringing forth the promise of thy land, + O rare and wondrous West!--the prophecy + Of glittering cities strewn along thy strand, + O golden empire[9] of the sunset sea! 3030 + God-gifted Seer, while gazing endlessly, + Sawest thou an Eden on the desert brine[10], + Begirt with desolation's mystery, + Ere gusht the riven rock with milk and wine, +Where all was treeless waste and sun-baked alkaline? + + Sawest thou, O prophet! till the pioneer + Builded his eagle nest, and pure and brave + Homed on the white-helmed peak and crystal mere? + O matchless land--the home their valor gave, + Mighty in will to bless, in work to save, 3040 + Redeemed, redeeming, all must own thy worth! + Slander may wound thee, tyranny enslave, + Still thou art mine, loved land of all the earth, +Land of the honey-bee[11], land of my mortal birth! + + Land prest by footprint of my pilgrim sire[12]; + Land visioned by my more than sire, whose soul + Swept the far future with a glance of fire, + Bade hope, as memory, her page unroll; + Beheld uplifting, as a parted scroll, + The curtain from a kingdom yet to be, 3050 + Binding in one world-realms from pole to pole; + Saw monarchs bow, saw nations bend the knee, +Saw dead and risen time take on eternity. + + "Hear me, my people[13]! I shall not be slain + While unfulfilled my mission? Then, like Him + Who holds my hand, linked in an endless chain, + Which cannot die, whose light can ne'er grow dim, + Must I return to Home and Elohim. + Though here I fain would linger--human choice! + If weal to friend or foe--ay, e'en to them, 3060 + Might purchased be, with my poor life the price, +Welcome, thrice welcome death. I will the sacrifice. + + "Nor marvel at my mood. Could you but gaze + Upon the wonders of the worlds of God, + Where burn, amid the universal blaze, + The Father's fullness and the Son's abode, + Won by their feet who walk the rightful road, + Nor weary in well-doing; 'twere alone + Reward for all that here hath been your load. + Forgive--leave all to heaven, whose highest Throne 3070 +Made endless love to endless life the stepping stone. + + "Hearken, O House of Joseph! Here must end + My mortal toil. Now, as from Nebo's height[14], + I see, like him of old, my day descend. + But looms afar upon my sinking sight + Another Canaan. Clothe for pilgrim flight. + A Joshua cometh! Him let Israel heed, + And loyal be unto that council's right + On whom the Kingdom rolls; for they must lead +To where privation's hand shall sow dominion's seed. 3080 + + "A glacier's might, your gathered strength shall stand, + Stalwart upon the mountains[15], and shall send + Swift messengers to sound o'er sea and land + Last warning to the nations. Hither wend + Awakening hosts, who eager hearing lend + While yet the voice of grace, the voice of God, + Summons the house of Abraham his friend; + Calls them the wave to cleave, the wild to plod, +On, on to that safe rest, ere falls the reckoning rod. + + "For war shall wound[16] this nation--rend it wide, 3090 + And trample nations all. Anon shall slaves + 'Gainst masters rise, and anarchy o'erride + Till tyranny be trodden as the paves, + Till patriot might puts forth its hand and saves + The crimsoned land from chaos. Hearken, all! + When ruin's host the blood-red banner waves, + Who heeded first the Gospel's warning call +Shall be the last of realms to crumble and to fall. + + "Britannia! Thou among the during ones, + A nursing mother unto Israel's might; 4000 + Foremost to send thy daughters and thy sons + From shores afar, from darkness unto light. + As thou hast favored truth and 'friended right, + Their tongues shall plead for thee in time to come, + And nerve thine arm when perilous thy plight. + Borne on thy shoulder o'er the billowing foam, +Joseph and Judah find their heritage, their home. + + "I saw, while justice showed the vision dire, + Till mercy's hand let fall the lifted veil, + The goal of the ungodly--blood and fire, 4010 + Earthquake and whirlwind, pestilential hail + Smiting earth's face with desolating flail. + And this, the mere beginning of their woe, + Whose final fate a doom the damned bewail; + While they that follow Christ, anon shall go +To guide and save lost souls, groping in shades below. + + "Good fears not evil--grapples with it strong, + Hell turns to heaven, the unclean purifies; + For evil is but good, the right bent wrong. + No weakling unto loftiest worlds can rise; 4020 + No coward e'er hath scaled celestial skies; + 'Tis strength that wins the goal of blessedness, + 'Tis knowledge saves, 'tis wisdom glorifies; + Intelligence alone can lift and bless +The fallen, innocent till snared in sin's duress. + + "What matter, if my mortal race be run, + Where earth enfolds me to her mother breast? + While ye, my people--yonder setting sun + Points out your path. For you, no peace, no rest, + Till firm your weary feet upon the West, 4030 + Where, moveless as yon snowy spine of hills, + Befriended by the tempest, unopprest, + And bounteous as the sun that sends the rills +To bless the vales, God's first-born fold[17] His purpose fills. + + "Affliction here, but friendship there and peace; + (More cruel Christian white than savage red), + And in a day when warning tongues shall cease, + And plain be seen what prophets all have said; + When peace shall have no pillow for her head, + Save lofty heights where loyal hosts abound; 4040 + Brave sons of battling sires[18], who toiled and bled + That this might evermore be freedom's ground, +Shall give to you their strength God's Kingdom here to found. + + "Bide mountain-walled, my people! stalwart, strong, + Till poureth down from hallowed founts on high, + The might that doth to righteousness belong, + The might of faith, the power of purity-- + Despair and terror to iniquity. + Then, Ephra-Judah, who the hand shall bind + That clears thy path before thee? Foes shall fly 4050 + As driven dust, as ashes in the wind; +The crouching Lion springs, and He the prey shall find. + + "And by that power[19] shall Zion be redeemed, + Yea, with a mighty hand, an out-stretched arm, + With marvels, miracles, ne'er done nor dreamed + Since wonder oped her eyes. The world's alarm + Shall surge, an angry sea; but fear nor harm + Can hover near the conquering host of God. + 'Gainst Lucifer's shall Michael's legions form, + Besoming the chosen soil with chastening rod, 4060 +Till sainted towers arise on Eden's ancient sod. + + "The place appointed. Naught else is designed; + Naught else can heaven accept. Put forth the hand, + Plant stakes of Zion, tight her cords to bind, + Where'er ye move, O fated pilgrim band! + But bring forth Zion's self on Zion's land[20]; + The consecrated soil, whereon ye stood + With me, of late, loyal while treason fanned + The flame still thirsting for a martyr's blood. +There build, in time to be, a city unto God. 4070 + + "Nor there alone; for all is Zion's land, + North unto South, East unto Western wave, + Far as the hemisphere's wide wings expand, + She sits, a sovereign queen, ice-crowned, to lave + Her glowing hands in tropic tides, while brave + Her snowy feet in faith the southern sea. + Arm patient, slow to smite, yet swift to save, + A friend to right, a foe to tyranny. +And there be living now who then shall live and see. + + "While here the glory of the Common Good[21], 4080 + Shadowed and symboled by a patriot band, + Whose triumph wrought for human brotherhood, + Extending that high cause from strand to strand, + Shall bring deliverance unto every land. + But anarchy would foil the lofty aim, + The peace, the union, by Jehovah planned; + Wherefore 'tis doomed to failure and to shame, +With all unrighteous rule, whate'er its place or name. + + "The sceptered harlot,[22] throned on human seas, + Chief link of Satan's world-encircling chain; 4090 + The secret craft and crime--iniquities + Whereby the Wicked One extends his reign; + All these must perish from the Lord's domain, + Nor aught of guile be found His Kingdom through. + Truth's sun hath risen--all lesser lights must wane; + And wrong and false that masks as right and true, +Shall feel the scourge of flame that Sodom's sin o'erthrew. + + "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 damns 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 God, to whom all gods 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 Gods, e'en Sons of God, 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 Gods--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 damned, 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 Gods, while heaven on earth shall dwell, + To drink the wine of wisdom at His feet, + The Husbandman and Vine of Israel. +Thus saith the God of Jacob--Joseph's God. 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 glass, 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 God 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 Gods 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 Shiloh[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 worship 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 God. + +"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, God'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 multitude. + +"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 hell'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, God'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 God-- +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!" + +--- + +Enough, I know thee, Strong and mighty One, +That standest in the presence of the Lord! +That leadest Israel from bondage old, +That liftest up the Ensign unto all! +Know thee, thou Muse and Minstrel of the Mount, +Thou Harper on the Hills of Melody? +I know thee, and am here to work thy will, +To hymn thy praise, perchance behold thy power, 7030 +When, iris-crowned and clothed as with a cloud, +Thy face the sun, thy feet as pillared fire, +Thou comest down from Heaven, and swearest by +Eternity, that Time shall be no more! + +Ancient of Ages! Angel of the East! +Spirit of Promise! Prophet of the Dawn[22]! + + + + +NOTES + + +Explanation: The first figure at the beginning of the Note indicates +the word or phrase marked in the text; the second figure gives the +number of the line in which it is found. + +NOTE TO DEDICATION. The Dedication is to President Joseph F. Smith, +sixth in succession to the leadership of the Latter-day Saints, +nephew to Joseph the Prophet, and son of Hyrum the Patriarch, who +were martyred at Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. The poem made its +appearance during President Smith's administration, and the author +owes much to his kind encouragement and appreciation. + +NOTE TO THEME. The words of the Theme are a passage from the "Key to +John's Revelation" (Doctrine and Covenants 77:9). + +NOTE TO PRELUDE. The Author, while ill, prayed that he might live to +produce a work that would continue his ministry as a teacher after +his mortal tongue was stilled. The beginning of the answer to his +prayer was an immediate inspiration to write this poem. + +--- + +CANTO ONE + +1--Title: **As From a Dream.** The subject of this Canto is the +author's spiritual awakening. + +2--20. **Baal and Astoreth** (also rendered Ashtoreth). Pagan +deities, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. They were +worshiped by the idolatrous Israelites. The Prophet Elijah's +controversy with the priests of Baal is one of the most dramatic +episodes in sacred history. (I Kings 18:19-40). Baal was the sun god, +chief male divinity of the Phoenicians; Ashtoreth, representing the +moon, a goddess of the Philistines--the same as Astarte of the +Zidonians. The corresponding deities among the Greeks and Romans were +Zeus or Jupiter and Aphrodite or Venus. + +3--60. **Truth's Triple Key.** The Spirit of Truth, revealing past, +present and future. + +4--86. **Ambrosial Gardens.** The Gardens of the Gods--Heaven. + +5--92. **Paradise.** The Spirit World, a place of rest for the +righteous, awaiting resurrection and exaltation to glorious spheres +beyond. (Alma, 40:11-14; "Joseph Smith's Teachings," pp. 184, 185; +Key to Theology, 14.) + +6--101. **Love's Eyes.** Love is usually represented as a blind boy, +Cupid, shooting his arrows aimlessly. Love, when spiritually +enlightened, is no longer blind, but has a definite purpose in view. + +7--111. **Lethean Ground.** Lethe, in classic mythology, signifies +oblivion. It was the name of a river in Hades, of which the dead +drank and forgot all. + +8--117. **O Thou, Of Beauty!** The stanza beginning with these words +is an apostrophe to Woman. + +9--130. **Apple of Ashes.** On the shores of the Dead Sea there +grows, it is said, a fruit resembling the apple, beautiful and +inviting to the eye, but turning to ashes at the touch. + +10--167. **Equally May Win.** The vanquished, as well as the +victorious, may gain, through experience, development. + +11--174. **What Soul Can Grow?** Pride, greed, hate, and all other +perverted passions, are as weeds and thorns in the garden of the +heart. It is fair to presume that the Saviour, when he exhorted his +disciples to forgive and love their enemies, had in view the welfare +of the disciples themselves. It was more for their sake than for the +sake of their enemies, that He gave the exhortation. + +12--185. **The Spirit of the Infinite.** The Holy Spirit, assumed +throughout the poem to be acting through "Elias," the Genius of +Progress, who also has his agents or instruments. + +13--219. **Time's Hills and Vales.** A metaphor suggested by the Book +of Abraham (3:18, 19). + +--- + +CANTO TWO + +1--Title: **The Soul of Song.** Herein the author is represented as +soliloquising upon his native mountains, where he meets the Soul of +Song and is inspired to sing the epic of time and eternity. As the +Soul of Song, "Elias" makes his first appearance in the action of the +poem. + +2--261. **The Sacred Garden.** The Garden of Eden. + +3--263. **Titan Stand.** The Titans were a group of mythical giants, +descended from the gods. (Greek and Roman mythology.) + +4--276. **Orphean Boon.** Orpheus, son of the Muse Calliope, received +from Apollo or Minerva a lyre upon which he played so skillfully that +rocks and trees were moved, rivers ceased to flow, and savage beasts +forgot their wildness, charmed by the wonderful sounds. (Ibid.) + +5--281. **Oh, Were My Words!** A paraphrase of Job 19:23, 24. + +6--288. **Melting Gift.** The power of speech or of song. + +7--384. **Voice of the Stars.** Another reference to Job (38:7). + +8--390. **The Body's Bard.** This allusion is to poets who exalt the +material over the spiritual, the sensuous over the intellectual, the +body of things over the soul of things. + +9--407. **This Most Ancient Shore.** Modern science, confirming +modern revelation, is beginning to regard America as the Old World, +not the New. + +10--408. **And Man Shall Rise.** Zion, City of the Pure-in-Heart, is +to stand upon the ancient site of the Garden of Eden. + +11--415. **Shepherd Psalmist.** David, who played before King Saul, +exorcising the evil spirit which held the monarch bound. (I Samuel +18:10 and 19:9.) + +--- + +CANTO THREE + +1--Title: **Elect of Elohim.** Elohim, or Eloheim, the Hebrew plural +for God. To the modern Jew it means the plural of majesty, not of +number; but to the Latter-day Saint it signifies both. As here used +it stands for "The Council of the Gods," or, as in Psalms 82:1, "The +Congregation of the Mighty." In that council or congregation was +elected, before Earth was formed, the Redeemer of the World. (Pearl +of Great Price--Moses 4:1-4; Abraham 3:22-28; Compendium p. 285.) +This Canto glimpses the choosing of Messiah, the rebellion of +Lucifer, the Saviour's descent to Earth, his crucifixion and return +to Glory. It is the beginning of the poem proper. + +2--450. **Olea's Silver Beam.** Olea, according to the Book of +Abraham, is Moon; Shinehah (Shinea) Sun; and Kokaubeam, Stars. Kolob, +according to the same authority, is a great governing planet "nigh +unto the throne of God." (Abraham 3; D. and C. 76:25, 28.) + +3--504. **Mighty Michael.** Michael the Archangel, leader of the +hosts of Heaven against Lucifer and his rebellious legions, became +Adam and fell from an immortal to a mortal state that he might become +the progenitor of the human family. + +4--516. **Tried Souls.** In "Mormon" theology "soul" means body and +spirit combined, but in general literature, and especially poetry, +"soul" and "spirit" are synonyms. + +5--522. **The Stepping-Stone.** God's children, such as kept the +first or spirit estate, were given bodies upon this planet, thus +becoming souls, capable of eternal increase and advancement. (Abraham +3:26.) Two-thirds of the spirits then populating the Spirit World +were found worthy of opportunities for experience and development in +mortality, while one-third--those who rebelled--were denied that +privilege. (Compendium p. 288.) + +6--528. **The Love That Hath Redeemed All Worlds.** The Gospel of the +Christ, the highest expression of God's love for man, has saved many +worlds, and is destined to save many more. (Moses 1:33-39.) But the +Gospel is more than a means of escape from impending ills; it existed +before man had need of salvation. A divine plan for human progress, +embracing both the Fall and the Redemption, it was framed in the +heavens before this earth was organized, and is a free gift from God +to man. Man, however, to avail himself of its benefits, must yield +obedience to its requirements. Redemption (resurrection) comes +unconditionally, but salvation and exaltation depend upon human works +as well as upon divine favor. A soul may be redeemed--raised from the +dead--and yet condemned at the final judgment for evil deeds done in +the body. Likewise may a soul be redeemed and saved, and yet come +short of the glory that constitutes exaltation. To redeem, save and +glorify is the threefold purpose of the Gospel of Christ. The English +word "Gospel" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Godspell" or God-Story--the +story of God. In its fullest sense it signifies everything connected +with the redemptive career of that Divine Being who gave His life +that man might eternally live. + +7--548. **Exception Scorns.** Lucifer, who fain would have been the +Redeemer, proposed to save by coercive methods, involving the +destruction of human agency, and demanded as his reward the honor +that belongs to God. (Moses 4:1-4; Abraham 3:22-28) + +8--560. **My Messenger.** It was Jehovah the God of Israel who became +Jesus of Nazareth and died to redeem mankind (D. and C. 110:1-4). He +is Son Ahman, concerning whom Orson Pratt, citing an unpublished +revelation, says: "What is the name of God in the pure language? The +answer says 'Ahman.' What is the name of the Son of God? Answer, 'Son +Ahman, the greatest of all the parts of God, excepting Ahman.' What +is the name of men? 'Son Ahman,' is the answer." (Journal of +Discourses, Vol. II, p. 342.) + +9--562. **Thy Face Before.** An allusion to Elias, the lesser going +before the greater. + +10--571. **My Friend.** Abraham, the friend of God, and father of the +faithful. + +11--572. **Idumea.** The World--here used as a synonym for Earth. + +12--589. **This Wandering Planet Bring.** "This earth will be rolled +back into the presence of God and crowned with celestial +glory."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 288). + +13--613. **The Hour of Noon.** The Meridian Dispensation. + +14--615. **Light's Sun and Moon.** Christ, the light of the sun, moon +and stars, and the power by which they were made. (D. and C. 88:7, 8, +9.) + +15--619. **Elias? Yea and Nay.** John the Baptist, forerunner of the +Christ, was an Elias, a restorer; but, according to Joseph Smith, not +the Elias who is to restore all things. There are many Eliases, +Joseph says: "When God sends a man into the world to prepare for a +greater work, holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called +the doctrine of Elias even from the early ages of the world." +(Compendium, p. 281.) + +16--621. **Learned to Shine.** Before the Twelve Apostles were +chosen, John the Baptist proclaimed the Lamb of God, and said +concerning Him: "He must increase, and I must decrease." John was +therefore as the waning Moon in the presence of the rising Sun. + +17--640. **A City Doomed.** Jerusalem, over which the Saviour wept, +prophesying its downfall. (Matthew 23:37-39.) + +18--656. **Gloom-Wrapt Gethsemane.** The Saviour's agony in the +Garden of Gethsemane is an incident familiar to every reader of the +New Testament. + +19--675. **Immanuel.** One of the titles of the Saviour, meaning "God +with us." + +--- + +CANTO FOUR + +1--Title: **Night and the Wilderness.** This part of the poem is an +allegory of the Christian or Meridian Dispensation, following the +death of Jesus and his forerunner; portraying the mission of the +Comforter, and showing the departure from the primitive Faith, after +the passing of the apostolic Twelve, one of whom--the Church having +gone into the Wilderness--remains to testify of things to come. The +"Night" is the spiritual night that followed the setting of the Sun +of Righteousness--a night lit by Moon and Stars, with lesser lights +twinkling through the Dark Ages and onward into modern times. The +"Wilderness" is the world invisible. (D. and C. 88:66.) + +2--688. **An Eagle's Wings.** The Roman Empire, emblemized by the +Eagle, dominated the then known world. + +3--696. **Peace to Flow.** "(I) The immense field covered by the +conquests of Alexander gave to the civilized world a unity of +language, without which it would have been, humanly speaking, +impossible for the earliest preachers to have made known the good +tidings in every land which they traversed. (II) The rise of the +Roman Empire created a political unity which reflected in every +direction the doctrines of the new faith. (III) The dispersion of the +Jews prepared vast multitudes of Greeks and Romans for the unity of a +pure morality and a monotheistic faith. The Gospel emanated from the +capital of Judea; it was preached in the tongue of Athens; it was +diffused through the empire of Rome; the feet of its earliest +missionaries traversed the solid structure of undeviating roads by +which the Roman legionaries--'those massive hammers of the whole +earth'--had made straight in the desert a highway for our God. +Semite and Aryan had been unconscious instruments in the hands of God +for the spread of a religion which, in its first beginnings, both +alike detested and despised. The letters of Hebrew and Greek and +Latin inscribed above the cross were the prophetic and unconscious +testimony of three of the world's noblest languages to the undying +claims of Him who suffered to obliterate the animosities of the +nations which spoke them, and to unite them all together in the one +great Family of God."--Dean Farrar, in "The Life and Work of St. +Paul," abridged edition, Book II, pp. 61, 62. + +4--706. **She-Wolf's Might.** The She-Wolf, traditionally the nurse +of Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome, was also an emblem of that +world-conquering power, which, though eventually it persecuted the +Christians, at first protected them from their Jewish oppressors. +Judah's emblem was the Lion. As for the remaining figure in the +allusion, it is written that the Saviour said to his disciples: "I +send you forth as lambs among wolves." + +5--707. **Iron-Limbed.** The phrases "iron-limbed," "brazen-loin," +"silver-breasted," "golden Babylon," characterize respectively the +Roman, Graeco-Macedonian, Medo-Persian, and Babylonian empires, +which, in reverse order, ruled successively the ancient world. +Beginning with Babylon, the "head of gold," these four universal +powers figure in the Prophet Daniel's interpretation of +Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2). + +6--713. **Asian Kin.** Alexander the Great extended his conquests as +far eastward as India, whose native inhabitants claim kinship with +European peoples through a common Aryan ancestry. If this claim be +true, then the Hindoos, like the Europeans, are descended from +Japheth, the eldest son of Noah, and consequently are "Gentiles"--a +word springing from "Gentilis," meaning "of a nation," that is, a +nation not of Israel. + +7--718. **Kurush.** Cyrus, founder of the Medo-Persian empire. + +8--730. **Lofty Vineyards.** D. and C. 88:51-61. + +9--731. **Spirit Moon and Speaking Stars.** The Holy Ghost and the +Apostolic Twelve. + +10--732. **The Woman Wonderful.** The Church of Christ, represented +by a Woman (Revelation 12), and referred to in other places as the +Bride, the Lamb's Wife. + +11--736. **Glory's Symboling.** Sun, moon and stars, symbolizing +celestial, terrestrial, and telestial glories. (D. and C. 76:96-98.) + +12--742. **Vicegerent.** The Comforter, concerning whom Jesus said, +"It is needful that I go, or He will not come unto you." In other +words, the greater Light had to depart, before the lesser could shine +in its fulness. + +13--743. **The Unembodied One.** Says Joseph the Seer: "The Father +has a body of flesh and bones, as tangible as man's; the Son also; +but the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit." (D. and C. 130:22.) + +14--748. **After and Ere.** God and Christ, the Father and the Son, +by the power of the Holy Ghost created all things, and by that power +will raise all from the dead. + +15--756. **Prophet Still Pleading.** The Spirit of Prophecy, typified +by John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness. + +16--774. **Those Fluent Stars.** The Twelve Apostles, oracles of God +and crown of the Church of Christ. (Rev. 12:1.) + +17--781. **Save Haply One.** John the Beloved. (John 21:20-23; D. +and C. 7 and 77.) + +18--789. **Leading the Lost.** It is believed that John the Revelator +will lead the Lost Tribes from "The Land of the North." (D. and C. +77:14; Rev. 10:8-11.) + +19--806. **The Man-Child.** The Man-Child of the Apocalypse (Rev. +12:5) represents the Priesthood--divine authority--which was taken +from the Earth, with the fulness of the Gospel, after the passing of +the Apostles. + +20--815. **Japheth Sways.** Gentile domination over Israel, +particularly in those nations where the Jews have been and are still +oppressed. + +21--820. **Antaeus-Like.** Antaeus was a fabled giant, vanquished by +Hercules. Each time that Hercules threw him the giant gained fresh +strength from coming in contact with the ground. + +22--822. **Conquering His Dust-Adoring Conqueror.** The modern Jew is +said to hold the purse-strings of the world. + +23--831. **That Gentile Hosts Might See.** Saul of Tarsus, afterwards +Paul the Apostle, persecuted the Church of Christ before his +conversion (Acts 9:1-19). Thus was typified the spiritual blindness +of Israel, which caused the Gospel to be carried to the Gentiles. +Paul, the principal agent for their illumination, declares: +"Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the +Gentiles be come in." (Rom. 11:25.) + +24--832. **Martyred, Immolate.** Israel's dispersion, like Adam's +fall and Christ's crucifixion, was part of a mighty plan for the +promotion of the human race. Adam fell that mortal man might be. +Christ died to burst the bands of death and make the fall effectual +unto the higher ends ordained. The children of Israel were scattered +over the world, in order that the Gospel might make its way more +readily among all peoples. The history of Israel is the history of a +martyred nation, suffering for the welfare of other nations, whatever +may be said of the transgressions of the chosen people, which +occasioned and justified the calamities that came upon them. + +25--841. **From 'Neath the Yoke.** The future redemption of the Negro +race. + +26--843. **See and Hear His Risen Lord.** The House of Israel is +privileged to receive the personal ministrations of the Saviour, +while the Gentiles are ministered to by the Holy Ghost. (III Nephi +15:23.) + +27--847. **In the Mire.** Beginning of the Christian departure from +the true Faith. + +28--850. **The Heaven-Lit Torch.** The Light of the Gospel, enjoyed +by the primitive Christians, though compelled to hide from their +Roman persecutors and worship God on mountain tops and in the +catacombs. + +29--852. **Incense * * * Diana's Shrine.** Diana was a deity +worshiped by the Romans. "Incense"--metaphorically the vain +philosophies, traditions and customs, adopted by the false Church +that came up in the place of the true Church and paganized itself in +order to be popular with the world. + +30--855. **Shearing Compromise.** The result, spiritually, of the +enthronement of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman +Empire, A. D. 324. + +31--861. **East from West.** The pseudo Church, as well as the Empire +of the Caesars, divided itself into East and West, with +Constantinople and Rome as the capital cities. + +32--874. **She Was Wont.** "She" stands for the true Church of Christ. + +33--880. **Crimson Courtesan.** The Scarlet Woman described by John +the Revelator (Rev. 17). + +34--900. **Till the Judgment Sits.** A reference to Daniel 7:21-27. + +35--902. **Glory Lift the Gloom.** Messiah's second coming. + +36--903. **The Moonlike One.** The Holy Spirit, ruling the Night of +Ages, after the Light of the World has departed. + +37--908. **Impelling to All Action.** The impelling power of the +Spirit of God is interestingly set forth in I Nephi 13:10-19. See +also Lowell's poems "Columbus" and "A Glance Behind the Curtain." + +38--951. **Wayward Son of Deity.** Napoleon and other conquerors type +the class of characters here described. + +39--973. **Some Said Jeremias.** When the Saviour inquired, "Whom do +men say that I am?" Peter answered "Some say Thou art Elias, and some +say Jeremias." Elias and Jeremias are Greek forms of the Hebrew names +Elijah and Jeremiah. Joseph Smith, however, drew a distinction +between the spirit of Elias and the spirit of Elijah. (Compendium, +pp. 281-283.) + +40--983. **Mirror and Model of Humanity.** "God created man in his +own image." (Gen. 1:27.) + +41--997. **Incomprehensible.** So modern Christians contend +respecting Deity. It is true only in part. God's unrevealed infinite +fulness is of course incomprehensible to the finite mind. But what He +has revealed concerning Himself is not incomprehensible. Else why did +He reveal it? + +42--1008. **Each as a Star.** The Jewish or Mosaic Dispensation shed +light that prepared the world for a greater--the Christian +Dispensation; which, in its turn, made ready for one greater +still--the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. This is the +significance of "Elias." (Compendium, p. 281.) + +43--1020. **A Weapon for the Right.** Such writers as Voltaire, +Paine, and Ingersoll, subserve the cause of Christ by shattering +false traditions, erroneously supposed by many to be true teachings +of the Saviour and his Apostles. + +--- + +CANTO FIVE + +1--Title: **The Messenger of Morn.** The fore part of this Canto, +down to and including the line, "Out, out of her, my people, saith +your God," summarizes the message borne by the modern Prophet. The +curtain now rises upon the last act of the redemptive drama--the +final restoration of the Gospel; Joseph the Seer, as the Elias of the +scene, heralding the tidings of the approaching millennial reign. + +2--1052. **Whence Ye Were Hewn.** An allusion to Isaiah 51:1-3. + +3--1060. **Wastes of Unbelief.** Gentile or heathen lands, refreshed +by the sprinkled blood of Israel--the blood that believes--and by +spiritual visitations that accompany or follow such dispersions. + +4--1061. **Japheth, Thy Planet Pales.** Japheth stands for the +Gentiles, whose "fulness" now "comes in." + +5--1077. **Mother of Centuries.** Time, as distinguished from +Eternity (though technically eternity includes time), comprises seven +thousand years, or seventy centuries, covered by seven Gospel +dispensations. The Quorum of the Seventy, with the presiding First +Council, is a probable typing in this connection. + +6--1079. **Teach Them to Be One.** "It is necessary, in the ushering +in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, * * * that a whole +and complete and perfect union and welding together of dispensations +and keys and powers and glories should take place and be revealed +from the days of Adam even to the present time."--Joseph Smith, (D. +and C. 128:18.) + +7--1084. **Shiloh Reigns.** Shiloh is another Hebrew name for +Messiah, whose reign of a thousand years will equal in duration one +revolution of the planet Kolob. (Abraham 3:4.) + +8--1085. **Hast Labored.** The seven thousand years of Earth's +"temporal existence" correspond to the seven seals of the Apocalyptic +Book (Rev. 5 and 6) and are as seven great days, four of which had +passed before Christ came, while nearly two have gone by since. +According to this reckoning we are now in the Saturday evening of +human history. The Millennium will be the seventh day--the World's +Sabbath. (D. and C. 77:12; Abraham 3, 4, and 5). + +9--1089. **Ancient Tidings.** The Everlasting Gospel, first revealed +to Adam, who presides over all the dispensations. (History of the +Church, Vol. 4, pp. 207-209). + +10--1103. **What I Know.** Joseph Smith is said to have expressed the +wish that he might reveal his identity and declare all that God had +made known to him. + +11--1117. **Gibborim.** Mighty ones. King David's six hundred guards +were called "The Gibborim," for their heroic bravery. (Geike, "Hours +With the Bible," Vol. III, pp. 254, 276, 325, 339). + +12--1118. **Worthy The Word.** The explanation of this phrase is in +that saying of the Saviour's: "Is it not written that they are gods +to whom the word of God comes?"--meaning, of course, a superior race +of men. + +13--1136. **Fifth of Seven.** The Fifth Angel is he who "committeth +the everlasting gospel." (D. and C., 88:103). + +14--1165. **From Wintry Sleep.** At this point begins the personal +history of the Prophet, who is also the subject of previous +allusions. ("Writings of Joseph Smith"--Pearl of Great Price). + +15--1214. **Dual Presence.** Joseph's vision of the Father and the +Son. + +16--1217. **Unknown Mount.** A mountain referred to in the Book of +Moses. (1:1). + +17--1235. **An Atlas.** Atlas was one of the Titans. He is depicted +with the globe on his back. + +18--1247. **Exalted Man.** "God himself is an exalted man."--Joseph +Smith, ("Times and Seasons," August 15, 1844). + + "As man now is, God once was; + As God now is, man may be."-- + Lorenzo Snow, Biography, p. 46. + +19--1261. **Wisdom of the Wise.** The stanza in which this phrase +occurs is based upon Isaiah 29:13, 14. + +20--1283. **A Messenger From God.** The Angel Moroni. + +21--1302. **Page to Page.** The Book of Mormon, or Stick of Joseph, +joins with the Hebrew Bible, or Stick of Judah, as foretold by +Ezekiel (37:16-20). + +22--1310. **Ready For The Fall.** Prophecy ripe for fulfillment. + +23--1311. **Elias Comes.** Moroni, restoring the Gospel, predicts the +coming of a greater, to restore all things. + +24--1324. **Fullest Freedom.** The Kingdom of God will protect all +men in the enjoyment of their rights. The citizens and lawmakers of +that Kingdom will not be all of one religious faith. So taught Joseph +Smith and Brigham Young. + +25--1331. **Primal Language.** The Adamic tongue or Pure Language, +brought back in the restoration of all things. + +26--1407. **Ramah * * * Cumorah.** Book of Mormon names. That book is +an abridged history of two great races, the Jaredites and the +Nephites, who inhabited America prior to its discovery by Europeans. +Their occupancy of the land was successive, the Jaredites coming from +the Tower of Babel, B. C. 2218; and the founders of the Nephite +nation from Judea, B. C. 600. The Jaredites perished about the time +that the Nephites came. The latter were destroyed, A. D. 384, by the +Lamanites, a degenerate and savage faction of their own people, whose +remnants were found by Columbus and named Indians. The golden plates +containing the Nephite-Jaredite record were taken by Joseph Smith +from the Jaredite hill Ramah, called by the Nephites, Cumorah. + +--- + +CANTO SIX + +1--Title: **From Out The Dust.** A paraphrase of Isaiah 29:4. The +prediction is held to have been fulfilled in the coming forth of the +Book of Mormon. This entire Canto is based upon the general content +of that volume. It embodies the prehistoric story of America, assumed +to have been related by the angel custodian to the translator of the +buried Book of Gold. + +2--1415. **Must Righteous Be.** See Ether 2:8-12. + +3--1434. **Former State.** The Book of Mormon is the only adequate +explanation of the origin of the American Indians. + +4--1457. **Ancient Altar.** Adam's altar, in Adam-ondi-Ahman, +otherwise Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri, (D. and C. 116; +History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 388). + +5--1461. **Dual Grave.** Burial in earth and hell, or death temporal +and spiritual. + +6--1466. **Where Adam Dwelt.** According to Joseph Smith, Jackson +County, Missouri, is the ancient site of the Garden of Eden. Our +First Parents, after their expulsion from Eden, dwelt in the Valley +of Adam-ondi-Ahman. See Note 4. + +7--1468. **Still Chaste.** The fall of Adam and Eve, while +technically a sin because of a broken law, should be stressed as the +means whereby God's children obtained their bodies, rather than as an +act of moral turpitude. There are two general classes of +crimes--malum per se and malum prohibitum. Malum per se is a Latin +phrase signifying "an evil in itself," while malum prohibitum means +"that which is wrong because forbidden by law." The transgression of +our First Parents was malum prohibitum, and the consequent descent +from an immortal to a mortal condition was the Fall. + +8--1470. **Love's Work.** Adam's fall prepared the way for Christ's +redemptive mission. Had there been no fall, man would have remained a +spirit, without a body, and consequently imperfect. Christ redeemed +the soul--spirit and body--and put it in the way to perfection. + +9--1471. **Zion of Primeval Days.** The City of Enoch. (Moses +7:18-64; History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210; D. and C. +84:99-102.) + +10--1479. **Final Change.** The change wrought upon the people of +Enoch by translation not being equivalent to resurrection, they will +have to undergo a further change, to prepare them for celestial +glory. But they will not taste of death. A similar lot is that of +John the Beloved (John 21:20-23; D. and C. 7); also of the Three +Nephites (III Nephi 28) and of certain ones mentioned by Paul (I Cor. +15:50-54). + +11--1480. **New Jerusalem.** The divinely chosen site for the Holy +City is Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. + +12--1484. **Japheth * * * Shem.** The reference is to Noah's blessing +upon Shem and Japheth (Gen. 9:26-27). From Shem came Abraham, the +ancestor of the House of Israel; and from Japheth the Gentiles, the +founders of the most enlightened nations of modern times, including +the United States of America. Ham, through Canaan, was the progenitor +of the negro race, long held in slavery in this and other Gentile +countries. The Ethiopian has also served the Semite, as Noah +predicted. How Japheth has "dwelt in the tents of Shem," is partly +shown by the history of Palestine, long dominated by the Gentiles, +particularly the Turks, who still possess it. Japheth's remarkable +blessing has also been realized in the history of our own country, +America, which the Gentiles now inhabit, and where, according to the +Book of Mormon, they are to assist in gathering Israel and building +the New Jerusalem, (III Nephi 20 and 21). It is their privilege to +share, if they will, in all the blessings promised to the chosen +people. (Abraham 2:9-11.) "The tents of Shem" may be interpreted to +mean the homes of the people of God, lineally descended from Shem, +through Abraham. + +13--1485. **An Ark of Peace.** "It shall be the only people that +shall not be at war one with another." (D. and C. 45:69). + +14--1486. **The Ensign.** The Church of Christ in Latter Days. + +15--1487. **Joseph Signals Jacob.** Joseph, in Ephraim, begins the +work of Israel's gathering. + +16--1489. **Ancient of Days.** Adam as the Ancient of Days will +return to the place where he blessed his posterity. (D. and C. 116; +History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 388). See notes 4 and 6. + +17--1507. **Hesperia.** The West--America. + +18--1512. **That Servant.** The servant mentioned by the Saviour to +the Nephites. (III Nephi 21:10, 11). + +19--1515. **God's Legion.** "Zion, which shall come forth out of all +the creations which I have made." (Moses 7:64). + +20--1517. **Land of Joseph.** America, as the Latter-day Saints have +been taught to believe, was given to Joseph of old as an inheritance. +(Gen. 49:22, 26; Deut. 33:13-17). + +21--1519. **Gog and Magog.** Gog is the name of a person; Magog, of a +country or people. According to Ezekiel (38 and 39) Gog, "the chief +prince of Meshech and Tubal," was to come with his people from the +North to invade the land of Israel and there suffer defeat. Gog and +Magog are generally understood as symbolical expressions for the +heathen nations of Asia, more particularly the Scythians. In this +poem the allusion is to those nations that war against Zion. + +22--1538. **Where, Joseph?** Joseph Smith is meant. To him, after a +general introduction, Moroni relates the story of the Jaredites, as +told in that part of the Book of Mormon entitled "The Book of Ether." + +23--1540. **Wide Severing.** In the days of Peleg the earth was +"divided" (Gen. 10:25). Whether this means the dividing "to the +nations" of "their inheritance" (Deut. 32.8), or a tearing asunder of +the land into continents and islands, is not stated. The latter view, +the one here suggested, may help to explain why the site of the +Garden of Eden is now in North America. + +24--1543. **Sons of Shinar.** The Jaredites, who came from the Tower +of Babel, the place of which was "a plain in the Land of Shinar." +(Gen. 11:2). Shinar was Chaldea. + +25--1547. **Primal Tongue.** The language of the Jaredites--the pure +Adamic tongue--was not confounded. + +26--1554. **A Book Sublime.** A book written by the Jaredite leader, +and yet to come forth. That leader was Mahonri Moriancumr, though +this name does not occur in the Book of Mormon. "The Brother of +Jared" is the only appellation bestowed upon him there. Joseph Smith +supplied the missing name. + +27--1557. **Baptismal Billows.** The Jaredites, in barges, passed +through the depths of the ocean, to reach their Land of Promise +(Ether 6:6). Their voyage was therefore a baptism, more literal than +the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and referred to by +Paul as a baptism. (1 Cor. 10:2.) + +28--1561. **Shelem's Height.** The Mount Shelem, so called "because +of its exceeding height." (Ether 3:1). + +29--1566. **Wing-Like Continents.** North and South America. + +30--1573. **Mahonri's Realm.** North America, possessed by the +Jaredites down to about 600 B. C., when the nation was destroyed by +internecine strife. + +31--1580. **Freedom's Greater Cause.** The Cause of Christ. + +32--1591. **Past Zions Rose.** "Thou hast taken Zion to thine own +bosom, from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity." +(Moses 7:31.) + +33--1595. **Fortressed by God's Mightiness.** I Nephi 13:19; Ether +2:12; D. and C. 45:70. + +34--1601. **"Give Us a King."** The Jaredites demanded a king--a +demand reluctantly acceded to by their leaders, who foresaw, as did +Samuel the Prophet, in a similar situation, the evils that would +result. (Ether 6:22-28; I Samuel 8:4-22). + +35--1645. **Solitary Twain.** The Prophet Ether and King Coriantumr, +the last of the Jaredites. + +36--1653. **Another Nation.** The Nephites. + +37--1657. **After Tale.** These words--part of a brief comment by the +author--introduce a summary of the Nephite narrative. + +38--1665. **A Leper.** Jerusalem in her degenerate state. + +39--1666. **Prophet Pioneer.** Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, through +Manasseh, with a colony from Jerusalem, succeeds the all but extinct +Jaredites upon the Land of Promise, where they extend the glory of +their great ancestor. + +40--1669. **Joseph's Bough.** "Joseph is a fruitful bough." (Gen. +49:22). + +41--1690. **Chosen Seer.** Lehi predicts the coming of "a choice +seer" who is to be a lineal descendant of Joseph. The name of that +seer is also to be Joseph, and it is to be the name of his father--a +prophecy fulfilled in Joseph Smith, Jr. (II Nephi 3.) + +42--1692. **Buried Lore.** The Book of Mormon. + +43--1695. **Favored Son.** Nephi, who succeeded his father Lehi, and +against whom his brothers Laman and Lemuel rebelled, thus dividing +the nation into Nephites and Lamanites. + +44--1712. **Heavy Rod.** The Lord used the savage Lamanites to +scourge the enlightened yet ofttimes disobedient Nephites. + +45--1717. **Infinite and Spirit Minister.** The Spirit of the Lord, +declared by Nephi to be in the form of man, and with whom he +conversed as one man converses with another. (I Nephi 11:11). + +46--1731. **Prophet Prince Foresaw.** Nephi's vision of the future, +in which he beheld events upon both hemispheres--Christ's crucifixion +and resurrection, and his subsequent appearings to the more righteous +of the Nephites, preceded by awful judgments upon the wicked (III +Nephi 8-11). + +47--1757. **Final Doom.** The conflagrations that destroyed Nephite +cities were prophetic of the end of the world, which is to be by fire. + +48--1771. **Infant Innocence.** The children of the Nephites, blessed +by the Saviour. (III Nephi 17:11-24). + +49--1785. **Other Sheep.** Jesus said to his Jewish disciples, "Other +sheep I have, which are not of this fold." (John 10:16). They +supposed that he meant the Gentiles, instead of which, as the Book of +Mormon tells, he had reference to the Nephites and to other branches +of the House of Israel. (III Nephi 15:17-24; 16:1; 17:4.) + +50--1803. **Japheth's Destiny.** The Saviour portrays the future of +America and the diverse fates of the obedient and disobedient +Gentiles (III Nephi 16 and 21). + +51--1811. **A Lion to the Chase.** III Nephi, 20:16; 21:12. + +52--1820. **Sun's Red Glow.** The wrath of the Lamanites, turning +upon their white oppressors. + +53--1822. **Eternal Rays.** Divinely revealed laws by which Zion will +be redeemed (D. and C. 105:4, 5). + +54--1826. **Servant Marred.** "He shall be marred because of them." +(III Nephi 21:10.) + +55--1834. **He Sanctifieth Three.** The Three Nephites (III Nephi +28). + +56--1847. **Forebeam of Day Divine.** The happy condition of the +Nephites, for two centuries after the coming of Christ, was a +foretaste of the Millennium. + +57--1854. **So Shall It Be.** Terrible calamities are to precede the +Reign of Peace, as they preceded the events that typified it. +(Matthew 24). + +58--1869. **Avalanche * * * Sun's Face.** Nephites and Lamanites. + +59--1872. **Bloody Chase.** The Lamanites driving the Nephites to +their doom at the Hill Cumorah. + +60--1883. **Oriental Sight.** The Western Hemisphere discovered by +the Eastern. + +61--1885. **Faith * * * Patience.** The Brother of Jared was noted +for his exceeding faith (Ether 3:9). Columbus triumphed by patient +endurance. + +62--1894. **Zion's Land.** Joseph Smith declared the whole of America +to be the Land of Zion. + +63--1899. **Oppressed Become Oppressors.** Even the liberty-loving +settlers of New England, who had fled from tyranny in the Old World +to find freedom in the New, enslaved the red man and drove him from +his ancient possessions. + +64--1904. **The Motherland.** Great Britain, mother of the New +England colonies. + +65--1909. **Man of Matchless Worth.** Washington. + +66--1922. **Joseph's Namesake Seer.** Joseph Smith, Jr., (II Nephi 3). + +67--1931. **The Iron Rod.** The Word of God (1 Nephi 11:25). + +68--1945. **Spirit Gardens.** The Heavenly fields. (D. and C. +88:51-61). + +--- + +CANTO SEVEN + +1--Title: **The Arcana of the Infinite.** "Arcana," the Latin plural +of "Arcanum," signifies hidden, secret. This title is intended to be +an equivalent for "The Mysteries of the Kingdom"--the esoteric +features or advanced principles of the Gospel. Herein are summarized +those sublime doctrines that came directly to the modern Revelator +during and subsequent to the translating of the ancient plates. A +vision of the dispensations is involved--the reading of the Book of +Time and the Volume of Eternity. + +2--1986. **One Vast Mind.** Joseph Smith, Prophet, Seer, and +Revelator. + +3--2009. **The Solemn Dispensations.** In theology the term +"dispensation"--from "dispense," to deal out or distribute--signifies +the method or scheme by which God has at different times developed +his purposes and revealed himself to man. It also denotes a period +marked by some particular development of the Lord's work, such as the +Mosaic Dispensation, lasting from Moses to Christ; or the Meridian +Dispensation, ending in the apostacy that made necessary another +restoration of the Gospel and the Priesthood. While revelation is +silent upon the subject, it is probable that there are seven Gospel +dispensations--seven distinct periods during which the Plan of +Progression, revealed from Heaven to Earth, has been among the +children of men. The belief as to seven is partly based upon the +scriptural or symbolical character of that number, and upon the +Prophet Joseph's teachings relative to the seven periods, each of a +thousand years, answering to the seven seals of the mystical Book +seen by John in his vision on Patmos (Rev. 5, 6; D. and C. 77). + +4--2022. **The Trumpets Seven.** The Angels of the Dispensations. (D. +and C. 88:92-116). + +5--2032. **The Holy Order.** The Eternal Priesthood--divine +authority--and those who wield it, in Heaven and on Earth. (History +of the Church, Vol. III, p. 385; Vol. IV, p. 207; D. and C. 20, 68, +84, 107, 112, 121, 124; Alma 13:1-10.) + +6--2057. **Ere Earth Knew Abraham.** The pre-existence of the House +of Israel is intimated by Moses (Deut. 32:7, 8). The 144,000 +mentioned by John (Rev. 14:1) and by Joseph (D. and C. 77:11) were +"of all the tribes of the children of Israel." + +7--2059. **Ark of God * * * Sword of Flame.** Emblems, respectively, +of the Priesthood and the Gospel. + +8--2063. **Shine and Shadow.** Dispensations of heavenly light, +alternating with periods of spiritual darkness. + +9--2068. **Succeeded By The Less.** Moses, with the Melchisedek +Priesthood and the fulness of the Gospel, was taken back to Heaven, +leaving Israel to be governed by the Aaronic Priesthood and the Law. +(D. and C. 84:19-28.) + +10--2071. **Ministers Upon Each Hemisphere.** Jewish and Nephite +apostles. + +11--2074. **The Perfect Church.** The Church of Christ on Earth, +perfected after the pattern of the Church in Heaven. (D. and C. +76:67; 107:93. See also "Gospel Themes," p. 81.) + +12--2089. **The Ancient One.** "Daniel, in his seventh chapter, +speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our father +Adam, Michael; he will call his children together and hold a council +with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man."--Joseph +Smith (History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 386; D. and C. 116). + +13--2099. **Keys of Light.** "Three grand keys by which good or bad +angels or spirits may be known." (D. and C. 129). + +14--2136. **Most Intelligent.** "God himself, finding he was in the +midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw +proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to +advance like himself."--Joseph Smith ("Times and Seasons," August 15. +1844). + +15--2140. **Intelligence Eternal.** "Intelligence, or the light of +truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (D. and C. +93:29, 36). "The first principles of man are self existent with God." +("Times and Seasons," August 15, 1844). + +16--2150. **Birth and Death Are Baptism.** See "Gospel Themes," pp. +66, 67. + +17--2161. **Earthly Sorrow.** The trials of mortal life, foreseen +from spirit heights by the children of God, who nevertheless rejoiced +at the prospect of glory beyond. + +18--2167. **Second Estate.** Man's first estate is the spirit life; +his second estate, the mortal life. In the former he walks by sight, +in the latter by faith. + +19--2188. **Sun or Moon or Varying Star.** The heavenly bodies typify +celestial, terrestrial, and telestial glories. (D. and C. 76:96-98.) + +20--2197. **Vicarious Ordinance.** Temple work, done by the living in +behalf of the dead. (D. and C. 127 and 128.) + +21--2288. **Felon's Debt.** "This earth was organized or formed out +of other planets which were broken up and remodeled and made into the +one on which we live."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 287). + +22--2293. **Law Hath Magnified.** "The earth abideth the law of a +celestial kingdom." (D. and C. 88:25). + +23--2298. **Celestial Seer Stone.** Earth in its sanctified, +immortal, and eternal state will be like a sea of glass and fire +(Rev. 4:6), a great Urim and Thummim to its glorified inhabitants (D. +and C. 130:6-11). + +24--2325. **Would Have Lived The Law.** Men's desires as well as deeds +will form a basis for eternal judgment (History of the Church, Vol. +2, p. 380). + +25--2333. **Judah's One and Joseph's Three.** John the Revelator and +the Three Nephites. + +26--2336. **Unclothed Spirit.** The Spirit seen by the Brother of +Jared, and afterwards embodied as Jesus of Nazareth. + +27--2337. **The Triple Seer.** The Apostle Paul, "caught up to the +third heaven" (II Cor. 12:2). + +--- + +CANTO EIGHT + +1--Title: **The Lifted Ensign.** The Church of Jesus Christ of +Latter-day Saints, organized April 6, 1830. + +2--2357. **Shepherds Twain.** Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the +first and second Elders of the Church. + +3--2366. **Giant of Untruth.** The parallel begun in the first stanza +continues through the second. + +4--2380. **Time Yet Was Young.** Here the main narrative reverts to +the story of Enoch and his city, as revealed to Joseph the Seer, and +embodied in the Book of Moses (6 and 7). In the poem that story +continues as far as the line, "And Noah's righteous seed in me +rejoice." + +5--2389. **Sainted Commonweal.** The City of Enoch. + +6--2400. **Chain * * * Sundered.** The people of Enoch, under the Law +of Consecration, attained to such a superior condition that it was +said of them: "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were +of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness, and there was +no poor among them." (Moses 7:18.) + +7--2404. **Armageddon's Conflict.** The final struggle between the +powers of Good and Evil, when Satan will be overthrown (D. and C. +88:112-115). + +8--2409. **Terrestrial Radiance.** "Their place of habitation is that +of the terrestrial order." They are "held in reserve to be +ministering angels unto many planets," and "as yet have not entered +into so great a fulness as those who are resurrected from the dead." +Joseph Smith ("History of the Church," Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210). + +9--2420. **The Captive Free.** Christ, during the interval between +his crucifixion and resurrection, visited and preached to "the +spirits in prison"--spirits disobedient in the days of Noah, and +swept away by the Deluge (I Peter 3:19, 20; and 4:61; Key to Theology +14). + +10--2424. **Climbing Robber-like.** According to the Bible, the +people who built the Tower of Babel did so that its top might "reach +unto heaven" (Gen. 11:4). Joseph Smith is said to have declared that +the "heaven" they had in view was the City of Enoch, then suspended +within sight of the earth. Endeavoring to get to Heaven by "another +way," the builders of Babel were comparable to "thieves and robbers." +Tradition asserts that the City of Enoch stood where the Gulf of +Mexico now is. + +11--2432. **Tri-Branching Tree.** Noah and his three sons, Japheth, +Shem and Ham. + +12--2464. **One Like Unto Him.** Joseph Smith was a man like unto +Moses, who was like unto Christ. Moses led Israel out of temporal +bondage, and Joseph began a work destined to deliver Israel from +spiritual bondage. Thus Moses and Joseph were both typical of Him who +redeemed the world from the bondage of sin and death. + +13--2467. **A Two-Fold Type.** The social and spiritual condition of +the Jewish saints and the Nephite disciples foretokened the +Millennium. Joseph Smith had in view the realization of what Enoch +had achieved, and what the primitive Christians endeavored to +accomplish, in preparing a people for the presence of the Lord. + +14--2473. **Sought Fulfillment.** Following these words is a +description of social conditions at the time of the advent of +"Mormonism." + +15--2604. **The Trampled Terror.** A personification of the French +Revolution. + +16--2607. **Frowning Mass, Contemning Class.** The social problem of +the Twentieth Century. + +17--2630. **Time An Enoch Came.** Joseph Smith is likened unto Enoch, +and even called by that name, in some of the early revelations (D. +and C., 78, 92, 96, and 104). This may have been done to impress the +fact that Joseph's work was similar to that of Enoch. + +18--2656. **A Holy Hand.** John the Baptist, ordaining Joseph and +Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood, May 15, 1829 (D. and C. 13). + +19--2661. **Panoply of Power.** The Priesthood. The main narrative +here resumes from the point of digression. + +20--2694. **Again The Woman Wonderful.** The Church of Christ in its +Latter-day Restoration. + +--- + +CANTO NINE + +1--Title: **Upon the Shoulders of the Philistine.** Under this +caption, suggested by Isaiah 11:14, is treated the westward movement +of the Latter-day Saints, incidental to the gathering of scattered +Israel. + +2--2722. **Eaglet's Nest Is Empty.** Within a year after its +organization the church migrated from its birthplace, Fayette, Seneca +County, New York, and the surrounding region. + +3--2724. **Storied Strand.** The shore of Lake Erie, in Northern +Ohio, where the Saints began to settle early in 1831. There they +built their first Temple, and took initial steps toward founding the +United Order, under the Law of Consecration. + +4--2742. **Shinea's Land.** Kirtland, Ohio, and its environs, was +"The Land of Shinehah" (D. and C. 82:12 and 104:40-48). From that +part, in 1837-38, the Church moved its headquarters to Far West, +Caldwell County, Missouri. + +5--2750. **Their Powers Bestow.** An allusion to visions seen in the +Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836 (D. and C. 110). + +6--2759. **Laman's Bands.** The first mission to the Lamanites +(Indians) was undertaken in the autumn of 1830. The missionaries +labored also among the white people of Ohio and Missouri. At +Independence, which was then on the frontier of the United States, +they crossed the line into Indian Territory, now the State of Kansas. + +7--2767. **Lands the Rarest.** The region drained by the Mississippi +and Missouri rivers. + +8--2779. **Japheth's Wrath.** The Gentiles in Western Missouri, +misapprehending the motives of the "Mormons" in gathering to that +part, and incited by evil-minded agitators, rose against the +newcomers, and drove them first from Jackson County, and eventually +from the State. + +9--2788. **The Shoulders.** Civilization, with its steamships, +railroads, and other utilities, and persecution, with faggot and +sword, have helped God's people to accomplish their destiny. "The +blood of the martyrs" has been "the seed of the Church," whose every +movement, voluntary or compulsory, has been toward the goal of its +ultimate triumph. + +10--2791. **Calm Caesar.** Julius Caesar, while crossing a stormswept +water, quieted the apprehensions of his boatman by remarking, "Fear +not, you carry Caesar and his fortunes." + +11--2794. **The Law of Liberty.** The Gospel of Christ, misnamed +"Mormonism." + +12--2800. **Sees Menace.** Having come mostly from the North and the +East, the "Mormons" were suspected by the slave-holding Missourians +of being abolitionists. This false charge, with others equally +groundless, caused the persecution that followed. + +13--2813. **A Second Pharaoh * * * A Herod.** These epithets fitly +characterize the Governor of Missouri, Lilburn W. Boggs, who issued +the edict under which the persecuted people were expelled. Said he, +to the mob-militia who drove them from their homes: "The Mormons must +be exterminated or driven from the State." + +14--2815. **Gathering the Whirlwind.** Missouri paid her debt to +justice during the Civil War, when her Western borders, where mob +violence had assailed her "Mormon" citizens, were ravaged again and +again by the fierce guerilla warfare that spent its fury in that +unhappy region. + +15--2829. **Shakes the Dungeon.** Joseph Smith and others were +imprisoned in Richmond Jail, where they were taunted by their guards, +who boasted of murders and outrages committed upon the defenseless +people after the surrender of Far West. The lion-hearted leader +endured it till he could endure no more. Springing to his feet, he +rebuked the ribald wretches, commanding them in the name of Jesus +Christ to be still. They obeyed, cowering before him and begging his +pardon. Parley P. Pratt, a fellow prisoner with the Prophet, says of +this remarkable incident: "He ceased to speak. He stood erect in +terrible majesty, chained and without a weapon. * * * I have seen the +ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals +arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath in the +courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to +give laws to nations * * * but dignity and majesty have I seen but +once, as it stood in chains at midnight in a dungeon, in an obscure +village of Missouri." (Autobiography, pp. 229, 230.) + +16--2835. **Disease and Death Subdued.** After the Prophet had +regained his freedom, and while his followers were settling at +Commerce (afterwards Nauvoo), an epidemic of fever and ague swept +over that region. Many, prostrated by the malady, were miraculously +healed under his administrations. + +17--2836. **Sire of Waters.** The Mississippi River. + +18--2839. **City, Mother of Many.** Nauvoo the Beautiful, built upon +the site of Commerce, in Hancock County, Illinois, was the parent and +model of many other cities subsequently founded by the Latter-day +Saints, mostly in the region of the Rocky Mountains. + +19--2846. **Unworldly Link.** The Nauvoo Temple, where work began in +this dispensation for the salvation of the dead. + +20--2847. **Elijah's Mightier Mission.** Malachi 3:1 and 4:5, 6; D. +and C. 110:4-16; History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 211; Gospel +Themes, pp. 138, 139. + +21--2860. **Crisis Past.** Early in 1837, during a period of apostacy +at Kirtland, the Prophet said: "Something new must be done to save +the Church." Thereupon he appointed Heber C. Kimball, of the Council +of the Twelve, to head a mission to Europe. Part of the opposition +encountered by Elder Kimball and his associates was a fierce +onslaught by evil spirits, at Preston, England, where they began +their labors. (Life of Heber C. Kimball, pp. 138-146.) The first +company of emigrating Saints from abroad sailed from Liverpool for +Nauvoo, in 1840. By that time another apostolic mission, headed by +Brigham Young, President of the Twelve, had been sent to the British +Isles. + +22--2863. **Befriended by the Just.** Many of the people of Illinois +extended a hospitable welcome to the plundered and homeless +"Mormons," fleeing out of Missouri. + +23--2866. **Earliest Offering.** Ephraim is the first branch of the +Israelitish tree to bear the fruits of faith in and obedience to the +Gospel in latter days. "Ephraim is my first-born," the Lord says +through Jeremiah (31:9). That is, Ephraim, who "mixed himself among +the people" (Hosea 7:8), is the first to be "born of God"--baptized +and gathered out from the nations. + +24--2877. **Egypt of the West.** America, where the gathered +descendants of Joseph are to re-enact upon a larger scale the part +played by their great ancestor in the famine-stricken nation on the +Nile. + +25--2882. **Long Lost Captives.** The Ten Tribes, carried away by the +Assyrians, B. C. 721, and who are to return from "the north +countries" (D. and C. 133:26-35). + +26--2891. **Rallying the Loyal.** The Latter-day Saints have been +taught to look forward to a time when they, lifting up an ensign to +lovers of law, order, and liberty, and reinforced by them, will save +this Nation, while anarchy is aiming at its life. + +27--2903. **Inglorious Battleground.** The field of Cumorah. + +28--2905. **Where Erst He Fled.** The House of Joseph, in modern +times, begins its march of destiny at the Hill Cumorah, where the +Nephites (also of Joseph) met their tragic fate. There is a tradition +to the effect that every Temple reared by the Latter-day Saints marks +a stage in the flight of the doomed Nephites, pursued by the +victorious Lamanites, to the final slaughter at that historic hill. + +29--2919. **Ruined Lie.** The allusion is to cities and temples built +and abandoned by the Saints in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. (D. and +C. 101, 103, and 105.) + +30--2924. **Union * * * Enoch Saw.** The United Order--all things +consecrated to God. (D. and C. 105:4, 5.) + +31--2930. **Her Trembling Foes.** "Let us not go up to battle against +Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible." (D. and C. 45:70.) + +32--2951. **Pain Shall Bring Thee Power.** Sacrificial trials, that +purify and elevate, redound to the advantage of posterity. The +parents suffer that the children may be blest. All noble and powerful +races have "come up through great tribulation." + +33--2969. **City of Joseph.** A name given to Nauvoo after the +Prophet's martyrdom. + +--- + +CANTO TEN + +1--Title: **The Parted Veil.** Joseph's vision and prophecy of the +future. He is represented as foretelling to his people their great +destiny. + +2--2994. **Honor of a State.** Joseph the Prophet and Hyrum the +Patriarch were murdered while under the pledged protection of the +Governor of Illinois. The mob that fired its fatal volleys into the +bosoms of the martyrs, and went unwhipped of justice, struck down the +honor of a sovereign commonwealth of the American Union. + +3--2998. **The Blazing Dome.** The Nauvoo Temple, burned by the mob +forces, after they had captured the city and expelled the remnant of +the persecuted community left behind at the beginning of the exodus +in February, 1846. + +4--3003. **New Born Babes.** Nine infants, it is said, were born in +the camps of the fugitive Saints, on Sugar Creek, Iowa, the first +night out from Nauvoo. + +5--3011. **Born in a Day. "Little One"--"A Thousand."**--Applications +of ancient prophecy. (Isaiah 60:22 and 66:8). + +6--3016. **Cities Twain.** Zion and Jerusalem, the future capitals of +the Saviour's Kingdom; the former the seat of representative +government, the latter of monarchical power. "Out of Zion shall go +forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3; +Micah 4:2.) + +7--3024. **Fain Would Dwell.** The extension of slavery to the West +was the dream of the South before the Civil War. This was one reason +why the Southern States favored the war with Mexico. + +8--3026. **Aztec's Altar.** The region settled by the "Mormon" +people, between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, belonged +to Mexico, the Land of the Aztecs. + +9--3030. **Golden Empire!** California, as a Mexican province, +included the present States of Utah and Nevada. Some of the earliest +settlers of Salt Lake Valley had previously helped to colonize +California, and were among those who discovered gold there, January, +1848. + +10--3032. **Eden on the Desert Brine.** The redeemed Wilderness +surrounding the Great Salt Lake, and formerly known as "The Great +American Desert." + +11--3044. **Land of the Honey Bee.** The State of Utah. + +12--3045. **Pilgrim Sire.** The author's father, Horace Kimball +Whitney, was one of the Pioneers who entered Salt Lake Valley, July +24, 1847. + +13--3054. **Hear Me, My People!** At this point begins the Prophet's +farewell address. The preceding stanzas of this Canto are a +generalization of what follows in detail. + +14--3073. **Nebo's Height.** Joseph, compared to Moses, is +predicting his own death and the coming of his successor, the +President of the Twelve, upon whom the Prophet placed the right of +succession. + +15--3082. **Stalwart Upon the Mountains.** At Montrose, Iowa, August +6, 1842, Joseph Smith predicted that the Saints would be driven +westward, and would "become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky +Mountains." + +16--3090. **War Shall Wound.** On Christmas Day, 1832, the Prophet +foretold the war between the North and South. (D. and C. 87.) +According to tradition, he also declared that those nations that +first received the Gospel in this dispensation, would be preserved +when "the consumption decreed" "made a full end of all nations." + +17--4034. **First Born Fold.** Ephraim, fulfilling his mission in the +region of the Rocky Mountains. + +18--4041. **Brave Sons of Battling Sires.** Descendants of the +patriots of the American Revolution. + +19--4053. **And by that Power.** "The redemption of Zion must needs +come by power." (D. and C. 103:15.) + +20--4066. **Zion's Land.** Zion in a restricted sense--Jackson County. + +21--4080. **The Common Good.** Christ's Commonwealth, foreshadowed by +the American Union. + +22--4089. **The Sceptered Harlot.** The Woman described in the +Apocalypse as sitting "upon many waters"--a "great city" reigning +"over the kings of the earth." (Rev. 17.) + +23--5002. **A Seventh Realm.** Joseph, paraphrasing Paul, said +concerning himself: "I know a man who was caught up to the seventh +heaven." + +24--5033. **I Am.** The Name Divine. (Ex. 3:14.) + +25--5047. **Light and Liberty.** "At the first organization in Heaven +we were all present and saw the Saviour chosen and appointed, and the +plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it."--Joseph Smith +(Compendium, p. 288). + +26--5055. **Freedom's Code.** The Gospel of Christ, "the perfect law +of liberty," typed by the American Constitution, guaranteeing freedom +and equal rights. + +27--5070. **Not Esau's Hand.** Culture as well as strength must play +its part in the building up of God's Kingdom. Zion, at first +primitive and crude, shall become "the perfection of beauty," "the +joy of the whole earth." Her original builders may be likened to the +massive, immovable foundations of a structure whose polished walls +and glittering spires are represented by their children, educated +under improved conditions, and yet to stand in the forefront of the +world's civilization. + +28--5072. **The Kingdom to Complete.** "The spirit and power of +Elijah is to come after, holding the keys of power, building the +temple to the capstone, placing the seals of the Melchisedek +Priesthood upon the House of Israel, and making all things ready; +then Messiah comes to his Temple."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 283; +D. and C. 27). + +--- + +EPILOGUE + +1--Title: **The Angel Ascendant.** The Angel ascending from the East +(Rev. 7:2; D. and C. 77:9). This is Elias, an address to and a +response from whom forms the body of the epilogue, or final division +of the poem. + +2--6017. **Rose Again.** Elias the All-restorer is represented as +reopening for Adam the closed communication between Earth and Heaven. + +3--6018. **The City Sanctified.** The City of Enoch. + +4--6025. **Alien Fire.** The Gospel, restored through Noah, standing +at the head of a dispensation, was carried by his descendants, after +the Flood, to various parts of the earth, where fragments of it +remain, mixed with the traditions of men. Ceremonies similar to, or +suggestive of Gospel ordinances, and found among primitive peoples, +are thus accounted for. + +5--6027. **The Root of Shiloh.** Abraham, ancestor to Jesus of +Nazareth. + +6--6029. **Believing Blood.** "How, by the dispersion of the children +of Abraham, was the promise to the patriarch fulfilled, that in him +and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed? * * * +By this dispersion the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--the blood +of faith, the blood that believes--with choice spirits answering to +that blood, and selected for that purpose, were sent into those +nations where the Gospel was afterwards preached, spirits capable of +recognizing the truth, and brave enough to embrace it." (Gospel +Themes, p. 156.) + +7--6033. **Egypt's Chain.** The spirit of Elias was upon Moses when +he led Israel out of bondage. + +8--6036. **Long Captivity.** The Assyrian Captivity, which carried +away the ten tribes. + +9--6038. **Whose Sword.** The sword of Joshua, the conqueror of +Canaan. + +10--6042. **Kishon's Brook.** It was at the Brook Kishon that Elijah +slew the Priests of Baal. + +11--6045. **Named Ere Born.** Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, who +restored the captive Jews, was named by Isaiah more than a century +before his birth. (Isaiah, 45:1.) + +12--6049. **Long Sealed Canopy.** The Heavens at the opening of the +Last Dispensation. + +13--6055. **The Kingdom's Keys.** The Melchisedek Priesthood. Elijah +"holds the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordinances +of the Priesthood." (History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 211; D. and C. +2.) + +14--6063. **Abrahamic Keys.** Elias, in the Kirtland Temple, +"committed the keys of the Gospel of Abraham." (D. and C. 110:12.) + +15--6067. **How Tell the Sum?** This stanza associates Columbus, +Jefferson and Washington, impersonally, with others previously +mentioned, as agents of Elias. + +16--6083. **Jacob Upon Esau's Heel.** Genesis, 25:26. + +17--7001. **Chaldean Dream.** The nations represented by the image +seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, are to pass, like the dream itself, +which the king was unable to recall. + +18--7010. **Adorned and Ready.** When the Church, the Bride, is fully +prepared, the Lord, the Bridegroom, will come. + +19--7015. **Destroyers Four.** Four angels (Rev. 7:1; D. and C. 77:8, +9). + +20--7017. **Twelve Times Twelve.** The One Hundred and Forty-Four +Thousand. (Rev. 14:1; D. and C. 77:11.) + +21--7022. **The Bow's Bright Promise.** Joseph the Seer gave, as a +sign of the Second Coming, the withdrawal of the rainbow. Christ +would not come during any year that the rainbow was visible; but when +it was permanently withdrawn, the world might know that His coming +was near at hand. (Compendium, p. 83.) + +22--7036. **Prophet of the Dawn.** Elias, the Morning Star. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Elias, by Orson F. Whitney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIAS *** + +***** This file should be named 37718-0.txt or 37718-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/1/37718/ + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/37718-0.zip b/37718-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae45f1b --- /dev/null +++ b/37718-0.zip diff --git a/37718-8.txt b/37718-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..679e5b8 --- /dev/null +++ b/37718-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5995 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Elias, by Orson F. Whitney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Elias + An Epic of the Ages + +Author: Orson F. Whitney + +Release Date: October 11, 2011 [EBook #37718] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIAS *** + + + + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Jean-Michel +Carter, Ben Crowder, Eric Heaps, Tod Robbins. + + + + + +ELIAS + +_An Epic of the Ages_ + +BY +ORSON FERGUSON WHITNEY + +_Progress eterne! thou goest hand in hand +With Life eterne, and naught but death e'er dies_. + +REVISED AND ANNOTATED EDITION + + + + +Copyright, 1914 +O. F. Whitney +Salt Lake City, Utah + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"Elias" was begun in the spring of 1900, and was first published in +the autumn of 1904, when an edition de luxe, limited to one hundred +and fifty copies, and two less pretentious editions, were subscribed +for by friends of the author. He was hardly a party to the project, +the initial step being taken without his knowledge. Prior to that time +he had read the poem to select gatherings in private homes and in two +of the leading church schools, but had no thought of printing it so +early, until solicited by a committee of prominent citizens to allow +them to undertake, in his behalf, its publication. + +That committee consisted of Governor Heber M. Wells, Senator George +Sutherland, President Anthon H. Lund, Major Richard W. Young, and Mr. +H. L. A. Culmer. These gentlemen, out of pure public spirit and a +friendly feeling for the author, had associated themselves together +for this purpose. Though aware of many defects in his work, and +anxious to mend them before facing the public and the critics, he +nevertheless accepted gratefully the very generous offer. All the +members of the committee gave to the enterprise their hearty support, +and two of them, Major Young and Mr. Culmer, conducted most of the +business necessary to putting the book through the press. + +Since the original issuance the author has endeavored to bring the +work into a more finished state, and the results are now before the +reader. The poem is in twelve parts--a prelude, ten cantos, and an +epilogue. Following these are explanatory notes, for the benefit of +students; the introduction of the epic as a text book into the schools +being one of the purposes for which it was written. + +The character and scope of the work are partly indicated by the title, +"Elias--An Epic Of The Ages." It is an attempt to present, in verse +form, historically, doctrinally, and prophetically, the vast theme +comprehended in what the world terms "Mormonism." + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +DEDICATION + +(SEE NOTE.) + + + This song to thee, friend, chieftain, sixth to rise + From him, the foremost of a seeric line, + Mock of the worldly, marvel of the wise,-- + His martyred brother's son! May light divine, + Which 'lumined them, forever on thee shine, + Flooding with splendors new thy lineal fame; + And ancient rays with modern beams combine + To glorify a brow whose stalwart aim, +To merit heaven's high praise, nor fear a world's false blame! + + + + +THEME + +(SEE NOTE.) + + +"And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was to come to +gather together the tribes of Israel and restore all things." + + + + +ARGUMENT + + +The aim of this poem is to point out those manifestations of the +Divine Mind and those impulsions from human enterprise which have +contributed in all ages to the progress of the race toward perfection. + +Thus it deals not only with man's origin and destiny, with earth's +creation, redemption, and ultimate glorification, but with events and +epochs leading up to and having those greater ends as their decreed +consummation. The Christ theme, in its heavenly and earthly phases, is +supplemented by the sacred and secular history of man upon both +hemispheres. God's direct dealings through prophets, apostles, and +other inspired agents, and His indirect dealings through poets, +painters, philosophers, inventors, discoverers, statesmen, kings, +conquerors and the like, are indicated, and the experiences of the +Church of Christ in various dispensations portrayed. + +The title "Elias," signifying restoration and preparation,--the lesser +going before the greater with those objects in view,--is used to +denote and personify the Genius of Progress, whose beneficent +workings, under the guidance of the Infinite Spirit, through the aeons +and the ages, behind the scenes and upon the stage of human action, +are the warp and woof of the entire poem. The medial point is the +Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, the era of restitution, when the +House of God is to be set in order, and all things in Christ are to be +gathered into one. + + + + +CONTENTS + +Prelude--The Author's Purpose + +Canto One--As From a Dream + +Canto Two--The Soul of Song + +Canto Three--Elect of Elohim + +Canto Four--Night and the Wilderness + +Canto Five--The Messenger of Morn + +Canto Six--From Out the Dust + +Canto Seven--The Arcana of the Infinite + +Canto Eight--The Lifted Ensign + +Canto Nine--Upon the Shoulders of the Philistine + +Canto Ten--The Parted Veil + +Epilogue--The Angel Ascendant + +Notes + + + + +PRELUDE + +(SEE NOTE.) + + + The work for Him I asked and aimed to do, + Ere death should claim my dust, my spirit free,-- + That, looking down from where the wise and true + Inherit glory, gracious eyes might see + A spark I kindled beaming endlessly, + And lighting other wanderers to the goal + Where blends the life that is with life to be;-- + Now done, or well or ill, the lettered scroll +Of what is writ on heart and mind I here unroll. + + + + +CANTO ONE + +As From a Dream[1] + + +Youth's morn was breaking, when I dreamed a dream, +Splendid as springtime's weft of wonders rare; +Idyllic vision, beauteous, bright romance, +Glory of love and glamor of renown. +I dreamed that fame held all of happiness, +Save the sweet charm that lurked in woman's smile. + +Wealth wooed I not, nor power--to wear the sign +And wave the symbol of authority; +To speak, and have hosts tremble; or to frown, +And find all pale and prostrate at my feet. 10 +But oh! to sway, like swinging forest boughs +In summer breeze, men's yearning hearts and minds,-- +Sway them in duty's name, in virtue's cause, +By tongue of thunder or by pen of flame, +Leaving some wise, sublime, benefic deed, +Some word or work of merit and of might, +To fix the fleeting gaze of centuries! + +Glory and love--these were my guides divine, +The planet passions of my destiny, +The Baal and Astoreth[2] to whom I bowed, 20 +At human shrines a worldly worshiper, +Adoring beauteous dust, my fellow clay, +And coveting an earthly immortality. + +And at the feet of these dear deities, +Careless of great Jehovah's smile or frown, +In the fresh morning of my youth's fair might, +Slumbering I dreamed, till golden grew the dawn. + +A strange and stern awakening--a sky, +Pearl, gold, and sapphire, clear and calm till then, +Cloud-curtained, grim, with anger audible, 30 +Tortured and torn with swift-flung darts of fire; +Booming and crashing, bolt on bolt descends; +Earth, air, and heaven are wrapt in roaring flame. + +And when the rifted storm has rolled away, +And stillness reascends her solemn throne, +Ruin looks forth from retrospection's tower, +And memory weeps where desolation reigns. + +It was the end. Dispelled illusion's dream. +Youth's fond ideals, thunder-stricken, strewn, +Lay level with the dust. But light had come! 40 +My soul had cast its fetters and was free. + +I slept and dreamed no more; I was awake! +And saw and heard with other eyes and ears, +Which taught me things unseen, unheard, before; +Things new yet old--old as eternity, +Old e'en to time, though new and strange to me. + +I talked with Truth on solemn mountain tops; +I soared with winged thought the sunlit dome; +Studied the midnight stars; and when anon +The hurrying, far-flung legions of the storm 50 +In supermortal might went forth to war, +Would fain have charioted the charging plain, +Or spurred the tempest as a battle steed, +Grasping the volted lightnings as they flew, +And thundering through the mists on things below. + +Rejoicing in my new-found strength, I gave +Glory to Him, the Source and Sire of all; +That God whom I had neither loved nor feared, +That God whom now I worshipt and adored. +Who girdled me with Light, truth's triple key[3], 60 +Unlocking what hath been, what yet shall be, +Probing death's gloom, life's three-fold mystery, +Solving the secret--Whither, Whence and Why. + +Oh, wondrous transformation! when with wand +Of wakening might, that all-uplifting power +Waved o'er the cross where hung fond hopes impaled, +Waved o'er the tomb where loved ambitions lay, +Touched the strewn fragments of my shattered dream, +Bidding the dead arise in bodies new, +Building, on ruined hope, faith's battlement, 70 +Love's palace, peace-domed, pinnacled in light, +In glory greater than earth's grandest dream, +Than glittering fame's most splendid spectacle; +Ideal transcending ideality, +Ideal made real past all reality! + +Whose earth-dimmed eye could see what then I saw? +Whose earth-dulled ear such harmonies could hear? +When the all-searching Spirit tore the veil +Of things that seem, and showed me things that are. + +Beauty, both good and evil--lamp to heaven 80 +Or lure-light o'er the marshes of despair. +Beauty, divine--but not divinity; +Not parent--child of purity and truth; +Nor fount, nor stream, but bubble lost in air, +Nor tree, nor fruit--only a fragrant flower, +Flung from ambrosial gardens[4], here to grow +That life might be the less a wilderness. + +But lo! a loveliness that blooms for aye, +That, withering here, is there revivified, +A loveliness made lovelier evermore; 90 +The beauty of the restful and the risen, +Of Paradise[5] and Glory's higher home. + +Pure as the mountain monarch's ice-crowned crest, +Pure as the snow-king's mantle, diamond-strewn, +Pure as the cascade's limpid crystalline, +Leaping from cliff to chasm, the breeze-flung flood +Blown into spirit spray of dazzling sheen; +So pure the love that warmed my boyish breast, +And lit the yearning of my youthful eye. + +But pure love, e'en the purest, may be blind. 100 +Truth spake--then fell the blindness from Love's eyes[6], +Revealing life in hues of hopefulness; +Love's rainbow dream, that only time's vale spans +To human vision, widening now till lost +Beyond the pale peaks of eternity. + +Heaven's gold love is, though mixt with earth's alloy-- +Dross, that betimes a needful part doth play +In nature's wise and true economy. + +Love dies not--'t is love's seeming that dissolves, +Low to its serpent level, native dust, 110 +A grave unmemoried in lethean ground[7]. +The while see heaven-born, heaven-aspiring love, +Immortal spirit of the universe, +Soaring past sun and stars to worlds unknown! +Heir to herself, a self-succeeding queen, +Still regnant on life's throne when life is o'er. + +O thou, of beauty[8], loveliest form and phase! +Kindler and keeper of the quenchless flame! +Partner and peer of human majesty! +Sharing with him life's dual sovereignty, 120 +Well canst thou wait for thrones and diadems. +Queen of the future, Eve of coming worlds, +Mother of spirits that shall people stars, +And hail thee empress of a universe! + +No more I deemed of crowning consequence, +That mortal clay to mortal eye should shine; +That human mites should shout and sing in praise +Each of the other's midget mightiness-- +A molecule, by atoms glorified! + +Apple of ashes[9] to the longing lip! 130 +Brine to the burning throat and thirsting soul! +Phantom, delusion, misty ghost of fame! +Voidest and vainest of all vanities! + +"Be not beguiled!" A vibrant thunder note, +Pealing from clouds that canopied my life, +The warning, lightning-winged to purify, +Up-kindling all the summits of the soul. +"Be not beguiled; not what men think and say, +But what God sees and knows, is what avails. + +"Who knoweth aught, unknowing of the all? 140 +Unknowing all, who knoweth perfectly +'Twixt small and great, 'twixt failure and success, +'Twixt heights of glory and the gulfs of shame? +What cares eternity for time's decrees? +Defeat hath oft deserved the conqueror's crown; +Dishonor worn the wreath of victory. + +"Greatness--is it to loom 'mid glittering show? +Goes power but hand in hand with prominence? +Largeness or littleness, or high or low, +Has but to breathe, and straightway he is known. 150 +What speech conceals, the spirit manifests. + +"Fame, place, and title find a fitting use, +And rightfully demand all reverence due. +But envy not the empty lot of him +Who, winning without merit, wins in vain. + +"Greatness, true greatness, mightiness of mind, +And greater greatness, grandeur of the soul, +Tell but one tale--capacity, not place; +Capacity, whose sire, experience, +Whose ancestors, innate intelligence, 160 +Original, inborn nobility, +As oft in hut as mansion have their home. + +"'Tis not the crowning that creates the king. +Man's proper place where God hath need of him. + +"Naught can be vain that leadeth unto light; +Struggle and stress, not plaudit, maketh strong; +Victor and vanquished equally may win[10], +Climbing far heights, where fame, eternal fame, +White as the gleaming cloak of Arctic hills, +Rests as a mantle, fadeless, faultless, pure, 170 +On loftiest lives, whose snowy peaks, sun-crowned, +Receive but to dispense their blessedness. + +"Eternal life demands a selfless love. +Hampered by pride, greed, hate, what soul can grow[11]? +Conceive a selfish God! Thou canst not, man! +Then let it shame thee unto higher things. +Who strives for self hates other men's success; +Who seeks God's glory welcomes rivalry. +Seeking, not gift, but Giver, thou shalt find +No sacrifice but changes part for whole. 180 + +"Fare on, full sure that greatest glory comes, +And swiftest growth, from serving humankind. +Toil on, for toil is treasure, thine for aye; +A pauper he who boasts an empty name." + +So spake the Spirit of the Infinite[12]. +The Messenger and Mind of Holy Twain. + +Some men I found embodiments of all +The goodness, all the greatness, I had dreamed; +Men seeming gods, bestowing benefits +As suns their beams, as seas and skies their showers. 190 +Others as dwarfs, as despots, by compare, +Devoured with greed, consumed with jealousy. + +But truth taught charity, gave me to see, +As face to face one sees familiar friend, +Why men are not alike in magnitude. + +Some souls, than others, have more summits climbed, +More light absorbed, more moral might evolved. +Dowered are they with wealth from earlier spheres; +Hence wiser, worthier, than those they lead +Through precept's vale, up steep example's height, 200 +To where love, beauty, wealth, power, glory, reign. + +While some, innately noble, are borne down +By weight of weaknesses inherited, +By passions fierce, propensities depraved, +Malific legacy of centuries, +That much of their true worthiness obscures, +While spirit strives with flesh for mastery, +For higher culture and for added might. + +And yet anon such souls effulgent shine-- +As bursts the April beam through banks of cloud-- 210 +In glory from which envy shades its eyes, +While stands detraction staring, stricken dumb; +The glory of a great intelligence, +Which mortal mists can dim but for a time. + +Spirits, like stars, still differ in degree, +And cannot show an even excellence, +Unequal in their first nobility. +Great tells of greater--littleness of less; +Time's hills and vales[13] but type eternity. + +Truth taught me more, but bade me silent be; 220 +And I had teachers else--toil, prayer, and pain, +With days and nights of misery's martyrdom, +Alone and lorn in grief's Gethsemane: +Till storm above, and earthquake underneath, +Shook down thought's prison house, broke bolt and bar, +And agony set inspiration free. + +'Tis thus the Great Musician tunes the harp +That He would strike--strikes thus the harp in tune; +Sweeping with sorrow's hand the quivering strings, +That they may cry aloud, and haply sound 230 +A loftier and more enduring lay. + + + + +CANTO TWO + +The Soul of Song[1] + + + Alone my soul upon a mighty hill, + Ancient with lingering snows of vanished years, + Where towering forms the templed azure fill, + Wooed by the breath of woodland atmospheres; + Where Nature, throned in solitude, reveres + The God whose glory she doth symbolize, + And on these altars, watered by her tears, + Spreads far around the fragrant sacrifice +Whose incense wafts her sweet memorial to the skies. 240 + + Here will I rest, where I have loved to roam, + From childhood's rose-hued, scarce-remembered day, + And found my pensive soul's congenial home + Far from the depths where human passions play. + Born at their feet, my own have learned to stray + Familiar o'er these pathless heights, and feel, + As now, the mind assume a loftier sway, + Soaring for themes that o'er its summits steal, +Beyond all thought to reach, all utterance to reveal. + + Here let me linger. O my native hills! 250 + Solemn and watchful o'er the silent waste! + How great the joy his bounding bosom thrills, + Whose steps, aspiring, mar your summits chaste! + Language! thy richest robe, thy rarest taste, + How clothe description in befitting dress, + When halts imagination's wingéd haste, + Awe-spelled in wonder's conscious littleness, +Where loom the cloud-crowned monarchs of the wilderness? + + Grim, storm-plumed guardians! Warriors tempest-mailed, + Federal with freedom, fortressing her land! 260 + Had primal man the sacred garden[2] tilled, + 'Ere earthly scenes your early vision scanned? + In spirit form took ye your titan stand[3], + Ere rolled a world-creating fiat forth? + Or came ye at convulsion's fierce command, + 'Mid loud-tongued thunders bursting from the earth, +The martial music that proclaimed your war-like birth? + + Vast, voiceless oracles, whose intelligence + Sleeps in the caverns of each stony heart, + Yet breathes o'er all a boundless eloquence, 270 + What wealth historic might your words impart! + Lone, looming, hermit of the hills, apart + From where thy banded mates in union dwell! + A master lyrist seemingly thou art, + Chief harper of a host that round thee swell; +And thine the Orphean boon[4], what could withstand thy spell? + + E'en now it whispers from the graven rock, + Scribed with the lightning's pen, in sculpture bold, + Defying time and tide and tempest shock, + Frowning where seas and centuries have rolled. 280 + "Oh were my words[5] thus writ!" That sage of old, + Knew he not well, ye mighty tomes of clay, + How firm the trust your flinty page might hold? + Have ye not scorned the fiats of decay? +Are ye not standing now where nations passed away? + + Thrice wondrous things, once thine to wisely scan, + Fast as thy frozen snow-crown, still in store, + Hadst thou the melting gift[6]--of sovereign man + The sunlike glory--mightest thou restore, + Till learning's tide o'erwhelmed the shining shore, 290 + With rich revealings of lost realms that rose + And fell like frost-hewn flowers thy face before; + Blightings which brought them an untimely close-- +Perchance, of spirit lore, some mystic mine disclose. + + But like the laboring brain that burns to speak + Mind's inmost thought, in deepest dungeon pent; + Or liker still to inward boiling peak + Of fires volcanic, vainly seeking vent + Where adamantine bolts and bars prevent;-- + Thou'rt doomed to utter stillness, and shalt keep 300 + The burden of thy bearing till is rent + Yon heavenly veil, and earth and air and deep +Tell secrets that shall rouse the dead from solemn sleep. + + And must I be as mute, O silent mount! + Muse of all Melody, shall I not sing?-- + Burst these dumb bars, when e'en yon babbling fount + May find in every breeze a wafting wing, + Afar its lightest murmured word to fling? + Where art thou, ancient Soul of Solemn Song? + Asleep? Then wake! Wherefore art slumbering? 310 + The world hath need of thee, and waiteth long. +Strike, strike again thy harp, and thrill the listening throng! + + Thus musing, lone upon a beetling brow, + Quaffing from unseen fount, those wilds among, + The spirit of the sun-kissed torrent flow, + Methought some lofty, caverned cliff had rung + With echoings of a more than mortal tongue; + Though softly clear the mournful cadence broke, + As notes from off the weird-toned viol flung. + Or was it yon lone cloud that muttering spoke, 320 +Heralding the storm king's wrathful shout and shivering stroke? + + Amazed I listened. Did I more than dream? + Had random word aroused unhoped reply? + Or was it sound whose import did but seem? + Hark!--for again it rolls along the sky: + "Then question hast thou none? Or none wouldst ply, + Save to thy soul in meditative strain, + Or heedless winds that wander idly by? + So be it; still to me thy purpose plain, +Thy hidden wish revealed, nor thus revealed in vain." 330 + + While freshening waves of woodland-scented air + Widened the spell of that immortal tone; + While, as on threshold of a lion's lair, + Speechless I stood, as stricken into stone; + Methought the sun with lessening splendor shone, + As if that wandering cloud obscured his gaze. + Then burst the glory from his midday throne! + Turning, mine eye beheld, in rapt amaze, +What memory ne'er would lose were life of endless days. + + A stately form, of giant stature tall; 340 + Of hoary aspect, venerable and grave; + Whose curling locks and beard of copious fall + Vied the white foam of ocean's storm-whipt wave. + The firm-fixt eye flashed lightnings from its cave; + Far-darting penetration's gaze combined + With wisdom's milder light. Of study gave + Deep evidence that brow by learning lined, +Thought's towering throne, where ruled his realm a monarch + mind. + + The spirit's garb--for spirit so he seemed-- 350 + Fell radiant in many a flowing fold; + A robe antique, by modern limners deemed + Befitting monk or eremite of old. + Head, hands, and feet were bare; the presence bold + With majesty, e'en as a god might wear, + While condescending to a mortal mould. + He spake--the voice no longer thrilled with fear; +Like some vast organ swell, it charmed, enchained, the ear. + + "Long have I watched and waited, but no sound + Broke the wild stillness of this stern abode, 360 + Save thunder's fiery foot-print smote the ground, + Or far beneath some torrent's fury flowed; + Anon the screaming eagle past me rode; + The seeker after gold, with toilsome stride, + And eager eye to fix the shining lode, + Hath paused and panted on the hill's steep side; +But none, for greater things, till now have hither hied. + + "And thou, O pensive crier in the waste, + Invoker of the Voice now visible! + Prepared art thou a mystery to taste, 370 + Whose fruit is joy or woe ineffable? + Pluck not of wisdom's branches bending full, + Drink not of that divine philosophy, + Save thou canst bravely suffer wrong's misrule, + Thy best intent thought ill; save thou canst be +What men deem "fool," real fools despising, pitying thee. + + "Not all my ministry to lift the gloom + Yet hovering o'er this mystic hemisphere. + List while I tell, for I am one by whom + Future and past as present shall appear. 380 + In me behold Messiah's Minister, + Ancient of time and of eternity, + Spirit of song that moved the Hebrew seer, + Voice of the stars[7] ere earth's nativity; +Exile, for ages gone, of mortal minstrelsy. + + "See now my sacred heritage, the prey + Of ribald rhymesters, sensuous, half obscene; + Of gloating censors, glad o'er my decay, + And deeming all but best I ne'er had been! + The body's bard[8] throned, sceptering the scene, 390 + A groveling worshiper of earth and time. + Arise! and with thy soul's celestial sheen, + Shame these false meteors, change the ruling chime; +My minstrel, I thy muse, sing thou the song sublime! + + "Sing, poet, sing! but not of new--of old, + Of old and new--eternal truth thy theme, + That holdeth past and future in her fold, + That maketh present but a passing dream, + While time and earth and man as trifles seem; + That knoweth not of new, or old, or strange; 400 + Whose everduring, all-redemptive scheme, + Fixt and immutable 'mid worlds of change, +On, on, from universe to universe doth range. + + "Faint not, nor fear, for all shall fare thy way-- + My way, His way, the Master's, evermore. + East shall seem West, rethrown the rising ray, + Shining afar from this most ancient shore[9], + And man shall rise[10] e'en where man fell before. + Fools may deride, may jeer at destiny; + They mock to mourn, oblivion earths them o'er; 410 + While they that champion truth, by truth shall be +Exalted, e'en in time, to live eternally." + + The ancient paused, and, unperceived till then, + A wondrous harp his bosom swung before, + Such harp as played the shepherd psalmist[11] when + A maddening rage his monarch seized and tore, + And music's magic quelled satanic power. + Seated, his form against the crag reclined, + He waved me to his feet, and forth did pour, + As pours Niagara on the plaintive wind, 420 +Floods of majestic song, falling from mind to mind. + + Full tale of wonders told, I may not tell, + Though mind be heir to all of mystery; + With milk of truth the breasts of wisdom swell, + Sufficing past and present infancy. + But matching all the modern eye may see + With marvels promised to the future sight, + 'Twas as the shrub unto the sheltering tree, + The floating swan unto the eagle's flight, +The hillock to the snow-crowned summit, lost in light. 430 + + Silent he towered above me, harp in hand,-- + Was it a dream? Could dream so vivid be?-- + And with his mantle's fold my forehead fanned. + Then leapt to life the flame of poesy! + Was it a vision of my destiny? + Upon the mount, as erst, I stood alone, + And naught was there of muse or minstrelsy; + Save that afar still trembled that strange tone, +And something said within: "That harp is now thine own." + + + + +CANTO THREE + +Elect of Elohim[1] + + +Sing I a song of aeons gone, 440 + Of life from mystery sprung, +Ere sun, or moon, or rolling stars + Their radiance earthward flung; +Ere spirit-winged intelligence + Forsook those shining spheres. +Exceeding glory there to gain + Through mortal toil and tears. + +A song they learn whose lives eterne + Transcend yon twinkling night, +Pale Olea's silver beam[2] outsoar, 450 + Shinea's golden flight; +Passing the angel sentries by, + Mounting o'er stars and suns, +To where the orbs that govern burn, + Royal and regnant ones. + +Declare, O Muse of mightier wing, + Of loftier lore, than mine! +Why God is God, and man may be + Both human and divine; +Why Sons of God, 'mid sons of men, 460 + Unrecognized may dwell, +So masked in dense mortality + That none their truth can tell. + +From worlds afar, from heavenmost star, + Heard I, or seemed to hear, +A sweet refrain, as summer rain, + A cadence soft and clear. +A voice, a harp,--Was it the same?-- + Harping those harps among, +Leading the lyric universe, 470 + On those high hills of song? + +In solemn council sat the Gods; + From Kolob's height supreme, +Celestial light blazed forth afar + O'er countless kokaubeam; +And faintest tinge, the fiery fringe + Of that resplendent day, +'Lumined the dark abysmal realm + Where earth in chaos lay. + +Silence. That awful hour was one 480 + When thought doth most avail; +Of worlds unborn the destiny + Hung trembling in the scale. +Silence self-spelled, and there arose, + Those kings and priests among, +A power sublime, than whom appeared + None nobler 'mid the throng. + +A stature mingling strength with grace, + Of meek though godlike mien; +The glory of whose countenance 490 + Outshone the noonday sheen. +Whiter his hair than ocean spray, + Or frost of alpine hill. +He spake;--attention grew more grave, + The stillness e'en more still. + +"Father!" the voice like music fell, + Clear as the murmuring flow +Of mountain streamlet trickling down + From heights of virgin snow. +"Father," it said, "since one must die, 500 + Thy children to redeem +From spheres all formless now and void, + Where pulsing life shall teem; + +"And mighty Michael[3] foremost fall, + That mortal man may be; +And chosen saviour Thou must send, + Lo, here am I--send me! +I ask, I seek no recompense, + Save that which then were mine; +Mine be the willing sacrifice, 510 + The endless glory Thine! + +"Give me to lead to this lorn world, + When wandered from the fold, +Twelve legions of the noble 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 God 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, God'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 flashing 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 shore + 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 God, 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 Gods, + Whose strength shall in thee dwell! +Go down betime and rescue earth, + Dethroning death and hell. +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 God shall be, + As God 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 gods 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 shine[16]; +The waning moon, that bathed in blood, + Ere sank the Sun divine. + +"Glory to God!--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 lust, +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--God scorned by man!-- + And spurned the truth He taught. + +O bane of damning 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 lust, + 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 God, + 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 God 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. +Hell'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 Japheth, 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 + +Whoe'er hath swayed, or yet shall sway, the world, +By tongue or pen, by sword or sceptered rule, +Hath served, or yet shall serve, the sovereign aim +Of Him who wills the welfare of mankind; +For or against, promoting still His plan, +Helping, not hindering, a conquering Cause. + +Gone the great Sun--set but to rise again, +More glorious from a night of martyrdom; +Set here to rise on realms and times untold; +All worlds, God's lofty vineyards[8], visiting. 730 + +Linger the spirit Moon and speaking Stars[9], +Crowning with light the Woman Wonderful[10]. + +Fair as the morn, though tearful as the eve; +Risen as from the rocky sepulchre, +Where slept betimes the body of her Lord; +Clothed, crowned, and shod, with glory's symboling[11]; +Ere winging to the vast invisible, +Returning to the restful wilderness, +She bides to hope, to labor, and endure, +All depths, all heights, with Him inheriting. 740 + +Henceforth with her another Comforter, +Vicegerent[12] of the vanished Majesty, +Of heavenly Three, the unembodied One[13], +Proceeding from the presence of the Sire, +To manifest the meaning of the Son; +Giver of gifts from Him, the glory-crowned, +Fountain of memory and of prophecy. + +After and ere,[14] Messiah's Minister, +Creative hand, omnific arm of God; +Holder with Christ of resurrection's key, 750 +The quickener of the living and the dead. +Lamp of the worlds, life of the universe, +Eternal spring of energy divine-- +Life, Light, and Love, magnetic mystery, +Whereby all things upheld and heavenward drawn. + +Prophet still pleading[15] in the wilderness, +The promise of a perfect yet to come; +Proclaimer of the heavenly commonweal, +Kingdom upon and yet not of the earth, +Whose portal none can enter, none can see, 760 +Save born anew--born of a dual birth, +By mystic fatherhood and motherhood +Begotten sons and daughters unto God, +Whose Spirit, omnipresent, immanent, +Unwearied, strives by countless ministries, +By might of word, by miracle of deed, +Mankind to win, wooing while hope remains. + +Henceforth with her that holy gift and guide, +Truth's high revealer and interpreter; +Henceforth with her the Father and the Son, 770 +Absent, yet present by the Comforter; +Of great lights twain, the lesser, ruling night, +Moon to that Sun, whose realm the rounded Day. + +Resplendent night, while flame those fluent stars[16], +That still a spotless brow bediadem; +Circling forever round their central Light, +And, Him withdrawn, repeating from afar, +And gladdening with His rays a gloom-hung world. + +As set that Sun, sinking in seas of blood, +Sinking to soar above a mightier morrow, 780 +Follow the lingering stars, save haply one[17], +Through mystic night of ages sparkling lone, +And speaking in high splendor things to come. +Most lustrous of the living lamps of God, +'Mid human lights, divinely luminant. +Rarest of twelve, remaining oracle, +Reserved unto a wondrous destiny; +Pilot of peoples, nations, tribes and tongues, +Leading the lost[18] ones from captivity. +Beloved of Love--life's King, death's Conqueror, 790 +Tarrying by will of Him through troubled time, +Lighting the way unto eternity. + +And thou, e'en thou, O Woman Wonderful! +Safe for a season from the She-Wolf's maw, +Far borne, east, west, on power's imperial wings, +Nourished 'neath Caesar's shield, till Caesar's sword +Hath turned upon and made thee desolate. +Thou too must pass--not perish--in thy time. +Betrayed to foes without, by false within, +E'en as thy Lord thou sufferest martyrdom. 800 + +But what avails to baffle Him or bind? +Vain, dragon, vain thy deluge of deceit, +Thy flood of lies, thou false one from of old! +Vain, wrath of devils and of men combined, +Bent to defile the sacred Bride of Christ. +Triumphs the Man-Child[19], heaven now summons home; +Triumphs the Woman in the wilderness, +'Scaping the jaws, the hungering gates of hell, +That 'gainst the mortal part alone prevail; +Body, not spirit, crushed and all o'ercome. 810 + +Throned upon higher worlds, she reigneth still; +And here shall rise unto the regnant place, +When rolls the stone upon the image doomed, +When God hath fanned with fire His threshing floor. + +Till then proud Japheth sways[20], while Jacob mourns, +Fainting 'neath yokes and fardels, prostrate, prone, +With Judah undermost, the last of all +The trampled tribes to taste of liberty. +Haply ordained a lesser power to wield, +Antaeus-like[21], from touching of the ground; 820 +Bent, curst, yet clutching, and by might of gold +Conquering his dust-adoring conqueror[22]. + +For God, through all, remembers Abraham, +Ordained of old His lineal house to be. +Came not the Christ their covenant to fulfill? +Who but an Israel might offer Him? +Whose hand than Judah's might Jehovah slay? +"His blood be on our head"--Ay, rests it there! +Weightier than worlds by that high death redeemed. + +World-wandering Saul! Was this thy symboling: 830 +The Jew struck blind that Gentile hosts might see[23]? + +Predestined Israel, martyred, immolate[24], +That nations, blood-besprent, might look and live; +A burden-bearer for the universe, +Outcast and homeless for humanity, +Descending like his Lord all else below, +And yet with Him to rise all else above, +Extremes of woe and weal encompassing, +Wisdom by sweet and bitter made more wise. + +From blight springs blessing, and from darkness day; 840 +E'en Canaan's neck from 'neath the yoke[25] shall come. +Japheth shall feel the Spirit minister, +And Jacob see and hear his risen Lord[26]. + +Departed now the Woman Wonderful, +Gone with the spirit gift and guiding power; +O'ercome, world-conquered, sinks degenerate +The washed one to his wallowing in the mire[27]; +A drowsy dreamer of the self-same dreams +Dispelled erewhile by lightnings of her eye; + +The heaven-lit torch[28] that made the pathway plain 850 +O'er rugged mount, through mazy catacomb, +Now dimmed with incense from Diana's shrine[29], +And dashed in pieces 'gainst a pagan throne, +Where prematurely changed was cross for crown, +And Christ's flock fleeced by shearing compromise[30]. + +God still with man, though not with man's misrule; +Still with the just, though Christian-pagan turn +His prurient ear to fables, from the truth, +And, virtueless as Judah's pharisee, +And graceless as Iscariot, self-hung, 860 +Parts in the midst, as wide as East from West[31], +False church and faithless empire, faction-torn, +Twain as the imaged legs of Babel's dream, +A split colossus, fallen 'twixt Greece and Rome. + +God still with man, though not with man's misrule, +Never with thee, daughter of force and fraud, +Mother of guile--thy refuge and thy shame! +Never with thee, thou wanton by the way, +Roaming tradition's tangled wilderness, +Lost in a night that seemeth to thee day; 870 +In crooked paths that fain would straight appear; +Warming thy withered fingers o'er the coals +Alive 'mid ashes of the ancient fires, +Where She was wont[32] to kindle faith, hope, love, +And flash the beacon o'er a wandering world. +There holding to thy heart an empty urn, +There cherishing a name, a memory, +Mumbling vain prayers, "Lord, Lord," protesting still, +And still forgetful of thy Lord's command! + +Nay, not with thee, thou crimson courtesan[33], 880 +Robed in the horrid hue of countless crimes! +Fierce dragon's maw, thrice-cruel murderess, +Thy hands a-reek with blood of innocence, +With blood of prophets, blood of priests and kings, +Whose martyred souls sue vengeance, judgment-sworn! +Vengeance on thee, thou slaughterer of saints, +Vengeance on him, thy sceptered paramour, +Whose princes ten (while Mammon's host shall wail), +Loathing where once they loved all lustfully, +And lived, as thou hast lived, deliciously, 890 +When found no more God's wheat 'mid Satan's tares, +When thou art saltless, saintless, savorless, +When thou art ripened unto rottenness, +Shall give thy crumbling body to be burned. + +Nay, Anti-Christ, presuming tyranny, +Never with thee, usurping power of sin! +Plotting to sway Jehovah's sovereignty, +To rear thy throne where His alone shall stand; +Perdition, warring 'gainst the Saints of God, +And overcoming till the Judgment sits[34], 900 +When swift-winged morn shall overtake the night, +And glory lift the gloom[35] of centuries. + +Meanwhile the mission of the Moonlike One[36], +Brooding above the waters of the world, +Stronger than storms, mightier than wind or wave, +Moving on mortal seas, on human souls; +Dynamic impulse of Divinity, +Impelling to all action[37] wise, sublime. + +That high Ambassador of Elohim, +The Spirit Messenger Omnipotent, 910 +Declare His goings-forth, His sendings tell. + +Ye patriarchs and prophets of old time! +Ye seers and bards of sacred Israel! +Elect of God, earth-wandering witnesses, +Sowers on goodly and on stony ground! +Souls mercy-sent, man's erring steps to win +From folly's paths of wickedness and strife, +To wisdom's way of purity and peace! +Shepherds to fold and feed a wolf-torn flock, +Holding the hallowed keys that loose and bind! 920 +Tell me--are ye alone truth's harbingers? +Are ye alone forerunners of the Light? + +Nay, for as kings and conquerors they come; +Anon, as champions of democracy; +Founders of faiths and stern iconoclasts; +Sword, tongue and pen of progress and reform. +The fountain lights of literature, whose rays +Spill their white splendor on the hills of fame; +Masters of melody, whose strains awake +The slumbering memories of eternity; 930 +Pilgrims to continents and climes unknown, +Uncurtained for the play of liberty, +Now nearing the finale of her dreams, +Dreams that shall waken to reality; +Waste-winners; probers of the polar way; +Invention's wizards, wielding magic might-- +Launching fleet words on atmospheric wave, +Cleaving with bird-like wing the shoreless blue, +Outspeeding speed, outblazing brilliancy, +Thrilling the world with lightning's vivid wand, 940 +Ruling all realms with scintillating sway; +Sages in art, in science past profound, +Subduing matter and exploring mind, +Sounding the depths of psychic mystery, +Scaling thought's pinnacles, that pierce the night, +To greet the early glintings of the morn. +These also are the mighty, kin to those, +Divinest of Jehovah's messengers. +Each hath his freedom, and succeeds or fails, +But all subserve the Will Omnipotent. 950 + +What though some wayward son of Deity[38], +Builder, o'erthrower, of imperial thrones, +In wrongful act of rightful agency, +Here drench with blood, here pave with shattered bones, +To heights of crumbling power and futile fame! +Is God then mocked? Made void His vast design? +Creator foiled by creature? Vain the fear! +Speeds ne'er to earth a spoiler of His plan, +Nor spares His rod a recreant messenger. + +Whate'er betide, the soul that sins atones: 960 +The grievous sceptre and the slaughtering sword, +The bloodstained ax, the gory guillotine, +The tyrant wrong, the tyrant-trampling right, +Join to make justice of the direst doom. + +All oracles of light, all arms of power, +Preparers of the way one face before; +Their strength but part of His omnipotence, +Their fault God-given lest man be deified, +And pride in him dethrone humility. + +Declare His truth, His generations tell, 970 +O'er whom the many marveled, some to say +Elias, slain of Herod, lives again; +While some said Jeremias[39]. Who say ye, +Man-hated, though God-missioned ministers, +Unctioned with fire, anointed from on High! +Guardians yet watchful o'er the widening fold! +Who say ye was your Master, Teacher, Friend? + +"Word that was God, is God, 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 God? +"God?--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, +Hoards 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 + +God'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 hell'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 +Japheth! 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 God, His presence thine. + +"Time, mighty daughter of Eternity! +Mother of centuries[5]--seventy, seven-crowned! +Assemble 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 God, +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, restitution, 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 God!" + +--- + +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 God I might but tell thee who I am! +Would God 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, nobles 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 Gods, 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 God, 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 God! 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. + +--- + +Earth rose from wintry sleep[14], baptized and cleansed, +And on her tranquil brow, that seemed to feel +The holy and confirming hand of Heaven, +The warm light in a wealth of comfort streamed; +Nature's great floor green-carpeting anew +For some glad change, some joyful happening, 1170 +Told in the countless caroling of birds, +Gilding the foliage, glorying the flowers, +Mirroring mingled hues of earth and sky. + +Glad happening, in sooth, for ne'er before, +Since burst the heavens when Judah's star-lit hills +Heard angel choristers peal joy's refrain +Above the mangered Babe of Bethlehem, +Had earth such scene beheld, as now within +The bosom of a sylvan solitude, +Hard by the borders of a humble home, 1180 +Upon that fair and fateful morn was played. + +Players, immortal twain and mortal one, +Standing but fourteen steps upon life's stair, +An unlearned boy, thinker of thoughts profound, +Boy and yet man, dreamer of lofty dreams. + +Not solemn, save betimes, when hovered near +Some wingéd inspiration from far worlds, +Some great idea's all-subduing spell-- +His heart grew humbler then, his look more grave; +Not melancholy--mirthful, loving life, 1190 +And brimming o'er with health and wholesome glee. +A stalwart spirit in a sturdy frame, +Maturing unto future mightiness. + +Bowing to God, yet bending to no creed, +Adoring not a loveless deity, +That saved or damned regardless of desert, +Ne'er reckoning the good or evil done; +Loving and worshipping the God of love, +The gracious God of reason and of right, +Long-suffering and just and merciful, 1200 +Meting to every work fit recompense, +Yet giving more, far more, than merit's claim; +Bowing to Him, but not to man-made gods, +And shunning shameful strife where peace should dwell, +He holds aloof from those degenerate sects, +Bewildering Babel of conflicting creeds, +And pondering the apostolic line, +"Let any lacking wisdom, wisdom ask, +And God will freely give, upbraiding none," +He puts the promise to the utter test. 1210 + +What pen can paint the marvel that befell? +What tongue the wondrous miracle portray? +Than theirs, the Vision's own, what voice proclaim +Whose dual presence[15] dimmed the noonday beam, +Communing with him there, as friend with friend, +And giving to that prayer reply of peace? + +Tell how, as Moses on the unknown mount[16], +From whom in rage fled baffled Lucifer, +Who fain had guised him as the Son of God, +To win the worship of that prophet pure-- 1220 +Tell how with gloom he strove ere glory dawned, +And black despair met bright deliverance. +Tell how in heart of that sweet solitude, +Within the silent grove, sequestered shade, +While spirit hosts unseen spectators stood, +Watching the simple scene's sublimity, +Eternity high converse held with time; +Time, parent of the hovering centuries, +Mother of dispensations, travailing, +And bringing forth her last and mightiest child; 1230 +Heaven's awful Sire, through Him both Sire and Son, +There blazoning the beginning of the end. + +Wane the swift years; the boy a youth now grown; +And on his brow, woe-carved, a world of care. +Bending, an Atlas,[17] 'neath the titan's load, +Daily he climbs the hill of sacrifice, +Viewing from far the mount of martyrdom. + +Nor marvel at his lot; hath he not told-- +A crime man ne'er forgave in fellowman-- +Told the wise world that God hath spoke again? 1240 + +"'Twas from below!" Thus bigotry in rage. +"Nay, from above," the meek though firm reply. +"No vision is there now--the time is past." +"But I have seen," affirms truth's constancy. +"God is a mystery, unknowable." +"God is a man--I saw Him, talked with Him." +"Man?" "Ay, of holiness--Exalted Man[18]." + +A strife of words, of warring tongues, now waged, +And weapons vied with words the truth to slay; +Nor truth alone, but her brave oracle, 1250 +A boy, by men, by neighborhoods, oppressed. + +Still through his soul the solemn warning rang, +Still from his mouth the startling message flamed: +"No church the Christ's. None, therefore, can I join. +All sects and creeds have wandered from the way. +Priestcraft in lieu of Priesthood sits enthroned. +Dead forms deny the power of godliness. +Men worship with their lips, their hearts afar. +None serve acceptably in sight of heaven. +Wherefore a work of wonder shall be wrought, 1260 +And perish all the wisdom of the wise[19]." + +The wrangling sects forgave--well nigh forgot +Their former feuds and fears and jealousies; +And, joining hands, as Pilate Herod joined, +One guilty day when God stood man-condemned, +In friendly reconcilement's cordial clasp, +They doomed to death and hell "this heresy." +None sought, from "Satan's wile," a soul's reclaim, +But all were bent his humble name to blast; +And pious, would-be murder led the van 1270 +Of common hatred and hostility. + +But Truth, thou mother of the living thought, +The deathless word, the everduring deed! +What puny hand thy giant arm can stay? +When crushed or backward held, thine hour beyond? +Can bigot frown or tyrant fetter quell +Thy high revolt, O Light Omnipotent! +When God would speak with man, who tells Him nay? +Can hell prevent when heaven on earth would smile? + +Pillowed in prayerful thought the wakeful seer. 1280 +Without, broods darkness o'er a dreaming world; +Within, an angel's face turns night to day: +"A messenger from God[20] to thee I come; +Thy sins are pardoned through thy penitence; +Henceforward heard in every creed and clime +The good and evil tongues that trump thy fame. +Behold!" + + Amazement now fresh wonder views; +And while enwrapt, as wave-like visions roll +Their spirit splendors on that gifted gaze, 1290 +In words akin to these the tale tells on: + +"A slumbering secret hides in yonder hill, +Graven on gold, in characters unknown-- +Unknown to thee, but known to me and mine, +The language of my people, ages gone. +Beside the sacred volume, buried there +At His behest who gave my sire command, +The seer-stones, Urim, Thummim, named of old, +Whereby thou shalt dispel the mystery +That hangs above this heaven-favored land, 1300 +And Joseph, speaking from the dust, shall join +With Judah, page to page[21], God's grace to tell. + +"But be aware, lest Mammon's charm allure, +And tempt from truer wealth that shines within. +More than the lamp the light--be this thy quest: +Seek thou the gold that gilds eternity. + +"The winter of the Gentile reign is o'er, +And Israel's springtime putteth forth its leaves. +Fruit planted in the gardens of the past +Hath ripened and is ready for the fall[22]. 1310 + +"Elias comes[23], Messiah's Messenger, +God's host to summon, and His house to save-- +First by persuasion's pleading; that contemned, +By voice of wrath and stroke of violence. +He speaks--the mountains kneel, the valleys rise; +Rolls to the north the land-dividing wave; +Equality--nay, justice, holds the helm, +Each hath his own, the lost lamb finds the fold. +Elias comes--'tis restitution's reign, +And order hurls disorder from the throne. 1320 + +"War sheathes his fangs, aloft on fearless wing +Peace broods above a restful universe; +A common faith and interest unite, +But conscience still her fullest freedom[24] sees. +Wider than Church extends the Kingdom's bound: +The law from Zion, and the royal word, +The Monarch's edict, from Jerusalem; +A centralized diffusion's balanced sway, +God's might, man's right, in equilibrium. + +"Babel no more--stilled all her strifeful tongues; 1330 +The primal language[25] o'er the world prevails; +And all is found again as at the first, +While ransomed hosts, rejoicing, shout and sing: +The Lord His ancient people hath redeemed; +The Lord hath gathered all things into one; +And earth becomes a heaven, for she is clothed +In garments as the glory of His light +Who reigneth in the midst, Life's Majesty. + +"But ere it break, that bright millennial day, +There falls a nightlier hour than night hath known, 1340 +When sun shall frown, moon blush, when dizzy stars, +Drunken with fumes of man's iniquity, +Shall hurl them headlong from their sparkling thrones, +And grovel darkly in the deep abyss; +While heaven shall tremble as if palsy-struck, +Earth as an aspen shaken in the wind. +Men's hearts shall fail, and where be safety found? +For tribulations till that hour unknown, +Save in the feeble typings of the past, +Terrors of famine, fire, and pestilence, 1350 +Terrors of whirling wind and whelming wave, +Allied to horrors strange as manifold, +Shall stalk abroad to humble humankind, +To lift the lowly and abase the proud, +To straight the crooked and make smooth the crude, +Jehovah's awful pathway to prepare-- +Jehovah, He who cometh to his own, +And by His own at last is recognized. + +"No more a lowly Lamb, to slaughter led; +A Lion in his risen majesty-- 1360 +Lion and Lamb, for gentleness and might, +Mercy and justice, there go hand in hand. + +"But first, the sickle in the ripened grain, +Reaping where faith is found, while hope endures, +Drawing the Gentile unto Israel's God, +And gathering the strewn of Abraham. + +"Wells truth from earth, pours righteousness from heaven, +Till wisdom's waters inundate the world. +Bestirred the wave by angel trumpets blown, +Wafting the chosen seed to safety's strand, 1370 +Winning the West ere yet the East be spoiled. + +"Elijah comes--Elijah, he whose rays +Bespeak the Lord of Glory, from whose light +All splendors, paling, hide their tapers dim. +He comes the world to reap, the vineyard prune, +The wheat to garner, and the tares to burn; +He comes, his face a furnace, melting pride, +Consuming wickedness and cleansing worth. +He comes the hearts of sons and sires to turn, +To plant anew the promises of old, 1380 +Binding the present to the parent past, +Part unto whole, time to eternity. +He comes the priestly fulness to unfold, +The capstone of life's temple here to lay. +He comes lest man be taken unaware, +And laggard earth be smitten with a curse. + +"Hark to that prophet--outstretched Arm of God, +Who comes the ancient order to restore; +And list to him who leads, as Moses led, +The gathered house and host of Abraham!" 1390 + +Thrice through the night the radiant messenger +In burning words breathed forth the marvel told; +Till memory's page, as traced with pen of fire, +Glowed with each utterance ineffable. + +And on the morrow stood the sacred twain-- +Mortal, immortal, present linked with past-- +Above the spot where slumbering truth reposed; +Not to be wakened yet till autumns four +Had rained their dews upon its resting-place. + +Meanwhile the unschooled prophet, angel-taught, 1400 +In prayer and patience disciplined his soul; +And visiting yearly that revealing mount, +Learned from its lips a story of the past, +Affirmed in full when risen truth revealed +The pent-up secret of the centuries. + +Words of the angel, Ramah's sentinel, +Custodian of Cumorah's[26] archive old: + + + + +CANTO SIX + +From Out The Dust[1] + + + Jehovah's land--thy country--once mine own, + A sacred soil, a consecrated shore, + Where cometh up the universal Throne, 1410 + Dominion that endureth evermore. + Whose God, with gods, in solemn council swore + No tyrant should this chosen land defile; + And nations here, that for a season bore + The palm of power, must righteous be[2] the while, +Or ruin's avalanche ruin on ruin pile. + + Though not till brimmed with guilt their cup of crime, + Ripened the harvest of iniquity. + To races, nations, men, there is a time + To come and go, as wisdom shall decree,-- 1420 + Wisdom supreme, Tongue of Eternity. + But strikes the hour as men and nations will. + Unfettered in their choice of destiny, + They, by their deeds, the fateful measure fill; +Electing to be clean, or unclean lingering still. + + Race upon race has perished in its pride; + And nations lustrous as the lights of heaven + Have sinned and sunk in reckless suicide, + Upon this ground, since that dread word was given. + Realms battle-rent, and regions tempest-riven; 1430 + The wrath-swept land for ages desolate; + A wretched remnant blasted, curst, and driven + Before the furies of revengeful fate; +Till wonder asks in vain, What of their former state[3]? + + Wouldst know the cause, the upas-tree that bore + The blight of desolation? 'Tis a theme + To melt earth's heart, and move all heaven to pour + With sorrow's heaving flood; as when supreme + O'er fallen Lucifer, the generous stream + Of grief half quenched the joy of victory. 1440 + Mark how the annals of the ages teem + With repetition. Time, eternity, +The same have taught; but few, alas! the moral see. + + There is a sin called self, which binds the world + In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong; + A sin most serpentine, round all men curled, + And in its fatal fold earth writhes full long; + Crime's great first cause, the primal root of wrong, + Parent of pride, and tree of tyranny. + To lay the axe doth unto thee belong. 1450 + Strike, that the world may know of liberty, +And Zion's land indeed a land of Zion be! + + A choice land, blest above all other lands, + Since earth, reborn, rose sinless from the flood; + Beloved by Him whose holy feet and hands + Were pierced to pour the all-redeeming blood. + Here stands the ancient Altar[4], and here stood + The Ark, till borne triumphant o'er the wave-- + The hungry wave that made all flesh its food, + All save a few, whom godly living gave 1460 +To see life's single way and shun death's dual grave[5]. + + The Old World, not the New, by man misnamed; + Cradle and grave of mouldering nations vast; + Whose stalwart spirit stature, seen, had shamed + The mightiest of known empires, present, past. + The land where Adam dwelt[6], where Eden cast + From flaming gate the heaven-appointed pair, + Who fell that man might be; a fall still chaste[7], + Albeit they sinned, descending death's dread stair, +To fling life's ladder down, Love's work[8] and way prepare. 1470 + + Here rose the Zion of primeval days[9], + Type of a greater Zion yet to rise; + Here Enoch's walls and towers reflung the rays, + Rolled back the flooding splendors of the skies, + Whose portal wide gave welcome. Upward flies + The sainted city, self denied, dethroned: + In all things one, their power e'en death defies: + In dust they ne'er shall slumber; cleansed, condoned, +They wait the final change[10], through Him who hath atoned. + + Here cometh up the New Jerusalem[11]; 1480 + Here cometh down that risen realm of old, + Jehovah's seat, earth's jeweled diadem, + Joy of the world, by prophet tongues extolled. + Japheth, here joined with Shem[12], finds Israel's fold, + An ark of peace[13] amid a world of war. + The ensign[14] on the mountains here behold! + 'Tis Joseph signals Jacob[15] from afar, +And points him to the goal where God and glory are. + + Ancient of Days[16] here sits, as at the first, + When time and earth and Adam's race were young; 1490 + When, bowed with age, a great soul's sunset burst + In blessings on his seed. Prophetic tongue, + Thy patriarchal tone through time hath rung! + Michael, the prince, the monarch of our race, + Sire of a world from dust and spirit sprung; + Here sits he, throned in fire; before his face +Ten thousand times ten thousand throng the judgment place. + + Wherefore this land must unpolluted be; + Or, if defiled, by blood again made clean + From grime of sin, from grind of tyranny; 1500 + Free from the ills that other lands have seen, + Free from the blots that now dim freedom's sheen. + No nation by vain boasting shall abide; + Bid thine beware, lest here the sanguine scene + Reacted be, and ruin, spawn of pride, +Spring from the soil where nations great as thine have died. + + Hesperia[17], be just--the right maintain, + And foe without, nor foe within, prevails! + Here nations slay themselves, if they be slain,-- + Brother 'gainst brother, sire 'gainst son, till fails 1510 + The fount of widow's tears and orphan's wails. + Hear thou that servant[18] whom the Father sends-- + Hear him and heed, ere Japheth's planet pales, + That peace and freedom may remain thy friends, +While hither, from all lands, all worlds, God's legion[19] wends. + + A gathering from all glories thou shalt see, + Blest land of Joseph[20], honored, lifted high! + Thy brother lands come bending unto thee, + And Gog and Magog[21] menace but to die. + While they that serve the Lord with single eye 1520 + Shall see Him in the midst; the goal then won, + When time no longer flecks eternity, + Nor need is there of star, or moon, or sun, +Since He, light's self, is risen, and heaven and earth are one. + + Thus far the angel, Ramah's sentinel, + His vigil keeping on that lonely hill; + And thus the spelled yet speechful auditor, + Around the hearthside of that humble home. + There sire and matron, trusted kith and kin, + Give faithful credence to the story strange, 1530 + Pondering the tidings wise and wonderful. + + Thence oft above that mount of mystery, + Of buried lore the solemn sepulchre, + Meet modern seer and ancient oracle. + And while humility at wisdom's feet + Expectant waits, where truth from earth shall spring, + Comes, as from riven tomb, this wondrous tale: + + Where Joseph[22], where wast thou, that time when torn + Was earth asunder; ocean's cleaving sword + The wedded lands wide severing[23]? Where, when borne 1540 + Deep through the watery world, as there devoured + By wind and wave that harmless o'er them roared, + The pilgrim sons of Shinar[24]--favored band, + From that far clime where Babel's folly towered + And language foundered on confusion's strand-- +Won here a precious heritage, a promised land? + + Preserver of the pure and primal tongue[25], + Most faithful found 'mid living sons of men, + Their leader looked on God; then wrestling wrung + By spirit might, and paged with fiery pen, 1550 + The full of what would be, of what had been; + Sealing the secret till an hour should chime + When faith as mighty unto mortal ken + Would bring the marvel of a book sublime[26], +Bridging with lightful lore the shadowy gulf of time. + + But pilgrim prows now part the unknown wave; + Above, around, baptismal billows[27] roll. + Divinity, their guide, protection gave, + Else had engulfing seas entombed the whole. + Though tight each launch, where lines of lustre stole 1560 + From molten stones, late struck from Shelem's height[28], + And lit by touch divine. Unto the goal + Of that grim voyage, banishing the night, +Those crystal miracles gave forth their friendly light. + + Till loomed to wistful eyes this waiting land, + Spreading with wing-like continents[29] afar, + As if to welcome worlds. The Chaldean band + The Northland chose, lured by a favoring star, + For South, as North, of human soul was bare. + But liberty loves most a northern zone, 1570 + Where nature's ramparts e'en 'gainst nature's war + Put forth protection. Liberty alone +Mahonri's realm[30] might rule--no king, no crown, no throne. + + Still, mighty spirit, thou art manifest! + What creed or clan shall win Columbia's crown? + Though freedom weep, by anarchy opprest, + Hesperia's face reflect Europa's frown, + Sceptered religion ne'er shall tread men down. + Belief and unbelief here find one plane, + That freedom's greater cause[31] be not o'erthrown, 1580 + But spring and spread till every tongue maintain +The kingdom of the King whose throne all worlds sustain. + + Here dawns that universal liberty-- + Theme of the prophet tongue, the poet pen-- + When, winged with power and crowned with purity, + Earth shall be heaven, and gods shall dwell with men; + Fraternity divine, that e'er hath been, + And e'er shall be, the blissful lot of those + Who, conquering self, bind Satan, fetter sin, + And soar beyond the reach of mortal woes, 1590 +Rising to sainted heights, as all past Zions rose[32]. + + Till then no king upon this crownless land, + Reserved to freedom and to righteousness. + 'Gainst her none prosper, lifting hostile hand. + Blest haven, fortressed by God's mightiness[33]! + Kingcraft and priestcraft plant their sure distress. + The past hath spoken--heed the warning tone: + Of pride beware, and baser sordidness-- + Self's groveling tyranny, with heart of stone, +Whereby, in ages gone, this land did grieve and groan. 1600 + + "Give us a king[34]!" their cry, when power had come, + When wealth was massed, and men were multiplied; + "A king! A king!"--vibrant the echoing dome + From northern lake to gulf and ocean tide; + For Satan in their hearts had planted pride. + Grieved was the nation's wise and watchful sire; + Grieved was the faithful kinsman at his side; + From eyes of both shot gleams of righteous ire, +As voiced ambitious will its ominous desire. + + They sighed: "This leadeth to captivity-- 1610 + Perchance destruction, ending dark and dire. + Yet must we yield to human liberty + Its own, e'en though a brand from freedom's fire + Kindle for freedom's self the fatal pyre." + So saying, they anointed one their king + Who craved the crown, by patriot son and sire + Put by in pure denial, lest it bring +First care, then crime, and waken woes then slumbering. + + For though a king see duty's pathway plain, + And walk therein, as he who now arose; 1620 + What monarch from misrule can all refrain, + When privilege lifts power o'er friends and foes? + Bare is the reign untarnished to the close, + And rarer still the blameless dynasty. + Ofttimes as princes the unkingliest pose, + Because, forsooth, they come of some tall tree, +Whose root and trunk were sound, while branches blasted be. + + True kingliness--what else proves man a king? + A slave, though throned and sceptered, bides a slave; + Nor pride, nor pelf, nor all that power may bring, 1630 + Can make the serf a sovereign, or yet save + The dust of either from the common grave. + Royal the soul must be, or comes to end + All royalty. Spirit, then blood, God gave; + And each at last its separate way doth wend +Home to the parent source, to meet no more, nor blend. + + Scarce gone the goodly ruler when his realm + Saw fierce rebellion rear its horrent head. + Usurping treason seized the civic helm, + Wrong trampled right, and justice, judgment, fled. 1640 + Ages looked on while battling kingdoms bled. + Lifted the warning voice--its pleading vain: + A blood-drowned continent, a sea of dead, + And, of a mighty people, fallen, self-slain, +A prophet and a king, a solitary twain[35]. + + That prophet saw the coming of the Lord + Unto the Old, the New, Jerusalem; + Saw Israel returning at His word + From wheresoe'er His will had scattered them; + The realm's wide ruin saw, and strove to stem. 1650 + That king, sole scion of a perished race, + Casting his blood-stained sword and diadem, + Lived but to see another nation[36] place +Firm foot upon the soil, then vanished from its face. + +--- + + Wondrous, indeed, that ancient word and wise; + But wiser and more wondrous still the tale-- + The after tale[37] of silent centuries, + Tongued by the guardian of the tome of gold: + + Again, athwart the wilderness of waves + Surging old East and older West between, 1660 + Where the lone sea a flowery southland laves, + And Zarahemla reigns as ocean queen, + Braving the swell, a storm-tossed bark is seen. + From doomed Jerusalem, to Jacob dear, + Albeit a leper[38], groping, blind, unclean, + Goes forth Manasseh's prophet pioneer[39], +Predestined to unveil the hidden hemisphere. + + His lot to reap and plant on this rare shore + The promise of his fathers: Joseph's bough[40], + From Jacob's well, the billowy wall runs o'er; 1670 + Abides in strength the archer-stricken bow, + Unto the utmost bound prevailing now, + Of Hesper's heaven-upholding hills. Bend, sheaves + Of Israel, as branches bend with snow, + Unto his sheaf grown mightiest! Here, as leaves +For multitude, the son the great sire's glory weaves. + + Ere chimes for him the earth-departing hour, + Summoning a weary soul to restful toil + In risen worlds, where life puts on all power, + Lehi his house convenes,--their hearts the while 1680 + Aglow beneath the burning words that pile + A pyramid of prophecy whose spire + Empierces heaven,--and lest they soil + The prospect pure, and tempt Jehovah's ire, +Warns them 'gainst ways of pride and paths of dark desire. + + He speaks of Joseph's, Judah's, destiny; + Of blighting and of blessings yet to pour; + Proclaims deliverance his own shall see, + When cometh one the wandering to restore; + Forenames a chosen seer[41] (revealed of yore, 1690 + When the boy dreamer's star o'er Egypt rose), + Bringing from dust a blest land's buried lore[42]. + Seals then his benison, and eyelids close +To wake on worlds divine, whither, past all, he goes. + + The favored son[43] of that prophetic sire-- + Favored because most faithful and most just-- + Hath soared to sacred mysteries still higher, + And tongued to envious ears the heavenly trust. + And serpent self, that demon of the dust, + Hath coiled and clung around rebellious souls, 1700 + Ne'er friendly though fraternal, whose distrust + And jealousy breed bitterness that rolls +Rivers of wormwood 'twixt two races and their goals. + + Now peoples twain the Promised Land divide: + Northland and Southland see their tribes increase, + From Arctic floe to far Antarctic tide; + From where the Eastern waves their thunders cease, + To where the Western waters are at peace. + White and delightsome, they that worship God; + They that deny Him, dark, degenerate, these, 1710 + Doomed the stern wild to penetrate and plod-- +Transgression's scourge and school, the Chastener's heavy rod[44]. + + The throneless ruler of the regnant race-- + King, but no tyrant--prophet, priest, and seer, + Meets upon sacred summits, face to face + (As when to Moses drew Jehovah near), + The Infinite and Spirit Minister[45], + Meets Him as man meets man, and by His grace + The power is given, with seeric eye to peer, + Time's vista viewing through prophetic glass: 1720 +Plain to his gaze revealed, the unborn ages pass. + + War, slaughter, conquest; heroes, sages, famed; + Kingdoms, republics, empires, rise and fall; + Till pride unknown, and tyranny unnamed, + Where righteous rule brings blessedness to all. + Then self again, the universal thrall. + The faithful, dead or dwindled to a few, + Crime begets crimes the heavens to appall. + Now arrows of God's anger pierce them through, +And horrors piled on horrors make misery's retinue. 1730 + + All this and more the prophet-prince foresaw[46]; + Messiah's self--Jehovah--Him beheld,-- + The Perfect One, in whom was found no flaw, + Though slander as an ocean round Him swelled. + Life's deathless tree--deathless, though demon-felled; + The crash resounding to this far-off shore, + Whose winnowed remnant welcomed Him, revealed + In risen glory, when had ceased the roar +Of wrecking tempests, flung His radiant face before. + + At Whose rebuke the haughty mountains bowed. 1740 + Shorn by the whirlwind, sunk, or swept away, + No more their frown the lowly valleys cowed, + Rising like billows 'mid the wrathful fray, + And dashing 'gainst the skies their dusty spray. + Rocks, boulders, hills, no titan strength could lift, + Hurtle as pebbles in the storm-fiend's play. + Earth opes her jaws, and through the yawning rift +Cities, peoples, vanish; of hope, of life bereft. + + Three hours of tempest, and three days of night; + Thick darkness, thunder-burst, and lightning flash; 1750 + Millions engulfed, millions in prostrate plight, + Groveling as slaves that feel or fear the lash, + Mingling their groans and cries with grind and crash + Of crags the cyclone's catapult impels, + Whose shrieking flails the fields and forests thrash! + Wild o'er the land roused ocean's anger swells, +And flame's relentless tongue the final doom[47] foretells. + + Three hours of stormful strife--then all is still, + Save for a voice the universe might hear, + Proclaiming what hath hapt as heaven's high will, 1760 + Dispensing pardon and dispelling fear. + Anon a mightier marvel doth appear; + Uprolls the misty curtain of the sky-- + The midday sun no more their minister, + Greater hath risen! and glories multiply, +As angels in their gaze earthward and heavenward fly. + + He greets them as a shepherd greets his flock; + Shows them His wounded side, His hands, His feet; + Then builds His church upon the stricken Rock, + Where flow life's healing waters, limpid, sweet, 1770 + As infant innocence[48], that joys to meet + Its great Original. With holy hand + He ministers, bids death and hell retreat, + And singles twelve from out the sainted band, +To sow with words of life the trembling, tear-worn land. + + He bids them prize the truth from heaven outpoured-- + What late His tongue hath told, and all that seers + Of earlier days, who owned Him as their Lord, + Have sounded in a world's unwilling ears; + That truth with truth may blend in after years, 1780 + As rivers many to one ocean flow; + That when Messiah in his might appears, + Men all may see Him as he is, and know +The Majesty of Heaven, 'mid nations bending low. + + He greets them as His "other sheep"[49]--a fold + Unknown to Judah, but to Jesus known; + And tells of others still, whose fate untold + Hath been the skeptic's scoff and stumbling stone. + All Israel must hear, and one alone + The shepherd be, to guide and govern all. 1790 + Where'er, from torrid belt to icy zone, + They wander, they must heed the warning call, +And flee to Zion's shore ere crumbling Babel fall. + + He numbers them with Joseph, known of old, + Whose flock the wolves shall tear in time to come; + Because a wasteful heir his portion sold, + A prodigal forsook the parent dome, + To riot in the wilderness and roam, + Feeding on husks: yet, turning at the last, + Redeemed from darkness, to the Father's home; 1800 + And there, the hour of retribution past, +Forgiven, at His dear feet their weary souls they cast. + + Anon He pictures Japheth's destiny[50]: + The Gentile prospering in the Promised Land, + The guardian of the ark of liberty, + So long as he for human right shall stand, + Nor trample on Jehovah's high command. + But woe to them of flinty heart and face + Who from Him turn, to smite with ruthless hand + The withered remnant of a star-ruled race! 1810 +For Laman yet shall spring, a lion to the chase[51]. + + Vexing the vexer with a vengeance sore, + Who, false to highest hope of human need, + Shall tyrant turn, and play the part no more + Of nursing parent unto Joseph's seed, + For whom a nation founded was and freed, + That from its hand to his fierce house might flow + The promise of his fathers. God shall plead + With Japheth, till his pride shall melt like snow, +Swept from the mountain side, chased by the sun's red glow[52]. 1820 + + His word now builds the New Jerusalem-- + (Earth-born, though basking in eternal rays)[53], + Which Japheth, blent with Jacob, joined with Shem, + Shall rear on Joseph's land in modern days. + The Father's work of wonder He portrays:-- + A servant, marred[54], though hurt not, and yet healed, + Whom wisdom hearkens to, whom faith obeys; + Arm of the Lord, long lying unrevealed, +Uplifted and made bare, His flock to fold and shield. + + Sounds then a parting note, a plaint of woe, 1830 + 'Gainst coming ages of iniquity, + Ere purifying floods o'er earth shall flow, + And man from sin and self delivered be. + Then, of the twelve, he sanctifieth three[55], + With power o'er death, and gives them to remain + Till comes He in His glory, Lo! they see + The opening heavens receive Him once again; +And marvels else behold, that mortal tongues must chain. + + Three generations pass in righteousness; + A fourth begins, and still from strand to strand 1840 + Peace rules, love reigns, and wealth and wisdom bless + The banded nations, walking hand in hand; + Christ's word supreme above a willing land, + Where rich and poor, common their goods, their gold, + Seeking God's glory, free and equal stand, + Loving each one his neighbor, as of old; +Forebeam of day divine[56], when night's dull mists have rolled. + + That restful day shall dawn; but e'en as storm, + Darkness and devastation, judgments dire, + Changed with convulsive throe the land's first form, 1850 + Made mountains plains, plains mountains, purged with fire + And flood this soil--as saw my nation's sire, + Ere light and peace looked down from realms above;-- + So shall it be[57], and more, when heaven's hot ire, + Besoming a world's iniquity, shall move, +In burning, melting might, the gold, the dross, to prove. + + Two centuries of love the land caress; + Buried the ancient feud, and banished vice; + When pride, to breed anew the old distress, + Crawls like a serpent to this paradise: 1860 + Again the tempter's wiles the weak entice; + Again the fall, the sorrow and the shame; + Again, while angels weep, do fiends rejoice; + For now divided hearts, with hate aflame, +Belie with wicked deeds their righteous faith and fame. + + Farewell to peace and power forever past! + Deepest in crime the once delightsome race, + Which melts as would the avalanche if cast + Into the furnace of the red sun's face[58]. + Men vie in deeds that devils would debase; 1870 + Southland 'gainst Northland strives with might insane; + Backward, still backward, bends the bloody chase[59]; + Crimson the land with carnage; main to main +Surges a sea of slaughter--millions are the slain! + + The white dissolves; the swart, the red, remains. + Night clothes the continents, and 'thwart the gloom + No ray descends on shadowed peaks or plains, + From history's sun. Darkness, a living doom, + Mantles mind, soul, making the land one tomb. + Then bursts the dawn--breaks forth the East in light, 1880 + Where Japheth, cramped and straitened, cries for room. + Rent mystery's veil, naked, in savage plight, +Now occidental realms greet oriental sight[60]! + + First found by him whose faith was mightiest, + And now by one whose patience[61] most excels. + Ere storm-pushed prow hath pierced the wordless West, + A kingly soul, unthroned, uncrowned, compels + The homage of a queen. His mind dispels + The gathered gloom of ages; mutineers + And malcontents his presence calms and quells. 1890 + Past threatening reefs of bigotry he steers, +And builds a bridge of life that binds the hemispheres. + + The Gentile comes, as destiny decrees, + To Zion's land[62], for freedom held in store, + And Israel's triumph. Friends of freedom, these, + Like to the pilgrim bands that long before + A refuge found upon this sheltering shore. + But followers of right oft wrong the right; + Oppressed become oppressors[63] in an hour; + And now, as day that pushes back the night, 1900 +The strong the weak assail, enslave, and put to flight. + + Nor yet can fate forsake them: Japheth's hand + 'Gainst Jacob's wrath-doomed remnant still prevails. + Tyrants oppress him from the motherland[64]; + The Lord of Hosts a champion arms and mails, + To quell whose might no human power avails; + Nor grander cause or chieftain e'er came forth. + Him as its sire the new-born nation hails, + And e'en would crown the man of matchless worth[65], +Did heaven vouchsafe such king to shame the kings 1910 + of earth. + + But thou hast heard: No king upon this land + From Japheth's loins. Yet shall there come a King, + And Japheth's host with Jacob's equal stand, + While bending nations to that Monarch bring + Their gold, their glory--friendship's offering. + What though invasion, anarchy, shall strive + To strangle right, to poison freedom's spring? + Naught that conspires 'gainst Zion's weal can thrive. +Jehovah--He shall reign, and righteous rule survive. 1920 + + Forerunner thou, and thy forerunners these, + Prophet of Ephraim, Joseph's namesake seer[66]! + More than those ancient bridgers of the seas, + Unveiler of the long hid hemisphere, + Whose mystery lies booked and buried here. + Mass thou the might of Joseph, yet to join + With Judah's might, Messiah's throne to rear; + That on this sacred shore may rise and shine +The City Pure-in-Heart--Kingdom of King divine. + + Woe to the tongue that 'gainst thee shall contend! 1930 + Break weapons all that smite this iron rod[67], + Beginning of the burden of the end-- + The promised fulness of the word of God; + The voice of ages whispering from the sod. + That voice withstood, remaineth shut and sealed + The mightier things in mystery's abode, + Volume on volume slumbering unrevealed, +While wake these lesser truths till now from man concealed. + + Speak thou to Laman's remnant, and reveal + The great things done, the greater yet to do, 1940 + That bring deliverance unto Israel. + To white, to red, to men of every hue, + To all redeemed His mighty merit through, + Teach thou the way--tell how by Grace sublime + The spirit gardens[68] of the endless blue + Are visited, each vineyard in its time, +While glad sabbatic bells ring out their grateful chime. + + Earth's hour is nigh--her blest millennial hour, + And dawn there shall a higher, holier day, + Prepared for by these principles of power, 1950 + Divinest laws that loftiest worlds obey, + Where gods and angels honor them alway. + There greatest by humility are known, + There order reigns, and right doth all realms sway; + Like claiming like, and cleaving to its own, +Sovereign and subject sharing the glory of the Throne. + + But earth's proud will must bend to will of heaven, + Or twain can ne'er be one, that one for all;-- + By angel love the demon lust be driven, + And man set free from self's ignoble thrall. 1960 + Let not the mighty task thy mind appall. + What God hath done shall He not do again? + A day of power shall batter down the wall; + The willing heart shall rend the hampering chain; +And o'er this ransomed world, first Son, then Sire, shall reign. + + Proclaim the Dispensation of the End, + Era pre-destined, pre-ordained of yore, + When all of Christ's, on earth, in heaven, shall blend, + And build the Empire of the Evermore. + Ascendeth One who all things shall restore-- 1970 + The dead to life, the dew-drop to its source. + Spirit must reign, the carnal rule no more; + And this lest earth, winging the sunward course, +Unmeet for such a change, melt 'neath consuming curse. + + Smite thou that sin of self, which binds the world + In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong; + That sin most serpentine, round all men curled, + Within whose fatal fold earth writhes full long. + To loose the coil doth unto thee belong. + To free the soul from sordid tyranny, 1980 + Be sacrifice the burden of thy song. + Ay, sacrifice shall set the prisoner free, +And men this truth shall learn, that light is liberty. + + + + +CANTO SEVEN + +The Arcana Of The Infinite[1] + + +Flake upon flake, then slide succeeding slide, +The marvel and the wonder multiplied. + +Garnered in one vast mind[2] the glacial store, +The glittering avalanche of heavenly lore, +Whose living streams shall slake the burning thirst +Of time unborn, of nations yet unnurst; +Torrent of truth, river of prophecy, 1990 +Rolling through worlds to find fulfillment's sea. + +He stands, as Moses on the mystic mount, +Where knowledge pours from wisdom's purest fount; +Stands 'neath the droppings of the crystal eaves, +Stands on the loftiest summit man achieves, +Where light eternal--was, is, and to be-- +'Lumines the vistas of immensity, +The ultimates of human destiny. + +He walks and talks with God, as friend with friend; +He reads the Book of Time from end to end, 2000 +And in the Volume of Eternity +Peruses past and far futurity; +Ranges to realms of wider mystery-- +Ne'er-ending hope, ne'er-ending history; +While from all depths that sink, all heights that soar, +Come voices, visions, of the Evermore. +Like unto like, above, beneath, the skies, +Deep calls to deep, and faith to faith replies. + +He hears the solemn dispensations[3] chime, +From morn till eve, from birth to death, of time; 2010 +He notes the markings of the horologe, +The set times of the great unerring Judge; +Then sees those dispensations as they run +Their 'lotted course, like hours 'twixt sun and sun. +Wave after wave rolls o'er the shining sand, +Wave after wave breaks higher up the strand, +With all of weal or woe the ages send. +As sundered ocean tides that shoreward tend, +Now past and future o'er the present pend, +Till on the narrow isthmus sea meets sea, 2020 +And time no longer parts eternity. + +He hears the soundings of the trumpets seven[4], +Whose angels, stooping from the heights of heaven, +Proclaim, in tones to rend the echoing spheres, +The secrets of the Seven Thousand Years; +The secret of a book with seven seals, +That all of mortal mystery reveals; +Man's course, God's chronicle, life's tale told true, +Nor tinged with favor's tint, with hatred's hue; +Earth's week of history, whose sabbath chime 2030 +Summons to rest the weary soul of time. + +The Holy Order[5] that for aye hath reigned, +For loyal faith and lofty deeds ordained; +The all-creating, all-controlling chain, +Whereby the Gods perpetuate their reign, +Whereby the higher, bending, lift the lower; +Wielding the sceptre of Almighty Power, +Ruling by right the nations, ill aware +Whence came the thrones that have been, thrones that + are; 2040 +Which sets up one and puts another down, +Their fate proclaimed as fortune's smile or frown; +The power that reigns not save in righteousness, +Persuades in meekness, chastens but to bless; +The might of heaven, the pure and potent chain +Stainless, save mortal links their lustre stain, +And plunged through fire are purified again, +He sees extending through the storms of time, +Anchor and cable of a ship sublime. + +Pilots of life on death's fierce tempest tossed, 2050 +Love's legionaries, saviors of the lost; +A sacred army's solemn pride and boast, +The janissaries of the heavenly host; +The jeweled circlet of the Central Gem, +Jehovah's body-guard--the Gibborim. + +The guileless followers of the guiltless Lamb, +Of Israel ere Earth knew Abraham[6]; +Sealed in the forehead with the sacred Name, +Bearing the Ark of God, the Sword of Flame[7]; +Behold them coming, coming, as they came 2060 +Whene'er was kindled here the beacon blaze +By each Elias of the olden days! +Truth, error, shine and shadow[8], alternate, +As oft as mankind proves degenerate. + +But ever, as the day-beam sinks and dies, +The stars reset their lanterns in the skies; +And unto Moses in the wilderness +Comes greater light, succeeded by the less[9]. +Till truth the fulness of its ray restores, +And heaven o'er earth the holy unction pours, 2070 +By ministers upon each hemisphere,[10] +Sent to proclaim what every soul must hear. + +The promise past, fulfillment now is seen, +The Perfect Church[11], resplendent in the sheen +Of risen Righteousness, whose arm once more +Puts forth in power to rescue and restore. +Gray grows to crimson, crimson melts to gold, +And dawns the day by starry night foretold, +Whose lamps prophetic pale their silvery rays, +Lost in the golden light of Latter Days. 2080 +A twofold Church, a dual Bride he sees; +Time's the full reflex of Eternity's. + +Visioned the Dispensation of the End, +Where Zions meet, where dispensations blend, +And time's sad rivers cease their mighty moan +In sobbing requiem o'er his sunken throne, +Till death departs, and joy, from zone to zone, +Welcomes the rightful Heir unto his own. + +Visioned the Council of the Ancient One[12], +Where stars make ready for the rising Sun; 2090 +Where Adam yields the mortal world he won, +Unto the Sabbath Lord, till sabbath done, +And Sire receives the Kingdom from the Son. +Ere when, award of fulness is there none; +Though great ones gain the far celestial shore, +Shining and perfect as they shone before. + +'Lumed by the Lamp that giveth endless view, +Discerns he spirits false and spirits true; +Unmasking Satan with the keys of light[13], +That blind may see and deaf may hear aright, 2100 +A message marvelous to eyes and ears, +The rhythmic message of the songful spheres. + +"Truth is eternal!"--Thus the solemn voice-- +"'Twas not her birth made morning stars rejoice, +Nay, but her mission to a new-born sphere, +Whither, as oft, her shining bark would steer +With spirit crew, kin to the kingly race +Peopling the burning orbs of bourneless space. + +"Truth is eternal, endless as its God, +Author and framer of the changeless code, 2110 +Ever-returning, oft-repeating plan, +Redeeming from all worlds the race of man. +Life-saving line, far flung from heaven to earth, +To rescue souls--God's wealth, supremest worth-- +Rescue the fallen and the penitent, +Who else must bide in hopeless banishment. +Unending were their mortal prisonment, +Did ne'er truth's sunlight gild the gloomy sod, +Gospel of mercy, gift of the gracious God, +Who gave up life to bridge the dark gulf o'er, 2120 +And close its cruel jaws forevermore; +Love, striving with belief and unbelief, +Gleaning life's harvest to the latest sheaf. + +"A God whose glory is intelligence, +A God whose knowledge gives omnipotence, +Who makes, maintains, redeems, and glorifies, +Bending to lift the lowliest to the skies, +By triple lever, by the mystic birth, +By Three in heaven, the typed of three on earth: +Water, that signifies obedience, 2130 +Sure test of faith, true sign of penitence; +Spirit whereby the flesh is justified, +And blood, whereby the soul is sanctified;-- +Lifting by these, but not by these alone, +By every word from Him upon the Throne, +Spirit 'mid spirits, most intelligent[14], +Wherefore their Sovereign Sire benevolent, +Giver of life and light whereby the rest +Press on and on till all things are possessed. + +"Intelligence, eternal[15], uncreate, 2140 +Though God-begotten in the spirit state, +Where all creations see maturity, +Ere launched as souls upon the mortal sea, +To prove their worth, make choice 'twixt wrong and right, +And walk by faith as erst they walked by sight; +As free to sound the gulf as soar the height. + +"Man a divinity in embryo, +Who, ere he reign above, must serve below; +His spirit in earth element baptize, +For birth and death are baptism[16] to the wise. 2150 +The space that parts the lower from the higher, +Spanned by development of son to Sire, +Of daughter unto Mother's high estate, +Where man and woman are inseparate. + +"Time a probation; earth, through time, a school, +Where justice reigns, though oft the unjust rule. +Pain, trouble, toil, preceptors of the soul; +Death, birth, but portals to and from life's goal-- +Life's fount, where all as infant spirits sprang, +And sons of God in countless chorus sang, 2160 +Unheeding earthly sorrow[17]--parent pang +Of after joy, o'er which their triumph rang. + +"The fall, whereby the worlds are put in pawn, +And held in durance till redemption dawn, +A plan divine that changeth part to whole, +Immortal spirit to immortal soul. + +"Second estate[18] here interlinked with first, +For godliness where spirit life was nurst, +And Satan's rebel host, heaven's third, were sent +To unentabernacled banishment; 2170 +Tempters, beguilers, triers of the true, +Who now reap greater gain, or sadly rue +The loss of all, surrendering to him +Who warreth endlessly 'gainst Elohim, +And, shorn of glory, would all light bedim; +Where many, wrecked, to awful depths go down, +While few return to wear the waiting crown, +Reigning where others serve. + + "Each woe, each bliss, +In after worlds, the yield of life in this; 2180 +Here garnered are the fruits from fields of yore, +And sown the harvest of the evermore. + +"The called are not the chosen past mischance; +The sanctified to glorified advance, +And stewardship becomes inheritance. +Redemption free, for God hath paid the price; +All else man wins by toil and sacrifice. + +"As sun, or moon, or varying star[19], appears +Each heir of glory in those endless spheres: +Sun-like the souls that live celestial laws, 2190 +And moon-like they who at terrestrial pause-- +Who honor not the Saviour in the flesh, +But after, in the spirit realm, refresh +Their fainting, fettered lives at mercy's fount, +And, far as merit buoys them, upward mount; +Saved, glorified, by faith and penitence, +Made valid, through vicarious ordinance[20], +For all who Him believe, who Him obey, +And own in other worlds His sovereign sway. +Nor lost forever souls unsaved today: 2200 +Telestial they who taste the pangs of hell, +And pay guilt's debt ere they in glory dwell, +Twinkling as stars whose numbers none can tell. + +"Souls that to high celestial realms have won, +Dwell with the gods, beholding Sire and Son; +While bounds are set that bar terrestrial heirs +(With whom the Gracious One his presence shares), +And dwellers in the far telestial spheres, +To whom the Holy Spirit ministers. +God's servants these, but to His glorious home-- 2210 +The loftiest heights of heaven--they cannot come. + +"Justice and Mercy each shall have its own, +Nor one thrust other from the dual throne; +Each shoal and deep a final fullness see, +And like clasp like through all eternity. + +"But who shall sound the bottomless despair +Of one condemned the second death to share? +If, re-ensnared in Satan's subtle mesh, +A soul redeemed its Saviour pierce afresh, +Spurning the Spirit, scorning proffered ruth, 2220 +A traitor utterly to light and truth, +Then flames perdition's gulf, death's last abyss, +The lake of fire, all life's antithesis. +All power then powerless to change its plight; +For what avails the burnt-out lamp to light? +Justice can lay no blame on blameless shelves, +Nor mercy save when souls will damn themselves. + +"Twofold is death, but life has threefold sway; +What ne'er created was, endures alway. +The organized disorganized may be, 2230 +But not the life that lives undyingly. +Nothing bides nothing: that which is shall be; +Though form, not essence, change unceasingly. +Space, spirit, matter, all eternal are, +And death but on creation wages war. +Whate'er beginning had may have an end, +But life eternal doth itself defend. + +"Man's inmost spark, his being's primal fire, +As birthless and as deathless as its Sire,-- +No more the maker of that unmade germ 2240 +Than man the framer of the spirit form, +Born and begotten in the first estate, +God's creature, whom God's power can uncreate. +Spirit to spirit, dust to dust returns, +But bright intelligence forever burns, +Though banished from the presence of the light, +Exiled and wandering in the outer night, +Remembering past, and mourning present blight, +The end whereof, a mystery to man, +Unsolved while bending 'neath the mortal ban, 2250 +None but the doomed partaker e'er shall scan. + +"Higher than heaven, deeper than hell, profound, +His course wherein no crookedness is found-- +An onward, upward, never-ending round. + +"Comes forth all life at resurrection's call, +When soul immortal sheds its mortal thrall; +The just first rising, who with Christ shall reign, +While sinners tarry till He sounds again, +Late issuing, in shame and self contempt, +When Lucifer, unbound, shall newly tempt, 2260 +Still striving for a glory not his own, +Till by the Arm Almighty overthrown. + +"Spirit and body, blending, make the soul, +As halves, uniting, form the perfect whole. +Spirit and element, commingled, one, +Inheriting the Glory of the Sun, +Symbol a greater union yet to be, +When heaven and earth shall wed eternally, +And restitution's edict seal and bind +Eternal matter to eternal mind, 2270 +Like unto like, for night weds not with day, +And order's mandate e'en the gods obey. + +"The sealing of the sexes, mate to mate, +Earnest of exaltation's lofty state, +Where evermore they reign as queens and kings, +And endless union endless increase brings; +While serve as angels the unwedded ones, +Abandoning their right to royal thrones. + +"One are the human twain, as sheath and sword-- +Woman and man, the lady and the lord; 2280 +Each pair the Eve and Adam of some world, +Perchance unborn, or into space unhurled. + +"From endless spirit, endless element, +The worlds that glow in glory's firmament. +Created all and governed all by law, +Perfect they shine, or show sin's fatal flaw; +Their Maker's will obey or disobey, +And felons found a felon's debt[21] must pay; +While wiser orbs, obedient at school, +Are robed in radiance, and have learned to rule-- 2290 +Are lords of light, resplendent and supreme, +E'en as great Kolob 'mid the kokaubeam. + +"Earth a celestial law hath magnified[22], +And by that law shall she be sanctified, +And by the same shall she be glorified; +By fire refined, the gold from dross set free, +Shining forever as a crystal sea, +Celestial seer-stone[23], making manifest +All things below to souls upon her breast-- +Chosen, omniscient, children of the Sun, 2300 +Offspring of Adam, Michael, Ancient One, +Who comes anon his fiery throne to rear, +His council summoning from far and near. +Ten thousand times ten thousand bow the knee, +And "Father" hail him, "King," eternally. + +"For so are governed all those worlds of fire, +That chorus in a universal choir +The glory of the Lord Omnipotent, +Whose power hath framed through infinite extent +The splendors of the flashing firmament; 2310 +Sire of the universe, and King of Kings, +O'er countless realms; each dusty dot that springs +To blazing being, empire of a god, +Who equals Him, yet owns His sovereign rod, +The Central Scepter of Omnipotence, +The God of Gods, Supreme Magnificence, +Regnant o'er all that is or e'er shall be, +Throned on the summit of eternity. + +"Souls there above who once below all things, +All things inherit, and are priests and kings, 2320 +Pillars immovable, princes unto God, +No more outgoing from that high abode, +Where past and future present are alway, +And years a thousand even as a day". + +Who here have lived, or would have lived, the law[24], +Exalted, numbered with the gods, he saw, +One with the wisdom of Omniscience, +And glorious with All Intelligence. +So thorough and so just the perfect plan, +Weighing the motive with the work of man! 2330 + +Nor this the tithe of what those tongues unfold, +Nor tithe of tithe of what can ne'er be told. +As unto Judah's one and Joseph's three[25], +Who tasted of translation's ecstacy; +Or him who, spared from Babel's doom, beheld +Messiah's unclothed spirit[26], faith-compelled; +Or him of Tarsus, tranced, the triple seer[27] +Of things unlawful to be uttered here;-- +As unto souls like these was given to see +The marvel past, the mystery to be, 2340 +So upon him, their peer of modern days, +The Source of all-revealing sends its rays. + +Broken the fountains of the upper deep; +Opened the sepulchres where ages sleep; +The past, the future, now the present leaven; +With truth from earth blends righteousness from heaven, +Welding the parted links of being's chain, +Old making new, the dead live again. + +O message marvelous to eyes and ears! +Voices and visions of the mystic spheres! 2350 +Voices of noonday, visions of the night, +Whisperings of angels, and their presence bright! +Voice of the Architect of Life's vast Plan, +Speaking as God to God, as man to man! + + + + +CANTO EIGHT + +The Lifted Ensign[1] + + +Armed now with knowledge, panoplied with power, +With two-edged sword of God's authority, +Girded by heavenly hands on shepherds twain[2], +The first and second of a gathering flock, +Transcribers of the buried book of gold, +Whose mystic page, unsealed by gift divine, 2360 +Save part withheld of mightier mystery, +Now challenges the wise and wondering world;-- +Armed and equipt, with staff, and stone in sling, +Strong in the Lord, the God of Israel, +The dauntless David of a later day +Fares forth to meet the Giant of Untruth[3]. + +Thenceforth a warrior and a wanderer, +A victor hated for his victories; +Targe for the javelin of jealousy; +Hunted and hounded through the wilderness; 2370 +Outlawed by all, all save a loyal few, +The patient sharers of his painful lot, +Companions of his mortal pilgrimage, +Recalled with him, their earthly errand o'er, +To grace the courts of High Jerusalem. + +But ere a day for that departure dawns, +Unveiled once more the face of mystery. +Speaks from the musty tomb of buried time, +The all-remembering Spirit of the Past: + +"Time yet was young[4], but old iniquity, 2380 +Outcast of worlds redeemed, on earth was rife, +And, self-enchained, a fallen race lay prone +At feet of Lucifer. And demons laughed, +And hell rejoiced, and all that ribald host +Clapt hand, and danced and jeered derisively; +While gods and angels wept, their pitying tears +Whitening the spectral mountains cold and lone, +Wakening to virile springs a spirit waste. + +"And there the sainted commonweal[5] arose, +Haven divine, hill of the sanctified, 2390 +Oasis-like 'mid burning sands of sin; +God's people, pure in heart, and one in all, +No poor among them, pride and greed unknown; +Saved by the tidings first to Adam taught, +And next to Enoch's generation told. + +"Righteous, they dreamt no evil, feared no ill, +And death, the universal doom, defied. +Earth not their pillow; they shall one day pass +From mortal to immortal painlessly. + +"Self's chain was sundered[6]; devils glared aghast, 2400 +And gnashed their teeth with disappointed rage, +Trembling in terror lest perdition's pit +Engulf them ere the time. Then gathering power, +As if for Armageddon's conflict[7] dire, +When triumphs Michael o'er the foe unchained, +Hell's molten belch of burning hatred hurled +Upon those hapless sons of earth who scorned +The refuge of the righteous; her bright towers, +Far-beaming with terrestrial radiance[8]-- +The promise fair of full celestial change,-- 2410 +Bidding the vile beware, nor venture near +The awful mountain of God's holiness. + +"Waxed foul the world in wickedness, piled high +A hideous monument of shame and crime, +Which, toppling with its own weight, crashing fell, +Whelming in ruin the guilty race of man, +Whose spirits, as fierce seas their dust devoured, +By fiercer fiends to dungeon deeps were driven. +Nor thence redeemed till He who died for all +Soared from the cross to set the captive free[9]. 2420 + +"The while, on fearless wings of purity, +Cleaving as bird or ransomed soul the air, +The sainted city entered into rest, +Envied of Babel, climbing robber-like[10]; +Bride of the Highest, midway hovering, +Till folded in the bosom of the Gods, +Where Zions from unnumbered worlds have fled. +Type temporal of spirit antitype, +A future moral height foreshadowing. + +"Foreseen the fatal deluge. Ere the doom 2430 +Of all save faithful Noah and his seven,-- +Tri-branching tree[11] of race regenerate, +Yielding anew life's fruit and foliage,-- +Earth mourned as Rachel, Rizpah, o'er the slain, +The slain of men unborn, who yet must die +Degenerate in the days that were to be. + +"Then Enoch wept, and sued in sympathy, +And God gave answer thus: + + 'Earth yet shall rest, +And, sanctified, shall see her Saviour reign, 2440 +Monarch of worlds, His realms as ocean sands. +But it shall be within the latter days, +The days of vengeance and of wickedness, +When men the Sole-begotten crucify, +And He shall go again to judge the world, +Proclaimed by truth, forerun by righteousness, +Gathering the pure-in-heart unto a place-- +A holy place my people shall prepare, +There to await my coming, mine and thine. +Then shown the resurrection's shadowing: 2450 +Zion above, from all creations past, +Shall meet and blend with Zion from below; +Spirits and bodies of the just shall join, +And in the midst my tabernacle be. +Yea, as I live, so will I forth again, +My oath to thee, my covenant, to fulfill; +And earth shall garb in glory of her God, +And Noah's righteous seed in Me rejoice.'" + +These things spake God to Moses, from the mount +Whose name is veiled to ken of humankind; 2460 +And thus that prophet, but through unbelief +And cunning craftiness, at war with Light, +The fulness of his message sleeps till now, +When one like unto him[12] and Him he typed, +Brings forth the buried meaning from its grave. + +On twain of ocean-parted hemispheres, +Saw noon of time a twofold type[13] of peace, +A pledge, a token, of millennial rest, +An earnest of the Commonweal to come; +But no fulfillment of the promise old, 2470 +No ripe fruition of the ancient oath, +To Enoch sworn, through Moses re-affirmed, +By Ephraim's prophet made to live again. + +--- + +Promise now sought fulfillment[14],--it was time; +For weary earth lay groaning 'neath her load. +"Unclean, unclean," her cry, as leprous sin +With foul intent clasped close her shrinking form, +And baned with foetid breathing all her soul. + +Long she had mourned and wept o'er life's decay; +Her waning strength, from age and weariness, 2480 +Her mother powers, unholy passion's prey, +Bringing, in lieu of giants, pygmies forth, +To fall untimely on her withered breast. +Dwindling and dwarfed in all save wickedness, +And knowledge, oft made pander unto ill, +With learning gorged, for wisdom famishing, +Man both a glutton and a starveling seemed. + +For Self, the sordid, sat once more enthroned, +Binding in servile chains a universe, +Where mightily men strove for place and fame, 2490 +Greedy for power, as gluttonous for gold. +And who sought neighbor's weal, save kith and kin +Or petted friendling prest a favored claim? + +Disorder reigned, and satire laughed to scorn +Grotesque, invidious inconsistency: +Talent on title waiting, brain on birth! +Genius at oars, and dullards at the helm! +The prancing war-steed fastened to the plow, +The ass unto the chariot--oft with rein, +Curbing the mettled courser's noble rage, 2500 +Or goading him with needless cruelty! + +Matter was monarch; Spirit stood apart, +Unknown, unseen, or spurned and thrust aside +By thronging myriads, bending supple knee, +And basking in the proud usurper's smile. + +Men bowed not down to sun and moon and stars, +To bird, nor beast, nor reptile, as of yore; +But worshipt still at other creature shrines, +Ignoring the Creator's primal claim. + +Pride sneered at poverty--if poor of purse, 2510 +But gave its hand to beggared intellect, +To bankrupt soul, and greeted them as peers. +Learning, if lowly pillowing its head, +A pauper deemed, and pitied or condemned. +And many, stung by adder glance of scorn, +Shunning a life of noble toil and care, +To Mammon, e'en in marriage, sold themselves, +Offering a lawless fire at passion's shrine, +Or staining hands and heart with sabler sins. + +Shameful the serfdom of the earth-bound soul, 2520 +Base passion's basest slave and prisoner; +Charmed by no music but the clink of coin; +Cankered and crusted o'er with avarice; +Dupe, dreaming shadow real, and substance show. + +Where party more than principle was prized, +Where private gain was labeled "public good," +And "patriotism" masked hypocrisy, +Science, when sordid, or subservient +To worldly ends, to aims material, +Stood pedestaled and robed in honors rare: 2530 +While art fell fainting at the patron's door, +Or starved and froze in cheerless attic den. + +For aye the flesh must first be comforted, +And e'en the body's luxuries abound, +Ere mind of man may clothe its nakedness, +Or hungering heart and spirit have their own. + +Music, the drama, all art, still divine, +Though oft to ends ignoble basely bent, +In atmospheres miasmic, fever-fraught, +To folly pandering and to lechery; 2540 +Or using gifts God-lent for good of all, +Gain's maw to glut, fame's lust to gratify. +Forgot the Giver, and adored the gift, +As in the pagan days of olden time. + +And thou, where thou, O sage philosophy, +Heir to a hundred shadows of thy name! +Where thy spent waves on speculation's strand? +Still striving, finite for the infinite, +Man groping for the mystery of God, +A river that would fain engulf the sea! 2550 + +Religion dead, and poesy so deemed, +Because unwedded to a carnal age, +Unprostituted to its paltry aims, +Or hid beneath vast verbal rubbish heaps, +The dust and debris of the former fires. +Religion dead, but bigotry alive, +And ne'er more active upon earth than now, +When sect 'gainst sect in battle order stood, +And schisms and dissensions multiplied. +Some worshipt nothing, naming it a god; 2560 +Some deemed the mortal dust a thing divine; +Religious, irreligious, bigotry, +Each counted victims by the hecatomb. + +What wonder, when truth's meanings tortured were, +The living God dethroned, and in His stead, +A monster crouching on the Mercy Seat, +Whose mere caprice, naught else, did save or damn? +Wafting the blood-stained criminal to bliss, +If he but gasped, half hung, the holy Name? +Thrusting the spotless infant into hell, 2570 +If un-elect, or unbaptized for sin! +To endless woe or weal forefating all. +What wonder justice, reason, stood aghast, +While faith, revolting, rushed to doubt's extreme? + +Critics, high-soaring, sought to clip the wings +Of arrogance in all creeds save their own. +Half-fledged conclusion, findings premature, +Grounded on tale of rock or ruin old, +More credence had, more reverence, from men, +Than sacred lore of heaven-lit centuries. 2580 +All miracle was myth, nor aught worth while, +Save, leaded down with learned theories, +It crawled, an earth-worm, wanting will to climb +Above the level of the commonplace. + +Fanatics in the state as in the church, +Their prejudices palmed for principle, +Vain vagaries and dreams for doctrine sound; +And woe to him who lisped of liberty, +Or thought aloud one thought unthought before! +Freedom to think and breathe--God-granted boons, 2590 +Alike, to savage, serf, and citizen-- +Was all that freedom signified to some, +Who, as they doled a gift already given, +Boasted themselves magnanimous and wise. +Freedom to speak and act as conscience bade, +As God commanded, crushed or captive bound, +E'en where men vaunted most of liberty. + +And peace was yet a dream unrealized, +For war still sowed and reaped his harvests red; +And Christian guns were mightiest and slew most. 2600 + +Nor yet stood toil 'gainst capital arrayed, +The starving masses 'gainst the Midases, +As erst arose, 'gainst moss-grown old regimes, +The trampled Terror[15], scrawling with fierce hand +On history's flaming scroll his red revenge, +With that blood-reeking pen, the guillotine; +Nor yet faced frowning mass contemning class[16], +Jeering, oblivious of the lurking doom, +The glooming clouds where groaned the gathering storm. +But murderous craft and oath-bound anarchy, 2610 +With secret deeds of darkness, had begun +To sap the life of human government, +And plot against the safety of mankind; +While greeds and lusts and passions manifold, +Preying on frailty and on innocence, +Ran riot 'mid the fairest, brightest, best. + +Where, promise, thy fulfillment, pledged of yore? +'Twas time--full time--the far-seen ensign waved, +Hailing the morn on heights of holiness, +Proclaiming peace and freedom to the world. 2620 +'Twas time disorder fled, time justice reigned, +And rightfully were held dominion's keys; +Time pure religion's sceptre should return, +By poesy extolled, by art adorned, +With science and with reason reconciled; +Time feeble earth her panacea found, +Time health gave life its old longevity, +Time pride should bend, time lust to love should yield, +And self confess the joy of sacrifice. +'Twas time an Enoch came[17], a Zion rose. 2630 + +Sound, trump of God! as when old Jordan's wave +Shook with the thunder-tread of Joshua's host, +Shook with the shouting and the trumpet blasts, +Heard the loud roar of crumbling Jericho, +And in mad haste ran shuddering to the sea! +Speak now the doom foreshadowed by that fall-- +The mightier doom of Modern Babylon: + +Bow down thy head, proud mistress of the world! +Humble thy haughty crest, degenerate queen! +Lift but thine eyes to where God's finger glows 2640 +In fiery warning on thy festal wall, +Drowning in dread the voice of revelry, +Thy saturnalia's ribald shout and song. +Ended thine empire, Weighed-and-Wanting-Found! +Down to the dust in all thy worldliness, +Thou thing of brass, of iron, and of clay! +Sound, trumpet, sound! The looked-for signal looms! +The fateful stone upon the image rolls! + +"On you, my fellow servants, I confer +The priestly power of Aaron, with the keys 2650 +Of angel ministries, of penitence, +Of water-birth that washes free from sin. +And greater things than these shall yet be given-- +The holier powers of high Melchizedek, +Which Mightier by three shall minister." + +And on each head was laid a holy hand[18]; +Time making good the promise plighted there, +Welding another link in wonder's chain, +Writing new chapters of a story strange, +Confounding human learning, fools and wise. 2660 + +--- + +So came once more the panoply of power[19]. +So rose the ensign o'er a waiting world. + +Armed thus with knowledge and authority, +Armed and equipt, with staff, and stone in sling, +Fares forth a champion for Israel, +To grapple with Philistia and prevail. + +Guide unto God, repointer of the path, +Untrodden through a thousand years nigh twained, +The while men roamed, as once o'er trackless wild, +The savage, by the untaught trapper trained; 2670 +Blind leading blind through thick and thorny wold. + +Light 'mid the darkness, beam from heaven's full blaze, +Driving the mists, that comprehended not +His brightness nor their own obscurity; +Holding him blind who saw as few have seen. +He, blind, forsooth, who more than all beheld! + +Sinking deep shafts to mines of mystery, +Shallow and empty to the worldly wise; +Soaring to heights by human lore undreamt, +Yet deemed an earth-mole, groping, groveling. 2680 + +Aloft, alone, an exile among men, +A wanderer in a solitary way, +Pariah of prejudice and unbelief, +Whose lowering features fiercely on him frowned. +Thought's prisoner and truth's, that maketh free +The spirit, though the body pine in chains, +Albeit the tongue, the pen, in durance be, +Consigned to silence, captive unto light, +And crucified betwixt ideal and real. + +But who art thou that lookest forth sublime, 2690 +A soul upsoaring as from sepulture, +Body and spirit pure and free from stain, +As gold and silver tried by seven-timed fire? + +Speak! Art not thou the Woman Wonderful[20], +Summoned from out the silent wilderness, +Arisen from the grave of centuries, +No more to be despoiled or trodden down? +A symbol of exalted sanctity, +The consecration of the contrite heart; +Of ancient types the modern complement, 2700 +Chief splendor of time's sparkling firmament, +Whose silver stars bespoke this sun of gold. + +But when did darkness comprehend the day? +When welcomed pleasure thorn-crowned sacrifice, +Whose higher, holier joys than sin can know, +As dust and ashes to the sensual soul? +Jewels to swine, that, turning, rent the hand, +And fain 'neath foot had torn and trampled all. +Such was Truth's fate, alas! in modern time, +'Mid Christian men;--but not her final fate. 2710 + +For who can stay the sun-like march of Truth? +Who dim with bloody hand her beam divine? +First shall he halt the progress of the stars, +The bright procession of the infinite; +Blot out the day-beam, dull the scythe of time, +Shear morning's wings, roll back eternal night, +Or shake the moveless throne of destiny. + +Lifted an ensign never to be furled, +Unsheathed a falchion evermore to flame, +Till earth-born realms, in one wide empire rolled, 2720 +Hail conquering Christ as life and light of all. + + + + +CANTO NINE + +Upon The Shoulders of The Philistine[1] + + +The Eaglet's nest is empty[2]--void the lair +Of the young Lion. Where, O Ephraim, where? + +Where billows break along a storied strand[3], +Heroic wave, a fair and favored land. +Realm of a rising glory--this thy name! +The cradle of the Kingdom--this thy fame! + +There rose the morn--though flecked with fire and blood-- +The morn benign of human brotherhood, +Foredestined to a passing cloud's eclipse. 2730 + +Self-trammeled cause, harried by hounds and whips +Of persecution, whose infuriate maw, +Usurping oft the form and force of law,-- +To lawless hands a far too ready rod,-- +Had fain engulfed the growing work of God. + +Widowed, bereft, a land left desolate, +A wounded bird that mourns a driven mate, +The plumage from its bleeding body torn, +And scattered wide o'er realms remote, forlorn. + +On, Ephraim, on! thy pilgrim flight renew. 2740 +Land of the Sun--Shinea's land[4]--adieu! + +Yet stay! Ere storm could burst, was visioned there, +Within the portal of the House of Prayer, +A promise, a fulfillment, long foretold: +Elias and Messias there behold! +With angel keepers of the ancient keys +Of gathering and of sealing mysteries. +Haloed with fire, while burns the heavenly glow, +Upon the Prophet they their powers bestow[5]. + +Speed then swift messengers his face before, 2750 +To blaze his sacred name on every shore; +Chosen and missioned from the sending skies, +The slumbering nations to evangelize. +Resounds 'gainst error's shield truth's ringing lance, +Unlettered light 'gainst learned ignorance; +Priestcraft dethroned, by Priesthood downward hurled, +While ancient thunder shakes the modern world. + +Already, to redeem red Laman's bands[6], +Have virile footprints prest those virgin lands, +Where westering empire, in creative might, 2760 +Rolls a new world upon the wondering sight; +Where flower-starred prairies, in the far extent, +Kiss with soft lips the bending firmament, +And sea-like rivers, solitary, lone, +Pour their proud waters toward the burning zone. + +Land of all lands the rarest[7], where shall rise,-- +Mirrored magnificence of earth and skies, +Each gate a pearl, each pinnacle a gem,-- +The jasper walls of New Jerusalem; +The golden glory of the hemispheres, 2770 +Jehovah's throne through all the Thousand Years. +The land where Adam fell, where Enoch rose, +Where time began and history shall close. + +Thereto and thence, by brand and fagot driven, +His fault to man, his fealty to heaven, +With here and there, perchance, an idle word +Vainglorious zeal or vengeful might afford, +Flies Ephraim, scorched and scourged, from Japheth's + wrath[8], +Pushed on and on o'er steep and thorny path, 2780 +Whipt, plundered, wounded, bleeding, to the goal, +Where joy in fullness crowns the conquering soul. + +Then hath not war, that bringeth woe and pain, +The right betimes, like gentle peace, to reign? +What strife, what tempest, wreaks its wrath in vain? +Prosperity and persecution blend, +As sun and storm, faith's branch with fruit to bend. +Twain are the shoulders[9] of the Philistine, +That Israel onward bear, as breeze and brine +The tempest-driven bark that safe o'er sea 2790 +Carried calm Caesar[10] and his destiny. +Progression fails with opposition's flight, +And darkness is but handmaid unto light. + +Mistrustful of "the law of liberty[11]," +Sounding from far the doom of slavery, +Maddened by jealous fear, the Gentile sees +Peril in purling stream, in whispering breeze, +Telling of wondrous thrift, of mystic power, +Of spirit gifts--the Bride's becoming dower; +Sees menace[12] in that migrant fold's increase, 2800 +A menace to his power, his pride, his peace; +And, as of old, when Egypt's despot frowned +On Jacob's increase, growth from fruitful ground, +Or when fell Herod, fain to slay life's Lord, +Pierced Rachel's bosom with unpitying sword; +With feigned or real suspicion of intent +That could but lurk in minds by malice bent, +And ne'er found lodgment in the dreams of those +Now fearfully beset by whelming foes, +Force joins with fraud, impelled by lust of crime, 2810 +And innocence bewails the evil time. + +A second Pharaoh now o'er Israel see! +A Herod[13] in the home of Liberty! +Where winged Nemesis shall find her own, +Gathering the whirlwind[14] where the wind was sown. + +Friendless, unsheltered, forth the exiles go, +Lit by their burning homes athwart the snow, +Till crimson footprints stamp the frozen path, +And icy billows bar them from the wrath +Of cruel fiends, whose fellows, masked as men, 2820 +Where languish sons of light in darksome den, +Gloat, while they guard, and flout with jest obscene +The helpless victims of that heartless scene; +Exulting foully, boastingly, the while, +O'er deeds none else than devils would defile. + +Till patience, past enduring, dures no more; +Heard, above jackal's yell, the lion's roar. +Thunders and flames Jehovah's threatening rod, +And shakes the dungeon[15] with the wrath of God-- +A lightning tongue to scorch His cowering foes, 2830 +And scourge them to the kennels whence they rose. +When known such power, such might of word and will, +Since Christ bade tempest sleep and waves be still? + +Free, whereso'er he wends, is hope renewed, +Demons unhoused, disease and death subdued[16]. + +Where Sire of Waters[17] sweeps o'er silvery sands, +Prest by the pilgrim feet of many lands, +Aloft, alone, a sacred city stands. +City, mother of many[18], none more rare, +A blossoming waste shall yield, now burnt and bare; 2840 +City, mother of empire, famed as fair, +Whose birth the solemn muse must yet declare. + +Where groaned the land with dread malarial ill, +Healed by a hand divine, o'er vale and hill +See roof and dome and glittering fane arise! +Unworldly link[19], rewelding Earth and Skies! + +Then comes Elijah's mightier mission[20] forth, +And mortal vows take on immortal worth, +Kindling anew hope's ever living fires, +Turning the mutual hearts of sons and sires, 2850 +While doors to spirit dungeons open swing, +That love to light the living dead may bring! + +But gaze from sinking unto soaring sun! +Beyond the wave the conquering word hath won +Past horrent hosts of Lucifer that rose, +With wrath of man, the message to oppose. +Vain strife, where fiends archangels would assail, +Warring 'gainst mightiness that must prevail-- +Prevail to save a periled ship. 'Tis done; +The crisis past[21] with Albia stormed and won; 2860 +East floweth West--"The Gathering" hath begun. + +And now, to fruitful lands, 'neath favoring skies, +Befriended by the just[22], the brave, the wise, +Till truth, too mighty for the common ken, +Hath put a sword betwixt the souls of men, +Fares garnered Ephraim, earliest offering[23] +Of Israel's hope, Idumea's harvesting. + +Nations besprent with Abrahamic blood +Meet there and mingle in that widening flood. +Impelled by helping hand or hostile power, 2870 +By friendly looks or frowns that darkly lower, +Gathers the flock of faith from every land +Where roving Ephraim mixt with Japheth's band; +Philistia's shoulder bearing Israel's flight, +That Japheth, too, may come to Zion's light, +And Joseph be o'er all his brethren blest, +A saviour in his Egypt of the West[24], +Where corn and wine, 'mid famine, comfort life, +Where peace and plenty shame a world at strife, +And, bending from the ice-barred North, shall come-- 2880 +As bent their stars in his, the dreamer's dome-- +Assyria's long lost captives[25], wending home. + +Westward, far westward, chase the lingering night, +Impelling Spirit! Angel of the Light! +Westward, still westward, till the morn shall burn +In high meridian glory; till shall turn +Fate's restless tide, re-rolling o'er the East, +Spoiling the spoiler, spreading freedom's feast, +Foiling dark anarchy, thy fellest foe, +Land, chosen land! stunned, staggering 'neath its blow; 2890 +Rallying the loyal[26] in a common cause, +Rending the eagle from the bear's red claws; +Hurling invasion backward o'er the Isles, +Building anew upon the olden piles, +Beginnings of the crowning commonhood-- +A modern Zion where the ancient stood. + +Backward, roll backward, river of the blood! +Back to thy fountain, hurrying human flood-- +To Adam's land, the far Edenic shore; +For last is first and old is new once more, 2900 +And nations rise where nations fell before! + +Joseph, uprisen from the grave-like mound, +His ancient and inglorious battle ground[27], +Retreads with modern step the painful path +Where erst he fled[28], a fugitive from wrath; +Fated to flee till ebbs that westward flow, +Bearing from Japheth bitter curse and blow, +While patient heaven holds off the woeful fate +That cometh swift and layeth desolate +The powers that prey on Jacob--all that hate 2910 +The God of Joseph, and the just decree +That builds him here a boundless destiny. + +Westward, burn westward, morn divinely bright! +Morn of Jehovah, morn of Jacob's might! +But stand thou still on Zion, glorious light! +For there must dawn the day that knows no night. + +Beginnings that have here in beauty stood, +Prone, as from withering fire or wasting flood, +A little season wrecked and ruined lie[29], +Till they that build put pride and passion by, 2920 +And, taught by pain, through suffering's fiercest fires, +Part with all lustful, covetous desires. + +When faith shall wear the armor without flaw, +And union such as sainted Enoch saw[30] +Honors the fullness of celestial law, +Then--sword of God and blade of Gideon, +Dazzling, confounding, driving on and on, +Till besomed as with fire the fated land, +Where Zion, guileless, glorious, shall stand, +A terror only to her trembling foes[31], 2930 +Ensign of peace and Eden of repose, +Where life's tree blossoms and light's fountain flows. + +Meanwhile her valiant ones, her tried and true +Daughters and sons, shall they not dare and do? +In vain, alas! in vain of such to sing, +With trembling hand a tuneless harp I string. +For who can count the cost, the painful price, +Measure the sorrow and the sacrifice, +Rare spirits of a more than Spartan race +Compelled their souls of halting dread to face? 2940 +Harp of the Hebrew seer! Be thine to break +The muse's slumber, bid the world awake, +And glow o'er deeds yet done for conscience' sake. +What tongue than Zion's own can loose the spell? +Whose voice than modern Leah's, Rachel's, tell +The story of a burden borne so well? + +Bending, not breaking, 'neath thy load of care, +Sowing to joy, thou shalt not reap despair! +Planting the hope of human purity, +That righteousness may crown futurity,-- 2950 +Patience! endure! for pain shall bring thee power[32]. +Time but a dream--eternity thy dower. +Where perfect love casts forth the jealous fear, +A diamond in thy diadem each tear; +And every sigh that rent thy suffering breast, +A wave of rapture on the shores of rest. +My lot as thine, purest of pure-in-heart! +Be mine the bitter as the better part. + +But sorrows else have shadowed all things there; +The voice of mourning drowns the voice of prayer. 2960 +Dampened e'en now with death's prophetic dew, +Thy cold, pale brow, O fated, fair Nauvoo! + +Remains for thee no peace, for thine no rest, +Till on the parching plain, the frozen crest; +A desert land of unlocked mystery, +Frowning on hope, and dumb to history. + +Yet ere the burning wilderness be won, +Shines down on other deeds the shuddering sun. +City of Joseph[33]! Look! from 'leaguered walls, +Where Calvary's crimson light on Carthage falls! 2970 + +Ere murderous fate the martyr's bolt hath sped, +While deepening darkness glooms a sky of lead, +And thundrous threatenings tone their notes of dread, +Looms to the fore an archangelic form, +A sunlit summit shining o'er the storm; +A towering rock above the rushing tide +Of eager souls that surge on every side, +Where living waters from the fountain play, +And glowing words light up the darkened way. + +Undaunted 'neath the shadow of his doom, 2980 +Calm as a statue, solemn as a tomb, +Heedless of self, while hoarsely rumbles near +Hate's fiery flood, that alien to all fear, +That more than man, nor less than godlike soul, +Erect upon life's summit, at death's goal, +Unlocks time's portal, swings the future's gate, +And opes to Ephraim's gaze his glorious fate. + +O diver in the days and years to be! +Searching the caves of that prophetic sea, +What bringest from the deeps of destiny? 2990 + + + + +CANTO TEN + +The Parted Veil[1] + + + Choice Seer, with spirit eye did he behold + The sanguine scene that told his tragic fate? + Surged by the flood of grief and shame that rolled + Above the murdered honor of a State[2], + Where innocence again fell prey to hate? + There be who say he visioned all to come-- + Forsaken cities, weeping, desolate, + The desecrated fane, the blazing dome[3], +The weary wanderings far in quest of peace and home. + + Saw, then, a tender hopeful tragedy 3000 + (Pathetic omen of his tribe's increase) + Uncurtained 'neath the star-hung canopy: + Babes, new-born babes[4], there slumbering in a fleece + Of moon-lit frost, as buds that bide release, + When winter casts its mantle white and cold, + Protecting life where life hath seemed to cease; + Frail lambs, fresh penned within the Saviour's fold, +And, like Him, manger-nurst, homeless on earth's threshold. + + Homeless a nursing nation, born e'en so-- + Born in a day. O Day! and eyes of Night! 3010 + Watch now the "little one" "a thousand"[5] grow, + As grows the torrent from the trickling height, + The blaze of noonday from the dawning light;-- + The birth-throes of an empire, whose blest reign, + Bounding from lowliness, soars past the sight + Of all save prophecy, while cities twain[6] +Sceptre the universe, with foot on land and main! + + Whose but a prophet's eye such end could see? + Whose but a prophet's tongue the issue tell?-- + A modern march of ancient destiny, 3020 + Another Exodus and Israel, + Bidding his bonds, his all, save hope, farewell; + Widening, 'mid alien wastes, true freedom's fame, + Where bondage, chained to darkness, fain would dwell[7]; + And rearing temples to Jehovah's name, +Where looms the Aztec's altar[8], quenched of its ancient flame. + + There bringing forth the promise of thy land, + O rare and wondrous West!--the prophecy + Of glittering cities strewn along thy strand, + O golden empire[9] of the sunset sea! 3030 + God-gifted Seer, while gazing endlessly, + Sawest thou an Eden on the desert brine[10], + Begirt with desolation's mystery, + Ere gusht the riven rock with milk and wine, +Where all was treeless waste and sun-baked alkaline? + + Sawest thou, O prophet! till the pioneer + Builded his eagle nest, and pure and brave + Homed on the white-helmed peak and crystal mere? + O matchless land--the home their valor gave, + Mighty in will to bless, in work to save, 3040 + Redeemed, redeeming, all must own thy worth! + Slander may wound thee, tyranny enslave, + Still thou art mine, loved land of all the earth, +Land of the honey-bee[11], land of my mortal birth! + + Land prest by footprint of my pilgrim sire[12]; + Land visioned by my more than sire, whose soul + Swept the far future with a glance of fire, + Bade hope, as memory, her page unroll; + Beheld uplifting, as a parted scroll, + The curtain from a kingdom yet to be, 3050 + Binding in one world-realms from pole to pole; + Saw monarchs bow, saw nations bend the knee, +Saw dead and risen time take on eternity. + + "Hear me, my people[13]! I shall not be slain + While unfulfilled my mission? Then, like Him + Who holds my hand, linked in an endless chain, + Which cannot die, whose light can ne'er grow dim, + Must I return to Home and Elohim. + Though here I fain would linger--human choice! + If weal to friend or foe--ay, e'en to them, 3060 + Might purchased be, with my poor life the price, +Welcome, thrice welcome death. I will the sacrifice. + + "Nor marvel at my mood. Could you but gaze + Upon the wonders of the worlds of God, + Where burn, amid the universal blaze, + The Father's fullness and the Son's abode, + Won by their feet who walk the rightful road, + Nor weary in well-doing; 'twere alone + Reward for all that here hath been your load. + Forgive--leave all to heaven, whose highest Throne 3070 +Made endless love to endless life the stepping stone. + + "Hearken, O House of Joseph! Here must end + My mortal toil. Now, as from Nebo's height[14], + I see, like him of old, my day descend. + But looms afar upon my sinking sight + Another Canaan. Clothe for pilgrim flight. + A Joshua cometh! Him let Israel heed, + And loyal be unto that council's right + On whom the Kingdom rolls; for they must lead +To where privation's hand shall sow dominion's seed. 3080 + + "A glacier's might, your gathered strength shall stand, + Stalwart upon the mountains[15], and shall send + Swift messengers to sound o'er sea and land + Last warning to the nations. Hither wend + Awakening hosts, who eager hearing lend + While yet the voice of grace, the voice of God, + Summons the house of Abraham his friend; + Calls them the wave to cleave, the wild to plod, +On, on to that safe rest, ere falls the reckoning rod. + + "For war shall wound[16] this nation--rend it wide, 3090 + And trample nations all. Anon shall slaves + 'Gainst masters rise, and anarchy o'erride + Till tyranny be trodden as the paves, + Till patriot might puts forth its hand and saves + The crimsoned land from chaos. Hearken, all! + When ruin's host the blood-red banner waves, + Who heeded first the Gospel's warning call +Shall be the last of realms to crumble and to fall. + + "Britannia! Thou among the during ones, + A nursing mother unto Israel's might; 4000 + Foremost to send thy daughters and thy sons + From shores afar, from darkness unto light. + As thou hast favored truth and 'friended right, + Their tongues shall plead for thee in time to come, + And nerve thine arm when perilous thy plight. + Borne on thy shoulder o'er the billowing foam, +Joseph and Judah find their heritage, their home. + + "I saw, while justice showed the vision dire, + Till mercy's hand let fall the lifted veil, + The goal of the ungodly--blood and fire, 4010 + Earthquake and whirlwind, pestilential hail + Smiting earth's face with desolating flail. + And this, the mere beginning of their woe, + Whose final fate a doom the damned bewail; + While they that follow Christ, anon shall go +To guide and save lost souls, groping in shades below. + + "Good fears not evil--grapples with it strong, + Hell turns to heaven, the unclean purifies; + For evil is but good, the right bent wrong. + No weakling unto loftiest worlds can rise; 4020 + No coward e'er hath scaled celestial skies; + 'Tis strength that wins the goal of blessedness, + 'Tis knowledge saves, 'tis wisdom glorifies; + Intelligence alone can lift and bless +The fallen, innocent till snared in sin's duress. + + "What matter, if my mortal race be run, + Where earth enfolds me to her mother breast? + While ye, my people--yonder setting sun + Points out your path. For you, no peace, no rest, + Till firm your weary feet upon the West, 4030 + Where, moveless as yon snowy spine of hills, + Befriended by the tempest, unopprest, + And bounteous as the sun that sends the rills +To bless the vales, God's first-born fold[17] His purpose fills. + + "Affliction here, but friendship there and peace; + (More cruel Christian white than savage red), + And in a day when warning tongues shall cease, + And plain be seen what prophets all have said; + When peace shall have no pillow for her head, + Save lofty heights where loyal hosts abound; 4040 + Brave sons of battling sires[18], who toiled and bled + That this might evermore be freedom's ground, +Shall give to you their strength God's Kingdom here to found. + + "Bide mountain-walled, my people! stalwart, strong, + Till poureth down from hallowed founts on high, + The might that doth to righteousness belong, + The might of faith, the power of purity-- + Despair and terror to iniquity. + Then, Ephra-Judah, who the hand shall bind + That clears thy path before thee? Foes shall fly 4050 + As driven dust, as ashes in the wind; +The crouching Lion springs, and He the prey shall find. + + "And by that power[19] shall Zion be redeemed, + Yea, with a mighty hand, an out-stretched arm, + With marvels, miracles, ne'er done nor dreamed + Since wonder oped her eyes. The world's alarm + Shall surge, an angry sea; but fear nor harm + Can hover near the conquering host of God. + 'Gainst Lucifer's shall Michael's legions form, + Besoming the chosen soil with chastening rod, 4060 +Till sainted towers arise on Eden's ancient sod. + + "The place appointed. Naught else is designed; + Naught else can heaven accept. Put forth the hand, + Plant stakes of Zion, tight her cords to bind, + Where'er ye move, O fated pilgrim band! + But bring forth Zion's self on Zion's land[20]; + The consecrated soil, whereon ye stood + With me, of late, loyal while treason fanned + The flame still thirsting for a martyr's blood. +There build, in time to be, a city unto God. 4070 + + "Nor there alone; for all is Zion's land, + North unto South, East unto Western wave, + Far as the hemisphere's wide wings expand, + She sits, a sovereign queen, ice-crowned, to lave + Her glowing hands in tropic tides, while brave + Her snowy feet in faith the southern sea. + Arm patient, slow to smite, yet swift to save, + A friend to right, a foe to tyranny. +And there be living now who then shall live and see. + + "While here the glory of the Common Good[21], 4080 + Shadowed and symboled by a patriot band, + Whose triumph wrought for human brotherhood, + Extending that high cause from strand to strand, + Shall bring deliverance unto every land. + But anarchy would foil the lofty aim, + The peace, the union, by Jehovah planned; + Wherefore 'tis doomed to failure and to shame, +With all unrighteous rule, whate'er its place or name. + + "The sceptered harlot,[22] throned on human seas, + Chief link of Satan's world-encircling chain; 4090 + The secret craft and crime--iniquities + Whereby the Wicked One extends his reign; + All these must perish from the Lord's domain, + Nor aught of guile be found His Kingdom through. + Truth's sun hath risen--all lesser lights must wane; + And wrong and false that masks as right and true, +Shall feel the scourge of flame that Sodom's sin o'erthrew. + + "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 damns 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 God, to whom all gods 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 Gods, e'en Sons of God, 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 Gods--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 damned, 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 Gods, while heaven on earth shall dwell, + To drink the wine of wisdom at His feet, + The Husbandman and Vine of Israel. +Thus saith the God of Jacob--Joseph's God. 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 glass, 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 God 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 Gods 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 Shiloh[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 worship 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 God. + +"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, God'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 multitude. + +"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 hell'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, God'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 God-- +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!" + +--- + +Enough, I know thee, Strong and mighty One, +That standest in the presence of the Lord! +That leadest Israel from bondage old, +That liftest up the Ensign unto all! +Know thee, thou Muse and Minstrel of the Mount, +Thou Harper on the Hills of Melody? +I know thee, and am here to work thy will, +To hymn thy praise, perchance behold thy power, 7030 +When, iris-crowned and clothed as with a cloud, +Thy face the sun, thy feet as pillared fire, +Thou comest down from Heaven, and swearest by +Eternity, that Time shall be no more! + +Ancient of Ages! Angel of the East! +Spirit of Promise! Prophet of the Dawn[22]! + + + + +NOTES + + +Explanation: The first figure at the beginning of the Note indicates +the word or phrase marked in the text; the second figure gives the +number of the line in which it is found. + +NOTE TO DEDICATION. The Dedication is to President Joseph F. Smith, +sixth in succession to the leadership of the Latter-day Saints, +nephew to Joseph the Prophet, and son of Hyrum the Patriarch, who +were martyred at Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. The poem made its +appearance during President Smith's administration, and the author +owes much to his kind encouragement and appreciation. + +NOTE TO THEME. The words of the Theme are a passage from the "Key to +John's Revelation" (Doctrine and Covenants 77:9). + +NOTE TO PRELUDE. The Author, while ill, prayed that he might live to +produce a work that would continue his ministry as a teacher after +his mortal tongue was stilled. The beginning of the answer to his +prayer was an immediate inspiration to write this poem. + +--- + +CANTO ONE + +1--Title: **As From a Dream.** The subject of this Canto is the +author's spiritual awakening. + +2--20. **Baal and Astoreth** (also rendered Ashtoreth). Pagan +deities, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. They were +worshiped by the idolatrous Israelites. The Prophet Elijah's +controversy with the priests of Baal is one of the most dramatic +episodes in sacred history. (I Kings 18:19-40). Baal was the sun god, +chief male divinity of the Phoenicians; Ashtoreth, representing the +moon, a goddess of the Philistines--the same as Astarte of the +Zidonians. The corresponding deities among the Greeks and Romans were +Zeus or Jupiter and Aphrodite or Venus. + +3--60. **Truth's Triple Key.** The Spirit of Truth, revealing past, +present and future. + +4--86. **Ambrosial Gardens.** The Gardens of the Gods--Heaven. + +5--92. **Paradise.** The Spirit World, a place of rest for the +righteous, awaiting resurrection and exaltation to glorious spheres +beyond. (Alma, 40:11-14; "Joseph Smith's Teachings," pp. 184, 185; +Key to Theology, 14.) + +6--101. **Love's Eyes.** Love is usually represented as a blind boy, +Cupid, shooting his arrows aimlessly. Love, when spiritually +enlightened, is no longer blind, but has a definite purpose in view. + +7--111. **Lethean Ground.** Lethe, in classic mythology, signifies +oblivion. It was the name of a river in Hades, of which the dead +drank and forgot all. + +8--117. **O Thou, Of Beauty!** The stanza beginning with these words +is an apostrophe to Woman. + +9--130. **Apple of Ashes.** On the shores of the Dead Sea there +grows, it is said, a fruit resembling the apple, beautiful and +inviting to the eye, but turning to ashes at the touch. + +10--167. **Equally May Win.** The vanquished, as well as the +victorious, may gain, through experience, development. + +11--174. **What Soul Can Grow?** Pride, greed, hate, and all other +perverted passions, are as weeds and thorns in the garden of the +heart. It is fair to presume that the Saviour, when he exhorted his +disciples to forgive and love their enemies, had in view the welfare +of the disciples themselves. It was more for their sake than for the +sake of their enemies, that He gave the exhortation. + +12--185. **The Spirit of the Infinite.** The Holy Spirit, assumed +throughout the poem to be acting through "Elias," the Genius of +Progress, who also has his agents or instruments. + +13--219. **Time's Hills and Vales.** A metaphor suggested by the Book +of Abraham (3:18, 19). + +--- + +CANTO TWO + +1--Title: **The Soul of Song.** Herein the author is represented as +soliloquising upon his native mountains, where he meets the Soul of +Song and is inspired to sing the epic of time and eternity. As the +Soul of Song, "Elias" makes his first appearance in the action of the +poem. + +2--261. **The Sacred Garden.** The Garden of Eden. + +3--263. **Titan Stand.** The Titans were a group of mythical giants, +descended from the gods. (Greek and Roman mythology.) + +4--276. **Orphean Boon.** Orpheus, son of the Muse Calliope, received +from Apollo or Minerva a lyre upon which he played so skillfully that +rocks and trees were moved, rivers ceased to flow, and savage beasts +forgot their wildness, charmed by the wonderful sounds. (Ibid.) + +5--281. **Oh, Were My Words!** A paraphrase of Job 19:23, 24. + +6--288. **Melting Gift.** The power of speech or of song. + +7--384. **Voice of the Stars.** Another reference to Job (38:7). + +8--390. **The Body's Bard.** This allusion is to poets who exalt the +material over the spiritual, the sensuous over the intellectual, the +body of things over the soul of things. + +9--407. **This Most Ancient Shore.** Modern science, confirming +modern revelation, is beginning to regard America as the Old World, +not the New. + +10--408. **And Man Shall Rise.** Zion, City of the Pure-in-Heart, is +to stand upon the ancient site of the Garden of Eden. + +11--415. **Shepherd Psalmist.** David, who played before King Saul, +exorcising the evil spirit which held the monarch bound. (I Samuel +18:10 and 19:9.) + +--- + +CANTO THREE + +1--Title: **Elect of Elohim.** Elohim, or Eloheim, the Hebrew plural +for God. To the modern Jew it means the plural of majesty, not of +number; but to the Latter-day Saint it signifies both. As here used +it stands for "The Council of the Gods," or, as in Psalms 82:1, "The +Congregation of the Mighty." In that council or congregation was +elected, before Earth was formed, the Redeemer of the World. (Pearl +of Great Price--Moses 4:1-4; Abraham 3:22-28; Compendium p. 285.) +This Canto glimpses the choosing of Messiah, the rebellion of +Lucifer, the Saviour's descent to Earth, his crucifixion and return +to Glory. It is the beginning of the poem proper. + +2--450. **Olea's Silver Beam.** Olea, according to the Book of +Abraham, is Moon; Shinehah (Shinea) Sun; and Kokaubeam, Stars. Kolob, +according to the same authority, is a great governing planet "nigh +unto the throne of God." (Abraham 3; D. and C. 76:25, 28.) + +3--504. **Mighty Michael.** Michael the Archangel, leader of the +hosts of Heaven against Lucifer and his rebellious legions, became +Adam and fell from an immortal to a mortal state that he might become +the progenitor of the human family. + +4--516. **Tried Souls.** In "Mormon" theology "soul" means body and +spirit combined, but in general literature, and especially poetry, +"soul" and "spirit" are synonyms. + +5--522. **The Stepping-Stone.** God's children, such as kept the +first or spirit estate, were given bodies upon this planet, thus +becoming souls, capable of eternal increase and advancement. (Abraham +3:26.) Two-thirds of the spirits then populating the Spirit World +were found worthy of opportunities for experience and development in +mortality, while one-third--those who rebelled--were denied that +privilege. (Compendium p. 288.) + +6--528. **The Love That Hath Redeemed All Worlds.** The Gospel of the +Christ, the highest expression of God's love for man, has saved many +worlds, and is destined to save many more. (Moses 1:33-39.) But the +Gospel is more than a means of escape from impending ills; it existed +before man had need of salvation. A divine plan for human progress, +embracing both the Fall and the Redemption, it was framed in the +heavens before this earth was organized, and is a free gift from God +to man. Man, however, to avail himself of its benefits, must yield +obedience to its requirements. Redemption (resurrection) comes +unconditionally, but salvation and exaltation depend upon human works +as well as upon divine favor. A soul may be redeemed--raised from the +dead--and yet condemned at the final judgment for evil deeds done in +the body. Likewise may a soul be redeemed and saved, and yet come +short of the glory that constitutes exaltation. To redeem, save and +glorify is the threefold purpose of the Gospel of Christ. The English +word "Gospel" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Godspell" or God-Story--the +story of God. In its fullest sense it signifies everything connected +with the redemptive career of that Divine Being who gave His life +that man might eternally live. + +7--548. **Exception Scorns.** Lucifer, who fain would have been the +Redeemer, proposed to save by coercive methods, involving the +destruction of human agency, and demanded as his reward the honor +that belongs to God. (Moses 4:1-4; Abraham 3:22-28) + +8--560. **My Messenger.** It was Jehovah the God of Israel who became +Jesus of Nazareth and died to redeem mankind (D. and C. 110:1-4). He +is Son Ahman, concerning whom Orson Pratt, citing an unpublished +revelation, says: "What is the name of God in the pure language? The +answer says 'Ahman.' What is the name of the Son of God? Answer, 'Son +Ahman, the greatest of all the parts of God, excepting Ahman.' What +is the name of men? 'Son Ahman,' is the answer." (Journal of +Discourses, Vol. II, p. 342.) + +9--562. **Thy Face Before.** An allusion to Elias, the lesser going +before the greater. + +10--571. **My Friend.** Abraham, the friend of God, and father of the +faithful. + +11--572. **Idumea.** The World--here used as a synonym for Earth. + +12--589. **This Wandering Planet Bring.** "This earth will be rolled +back into the presence of God and crowned with celestial +glory."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 288). + +13--613. **The Hour of Noon.** The Meridian Dispensation. + +14--615. **Light's Sun and Moon.** Christ, the light of the sun, moon +and stars, and the power by which they were made. (D. and C. 88:7, 8, +9.) + +15--619. **Elias? Yea and Nay.** John the Baptist, forerunner of the +Christ, was an Elias, a restorer; but, according to Joseph Smith, not +the Elias who is to restore all things. There are many Eliases, +Joseph says: "When God sends a man into the world to prepare for a +greater work, holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called +the doctrine of Elias even from the early ages of the world." +(Compendium, p. 281.) + +16--621. **Learned to Shine.** Before the Twelve Apostles were +chosen, John the Baptist proclaimed the Lamb of God, and said +concerning Him: "He must increase, and I must decrease." John was +therefore as the waning Moon in the presence of the rising Sun. + +17--640. **A City Doomed.** Jerusalem, over which the Saviour wept, +prophesying its downfall. (Matthew 23:37-39.) + +18--656. **Gloom-Wrapt Gethsemane.** The Saviour's agony in the +Garden of Gethsemane is an incident familiar to every reader of the +New Testament. + +19--675. **Immanuel.** One of the titles of the Saviour, meaning "God +with us." + +--- + +CANTO FOUR + +1--Title: **Night and the Wilderness.** This part of the poem is an +allegory of the Christian or Meridian Dispensation, following the +death of Jesus and his forerunner; portraying the mission of the +Comforter, and showing the departure from the primitive Faith, after +the passing of the apostolic Twelve, one of whom--the Church having +gone into the Wilderness--remains to testify of things to come. The +"Night" is the spiritual night that followed the setting of the Sun +of Righteousness--a night lit by Moon and Stars, with lesser lights +twinkling through the Dark Ages and onward into modern times. The +"Wilderness" is the world invisible. (D. and C. 88:66.) + +2--688. **An Eagle's Wings.** The Roman Empire, emblemized by the +Eagle, dominated the then known world. + +3--696. **Peace to Flow.** "(I) The immense field covered by the +conquests of Alexander gave to the civilized world a unity of +language, without which it would have been, humanly speaking, +impossible for the earliest preachers to have made known the good +tidings in every land which they traversed. (II) The rise of the +Roman Empire created a political unity which reflected in every +direction the doctrines of the new faith. (III) The dispersion of the +Jews prepared vast multitudes of Greeks and Romans for the unity of a +pure morality and a monotheistic faith. The Gospel emanated from the +capital of Judea; it was preached in the tongue of Athens; it was +diffused through the empire of Rome; the feet of its earliest +missionaries traversed the solid structure of undeviating roads by +which the Roman legionaries--'those massive hammers of the whole +earth'--had made straight in the desert a highway for our God. +Semite and Aryan had been unconscious instruments in the hands of God +for the spread of a religion which, in its first beginnings, both +alike detested and despised. The letters of Hebrew and Greek and +Latin inscribed above the cross were the prophetic and unconscious +testimony of three of the world's noblest languages to the undying +claims of Him who suffered to obliterate the animosities of the +nations which spoke them, and to unite them all together in the one +great Family of God."--Dean Farrar, in "The Life and Work of St. +Paul," abridged edition, Book II, pp. 61, 62. + +4--706. **She-Wolf's Might.** The She-Wolf, traditionally the nurse +of Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome, was also an emblem of that +world-conquering power, which, though eventually it persecuted the +Christians, at first protected them from their Jewish oppressors. +Judah's emblem was the Lion. As for the remaining figure in the +allusion, it is written that the Saviour said to his disciples: "I +send you forth as lambs among wolves." + +5--707. **Iron-Limbed.** The phrases "iron-limbed," "brazen-loin," +"silver-breasted," "golden Babylon," characterize respectively the +Roman, Graeco-Macedonian, Medo-Persian, and Babylonian empires, +which, in reverse order, ruled successively the ancient world. +Beginning with Babylon, the "head of gold," these four universal +powers figure in the Prophet Daniel's interpretation of +Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2). + +6--713. **Asian Kin.** Alexander the Great extended his conquests as +far eastward as India, whose native inhabitants claim kinship with +European peoples through a common Aryan ancestry. If this claim be +true, then the Hindoos, like the Europeans, are descended from +Japheth, the eldest son of Noah, and consequently are "Gentiles"--a +word springing from "Gentilis," meaning "of a nation," that is, a +nation not of Israel. + +7--718. **Kurush.** Cyrus, founder of the Medo-Persian empire. + +8--730. **Lofty Vineyards.** D. and C. 88:51-61. + +9--731. **Spirit Moon and Speaking Stars.** The Holy Ghost and the +Apostolic Twelve. + +10--732. **The Woman Wonderful.** The Church of Christ, represented +by a Woman (Revelation 12), and referred to in other places as the +Bride, the Lamb's Wife. + +11--736. **Glory's Symboling.** Sun, moon and stars, symbolizing +celestial, terrestrial, and telestial glories. (D. and C. 76:96-98.) + +12--742. **Vicegerent.** The Comforter, concerning whom Jesus said, +"It is needful that I go, or He will not come unto you." In other +words, the greater Light had to depart, before the lesser could shine +in its fulness. + +13--743. **The Unembodied One.** Says Joseph the Seer: "The Father +has a body of flesh and bones, as tangible as man's; the Son also; +but the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit." (D. and C. 130:22.) + +14--748. **After and Ere.** God and Christ, the Father and the Son, +by the power of the Holy Ghost created all things, and by that power +will raise all from the dead. + +15--756. **Prophet Still Pleading.** The Spirit of Prophecy, typified +by John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness. + +16--774. **Those Fluent Stars.** The Twelve Apostles, oracles of God +and crown of the Church of Christ. (Rev. 12:1.) + +17--781. **Save Haply One.** John the Beloved. (John 21:20-23; D. +and C. 7 and 77.) + +18--789. **Leading the Lost.** It is believed that John the Revelator +will lead the Lost Tribes from "The Land of the North." (D. and C. +77:14; Rev. 10:8-11.) + +19--806. **The Man-Child.** The Man-Child of the Apocalypse (Rev. +12:5) represents the Priesthood--divine authority--which was taken +from the Earth, with the fulness of the Gospel, after the passing of +the Apostles. + +20--815. **Japheth Sways.** Gentile domination over Israel, +particularly in those nations where the Jews have been and are still +oppressed. + +21--820. **Antaeus-Like.** Antaeus was a fabled giant, vanquished by +Hercules. Each time that Hercules threw him the giant gained fresh +strength from coming in contact with the ground. + +22--822. **Conquering His Dust-Adoring Conqueror.** The modern Jew is +said to hold the purse-strings of the world. + +23--831. **That Gentile Hosts Might See.** Saul of Tarsus, afterwards +Paul the Apostle, persecuted the Church of Christ before his +conversion (Acts 9:1-19). Thus was typified the spiritual blindness +of Israel, which caused the Gospel to be carried to the Gentiles. +Paul, the principal agent for their illumination, declares: +"Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the +Gentiles be come in." (Rom. 11:25.) + +24--832. **Martyred, Immolate.** Israel's dispersion, like Adam's +fall and Christ's crucifixion, was part of a mighty plan for the +promotion of the human race. Adam fell that mortal man might be. +Christ died to burst the bands of death and make the fall effectual +unto the higher ends ordained. The children of Israel were scattered +over the world, in order that the Gospel might make its way more +readily among all peoples. The history of Israel is the history of a +martyred nation, suffering for the welfare of other nations, whatever +may be said of the transgressions of the chosen people, which +occasioned and justified the calamities that came upon them. + +25--841. **From 'Neath the Yoke.** The future redemption of the Negro +race. + +26--843. **See and Hear His Risen Lord.** The House of Israel is +privileged to receive the personal ministrations of the Saviour, +while the Gentiles are ministered to by the Holy Ghost. (III Nephi +15:23.) + +27--847. **In the Mire.** Beginning of the Christian departure from +the true Faith. + +28--850. **The Heaven-Lit Torch.** The Light of the Gospel, enjoyed +by the primitive Christians, though compelled to hide from their +Roman persecutors and worship God on mountain tops and in the +catacombs. + +29--852. **Incense * * * Diana's Shrine.** Diana was a deity +worshiped by the Romans. "Incense"--metaphorically the vain +philosophies, traditions and customs, adopted by the false Church +that came up in the place of the true Church and paganized itself in +order to be popular with the world. + +30--855. **Shearing Compromise.** The result, spiritually, of the +enthronement of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman +Empire, A. D. 324. + +31--861. **East from West.** The pseudo Church, as well as the Empire +of the Caesars, divided itself into East and West, with +Constantinople and Rome as the capital cities. + +32--874. **She Was Wont.** "She" stands for the true Church of Christ. + +33--880. **Crimson Courtesan.** The Scarlet Woman described by John +the Revelator (Rev. 17). + +34--900. **Till the Judgment Sits.** A reference to Daniel 7:21-27. + +35--902. **Glory Lift the Gloom.** Messiah's second coming. + +36--903. **The Moonlike One.** The Holy Spirit, ruling the Night of +Ages, after the Light of the World has departed. + +37--908. **Impelling to All Action.** The impelling power of the +Spirit of God is interestingly set forth in I Nephi 13:10-19. See +also Lowell's poems "Columbus" and "A Glance Behind the Curtain." + +38--951. **Wayward Son of Deity.** Napoleon and other conquerors type +the class of characters here described. + +39--973. **Some Said Jeremias.** When the Saviour inquired, "Whom do +men say that I am?" Peter answered "Some say Thou art Elias, and some +say Jeremias." Elias and Jeremias are Greek forms of the Hebrew names +Elijah and Jeremiah. Joseph Smith, however, drew a distinction +between the spirit of Elias and the spirit of Elijah. (Compendium, +pp. 281-283.) + +40--983. **Mirror and Model of Humanity.** "God created man in his +own image." (Gen. 1:27.) + +41--997. **Incomprehensible.** So modern Christians contend +respecting Deity. It is true only in part. God's unrevealed infinite +fulness is of course incomprehensible to the finite mind. But what He +has revealed concerning Himself is not incomprehensible. Else why did +He reveal it? + +42--1008. **Each as a Star.** The Jewish or Mosaic Dispensation shed +light that prepared the world for a greater--the Christian +Dispensation; which, in its turn, made ready for one greater +still--the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. This is the +significance of "Elias." (Compendium, p. 281.) + +43--1020. **A Weapon for the Right.** Such writers as Voltaire, +Paine, and Ingersoll, subserve the cause of Christ by shattering +false traditions, erroneously supposed by many to be true teachings +of the Saviour and his Apostles. + +--- + +CANTO FIVE + +1--Title: **The Messenger of Morn.** The fore part of this Canto, +down to and including the line, "Out, out of her, my people, saith +your God," summarizes the message borne by the modern Prophet. The +curtain now rises upon the last act of the redemptive drama--the +final restoration of the Gospel; Joseph the Seer, as the Elias of the +scene, heralding the tidings of the approaching millennial reign. + +2--1052. **Whence Ye Were Hewn.** An allusion to Isaiah 51:1-3. + +3--1060. **Wastes of Unbelief.** Gentile or heathen lands, refreshed +by the sprinkled blood of Israel--the blood that believes--and by +spiritual visitations that accompany or follow such dispersions. + +4--1061. **Japheth, Thy Planet Pales.** Japheth stands for the +Gentiles, whose "fulness" now "comes in." + +5--1077. **Mother of Centuries.** Time, as distinguished from +Eternity (though technically eternity includes time), comprises seven +thousand years, or seventy centuries, covered by seven Gospel +dispensations. The Quorum of the Seventy, with the presiding First +Council, is a probable typing in this connection. + +6--1079. **Teach Them to Be One.** "It is necessary, in the ushering +in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, * * * that a whole +and complete and perfect union and welding together of dispensations +and keys and powers and glories should take place and be revealed +from the days of Adam even to the present time."--Joseph Smith, (D. +and C. 128:18.) + +7--1084. **Shiloh Reigns.** Shiloh is another Hebrew name for +Messiah, whose reign of a thousand years will equal in duration one +revolution of the planet Kolob. (Abraham 3:4.) + +8--1085. **Hast Labored.** The seven thousand years of Earth's +"temporal existence" correspond to the seven seals of the Apocalyptic +Book (Rev. 5 and 6) and are as seven great days, four of which had +passed before Christ came, while nearly two have gone by since. +According to this reckoning we are now in the Saturday evening of +human history. The Millennium will be the seventh day--the World's +Sabbath. (D. and C. 77:12; Abraham 3, 4, and 5). + +9--1089. **Ancient Tidings.** The Everlasting Gospel, first revealed +to Adam, who presides over all the dispensations. (History of the +Church, Vol. 4, pp. 207-209). + +10--1103. **What I Know.** Joseph Smith is said to have expressed the +wish that he might reveal his identity and declare all that God had +made known to him. + +11--1117. **Gibborim.** Mighty ones. King David's six hundred guards +were called "The Gibborim," for their heroic bravery. (Geike, "Hours +With the Bible," Vol. III, pp. 254, 276, 325, 339). + +12--1118. **Worthy The Word.** The explanation of this phrase is in +that saying of the Saviour's: "Is it not written that they are gods +to whom the word of God comes?"--meaning, of course, a superior race +of men. + +13--1136. **Fifth of Seven.** The Fifth Angel is he who "committeth +the everlasting gospel." (D. and C., 88:103). + +14--1165. **From Wintry Sleep.** At this point begins the personal +history of the Prophet, who is also the subject of previous +allusions. ("Writings of Joseph Smith"--Pearl of Great Price). + +15--1214. **Dual Presence.** Joseph's vision of the Father and the +Son. + +16--1217. **Unknown Mount.** A mountain referred to in the Book of +Moses. (1:1). + +17--1235. **An Atlas.** Atlas was one of the Titans. He is depicted +with the globe on his back. + +18--1247. **Exalted Man.** "God himself is an exalted man."--Joseph +Smith, ("Times and Seasons," August 15, 1844). + + "As man now is, God once was; + As God now is, man may be."-- + Lorenzo Snow, Biography, p. 46. + +19--1261. **Wisdom of the Wise.** The stanza in which this phrase +occurs is based upon Isaiah 29:13, 14. + +20--1283. **A Messenger From God.** The Angel Moroni. + +21--1302. **Page to Page.** The Book of Mormon, or Stick of Joseph, +joins with the Hebrew Bible, or Stick of Judah, as foretold by +Ezekiel (37:16-20). + +22--1310. **Ready For The Fall.** Prophecy ripe for fulfillment. + +23--1311. **Elias Comes.** Moroni, restoring the Gospel, predicts the +coming of a greater, to restore all things. + +24--1324. **Fullest Freedom.** The Kingdom of God will protect all +men in the enjoyment of their rights. The citizens and lawmakers of +that Kingdom will not be all of one religious faith. So taught Joseph +Smith and Brigham Young. + +25--1331. **Primal Language.** The Adamic tongue or Pure Language, +brought back in the restoration of all things. + +26--1407. **Ramah * * * Cumorah.** Book of Mormon names. That book is +an abridged history of two great races, the Jaredites and the +Nephites, who inhabited America prior to its discovery by Europeans. +Their occupancy of the land was successive, the Jaredites coming from +the Tower of Babel, B. C. 2218; and the founders of the Nephite +nation from Judea, B. C. 600. The Jaredites perished about the time +that the Nephites came. The latter were destroyed, A. D. 384, by the +Lamanites, a degenerate and savage faction of their own people, whose +remnants were found by Columbus and named Indians. The golden plates +containing the Nephite-Jaredite record were taken by Joseph Smith +from the Jaredite hill Ramah, called by the Nephites, Cumorah. + +--- + +CANTO SIX + +1--Title: **From Out The Dust.** A paraphrase of Isaiah 29:4. The +prediction is held to have been fulfilled in the coming forth of the +Book of Mormon. This entire Canto is based upon the general content +of that volume. It embodies the prehistoric story of America, assumed +to have been related by the angel custodian to the translator of the +buried Book of Gold. + +2--1415. **Must Righteous Be.** See Ether 2:8-12. + +3--1434. **Former State.** The Book of Mormon is the only adequate +explanation of the origin of the American Indians. + +4--1457. **Ancient Altar.** Adam's altar, in Adam-ondi-Ahman, +otherwise Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri, (D. and C. 116; +History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 388). + +5--1461. **Dual Grave.** Burial in earth and hell, or death temporal +and spiritual. + +6--1466. **Where Adam Dwelt.** According to Joseph Smith, Jackson +County, Missouri, is the ancient site of the Garden of Eden. Our +First Parents, after their expulsion from Eden, dwelt in the Valley +of Adam-ondi-Ahman. See Note 4. + +7--1468. **Still Chaste.** The fall of Adam and Eve, while +technically a sin because of a broken law, should be stressed as the +means whereby God's children obtained their bodies, rather than as an +act of moral turpitude. There are two general classes of +crimes--malum per se and malum prohibitum. Malum per se is a Latin +phrase signifying "an evil in itself," while malum prohibitum means +"that which is wrong because forbidden by law." The transgression of +our First Parents was malum prohibitum, and the consequent descent +from an immortal to a mortal condition was the Fall. + +8--1470. **Love's Work.** Adam's fall prepared the way for Christ's +redemptive mission. Had there been no fall, man would have remained a +spirit, without a body, and consequently imperfect. Christ redeemed +the soul--spirit and body--and put it in the way to perfection. + +9--1471. **Zion of Primeval Days.** The City of Enoch. (Moses +7:18-64; History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210; D. and C. +84:99-102.) + +10--1479. **Final Change.** The change wrought upon the people of +Enoch by translation not being equivalent to resurrection, they will +have to undergo a further change, to prepare them for celestial +glory. But they will not taste of death. A similar lot is that of +John the Beloved (John 21:20-23; D. and C. 7); also of the Three +Nephites (III Nephi 28) and of certain ones mentioned by Paul (I Cor. +15:50-54). + +11--1480. **New Jerusalem.** The divinely chosen site for the Holy +City is Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. + +12--1484. **Japheth * * * Shem.** The reference is to Noah's blessing +upon Shem and Japheth (Gen. 9:26-27). From Shem came Abraham, the +ancestor of the House of Israel; and from Japheth the Gentiles, the +founders of the most enlightened nations of modern times, including +the United States of America. Ham, through Canaan, was the progenitor +of the negro race, long held in slavery in this and other Gentile +countries. The Ethiopian has also served the Semite, as Noah +predicted. How Japheth has "dwelt in the tents of Shem," is partly +shown by the history of Palestine, long dominated by the Gentiles, +particularly the Turks, who still possess it. Japheth's remarkable +blessing has also been realized in the history of our own country, +America, which the Gentiles now inhabit, and where, according to the +Book of Mormon, they are to assist in gathering Israel and building +the New Jerusalem, (III Nephi 20 and 21). It is their privilege to +share, if they will, in all the blessings promised to the chosen +people. (Abraham 2:9-11.) "The tents of Shem" may be interpreted to +mean the homes of the people of God, lineally descended from Shem, +through Abraham. + +13--1485. **An Ark of Peace.** "It shall be the only people that +shall not be at war one with another." (D. and C. 45:69). + +14--1486. **The Ensign.** The Church of Christ in Latter Days. + +15--1487. **Joseph Signals Jacob.** Joseph, in Ephraim, begins the +work of Israel's gathering. + +16--1489. **Ancient of Days.** Adam as the Ancient of Days will +return to the place where he blessed his posterity. (D. and C. 116; +History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 388). See notes 4 and 6. + +17--1507. **Hesperia.** The West--America. + +18--1512. **That Servant.** The servant mentioned by the Saviour to +the Nephites. (III Nephi 21:10, 11). + +19--1515. **God's Legion.** "Zion, which shall come forth out of all +the creations which I have made." (Moses 7:64). + +20--1517. **Land of Joseph.** America, as the Latter-day Saints have +been taught to believe, was given to Joseph of old as an inheritance. +(Gen. 49:22, 26; Deut. 33:13-17). + +21--1519. **Gog and Magog.** Gog is the name of a person; Magog, of a +country or people. According to Ezekiel (38 and 39) Gog, "the chief +prince of Meshech and Tubal," was to come with his people from the +North to invade the land of Israel and there suffer defeat. Gog and +Magog are generally understood as symbolical expressions for the +heathen nations of Asia, more particularly the Scythians. In this +poem the allusion is to those nations that war against Zion. + +22--1538. **Where, Joseph?** Joseph Smith is meant. To him, after a +general introduction, Moroni relates the story of the Jaredites, as +told in that part of the Book of Mormon entitled "The Book of Ether." + +23--1540. **Wide Severing.** In the days of Peleg the earth was +"divided" (Gen. 10:25). Whether this means the dividing "to the +nations" of "their inheritance" (Deut. 32.8), or a tearing asunder of +the land into continents and islands, is not stated. The latter view, +the one here suggested, may help to explain why the site of the +Garden of Eden is now in North America. + +24--1543. **Sons of Shinar.** The Jaredites, who came from the Tower +of Babel, the place of which was "a plain in the Land of Shinar." +(Gen. 11:2). Shinar was Chaldea. + +25--1547. **Primal Tongue.** The language of the Jaredites--the pure +Adamic tongue--was not confounded. + +26--1554. **A Book Sublime.** A book written by the Jaredite leader, +and yet to come forth. That leader was Mahonri Moriancumr, though +this name does not occur in the Book of Mormon. "The Brother of +Jared" is the only appellation bestowed upon him there. Joseph Smith +supplied the missing name. + +27--1557. **Baptismal Billows.** The Jaredites, in barges, passed +through the depths of the ocean, to reach their Land of Promise +(Ether 6:6). Their voyage was therefore a baptism, more literal than +the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and referred to by +Paul as a baptism. (1 Cor. 10:2.) + +28--1561. **Shelem's Height.** The Mount Shelem, so called "because +of its exceeding height." (Ether 3:1). + +29--1566. **Wing-Like Continents.** North and South America. + +30--1573. **Mahonri's Realm.** North America, possessed by the +Jaredites down to about 600 B. C., when the nation was destroyed by +internecine strife. + +31--1580. **Freedom's Greater Cause.** The Cause of Christ. + +32--1591. **Past Zions Rose.** "Thou hast taken Zion to thine own +bosom, from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity." +(Moses 7:31.) + +33--1595. **Fortressed by God's Mightiness.** I Nephi 13:19; Ether +2:12; D. and C. 45:70. + +34--1601. **"Give Us a King."** The Jaredites demanded a king--a +demand reluctantly acceded to by their leaders, who foresaw, as did +Samuel the Prophet, in a similar situation, the evils that would +result. (Ether 6:22-28; I Samuel 8:4-22). + +35--1645. **Solitary Twain.** The Prophet Ether and King Coriantumr, +the last of the Jaredites. + +36--1653. **Another Nation.** The Nephites. + +37--1657. **After Tale.** These words--part of a brief comment by the +author--introduce a summary of the Nephite narrative. + +38--1665. **A Leper.** Jerusalem in her degenerate state. + +39--1666. **Prophet Pioneer.** Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, through +Manasseh, with a colony from Jerusalem, succeeds the all but extinct +Jaredites upon the Land of Promise, where they extend the glory of +their great ancestor. + +40--1669. **Joseph's Bough.** "Joseph is a fruitful bough." (Gen. +49:22). + +41--1690. **Chosen Seer.** Lehi predicts the coming of "a choice +seer" who is to be a lineal descendant of Joseph. The name of that +seer is also to be Joseph, and it is to be the name of his father--a +prophecy fulfilled in Joseph Smith, Jr. (II Nephi 3.) + +42--1692. **Buried Lore.** The Book of Mormon. + +43--1695. **Favored Son.** Nephi, who succeeded his father Lehi, and +against whom his brothers Laman and Lemuel rebelled, thus dividing +the nation into Nephites and Lamanites. + +44--1712. **Heavy Rod.** The Lord used the savage Lamanites to +scourge the enlightened yet ofttimes disobedient Nephites. + +45--1717. **Infinite and Spirit Minister.** The Spirit of the Lord, +declared by Nephi to be in the form of man, and with whom he +conversed as one man converses with another. (I Nephi 11:11). + +46--1731. **Prophet Prince Foresaw.** Nephi's vision of the future, +in which he beheld events upon both hemispheres--Christ's crucifixion +and resurrection, and his subsequent appearings to the more righteous +of the Nephites, preceded by awful judgments upon the wicked (III +Nephi 8-11). + +47--1757. **Final Doom.** The conflagrations that destroyed Nephite +cities were prophetic of the end of the world, which is to be by fire. + +48--1771. **Infant Innocence.** The children of the Nephites, blessed +by the Saviour. (III Nephi 17:11-24). + +49--1785. **Other Sheep.** Jesus said to his Jewish disciples, "Other +sheep I have, which are not of this fold." (John 10:16). They +supposed that he meant the Gentiles, instead of which, as the Book of +Mormon tells, he had reference to the Nephites and to other branches +of the House of Israel. (III Nephi 15:17-24; 16:1; 17:4.) + +50--1803. **Japheth's Destiny.** The Saviour portrays the future of +America and the diverse fates of the obedient and disobedient +Gentiles (III Nephi 16 and 21). + +51--1811. **A Lion to the Chase.** III Nephi, 20:16; 21:12. + +52--1820. **Sun's Red Glow.** The wrath of the Lamanites, turning +upon their white oppressors. + +53--1822. **Eternal Rays.** Divinely revealed laws by which Zion will +be redeemed (D. and C. 105:4, 5). + +54--1826. **Servant Marred.** "He shall be marred because of them." +(III Nephi 21:10.) + +55--1834. **He Sanctifieth Three.** The Three Nephites (III Nephi +28). + +56--1847. **Forebeam of Day Divine.** The happy condition of the +Nephites, for two centuries after the coming of Christ, was a +foretaste of the Millennium. + +57--1854. **So Shall It Be.** Terrible calamities are to precede the +Reign of Peace, as they preceded the events that typified it. +(Matthew 24). + +58--1869. **Avalanche * * * Sun's Face.** Nephites and Lamanites. + +59--1872. **Bloody Chase.** The Lamanites driving the Nephites to +their doom at the Hill Cumorah. + +60--1883. **Oriental Sight.** The Western Hemisphere discovered by +the Eastern. + +61--1885. **Faith * * * Patience.** The Brother of Jared was noted +for his exceeding faith (Ether 3:9). Columbus triumphed by patient +endurance. + +62--1894. **Zion's Land.** Joseph Smith declared the whole of America +to be the Land of Zion. + +63--1899. **Oppressed Become Oppressors.** Even the liberty-loving +settlers of New England, who had fled from tyranny in the Old World +to find freedom in the New, enslaved the red man and drove him from +his ancient possessions. + +64--1904. **The Motherland.** Great Britain, mother of the New +England colonies. + +65--1909. **Man of Matchless Worth.** Washington. + +66--1922. **Joseph's Namesake Seer.** Joseph Smith, Jr., (II Nephi 3). + +67--1931. **The Iron Rod.** The Word of God (1 Nephi 11:25). + +68--1945. **Spirit Gardens.** The Heavenly fields. (D. and C. +88:51-61). + +--- + +CANTO SEVEN + +1--Title: **The Arcana of the Infinite.** "Arcana," the Latin plural +of "Arcanum," signifies hidden, secret. This title is intended to be +an equivalent for "The Mysteries of the Kingdom"--the esoteric +features or advanced principles of the Gospel. Herein are summarized +those sublime doctrines that came directly to the modern Revelator +during and subsequent to the translating of the ancient plates. A +vision of the dispensations is involved--the reading of the Book of +Time and the Volume of Eternity. + +2--1986. **One Vast Mind.** Joseph Smith, Prophet, Seer, and +Revelator. + +3--2009. **The Solemn Dispensations.** In theology the term +"dispensation"--from "dispense," to deal out or distribute--signifies +the method or scheme by which God has at different times developed +his purposes and revealed himself to man. It also denotes a period +marked by some particular development of the Lord's work, such as the +Mosaic Dispensation, lasting from Moses to Christ; or the Meridian +Dispensation, ending in the apostacy that made necessary another +restoration of the Gospel and the Priesthood. While revelation is +silent upon the subject, it is probable that there are seven Gospel +dispensations--seven distinct periods during which the Plan of +Progression, revealed from Heaven to Earth, has been among the +children of men. The belief as to seven is partly based upon the +scriptural or symbolical character of that number, and upon the +Prophet Joseph's teachings relative to the seven periods, each of a +thousand years, answering to the seven seals of the mystical Book +seen by John in his vision on Patmos (Rev. 5, 6; D. and C. 77). + +4--2022. **The Trumpets Seven.** The Angels of the Dispensations. (D. +and C. 88:92-116). + +5--2032. **The Holy Order.** The Eternal Priesthood--divine +authority--and those who wield it, in Heaven and on Earth. (History +of the Church, Vol. III, p. 385; Vol. IV, p. 207; D. and C. 20, 68, +84, 107, 112, 121, 124; Alma 13:1-10.) + +6--2057. **Ere Earth Knew Abraham.** The pre-existence of the House +of Israel is intimated by Moses (Deut. 32:7, 8). The 144,000 +mentioned by John (Rev. 14:1) and by Joseph (D. and C. 77:11) were +"of all the tribes of the children of Israel." + +7--2059. **Ark of God * * * Sword of Flame.** Emblems, respectively, +of the Priesthood and the Gospel. + +8--2063. **Shine and Shadow.** Dispensations of heavenly light, +alternating with periods of spiritual darkness. + +9--2068. **Succeeded By The Less.** Moses, with the Melchisedek +Priesthood and the fulness of the Gospel, was taken back to Heaven, +leaving Israel to be governed by the Aaronic Priesthood and the Law. +(D. and C. 84:19-28.) + +10--2071. **Ministers Upon Each Hemisphere.** Jewish and Nephite +apostles. + +11--2074. **The Perfect Church.** The Church of Christ on Earth, +perfected after the pattern of the Church in Heaven. (D. and C. +76:67; 107:93. See also "Gospel Themes," p. 81.) + +12--2089. **The Ancient One.** "Daniel, in his seventh chapter, +speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our father +Adam, Michael; he will call his children together and hold a council +with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man."--Joseph +Smith (History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 386; D. and C. 116). + +13--2099. **Keys of Light.** "Three grand keys by which good or bad +angels or spirits may be known." (D. and C. 129). + +14--2136. **Most Intelligent.** "God himself, finding he was in the +midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw +proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to +advance like himself."--Joseph Smith ("Times and Seasons," August 15. +1844). + +15--2140. **Intelligence Eternal.** "Intelligence, or the light of +truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (D. and C. +93:29, 36). "The first principles of man are self existent with God." +("Times and Seasons," August 15, 1844). + +16--2150. **Birth and Death Are Baptism.** See "Gospel Themes," pp. +66, 67. + +17--2161. **Earthly Sorrow.** The trials of mortal life, foreseen +from spirit heights by the children of God, who nevertheless rejoiced +at the prospect of glory beyond. + +18--2167. **Second Estate.** Man's first estate is the spirit life; +his second estate, the mortal life. In the former he walks by sight, +in the latter by faith. + +19--2188. **Sun or Moon or Varying Star.** The heavenly bodies typify +celestial, terrestrial, and telestial glories. (D. and C. 76:96-98.) + +20--2197. **Vicarious Ordinance.** Temple work, done by the living in +behalf of the dead. (D. and C. 127 and 128.) + +21--2288. **Felon's Debt.** "This earth was organized or formed out +of other planets which were broken up and remodeled and made into the +one on which we live."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 287). + +22--2293. **Law Hath Magnified.** "The earth abideth the law of a +celestial kingdom." (D. and C. 88:25). + +23--2298. **Celestial Seer Stone.** Earth in its sanctified, +immortal, and eternal state will be like a sea of glass and fire +(Rev. 4:6), a great Urim and Thummim to its glorified inhabitants (D. +and C. 130:6-11). + +24--2325. **Would Have Lived The Law.** Men's desires as well as deeds +will form a basis for eternal judgment (History of the Church, Vol. +2, p. 380). + +25--2333. **Judah's One and Joseph's Three.** John the Revelator and +the Three Nephites. + +26--2336. **Unclothed Spirit.** The Spirit seen by the Brother of +Jared, and afterwards embodied as Jesus of Nazareth. + +27--2337. **The Triple Seer.** The Apostle Paul, "caught up to the +third heaven" (II Cor. 12:2). + +--- + +CANTO EIGHT + +1--Title: **The Lifted Ensign.** The Church of Jesus Christ of +Latter-day Saints, organized April 6, 1830. + +2--2357. **Shepherds Twain.** Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the +first and second Elders of the Church. + +3--2366. **Giant of Untruth.** The parallel begun in the first stanza +continues through the second. + +4--2380. **Time Yet Was Young.** Here the main narrative reverts to +the story of Enoch and his city, as revealed to Joseph the Seer, and +embodied in the Book of Moses (6 and 7). In the poem that story +continues as far as the line, "And Noah's righteous seed in me +rejoice." + +5--2389. **Sainted Commonweal.** The City of Enoch. + +6--2400. **Chain * * * Sundered.** The people of Enoch, under the Law +of Consecration, attained to such a superior condition that it was +said of them: "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were +of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness, and there was +no poor among them." (Moses 7:18.) + +7--2404. **Armageddon's Conflict.** The final struggle between the +powers of Good and Evil, when Satan will be overthrown (D. and C. +88:112-115). + +8--2409. **Terrestrial Radiance.** "Their place of habitation is that +of the terrestrial order." They are "held in reserve to be +ministering angels unto many planets," and "as yet have not entered +into so great a fulness as those who are resurrected from the dead." +Joseph Smith ("History of the Church," Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210). + +9--2420. **The Captive Free.** Christ, during the interval between +his crucifixion and resurrection, visited and preached to "the +spirits in prison"--spirits disobedient in the days of Noah, and +swept away by the Deluge (I Peter 3:19, 20; and 4:61; Key to Theology +14). + +10--2424. **Climbing Robber-like.** According to the Bible, the +people who built the Tower of Babel did so that its top might "reach +unto heaven" (Gen. 11:4). Joseph Smith is said to have declared that +the "heaven" they had in view was the City of Enoch, then suspended +within sight of the earth. Endeavoring to get to Heaven by "another +way," the builders of Babel were comparable to "thieves and robbers." +Tradition asserts that the City of Enoch stood where the Gulf of +Mexico now is. + +11--2432. **Tri-Branching Tree.** Noah and his three sons, Japheth, +Shem and Ham. + +12--2464. **One Like Unto Him.** Joseph Smith was a man like unto +Moses, who was like unto Christ. Moses led Israel out of temporal +bondage, and Joseph began a work destined to deliver Israel from +spiritual bondage. Thus Moses and Joseph were both typical of Him who +redeemed the world from the bondage of sin and death. + +13--2467. **A Two-Fold Type.** The social and spiritual condition of +the Jewish saints and the Nephite disciples foretokened the +Millennium. Joseph Smith had in view the realization of what Enoch +had achieved, and what the primitive Christians endeavored to +accomplish, in preparing a people for the presence of the Lord. + +14--2473. **Sought Fulfillment.** Following these words is a +description of social conditions at the time of the advent of +"Mormonism." + +15--2604. **The Trampled Terror.** A personification of the French +Revolution. + +16--2607. **Frowning Mass, Contemning Class.** The social problem of +the Twentieth Century. + +17--2630. **Time An Enoch Came.** Joseph Smith is likened unto Enoch, +and even called by that name, in some of the early revelations (D. +and C., 78, 92, 96, and 104). This may have been done to impress the +fact that Joseph's work was similar to that of Enoch. + +18--2656. **A Holy Hand.** John the Baptist, ordaining Joseph and +Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood, May 15, 1829 (D. and C. 13). + +19--2661. **Panoply of Power.** The Priesthood. The main narrative +here resumes from the point of digression. + +20--2694. **Again The Woman Wonderful.** The Church of Christ in its +Latter-day Restoration. + +--- + +CANTO NINE + +1--Title: **Upon the Shoulders of the Philistine.** Under this +caption, suggested by Isaiah 11:14, is treated the westward movement +of the Latter-day Saints, incidental to the gathering of scattered +Israel. + +2--2722. **Eaglet's Nest Is Empty.** Within a year after its +organization the church migrated from its birthplace, Fayette, Seneca +County, New York, and the surrounding region. + +3--2724. **Storied Strand.** The shore of Lake Erie, in Northern +Ohio, where the Saints began to settle early in 1831. There they +built their first Temple, and took initial steps toward founding the +United Order, under the Law of Consecration. + +4--2742. **Shinea's Land.** Kirtland, Ohio, and its environs, was +"The Land of Shinehah" (D. and C. 82:12 and 104:40-48). From that +part, in 1837-38, the Church moved its headquarters to Far West, +Caldwell County, Missouri. + +5--2750. **Their Powers Bestow.** An allusion to visions seen in the +Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836 (D. and C. 110). + +6--2759. **Laman's Bands.** The first mission to the Lamanites +(Indians) was undertaken in the autumn of 1830. The missionaries +labored also among the white people of Ohio and Missouri. At +Independence, which was then on the frontier of the United States, +they crossed the line into Indian Territory, now the State of Kansas. + +7--2767. **Lands the Rarest.** The region drained by the Mississippi +and Missouri rivers. + +8--2779. **Japheth's Wrath.** The Gentiles in Western Missouri, +misapprehending the motives of the "Mormons" in gathering to that +part, and incited by evil-minded agitators, rose against the +newcomers, and drove them first from Jackson County, and eventually +from the State. + +9--2788. **The Shoulders.** Civilization, with its steamships, +railroads, and other utilities, and persecution, with faggot and +sword, have helped God's people to accomplish their destiny. "The +blood of the martyrs" has been "the seed of the Church," whose every +movement, voluntary or compulsory, has been toward the goal of its +ultimate triumph. + +10--2791. **Calm Caesar.** Julius Caesar, while crossing a stormswept +water, quieted the apprehensions of his boatman by remarking, "Fear +not, you carry Caesar and his fortunes." + +11--2794. **The Law of Liberty.** The Gospel of Christ, misnamed +"Mormonism." + +12--2800. **Sees Menace.** Having come mostly from the North and the +East, the "Mormons" were suspected by the slave-holding Missourians +of being abolitionists. This false charge, with others equally +groundless, caused the persecution that followed. + +13--2813. **A Second Pharaoh * * * A Herod.** These epithets fitly +characterize the Governor of Missouri, Lilburn W. Boggs, who issued +the edict under which the persecuted people were expelled. Said he, +to the mob-militia who drove them from their homes: "The Mormons must +be exterminated or driven from the State." + +14--2815. **Gathering the Whirlwind.** Missouri paid her debt to +justice during the Civil War, when her Western borders, where mob +violence had assailed her "Mormon" citizens, were ravaged again and +again by the fierce guerilla warfare that spent its fury in that +unhappy region. + +15--2829. **Shakes the Dungeon.** Joseph Smith and others were +imprisoned in Richmond Jail, where they were taunted by their guards, +who boasted of murders and outrages committed upon the defenseless +people after the surrender of Far West. The lion-hearted leader +endured it till he could endure no more. Springing to his feet, he +rebuked the ribald wretches, commanding them in the name of Jesus +Christ to be still. They obeyed, cowering before him and begging his +pardon. Parley P. Pratt, a fellow prisoner with the Prophet, says of +this remarkable incident: "He ceased to speak. He stood erect in +terrible majesty, chained and without a weapon. * * * I have seen the +ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals +arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath in the +courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to +give laws to nations * * * but dignity and majesty have I seen but +once, as it stood in chains at midnight in a dungeon, in an obscure +village of Missouri." (Autobiography, pp. 229, 230.) + +16--2835. **Disease and Death Subdued.** After the Prophet had +regained his freedom, and while his followers were settling at +Commerce (afterwards Nauvoo), an epidemic of fever and ague swept +over that region. Many, prostrated by the malady, were miraculously +healed under his administrations. + +17--2836. **Sire of Waters.** The Mississippi River. + +18--2839. **City, Mother of Many.** Nauvoo the Beautiful, built upon +the site of Commerce, in Hancock County, Illinois, was the parent and +model of many other cities subsequently founded by the Latter-day +Saints, mostly in the region of the Rocky Mountains. + +19--2846. **Unworldly Link.** The Nauvoo Temple, where work began in +this dispensation for the salvation of the dead. + +20--2847. **Elijah's Mightier Mission.** Malachi 3:1 and 4:5, 6; D. +and C. 110:4-16; History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 211; Gospel +Themes, pp. 138, 139. + +21--2860. **Crisis Past.** Early in 1837, during a period of apostacy +at Kirtland, the Prophet said: "Something new must be done to save +the Church." Thereupon he appointed Heber C. Kimball, of the Council +of the Twelve, to head a mission to Europe. Part of the opposition +encountered by Elder Kimball and his associates was a fierce +onslaught by evil spirits, at Preston, England, where they began +their labors. (Life of Heber C. Kimball, pp. 138-146.) The first +company of emigrating Saints from abroad sailed from Liverpool for +Nauvoo, in 1840. By that time another apostolic mission, headed by +Brigham Young, President of the Twelve, had been sent to the British +Isles. + +22--2863. **Befriended by the Just.** Many of the people of Illinois +extended a hospitable welcome to the plundered and homeless +"Mormons," fleeing out of Missouri. + +23--2866. **Earliest Offering.** Ephraim is the first branch of the +Israelitish tree to bear the fruits of faith in and obedience to the +Gospel in latter days. "Ephraim is my first-born," the Lord says +through Jeremiah (31:9). That is, Ephraim, who "mixed himself among +the people" (Hosea 7:8), is the first to be "born of God"--baptized +and gathered out from the nations. + +24--2877. **Egypt of the West.** America, where the gathered +descendants of Joseph are to re-enact upon a larger scale the part +played by their great ancestor in the famine-stricken nation on the +Nile. + +25--2882. **Long Lost Captives.** The Ten Tribes, carried away by the +Assyrians, B. C. 721, and who are to return from "the north +countries" (D. and C. 133:26-35). + +26--2891. **Rallying the Loyal.** The Latter-day Saints have been +taught to look forward to a time when they, lifting up an ensign to +lovers of law, order, and liberty, and reinforced by them, will save +this Nation, while anarchy is aiming at its life. + +27--2903. **Inglorious Battleground.** The field of Cumorah. + +28--2905. **Where Erst He Fled.** The House of Joseph, in modern +times, begins its march of destiny at the Hill Cumorah, where the +Nephites (also of Joseph) met their tragic fate. There is a tradition +to the effect that every Temple reared by the Latter-day Saints marks +a stage in the flight of the doomed Nephites, pursued by the +victorious Lamanites, to the final slaughter at that historic hill. + +29--2919. **Ruined Lie.** The allusion is to cities and temples built +and abandoned by the Saints in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. (D. and +C. 101, 103, and 105.) + +30--2924. **Union * * * Enoch Saw.** The United Order--all things +consecrated to God. (D. and C. 105:4, 5.) + +31--2930. **Her Trembling Foes.** "Let us not go up to battle against +Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible." (D. and C. 45:70.) + +32--2951. **Pain Shall Bring Thee Power.** Sacrificial trials, that +purify and elevate, redound to the advantage of posterity. The +parents suffer that the children may be blest. All noble and powerful +races have "come up through great tribulation." + +33--2969. **City of Joseph.** A name given to Nauvoo after the +Prophet's martyrdom. + +--- + +CANTO TEN + +1--Title: **The Parted Veil.** Joseph's vision and prophecy of the +future. He is represented as foretelling to his people their great +destiny. + +2--2994. **Honor of a State.** Joseph the Prophet and Hyrum the +Patriarch were murdered while under the pledged protection of the +Governor of Illinois. The mob that fired its fatal volleys into the +bosoms of the martyrs, and went unwhipped of justice, struck down the +honor of a sovereign commonwealth of the American Union. + +3--2998. **The Blazing Dome.** The Nauvoo Temple, burned by the mob +forces, after they had captured the city and expelled the remnant of +the persecuted community left behind at the beginning of the exodus +in February, 1846. + +4--3003. **New Born Babes.** Nine infants, it is said, were born in +the camps of the fugitive Saints, on Sugar Creek, Iowa, the first +night out from Nauvoo. + +5--3011. **Born in a Day. "Little One"--"A Thousand."**--Applications +of ancient prophecy. (Isaiah 60:22 and 66:8). + +6--3016. **Cities Twain.** Zion and Jerusalem, the future capitals of +the Saviour's Kingdom; the former the seat of representative +government, the latter of monarchical power. "Out of Zion shall go +forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3; +Micah 4:2.) + +7--3024. **Fain Would Dwell.** The extension of slavery to the West +was the dream of the South before the Civil War. This was one reason +why the Southern States favored the war with Mexico. + +8--3026. **Aztec's Altar.** The region settled by the "Mormon" +people, between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, belonged +to Mexico, the Land of the Aztecs. + +9--3030. **Golden Empire!** California, as a Mexican province, +included the present States of Utah and Nevada. Some of the earliest +settlers of Salt Lake Valley had previously helped to colonize +California, and were among those who discovered gold there, January, +1848. + +10--3032. **Eden on the Desert Brine.** The redeemed Wilderness +surrounding the Great Salt Lake, and formerly known as "The Great +American Desert." + +11--3044. **Land of the Honey Bee.** The State of Utah. + +12--3045. **Pilgrim Sire.** The author's father, Horace Kimball +Whitney, was one of the Pioneers who entered Salt Lake Valley, July +24, 1847. + +13--3054. **Hear Me, My People!** At this point begins the Prophet's +farewell address. The preceding stanzas of this Canto are a +generalization of what follows in detail. + +14--3073. **Nebo's Height.** Joseph, compared to Moses, is +predicting his own death and the coming of his successor, the +President of the Twelve, upon whom the Prophet placed the right of +succession. + +15--3082. **Stalwart Upon the Mountains.** At Montrose, Iowa, August +6, 1842, Joseph Smith predicted that the Saints would be driven +westward, and would "become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky +Mountains." + +16--3090. **War Shall Wound.** On Christmas Day, 1832, the Prophet +foretold the war between the North and South. (D. and C. 87.) +According to tradition, he also declared that those nations that +first received the Gospel in this dispensation, would be preserved +when "the consumption decreed" "made a full end of all nations." + +17--4034. **First Born Fold.** Ephraim, fulfilling his mission in the +region of the Rocky Mountains. + +18--4041. **Brave Sons of Battling Sires.** Descendants of the +patriots of the American Revolution. + +19--4053. **And by that Power.** "The redemption of Zion must needs +come by power." (D. and C. 103:15.) + +20--4066. **Zion's Land.** Zion in a restricted sense--Jackson County. + +21--4080. **The Common Good.** Christ's Commonwealth, foreshadowed by +the American Union. + +22--4089. **The Sceptered Harlot.** The Woman described in the +Apocalypse as sitting "upon many waters"--a "great city" reigning +"over the kings of the earth." (Rev. 17.) + +23--5002. **A Seventh Realm.** Joseph, paraphrasing Paul, said +concerning himself: "I know a man who was caught up to the seventh +heaven." + +24--5033. **I Am.** The Name Divine. (Ex. 3:14.) + +25--5047. **Light and Liberty.** "At the first organization in Heaven +we were all present and saw the Saviour chosen and appointed, and the +plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it."--Joseph Smith +(Compendium, p. 288). + +26--5055. **Freedom's Code.** The Gospel of Christ, "the perfect law +of liberty," typed by the American Constitution, guaranteeing freedom +and equal rights. + +27--5070. **Not Esau's Hand.** Culture as well as strength must play +its part in the building up of God's Kingdom. Zion, at first +primitive and crude, shall become "the perfection of beauty," "the +joy of the whole earth." Her original builders may be likened to the +massive, immovable foundations of a structure whose polished walls +and glittering spires are represented by their children, educated +under improved conditions, and yet to stand in the forefront of the +world's civilization. + +28--5072. **The Kingdom to Complete.** "The spirit and power of +Elijah is to come after, holding the keys of power, building the +temple to the capstone, placing the seals of the Melchisedek +Priesthood upon the House of Israel, and making all things ready; +then Messiah comes to his Temple."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 283; +D. and C. 27). + +--- + +EPILOGUE + +1--Title: **The Angel Ascendant.** The Angel ascending from the East +(Rev. 7:2; D. and C. 77:9). This is Elias, an address to and a +response from whom forms the body of the epilogue, or final division +of the poem. + +2--6017. **Rose Again.** Elias the All-restorer is represented as +reopening for Adam the closed communication between Earth and Heaven. + +3--6018. **The City Sanctified.** The City of Enoch. + +4--6025. **Alien Fire.** The Gospel, restored through Noah, standing +at the head of a dispensation, was carried by his descendants, after +the Flood, to various parts of the earth, where fragments of it +remain, mixed with the traditions of men. Ceremonies similar to, or +suggestive of Gospel ordinances, and found among primitive peoples, +are thus accounted for. + +5--6027. **The Root of Shiloh.** Abraham, ancestor to Jesus of +Nazareth. + +6--6029. **Believing Blood.** "How, by the dispersion of the children +of Abraham, was the promise to the patriarch fulfilled, that in him +and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed? * * * +By this dispersion the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--the blood +of faith, the blood that believes--with choice spirits answering to +that blood, and selected for that purpose, were sent into those +nations where the Gospel was afterwards preached, spirits capable of +recognizing the truth, and brave enough to embrace it." (Gospel +Themes, p. 156.) + +7--6033. **Egypt's Chain.** The spirit of Elias was upon Moses when +he led Israel out of bondage. + +8--6036. **Long Captivity.** The Assyrian Captivity, which carried +away the ten tribes. + +9--6038. **Whose Sword.** The sword of Joshua, the conqueror of +Canaan. + +10--6042. **Kishon's Brook.** It was at the Brook Kishon that Elijah +slew the Priests of Baal. + +11--6045. **Named Ere Born.** Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, who +restored the captive Jews, was named by Isaiah more than a century +before his birth. (Isaiah, 45:1.) + +12--6049. **Long Sealed Canopy.** The Heavens at the opening of the +Last Dispensation. + +13--6055. **The Kingdom's Keys.** The Melchisedek Priesthood. Elijah +"holds the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordinances +of the Priesthood." (History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 211; D. and C. +2.) + +14--6063. **Abrahamic Keys.** Elias, in the Kirtland Temple, +"committed the keys of the Gospel of Abraham." (D. and C. 110:12.) + +15--6067. **How Tell the Sum?** This stanza associates Columbus, +Jefferson and Washington, impersonally, with others previously +mentioned, as agents of Elias. + +16--6083. **Jacob Upon Esau's Heel.** Genesis, 25:26. + +17--7001. **Chaldean Dream.** The nations represented by the image +seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, are to pass, like the dream itself, +which the king was unable to recall. + +18--7010. **Adorned and Ready.** When the Church, the Bride, is fully +prepared, the Lord, the Bridegroom, will come. + +19--7015. **Destroyers Four.** Four angels (Rev. 7:1; D. and C. 77:8, +9). + +20--7017. **Twelve Times Twelve.** The One Hundred and Forty-Four +Thousand. (Rev. 14:1; D. and C. 77:11.) + +21--7022. **The Bow's Bright Promise.** Joseph the Seer gave, as a +sign of the Second Coming, the withdrawal of the rainbow. Christ +would not come during any year that the rainbow was visible; but when +it was permanently withdrawn, the world might know that His coming +was near at hand. (Compendium, p. 83.) + +22--7036. **Prophet of the Dawn.** Elias, the Morning Star. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Elias, by Orson F. Whitney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIAS *** + +***** This file should be named 37718-8.txt or 37718-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/1/37718/ + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. 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Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/37718-8.zip b/37718-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3adfbe0 --- /dev/null +++ b/37718-8.zip diff --git a/37718.txt b/37718.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3fb6b34 --- /dev/null +++ b/37718.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5995 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Elias, by Orson F. Whitney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Elias + An Epic of the Ages + +Author: Orson F. Whitney + +Release Date: October 11, 2011 [EBook #37718] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIAS *** + + + + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. Volunteers: Jean-Michel +Carter, Ben Crowder, Eric Heaps, Tod Robbins. + + + + + +ELIAS + +_An Epic of the Ages_ + +BY +ORSON FERGUSON WHITNEY + +_Progress eterne! thou goest hand in hand +With Life eterne, and naught but death e'er dies_. + +REVISED AND ANNOTATED EDITION + + + + +Copyright, 1914 +O. F. Whitney +Salt Lake City, Utah + + + + +FOREWORD + + +"Elias" was begun in the spring of 1900, and was first published in +the autumn of 1904, when an edition de luxe, limited to one hundred +and fifty copies, and two less pretentious editions, were subscribed +for by friends of the author. He was hardly a party to the project, +the initial step being taken without his knowledge. Prior to that time +he had read the poem to select gatherings in private homes and in two +of the leading church schools, but had no thought of printing it so +early, until solicited by a committee of prominent citizens to allow +them to undertake, in his behalf, its publication. + +That committee consisted of Governor Heber M. Wells, Senator George +Sutherland, President Anthon H. Lund, Major Richard W. Young, and Mr. +H. L. A. Culmer. These gentlemen, out of pure public spirit and a +friendly feeling for the author, had associated themselves together +for this purpose. Though aware of many defects in his work, and +anxious to mend them before facing the public and the critics, he +nevertheless accepted gratefully the very generous offer. All the +members of the committee gave to the enterprise their hearty support, +and two of them, Major Young and Mr. Culmer, conducted most of the +business necessary to putting the book through the press. + +Since the original issuance the author has endeavored to bring the +work into a more finished state, and the results are now before the +reader. The poem is in twelve parts--a prelude, ten cantos, and an +epilogue. Following these are explanatory notes, for the benefit of +students; the introduction of the epic as a text book into the schools +being one of the purposes for which it was written. + +The character and scope of the work are partly indicated by the title, +"Elias--An Epic Of The Ages." It is an attempt to present, in verse +form, historically, doctrinally, and prophetically, the vast theme +comprehended in what the world terms "Mormonism." + + THE AUTHOR. + + + + +DEDICATION + +(SEE NOTE.) + + + This song to thee, friend, chieftain, sixth to rise + From him, the foremost of a seeric line, + Mock of the worldly, marvel of the wise,-- + His martyred brother's son! May light divine, + Which 'lumined them, forever on thee shine, + Flooding with splendors new thy lineal fame; + And ancient rays with modern beams combine + To glorify a brow whose stalwart aim, +To merit heaven's high praise, nor fear a world's false blame! + + + + +THEME + +(SEE NOTE.) + + +"And if you will receive it, this is Elias, which was to come to +gather together the tribes of Israel and restore all things." + + + + +ARGUMENT + + +The aim of this poem is to point out those manifestations of the +Divine Mind and those impulsions from human enterprise which have +contributed in all ages to the progress of the race toward perfection. + +Thus it deals not only with man's origin and destiny, with earth's +creation, redemption, and ultimate glorification, but with events and +epochs leading up to and having those greater ends as their decreed +consummation. The Christ theme, in its heavenly and earthly phases, is +supplemented by the sacred and secular history of man upon both +hemispheres. God's direct dealings through prophets, apostles, and +other inspired agents, and His indirect dealings through poets, +painters, philosophers, inventors, discoverers, statesmen, kings, +conquerors and the like, are indicated, and the experiences of the +Church of Christ in various dispensations portrayed. + +The title "Elias," signifying restoration and preparation,--the lesser +going before the greater with those objects in view,--is used to +denote and personify the Genius of Progress, whose beneficent +workings, under the guidance of the Infinite Spirit, through the aeons +and the ages, behind the scenes and upon the stage of human action, +are the warp and woof of the entire poem. The medial point is the +Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, the era of restitution, when the +House of God is to be set in order, and all things in Christ are to be +gathered into one. + + + + +CONTENTS + +Prelude--The Author's Purpose + +Canto One--As From a Dream + +Canto Two--The Soul of Song + +Canto Three--Elect of Elohim + +Canto Four--Night and the Wilderness + +Canto Five--The Messenger of Morn + +Canto Six--From Out the Dust + +Canto Seven--The Arcana of the Infinite + +Canto Eight--The Lifted Ensign + +Canto Nine--Upon the Shoulders of the Philistine + +Canto Ten--The Parted Veil + +Epilogue--The Angel Ascendant + +Notes + + + + +PRELUDE + +(SEE NOTE.) + + + The work for Him I asked and aimed to do, + Ere death should claim my dust, my spirit free,-- + That, looking down from where the wise and true + Inherit glory, gracious eyes might see + A spark I kindled beaming endlessly, + And lighting other wanderers to the goal + Where blends the life that is with life to be;-- + Now done, or well or ill, the lettered scroll +Of what is writ on heart and mind I here unroll. + + + + +CANTO ONE + +As From a Dream[1] + + +Youth's morn was breaking, when I dreamed a dream, +Splendid as springtime's weft of wonders rare; +Idyllic vision, beauteous, bright romance, +Glory of love and glamor of renown. +I dreamed that fame held all of happiness, +Save the sweet charm that lurked in woman's smile. + +Wealth wooed I not, nor power--to wear the sign +And wave the symbol of authority; +To speak, and have hosts tremble; or to frown, +And find all pale and prostrate at my feet. 10 +But oh! to sway, like swinging forest boughs +In summer breeze, men's yearning hearts and minds,-- +Sway them in duty's name, in virtue's cause, +By tongue of thunder or by pen of flame, +Leaving some wise, sublime, benefic deed, +Some word or work of merit and of might, +To fix the fleeting gaze of centuries! + +Glory and love--these were my guides divine, +The planet passions of my destiny, +The Baal and Astoreth[2] to whom I bowed, 20 +At human shrines a worldly worshiper, +Adoring beauteous dust, my fellow clay, +And coveting an earthly immortality. + +And at the feet of these dear deities, +Careless of great Jehovah's smile or frown, +In the fresh morning of my youth's fair might, +Slumbering I dreamed, till golden grew the dawn. + +A strange and stern awakening--a sky, +Pearl, gold, and sapphire, clear and calm till then, +Cloud-curtained, grim, with anger audible, 30 +Tortured and torn with swift-flung darts of fire; +Booming and crashing, bolt on bolt descends; +Earth, air, and heaven are wrapt in roaring flame. + +And when the rifted storm has rolled away, +And stillness reascends her solemn throne, +Ruin looks forth from retrospection's tower, +And memory weeps where desolation reigns. + +It was the end. Dispelled illusion's dream. +Youth's fond ideals, thunder-stricken, strewn, +Lay level with the dust. But light had come! 40 +My soul had cast its fetters and was free. + +I slept and dreamed no more; I was awake! +And saw and heard with other eyes and ears, +Which taught me things unseen, unheard, before; +Things new yet old--old as eternity, +Old e'en to time, though new and strange to me. + +I talked with Truth on solemn mountain tops; +I soared with winged thought the sunlit dome; +Studied the midnight stars; and when anon +The hurrying, far-flung legions of the storm 50 +In supermortal might went forth to war, +Would fain have charioted the charging plain, +Or spurred the tempest as a battle steed, +Grasping the volted lightnings as they flew, +And thundering through the mists on things below. + +Rejoicing in my new-found strength, I gave +Glory to Him, the Source and Sire of all; +That God whom I had neither loved nor feared, +That God whom now I worshipt and adored. +Who girdled me with Light, truth's triple key[3], 60 +Unlocking what hath been, what yet shall be, +Probing death's gloom, life's three-fold mystery, +Solving the secret--Whither, Whence and Why. + +Oh, wondrous transformation! when with wand +Of wakening might, that all-uplifting power +Waved o'er the cross where hung fond hopes impaled, +Waved o'er the tomb where loved ambitions lay, +Touched the strewn fragments of my shattered dream, +Bidding the dead arise in bodies new, +Building, on ruined hope, faith's battlement, 70 +Love's palace, peace-domed, pinnacled in light, +In glory greater than earth's grandest dream, +Than glittering fame's most splendid spectacle; +Ideal transcending ideality, +Ideal made real past all reality! + +Whose earth-dimmed eye could see what then I saw? +Whose earth-dulled ear such harmonies could hear? +When the all-searching Spirit tore the veil +Of things that seem, and showed me things that are. + +Beauty, both good and evil--lamp to heaven 80 +Or lure-light o'er the marshes of despair. +Beauty, divine--but not divinity; +Not parent--child of purity and truth; +Nor fount, nor stream, but bubble lost in air, +Nor tree, nor fruit--only a fragrant flower, +Flung from ambrosial gardens[4], here to grow +That life might be the less a wilderness. + +But lo! a loveliness that blooms for aye, +That, withering here, is there revivified, +A loveliness made lovelier evermore; 90 +The beauty of the restful and the risen, +Of Paradise[5] and Glory's higher home. + +Pure as the mountain monarch's ice-crowned crest, +Pure as the snow-king's mantle, diamond-strewn, +Pure as the cascade's limpid crystalline, +Leaping from cliff to chasm, the breeze-flung flood +Blown into spirit spray of dazzling sheen; +So pure the love that warmed my boyish breast, +And lit the yearning of my youthful eye. + +But pure love, e'en the purest, may be blind. 100 +Truth spake--then fell the blindness from Love's eyes[6], +Revealing life in hues of hopefulness; +Love's rainbow dream, that only time's vale spans +To human vision, widening now till lost +Beyond the pale peaks of eternity. + +Heaven's gold love is, though mixt with earth's alloy-- +Dross, that betimes a needful part doth play +In nature's wise and true economy. + +Love dies not--'t is love's seeming that dissolves, +Low to its serpent level, native dust, 110 +A grave unmemoried in lethean ground[7]. +The while see heaven-born, heaven-aspiring love, +Immortal spirit of the universe, +Soaring past sun and stars to worlds unknown! +Heir to herself, a self-succeeding queen, +Still regnant on life's throne when life is o'er. + +O thou, of beauty[8], loveliest form and phase! +Kindler and keeper of the quenchless flame! +Partner and peer of human majesty! +Sharing with him life's dual sovereignty, 120 +Well canst thou wait for thrones and diadems. +Queen of the future, Eve of coming worlds, +Mother of spirits that shall people stars, +And hail thee empress of a universe! + +No more I deemed of crowning consequence, +That mortal clay to mortal eye should shine; +That human mites should shout and sing in praise +Each of the other's midget mightiness-- +A molecule, by atoms glorified! + +Apple of ashes[9] to the longing lip! 130 +Brine to the burning throat and thirsting soul! +Phantom, delusion, misty ghost of fame! +Voidest and vainest of all vanities! + +"Be not beguiled!" A vibrant thunder note, +Pealing from clouds that canopied my life, +The warning, lightning-winged to purify, +Up-kindling all the summits of the soul. +"Be not beguiled; not what men think and say, +But what God sees and knows, is what avails. + +"Who knoweth aught, unknowing of the all? 140 +Unknowing all, who knoweth perfectly +'Twixt small and great, 'twixt failure and success, +'Twixt heights of glory and the gulfs of shame? +What cares eternity for time's decrees? +Defeat hath oft deserved the conqueror's crown; +Dishonor worn the wreath of victory. + +"Greatness--is it to loom 'mid glittering show? +Goes power but hand in hand with prominence? +Largeness or littleness, or high or low, +Has but to breathe, and straightway he is known. 150 +What speech conceals, the spirit manifests. + +"Fame, place, and title find a fitting use, +And rightfully demand all reverence due. +But envy not the empty lot of him +Who, winning without merit, wins in vain. + +"Greatness, true greatness, mightiness of mind, +And greater greatness, grandeur of the soul, +Tell but one tale--capacity, not place; +Capacity, whose sire, experience, +Whose ancestors, innate intelligence, 160 +Original, inborn nobility, +As oft in hut as mansion have their home. + +"'Tis not the crowning that creates the king. +Man's proper place where God hath need of him. + +"Naught can be vain that leadeth unto light; +Struggle and stress, not plaudit, maketh strong; +Victor and vanquished equally may win[10], +Climbing far heights, where fame, eternal fame, +White as the gleaming cloak of Arctic hills, +Rests as a mantle, fadeless, faultless, pure, 170 +On loftiest lives, whose snowy peaks, sun-crowned, +Receive but to dispense their blessedness. + +"Eternal life demands a selfless love. +Hampered by pride, greed, hate, what soul can grow[11]? +Conceive a selfish God! Thou canst not, man! +Then let it shame thee unto higher things. +Who strives for self hates other men's success; +Who seeks God's glory welcomes rivalry. +Seeking, not gift, but Giver, thou shalt find +No sacrifice but changes part for whole. 180 + +"Fare on, full sure that greatest glory comes, +And swiftest growth, from serving humankind. +Toil on, for toil is treasure, thine for aye; +A pauper he who boasts an empty name." + +So spake the Spirit of the Infinite[12]. +The Messenger and Mind of Holy Twain. + +Some men I found embodiments of all +The goodness, all the greatness, I had dreamed; +Men seeming gods, bestowing benefits +As suns their beams, as seas and skies their showers. 190 +Others as dwarfs, as despots, by compare, +Devoured with greed, consumed with jealousy. + +But truth taught charity, gave me to see, +As face to face one sees familiar friend, +Why men are not alike in magnitude. + +Some souls, than others, have more summits climbed, +More light absorbed, more moral might evolved. +Dowered are they with wealth from earlier spheres; +Hence wiser, worthier, than those they lead +Through precept's vale, up steep example's height, 200 +To where love, beauty, wealth, power, glory, reign. + +While some, innately noble, are borne down +By weight of weaknesses inherited, +By passions fierce, propensities depraved, +Malific legacy of centuries, +That much of their true worthiness obscures, +While spirit strives with flesh for mastery, +For higher culture and for added might. + +And yet anon such souls effulgent shine-- +As bursts the April beam through banks of cloud-- 210 +In glory from which envy shades its eyes, +While stands detraction staring, stricken dumb; +The glory of a great intelligence, +Which mortal mists can dim but for a time. + +Spirits, like stars, still differ in degree, +And cannot show an even excellence, +Unequal in their first nobility. +Great tells of greater--littleness of less; +Time's hills and vales[13] but type eternity. + +Truth taught me more, but bade me silent be; 220 +And I had teachers else--toil, prayer, and pain, +With days and nights of misery's martyrdom, +Alone and lorn in grief's Gethsemane: +Till storm above, and earthquake underneath, +Shook down thought's prison house, broke bolt and bar, +And agony set inspiration free. + +'Tis thus the Great Musician tunes the harp +That He would strike--strikes thus the harp in tune; +Sweeping with sorrow's hand the quivering strings, +That they may cry aloud, and haply sound 230 +A loftier and more enduring lay. + + + + +CANTO TWO + +The Soul of Song[1] + + + Alone my soul upon a mighty hill, + Ancient with lingering snows of vanished years, + Where towering forms the templed azure fill, + Wooed by the breath of woodland atmospheres; + Where Nature, throned in solitude, reveres + The God whose glory she doth symbolize, + And on these altars, watered by her tears, + Spreads far around the fragrant sacrifice +Whose incense wafts her sweet memorial to the skies. 240 + + Here will I rest, where I have loved to roam, + From childhood's rose-hued, scarce-remembered day, + And found my pensive soul's congenial home + Far from the depths where human passions play. + Born at their feet, my own have learned to stray + Familiar o'er these pathless heights, and feel, + As now, the mind assume a loftier sway, + Soaring for themes that o'er its summits steal, +Beyond all thought to reach, all utterance to reveal. + + Here let me linger. O my native hills! 250 + Solemn and watchful o'er the silent waste! + How great the joy his bounding bosom thrills, + Whose steps, aspiring, mar your summits chaste! + Language! thy richest robe, thy rarest taste, + How clothe description in befitting dress, + When halts imagination's winged haste, + Awe-spelled in wonder's conscious littleness, +Where loom the cloud-crowned monarchs of the wilderness? + + Grim, storm-plumed guardians! Warriors tempest-mailed, + Federal with freedom, fortressing her land! 260 + Had primal man the sacred garden[2] tilled, + 'Ere earthly scenes your early vision scanned? + In spirit form took ye your titan stand[3], + Ere rolled a world-creating fiat forth? + Or came ye at convulsion's fierce command, + 'Mid loud-tongued thunders bursting from the earth, +The martial music that proclaimed your war-like birth? + + Vast, voiceless oracles, whose intelligence + Sleeps in the caverns of each stony heart, + Yet breathes o'er all a boundless eloquence, 270 + What wealth historic might your words impart! + Lone, looming, hermit of the hills, apart + From where thy banded mates in union dwell! + A master lyrist seemingly thou art, + Chief harper of a host that round thee swell; +And thine the Orphean boon[4], what could withstand thy spell? + + E'en now it whispers from the graven rock, + Scribed with the lightning's pen, in sculpture bold, + Defying time and tide and tempest shock, + Frowning where seas and centuries have rolled. 280 + "Oh were my words[5] thus writ!" That sage of old, + Knew he not well, ye mighty tomes of clay, + How firm the trust your flinty page might hold? + Have ye not scorned the fiats of decay? +Are ye not standing now where nations passed away? + + Thrice wondrous things, once thine to wisely scan, + Fast as thy frozen snow-crown, still in store, + Hadst thou the melting gift[6]--of sovereign man + The sunlike glory--mightest thou restore, + Till learning's tide o'erwhelmed the shining shore, 290 + With rich revealings of lost realms that rose + And fell like frost-hewn flowers thy face before; + Blightings which brought them an untimely close-- +Perchance, of spirit lore, some mystic mine disclose. + + But like the laboring brain that burns to speak + Mind's inmost thought, in deepest dungeon pent; + Or liker still to inward boiling peak + Of fires volcanic, vainly seeking vent + Where adamantine bolts and bars prevent;-- + Thou'rt doomed to utter stillness, and shalt keep 300 + The burden of thy bearing till is rent + Yon heavenly veil, and earth and air and deep +Tell secrets that shall rouse the dead from solemn sleep. + + And must I be as mute, O silent mount! + Muse of all Melody, shall I not sing?-- + Burst these dumb bars, when e'en yon babbling fount + May find in every breeze a wafting wing, + Afar its lightest murmured word to fling? + Where art thou, ancient Soul of Solemn Song? + Asleep? Then wake! Wherefore art slumbering? 310 + The world hath need of thee, and waiteth long. +Strike, strike again thy harp, and thrill the listening throng! + + Thus musing, lone upon a beetling brow, + Quaffing from unseen fount, those wilds among, + The spirit of the sun-kissed torrent flow, + Methought some lofty, caverned cliff had rung + With echoings of a more than mortal tongue; + Though softly clear the mournful cadence broke, + As notes from off the weird-toned viol flung. + Or was it yon lone cloud that muttering spoke, 320 +Heralding the storm king's wrathful shout and shivering stroke? + + Amazed I listened. Did I more than dream? + Had random word aroused unhoped reply? + Or was it sound whose import did but seem? + Hark!--for again it rolls along the sky: + "Then question hast thou none? Or none wouldst ply, + Save to thy soul in meditative strain, + Or heedless winds that wander idly by? + So be it; still to me thy purpose plain, +Thy hidden wish revealed, nor thus revealed in vain." 330 + + While freshening waves of woodland-scented air + Widened the spell of that immortal tone; + While, as on threshold of a lion's lair, + Speechless I stood, as stricken into stone; + Methought the sun with lessening splendor shone, + As if that wandering cloud obscured his gaze. + Then burst the glory from his midday throne! + Turning, mine eye beheld, in rapt amaze, +What memory ne'er would lose were life of endless days. + + A stately form, of giant stature tall; 340 + Of hoary aspect, venerable and grave; + Whose curling locks and beard of copious fall + Vied the white foam of ocean's storm-whipt wave. + The firm-fixt eye flashed lightnings from its cave; + Far-darting penetration's gaze combined + With wisdom's milder light. Of study gave + Deep evidence that brow by learning lined, +Thought's towering throne, where ruled his realm a monarch + mind. + + The spirit's garb--for spirit so he seemed-- 350 + Fell radiant in many a flowing fold; + A robe antique, by modern limners deemed + Befitting monk or eremite of old. + Head, hands, and feet were bare; the presence bold + With majesty, e'en as a god might wear, + While condescending to a mortal mould. + He spake--the voice no longer thrilled with fear; +Like some vast organ swell, it charmed, enchained, the ear. + + "Long have I watched and waited, but no sound + Broke the wild stillness of this stern abode, 360 + Save thunder's fiery foot-print smote the ground, + Or far beneath some torrent's fury flowed; + Anon the screaming eagle past me rode; + The seeker after gold, with toilsome stride, + And eager eye to fix the shining lode, + Hath paused and panted on the hill's steep side; +But none, for greater things, till now have hither hied. + + "And thou, O pensive crier in the waste, + Invoker of the Voice now visible! + Prepared art thou a mystery to taste, 370 + Whose fruit is joy or woe ineffable? + Pluck not of wisdom's branches bending full, + Drink not of that divine philosophy, + Save thou canst bravely suffer wrong's misrule, + Thy best intent thought ill; save thou canst be +What men deem "fool," real fools despising, pitying thee. + + "Not all my ministry to lift the gloom + Yet hovering o'er this mystic hemisphere. + List while I tell, for I am one by whom + Future and past as present shall appear. 380 + In me behold Messiah's Minister, + Ancient of time and of eternity, + Spirit of song that moved the Hebrew seer, + Voice of the stars[7] ere earth's nativity; +Exile, for ages gone, of mortal minstrelsy. + + "See now my sacred heritage, the prey + Of ribald rhymesters, sensuous, half obscene; + Of gloating censors, glad o'er my decay, + And deeming all but best I ne'er had been! + The body's bard[8] throned, sceptering the scene, 390 + A groveling worshiper of earth and time. + Arise! and with thy soul's celestial sheen, + Shame these false meteors, change the ruling chime; +My minstrel, I thy muse, sing thou the song sublime! + + "Sing, poet, sing! but not of new--of old, + Of old and new--eternal truth thy theme, + That holdeth past and future in her fold, + That maketh present but a passing dream, + While time and earth and man as trifles seem; + That knoweth not of new, or old, or strange; 400 + Whose everduring, all-redemptive scheme, + Fixt and immutable 'mid worlds of change, +On, on, from universe to universe doth range. + + "Faint not, nor fear, for all shall fare thy way-- + My way, His way, the Master's, evermore. + East shall seem West, rethrown the rising ray, + Shining afar from this most ancient shore[9], + And man shall rise[10] e'en where man fell before. + Fools may deride, may jeer at destiny; + They mock to mourn, oblivion earths them o'er; 410 + While they that champion truth, by truth shall be +Exalted, e'en in time, to live eternally." + + The ancient paused, and, unperceived till then, + A wondrous harp his bosom swung before, + Such harp as played the shepherd psalmist[11] when + A maddening rage his monarch seized and tore, + And music's magic quelled satanic power. + Seated, his form against the crag reclined, + He waved me to his feet, and forth did pour, + As pours Niagara on the plaintive wind, 420 +Floods of majestic song, falling from mind to mind. + + Full tale of wonders told, I may not tell, + Though mind be heir to all of mystery; + With milk of truth the breasts of wisdom swell, + Sufficing past and present infancy. + But matching all the modern eye may see + With marvels promised to the future sight, + 'Twas as the shrub unto the sheltering tree, + The floating swan unto the eagle's flight, +The hillock to the snow-crowned summit, lost in light. 430 + + Silent he towered above me, harp in hand,-- + Was it a dream? Could dream so vivid be?-- + And with his mantle's fold my forehead fanned. + Then leapt to life the flame of poesy! + Was it a vision of my destiny? + Upon the mount, as erst, I stood alone, + And naught was there of muse or minstrelsy; + Save that afar still trembled that strange tone, +And something said within: "That harp is now thine own." + + + + +CANTO THREE + +Elect of Elohim[1] + + +Sing I a song of aeons gone, 440 + Of life from mystery sprung, +Ere sun, or moon, or rolling stars + Their radiance earthward flung; +Ere spirit-winged intelligence + Forsook those shining spheres. +Exceeding glory there to gain + Through mortal toil and tears. + +A song they learn whose lives eterne + Transcend yon twinkling night, +Pale Olea's silver beam[2] outsoar, 450 + Shinea's golden flight; +Passing the angel sentries by, + Mounting o'er stars and suns, +To where the orbs that govern burn, + Royal and regnant ones. + +Declare, O Muse of mightier wing, + Of loftier lore, than mine! +Why God is God, and man may be + Both human and divine; +Why Sons of God, 'mid sons of men, 460 + Unrecognized may dwell, +So masked in dense mortality + That none their truth can tell. + +From worlds afar, from heavenmost star, + Heard I, or seemed to hear, +A sweet refrain, as summer rain, + A cadence soft and clear. +A voice, a harp,--Was it the same?-- + Harping those harps among, +Leading the lyric universe, 470 + On those high hills of song? + +In solemn council sat the Gods; + From Kolob's height supreme, +Celestial light blazed forth afar + O'er countless kokaubeam; +And faintest tinge, the fiery fringe + Of that resplendent day, +'Lumined the dark abysmal realm + Where earth in chaos lay. + +Silence. That awful hour was one 480 + When thought doth most avail; +Of worlds unborn the destiny + Hung trembling in the scale. +Silence self-spelled, and there arose, + Those kings and priests among, +A power sublime, than whom appeared + None nobler 'mid the throng. + +A stature mingling strength with grace, + Of meek though godlike mien; +The glory of whose countenance 490 + Outshone the noonday sheen. +Whiter his hair than ocean spray, + Or frost of alpine hill. +He spake;--attention grew more grave, + The stillness e'en more still. + +"Father!" the voice like music fell, + Clear as the murmuring flow +Of mountain streamlet trickling down + From heights of virgin snow. +"Father," it said, "since one must die, 500 + Thy children to redeem +From spheres all formless now and void, + Where pulsing life shall teem; + +"And mighty Michael[3] foremost fall, + That mortal man may be; +And chosen saviour Thou must send, + Lo, here am I--send me! +I ask, I seek no recompense, + Save that which then were mine; +Mine be the willing sacrifice, 510 + The endless glory Thine! + +"Give me to lead to this lorn world, + When wandered from the fold, +Twelve legions of the noble 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 God 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, God'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 flashing 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 shore + 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 God, 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 Gods, + Whose strength shall in thee dwell! +Go down betime and rescue earth, + Dethroning death and hell. +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 God shall be, + As God 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 gods 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 shine[16]; +The waning moon, that bathed in blood, + Ere sank the Sun divine. + +"Glory to God!--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 lust, +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--God scorned by man!-- + And spurned the truth He taught. + +O bane of damning 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 lust, + 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 God, + 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 God 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. +Hell'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 Japheth, 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 + +Whoe'er hath swayed, or yet shall sway, the world, +By tongue or pen, by sword or sceptered rule, +Hath served, or yet shall serve, the sovereign aim +Of Him who wills the welfare of mankind; +For or against, promoting still His plan, +Helping, not hindering, a conquering Cause. + +Gone the great Sun--set but to rise again, +More glorious from a night of martyrdom; +Set here to rise on realms and times untold; +All worlds, God's lofty vineyards[8], visiting. 730 + +Linger the spirit Moon and speaking Stars[9], +Crowning with light the Woman Wonderful[10]. + +Fair as the morn, though tearful as the eve; +Risen as from the rocky sepulchre, +Where slept betimes the body of her Lord; +Clothed, crowned, and shod, with glory's symboling[11]; +Ere winging to the vast invisible, +Returning to the restful wilderness, +She bides to hope, to labor, and endure, +All depths, all heights, with Him inheriting. 740 + +Henceforth with her another Comforter, +Vicegerent[12] of the vanished Majesty, +Of heavenly Three, the unembodied One[13], +Proceeding from the presence of the Sire, +To manifest the meaning of the Son; +Giver of gifts from Him, the glory-crowned, +Fountain of memory and of prophecy. + +After and ere,[14] Messiah's Minister, +Creative hand, omnific arm of God; +Holder with Christ of resurrection's key, 750 +The quickener of the living and the dead. +Lamp of the worlds, life of the universe, +Eternal spring of energy divine-- +Life, Light, and Love, magnetic mystery, +Whereby all things upheld and heavenward drawn. + +Prophet still pleading[15] in the wilderness, +The promise of a perfect yet to come; +Proclaimer of the heavenly commonweal, +Kingdom upon and yet not of the earth, +Whose portal none can enter, none can see, 760 +Save born anew--born of a dual birth, +By mystic fatherhood and motherhood +Begotten sons and daughters unto God, +Whose Spirit, omnipresent, immanent, +Unwearied, strives by countless ministries, +By might of word, by miracle of deed, +Mankind to win, wooing while hope remains. + +Henceforth with her that holy gift and guide, +Truth's high revealer and interpreter; +Henceforth with her the Father and the Son, 770 +Absent, yet present by the Comforter; +Of great lights twain, the lesser, ruling night, +Moon to that Sun, whose realm the rounded Day. + +Resplendent night, while flame those fluent stars[16], +That still a spotless brow bediadem; +Circling forever round their central Light, +And, Him withdrawn, repeating from afar, +And gladdening with His rays a gloom-hung world. + +As set that Sun, sinking in seas of blood, +Sinking to soar above a mightier morrow, 780 +Follow the lingering stars, save haply one[17], +Through mystic night of ages sparkling lone, +And speaking in high splendor things to come. +Most lustrous of the living lamps of God, +'Mid human lights, divinely luminant. +Rarest of twelve, remaining oracle, +Reserved unto a wondrous destiny; +Pilot of peoples, nations, tribes and tongues, +Leading the lost[18] ones from captivity. +Beloved of Love--life's King, death's Conqueror, 790 +Tarrying by will of Him through troubled time, +Lighting the way unto eternity. + +And thou, e'en thou, O Woman Wonderful! +Safe for a season from the She-Wolf's maw, +Far borne, east, west, on power's imperial wings, +Nourished 'neath Caesar's shield, till Caesar's sword +Hath turned upon and made thee desolate. +Thou too must pass--not perish--in thy time. +Betrayed to foes without, by false within, +E'en as thy Lord thou sufferest martyrdom. 800 + +But what avails to baffle Him or bind? +Vain, dragon, vain thy deluge of deceit, +Thy flood of lies, thou false one from of old! +Vain, wrath of devils and of men combined, +Bent to defile the sacred Bride of Christ. +Triumphs the Man-Child[19], heaven now summons home; +Triumphs the Woman in the wilderness, +'Scaping the jaws, the hungering gates of hell, +That 'gainst the mortal part alone prevail; +Body, not spirit, crushed and all o'ercome. 810 + +Throned upon higher worlds, she reigneth still; +And here shall rise unto the regnant place, +When rolls the stone upon the image doomed, +When God hath fanned with fire His threshing floor. + +Till then proud Japheth sways[20], while Jacob mourns, +Fainting 'neath yokes and fardels, prostrate, prone, +With Judah undermost, the last of all +The trampled tribes to taste of liberty. +Haply ordained a lesser power to wield, +Antaeus-like[21], from touching of the ground; 820 +Bent, curst, yet clutching, and by might of gold +Conquering his dust-adoring conqueror[22]. + +For God, through all, remembers Abraham, +Ordained of old His lineal house to be. +Came not the Christ their covenant to fulfill? +Who but an Israel might offer Him? +Whose hand than Judah's might Jehovah slay? +"His blood be on our head"--Ay, rests it there! +Weightier than worlds by that high death redeemed. + +World-wandering Saul! Was this thy symboling: 830 +The Jew struck blind that Gentile hosts might see[23]? + +Predestined Israel, martyred, immolate[24], +That nations, blood-besprent, might look and live; +A burden-bearer for the universe, +Outcast and homeless for humanity, +Descending like his Lord all else below, +And yet with Him to rise all else above, +Extremes of woe and weal encompassing, +Wisdom by sweet and bitter made more wise. + +From blight springs blessing, and from darkness day; 840 +E'en Canaan's neck from 'neath the yoke[25] shall come. +Japheth shall feel the Spirit minister, +And Jacob see and hear his risen Lord[26]. + +Departed now the Woman Wonderful, +Gone with the spirit gift and guiding power; +O'ercome, world-conquered, sinks degenerate +The washed one to his wallowing in the mire[27]; +A drowsy dreamer of the self-same dreams +Dispelled erewhile by lightnings of her eye; + +The heaven-lit torch[28] that made the pathway plain 850 +O'er rugged mount, through mazy catacomb, +Now dimmed with incense from Diana's shrine[29], +And dashed in pieces 'gainst a pagan throne, +Where prematurely changed was cross for crown, +And Christ's flock fleeced by shearing compromise[30]. + +God still with man, though not with man's misrule; +Still with the just, though Christian-pagan turn +His prurient ear to fables, from the truth, +And, virtueless as Judah's pharisee, +And graceless as Iscariot, self-hung, 860 +Parts in the midst, as wide as East from West[31], +False church and faithless empire, faction-torn, +Twain as the imaged legs of Babel's dream, +A split colossus, fallen 'twixt Greece and Rome. + +God still with man, though not with man's misrule, +Never with thee, daughter of force and fraud, +Mother of guile--thy refuge and thy shame! +Never with thee, thou wanton by the way, +Roaming tradition's tangled wilderness, +Lost in a night that seemeth to thee day; 870 +In crooked paths that fain would straight appear; +Warming thy withered fingers o'er the coals +Alive 'mid ashes of the ancient fires, +Where She was wont[32] to kindle faith, hope, love, +And flash the beacon o'er a wandering world. +There holding to thy heart an empty urn, +There cherishing a name, a memory, +Mumbling vain prayers, "Lord, Lord," protesting still, +And still forgetful of thy Lord's command! + +Nay, not with thee, thou crimson courtesan[33], 880 +Robed in the horrid hue of countless crimes! +Fierce dragon's maw, thrice-cruel murderess, +Thy hands a-reek with blood of innocence, +With blood of prophets, blood of priests and kings, +Whose martyred souls sue vengeance, judgment-sworn! +Vengeance on thee, thou slaughterer of saints, +Vengeance on him, thy sceptered paramour, +Whose princes ten (while Mammon's host shall wail), +Loathing where once they loved all lustfully, +And lived, as thou hast lived, deliciously, 890 +When found no more God's wheat 'mid Satan's tares, +When thou art saltless, saintless, savorless, +When thou art ripened unto rottenness, +Shall give thy crumbling body to be burned. + +Nay, Anti-Christ, presuming tyranny, +Never with thee, usurping power of sin! +Plotting to sway Jehovah's sovereignty, +To rear thy throne where His alone shall stand; +Perdition, warring 'gainst the Saints of God, +And overcoming till the Judgment sits[34], 900 +When swift-winged morn shall overtake the night, +And glory lift the gloom[35] of centuries. + +Meanwhile the mission of the Moonlike One[36], +Brooding above the waters of the world, +Stronger than storms, mightier than wind or wave, +Moving on mortal seas, on human souls; +Dynamic impulse of Divinity, +Impelling to all action[37] wise, sublime. + +That high Ambassador of Elohim, +The Spirit Messenger Omnipotent, 910 +Declare His goings-forth, His sendings tell. + +Ye patriarchs and prophets of old time! +Ye seers and bards of sacred Israel! +Elect of God, earth-wandering witnesses, +Sowers on goodly and on stony ground! +Souls mercy-sent, man's erring steps to win +From folly's paths of wickedness and strife, +To wisdom's way of purity and peace! +Shepherds to fold and feed a wolf-torn flock, +Holding the hallowed keys that loose and bind! 920 +Tell me--are ye alone truth's harbingers? +Are ye alone forerunners of the Light? + +Nay, for as kings and conquerors they come; +Anon, as champions of democracy; +Founders of faiths and stern iconoclasts; +Sword, tongue and pen of progress and reform. +The fountain lights of literature, whose rays +Spill their white splendor on the hills of fame; +Masters of melody, whose strains awake +The slumbering memories of eternity; 930 +Pilgrims to continents and climes unknown, +Uncurtained for the play of liberty, +Now nearing the finale of her dreams, +Dreams that shall waken to reality; +Waste-winners; probers of the polar way; +Invention's wizards, wielding magic might-- +Launching fleet words on atmospheric wave, +Cleaving with bird-like wing the shoreless blue, +Outspeeding speed, outblazing brilliancy, +Thrilling the world with lightning's vivid wand, 940 +Ruling all realms with scintillating sway; +Sages in art, in science past profound, +Subduing matter and exploring mind, +Sounding the depths of psychic mystery, +Scaling thought's pinnacles, that pierce the night, +To greet the early glintings of the morn. +These also are the mighty, kin to those, +Divinest of Jehovah's messengers. +Each hath his freedom, and succeeds or fails, +But all subserve the Will Omnipotent. 950 + +What though some wayward son of Deity[38], +Builder, o'erthrower, of imperial thrones, +In wrongful act of rightful agency, +Here drench with blood, here pave with shattered bones, +To heights of crumbling power and futile fame! +Is God then mocked? Made void His vast design? +Creator foiled by creature? Vain the fear! +Speeds ne'er to earth a spoiler of His plan, +Nor spares His rod a recreant messenger. + +Whate'er betide, the soul that sins atones: 960 +The grievous sceptre and the slaughtering sword, +The bloodstained ax, the gory guillotine, +The tyrant wrong, the tyrant-trampling right, +Join to make justice of the direst doom. + +All oracles of light, all arms of power, +Preparers of the way one face before; +Their strength but part of His omnipotence, +Their fault God-given lest man be deified, +And pride in him dethrone humility. + +Declare His truth, His generations tell, 970 +O'er whom the many marveled, some to say +Elias, slain of Herod, lives again; +While some said Jeremias[39]. Who say ye, +Man-hated, though God-missioned ministers, +Unctioned with fire, anointed from on High! +Guardians yet watchful o'er the widening fold! +Who say ye was your Master, Teacher, Friend? + +"Word that was God, is God, 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 God? +"God?--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, +Hoards 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 + +God'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 hell'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 +Japheth! 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 God, His presence thine. + +"Time, mighty daughter of Eternity! +Mother of centuries[5]--seventy, seven-crowned! +Assemble 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 God, +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, restitution, 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 God!" + +--- + +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 God I might but tell thee who I am! +Would God 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, nobles 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 Gods, 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 God, 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 God! 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. + +--- + +Earth rose from wintry sleep[14], baptized and cleansed, +And on her tranquil brow, that seemed to feel +The holy and confirming hand of Heaven, +The warm light in a wealth of comfort streamed; +Nature's great floor green-carpeting anew +For some glad change, some joyful happening, 1170 +Told in the countless caroling of birds, +Gilding the foliage, glorying the flowers, +Mirroring mingled hues of earth and sky. + +Glad happening, in sooth, for ne'er before, +Since burst the heavens when Judah's star-lit hills +Heard angel choristers peal joy's refrain +Above the mangered Babe of Bethlehem, +Had earth such scene beheld, as now within +The bosom of a sylvan solitude, +Hard by the borders of a humble home, 1180 +Upon that fair and fateful morn was played. + +Players, immortal twain and mortal one, +Standing but fourteen steps upon life's stair, +An unlearned boy, thinker of thoughts profound, +Boy and yet man, dreamer of lofty dreams. + +Not solemn, save betimes, when hovered near +Some winged inspiration from far worlds, +Some great idea's all-subduing spell-- +His heart grew humbler then, his look more grave; +Not melancholy--mirthful, loving life, 1190 +And brimming o'er with health and wholesome glee. +A stalwart spirit in a sturdy frame, +Maturing unto future mightiness. + +Bowing to God, yet bending to no creed, +Adoring not a loveless deity, +That saved or damned regardless of desert, +Ne'er reckoning the good or evil done; +Loving and worshipping the God of love, +The gracious God of reason and of right, +Long-suffering and just and merciful, 1200 +Meting to every work fit recompense, +Yet giving more, far more, than merit's claim; +Bowing to Him, but not to man-made gods, +And shunning shameful strife where peace should dwell, +He holds aloof from those degenerate sects, +Bewildering Babel of conflicting creeds, +And pondering the apostolic line, +"Let any lacking wisdom, wisdom ask, +And God will freely give, upbraiding none," +He puts the promise to the utter test. 1210 + +What pen can paint the marvel that befell? +What tongue the wondrous miracle portray? +Than theirs, the Vision's own, what voice proclaim +Whose dual presence[15] dimmed the noonday beam, +Communing with him there, as friend with friend, +And giving to that prayer reply of peace? + +Tell how, as Moses on the unknown mount[16], +From whom in rage fled baffled Lucifer, +Who fain had guised him as the Son of God, +To win the worship of that prophet pure-- 1220 +Tell how with gloom he strove ere glory dawned, +And black despair met bright deliverance. +Tell how in heart of that sweet solitude, +Within the silent grove, sequestered shade, +While spirit hosts unseen spectators stood, +Watching the simple scene's sublimity, +Eternity high converse held with time; +Time, parent of the hovering centuries, +Mother of dispensations, travailing, +And bringing forth her last and mightiest child; 1230 +Heaven's awful Sire, through Him both Sire and Son, +There blazoning the beginning of the end. + +Wane the swift years; the boy a youth now grown; +And on his brow, woe-carved, a world of care. +Bending, an Atlas,[17] 'neath the titan's load, +Daily he climbs the hill of sacrifice, +Viewing from far the mount of martyrdom. + +Nor marvel at his lot; hath he not told-- +A crime man ne'er forgave in fellowman-- +Told the wise world that God hath spoke again? 1240 + +"'Twas from below!" Thus bigotry in rage. +"Nay, from above," the meek though firm reply. +"No vision is there now--the time is past." +"But I have seen," affirms truth's constancy. +"God is a mystery, unknowable." +"God is a man--I saw Him, talked with Him." +"Man?" "Ay, of holiness--Exalted Man[18]." + +A strife of words, of warring tongues, now waged, +And weapons vied with words the truth to slay; +Nor truth alone, but her brave oracle, 1250 +A boy, by men, by neighborhoods, oppressed. + +Still through his soul the solemn warning rang, +Still from his mouth the startling message flamed: +"No church the Christ's. None, therefore, can I join. +All sects and creeds have wandered from the way. +Priestcraft in lieu of Priesthood sits enthroned. +Dead forms deny the power of godliness. +Men worship with their lips, their hearts afar. +None serve acceptably in sight of heaven. +Wherefore a work of wonder shall be wrought, 1260 +And perish all the wisdom of the wise[19]." + +The wrangling sects forgave--well nigh forgot +Their former feuds and fears and jealousies; +And, joining hands, as Pilate Herod joined, +One guilty day when God stood man-condemned, +In friendly reconcilement's cordial clasp, +They doomed to death and hell "this heresy." +None sought, from "Satan's wile," a soul's reclaim, +But all were bent his humble name to blast; +And pious, would-be murder led the van 1270 +Of common hatred and hostility. + +But Truth, thou mother of the living thought, +The deathless word, the everduring deed! +What puny hand thy giant arm can stay? +When crushed or backward held, thine hour beyond? +Can bigot frown or tyrant fetter quell +Thy high revolt, O Light Omnipotent! +When God would speak with man, who tells Him nay? +Can hell prevent when heaven on earth would smile? + +Pillowed in prayerful thought the wakeful seer. 1280 +Without, broods darkness o'er a dreaming world; +Within, an angel's face turns night to day: +"A messenger from God[20] to thee I come; +Thy sins are pardoned through thy penitence; +Henceforward heard in every creed and clime +The good and evil tongues that trump thy fame. +Behold!" + + Amazement now fresh wonder views; +And while enwrapt, as wave-like visions roll +Their spirit splendors on that gifted gaze, 1290 +In words akin to these the tale tells on: + +"A slumbering secret hides in yonder hill, +Graven on gold, in characters unknown-- +Unknown to thee, but known to me and mine, +The language of my people, ages gone. +Beside the sacred volume, buried there +At His behest who gave my sire command, +The seer-stones, Urim, Thummim, named of old, +Whereby thou shalt dispel the mystery +That hangs above this heaven-favored land, 1300 +And Joseph, speaking from the dust, shall join +With Judah, page to page[21], God's grace to tell. + +"But be aware, lest Mammon's charm allure, +And tempt from truer wealth that shines within. +More than the lamp the light--be this thy quest: +Seek thou the gold that gilds eternity. + +"The winter of the Gentile reign is o'er, +And Israel's springtime putteth forth its leaves. +Fruit planted in the gardens of the past +Hath ripened and is ready for the fall[22]. 1310 + +"Elias comes[23], Messiah's Messenger, +God's host to summon, and His house to save-- +First by persuasion's pleading; that contemned, +By voice of wrath and stroke of violence. +He speaks--the mountains kneel, the valleys rise; +Rolls to the north the land-dividing wave; +Equality--nay, justice, holds the helm, +Each hath his own, the lost lamb finds the fold. +Elias comes--'tis restitution's reign, +And order hurls disorder from the throne. 1320 + +"War sheathes his fangs, aloft on fearless wing +Peace broods above a restful universe; +A common faith and interest unite, +But conscience still her fullest freedom[24] sees. +Wider than Church extends the Kingdom's bound: +The law from Zion, and the royal word, +The Monarch's edict, from Jerusalem; +A centralized diffusion's balanced sway, +God's might, man's right, in equilibrium. + +"Babel no more--stilled all her strifeful tongues; 1330 +The primal language[25] o'er the world prevails; +And all is found again as at the first, +While ransomed hosts, rejoicing, shout and sing: +The Lord His ancient people hath redeemed; +The Lord hath gathered all things into one; +And earth becomes a heaven, for she is clothed +In garments as the glory of His light +Who reigneth in the midst, Life's Majesty. + +"But ere it break, that bright millennial day, +There falls a nightlier hour than night hath known, 1340 +When sun shall frown, moon blush, when dizzy stars, +Drunken with fumes of man's iniquity, +Shall hurl them headlong from their sparkling thrones, +And grovel darkly in the deep abyss; +While heaven shall tremble as if palsy-struck, +Earth as an aspen shaken in the wind. +Men's hearts shall fail, and where be safety found? +For tribulations till that hour unknown, +Save in the feeble typings of the past, +Terrors of famine, fire, and pestilence, 1350 +Terrors of whirling wind and whelming wave, +Allied to horrors strange as manifold, +Shall stalk abroad to humble humankind, +To lift the lowly and abase the proud, +To straight the crooked and make smooth the crude, +Jehovah's awful pathway to prepare-- +Jehovah, He who cometh to his own, +And by His own at last is recognized. + +"No more a lowly Lamb, to slaughter led; +A Lion in his risen majesty-- 1360 +Lion and Lamb, for gentleness and might, +Mercy and justice, there go hand in hand. + +"But first, the sickle in the ripened grain, +Reaping where faith is found, while hope endures, +Drawing the Gentile unto Israel's God, +And gathering the strewn of Abraham. + +"Wells truth from earth, pours righteousness from heaven, +Till wisdom's waters inundate the world. +Bestirred the wave by angel trumpets blown, +Wafting the chosen seed to safety's strand, 1370 +Winning the West ere yet the East be spoiled. + +"Elijah comes--Elijah, he whose rays +Bespeak the Lord of Glory, from whose light +All splendors, paling, hide their tapers dim. +He comes the world to reap, the vineyard prune, +The wheat to garner, and the tares to burn; +He comes, his face a furnace, melting pride, +Consuming wickedness and cleansing worth. +He comes the hearts of sons and sires to turn, +To plant anew the promises of old, 1380 +Binding the present to the parent past, +Part unto whole, time to eternity. +He comes the priestly fulness to unfold, +The capstone of life's temple here to lay. +He comes lest man be taken unaware, +And laggard earth be smitten with a curse. + +"Hark to that prophet--outstretched Arm of God, +Who comes the ancient order to restore; +And list to him who leads, as Moses led, +The gathered house and host of Abraham!" 1390 + +Thrice through the night the radiant messenger +In burning words breathed forth the marvel told; +Till memory's page, as traced with pen of fire, +Glowed with each utterance ineffable. + +And on the morrow stood the sacred twain-- +Mortal, immortal, present linked with past-- +Above the spot where slumbering truth reposed; +Not to be wakened yet till autumns four +Had rained their dews upon its resting-place. + +Meanwhile the unschooled prophet, angel-taught, 1400 +In prayer and patience disciplined his soul; +And visiting yearly that revealing mount, +Learned from its lips a story of the past, +Affirmed in full when risen truth revealed +The pent-up secret of the centuries. + +Words of the angel, Ramah's sentinel, +Custodian of Cumorah's[26] archive old: + + + + +CANTO SIX + +From Out The Dust[1] + + + Jehovah's land--thy country--once mine own, + A sacred soil, a consecrated shore, + Where cometh up the universal Throne, 1410 + Dominion that endureth evermore. + Whose God, with gods, in solemn council swore + No tyrant should this chosen land defile; + And nations here, that for a season bore + The palm of power, must righteous be[2] the while, +Or ruin's avalanche ruin on ruin pile. + + Though not till brimmed with guilt their cup of crime, + Ripened the harvest of iniquity. + To races, nations, men, there is a time + To come and go, as wisdom shall decree,-- 1420 + Wisdom supreme, Tongue of Eternity. + But strikes the hour as men and nations will. + Unfettered in their choice of destiny, + They, by their deeds, the fateful measure fill; +Electing to be clean, or unclean lingering still. + + Race upon race has perished in its pride; + And nations lustrous as the lights of heaven + Have sinned and sunk in reckless suicide, + Upon this ground, since that dread word was given. + Realms battle-rent, and regions tempest-riven; 1430 + The wrath-swept land for ages desolate; + A wretched remnant blasted, curst, and driven + Before the furies of revengeful fate; +Till wonder asks in vain, What of their former state[3]? + + Wouldst know the cause, the upas-tree that bore + The blight of desolation? 'Tis a theme + To melt earth's heart, and move all heaven to pour + With sorrow's heaving flood; as when supreme + O'er fallen Lucifer, the generous stream + Of grief half quenched the joy of victory. 1440 + Mark how the annals of the ages teem + With repetition. Time, eternity, +The same have taught; but few, alas! the moral see. + + There is a sin called self, which binds the world + In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong; + A sin most serpentine, round all men curled, + And in its fatal fold earth writhes full long; + Crime's great first cause, the primal root of wrong, + Parent of pride, and tree of tyranny. + To lay the axe doth unto thee belong. 1450 + Strike, that the world may know of liberty, +And Zion's land indeed a land of Zion be! + + A choice land, blest above all other lands, + Since earth, reborn, rose sinless from the flood; + Beloved by Him whose holy feet and hands + Were pierced to pour the all-redeeming blood. + Here stands the ancient Altar[4], and here stood + The Ark, till borne triumphant o'er the wave-- + The hungry wave that made all flesh its food, + All save a few, whom godly living gave 1460 +To see life's single way and shun death's dual grave[5]. + + The Old World, not the New, by man misnamed; + Cradle and grave of mouldering nations vast; + Whose stalwart spirit stature, seen, had shamed + The mightiest of known empires, present, past. + The land where Adam dwelt[6], where Eden cast + From flaming gate the heaven-appointed pair, + Who fell that man might be; a fall still chaste[7], + Albeit they sinned, descending death's dread stair, +To fling life's ladder down, Love's work[8] and way prepare. 1470 + + Here rose the Zion of primeval days[9], + Type of a greater Zion yet to rise; + Here Enoch's walls and towers reflung the rays, + Rolled back the flooding splendors of the skies, + Whose portal wide gave welcome. Upward flies + The sainted city, self denied, dethroned: + In all things one, their power e'en death defies: + In dust they ne'er shall slumber; cleansed, condoned, +They wait the final change[10], through Him who hath atoned. + + Here cometh up the New Jerusalem[11]; 1480 + Here cometh down that risen realm of old, + Jehovah's seat, earth's jeweled diadem, + Joy of the world, by prophet tongues extolled. + Japheth, here joined with Shem[12], finds Israel's fold, + An ark of peace[13] amid a world of war. + The ensign[14] on the mountains here behold! + 'Tis Joseph signals Jacob[15] from afar, +And points him to the goal where God and glory are. + + Ancient of Days[16] here sits, as at the first, + When time and earth and Adam's race were young; 1490 + When, bowed with age, a great soul's sunset burst + In blessings on his seed. Prophetic tongue, + Thy patriarchal tone through time hath rung! + Michael, the prince, the monarch of our race, + Sire of a world from dust and spirit sprung; + Here sits he, throned in fire; before his face +Ten thousand times ten thousand throng the judgment place. + + Wherefore this land must unpolluted be; + Or, if defiled, by blood again made clean + From grime of sin, from grind of tyranny; 1500 + Free from the ills that other lands have seen, + Free from the blots that now dim freedom's sheen. + No nation by vain boasting shall abide; + Bid thine beware, lest here the sanguine scene + Reacted be, and ruin, spawn of pride, +Spring from the soil where nations great as thine have died. + + Hesperia[17], be just--the right maintain, + And foe without, nor foe within, prevails! + Here nations slay themselves, if they be slain,-- + Brother 'gainst brother, sire 'gainst son, till fails 1510 + The fount of widow's tears and orphan's wails. + Hear thou that servant[18] whom the Father sends-- + Hear him and heed, ere Japheth's planet pales, + That peace and freedom may remain thy friends, +While hither, from all lands, all worlds, God's legion[19] wends. + + A gathering from all glories thou shalt see, + Blest land of Joseph[20], honored, lifted high! + Thy brother lands come bending unto thee, + And Gog and Magog[21] menace but to die. + While they that serve the Lord with single eye 1520 + Shall see Him in the midst; the goal then won, + When time no longer flecks eternity, + Nor need is there of star, or moon, or sun, +Since He, light's self, is risen, and heaven and earth are one. + + Thus far the angel, Ramah's sentinel, + His vigil keeping on that lonely hill; + And thus the spelled yet speechful auditor, + Around the hearthside of that humble home. + There sire and matron, trusted kith and kin, + Give faithful credence to the story strange, 1530 + Pondering the tidings wise and wonderful. + + Thence oft above that mount of mystery, + Of buried lore the solemn sepulchre, + Meet modern seer and ancient oracle. + And while humility at wisdom's feet + Expectant waits, where truth from earth shall spring, + Comes, as from riven tomb, this wondrous tale: + + Where Joseph[22], where wast thou, that time when torn + Was earth asunder; ocean's cleaving sword + The wedded lands wide severing[23]? Where, when borne 1540 + Deep through the watery world, as there devoured + By wind and wave that harmless o'er them roared, + The pilgrim sons of Shinar[24]--favored band, + From that far clime where Babel's folly towered + And language foundered on confusion's strand-- +Won here a precious heritage, a promised land? + + Preserver of the pure and primal tongue[25], + Most faithful found 'mid living sons of men, + Their leader looked on God; then wrestling wrung + By spirit might, and paged with fiery pen, 1550 + The full of what would be, of what had been; + Sealing the secret till an hour should chime + When faith as mighty unto mortal ken + Would bring the marvel of a book sublime[26], +Bridging with lightful lore the shadowy gulf of time. + + But pilgrim prows now part the unknown wave; + Above, around, baptismal billows[27] roll. + Divinity, their guide, protection gave, + Else had engulfing seas entombed the whole. + Though tight each launch, where lines of lustre stole 1560 + From molten stones, late struck from Shelem's height[28], + And lit by touch divine. Unto the goal + Of that grim voyage, banishing the night, +Those crystal miracles gave forth their friendly light. + + Till loomed to wistful eyes this waiting land, + Spreading with wing-like continents[29] afar, + As if to welcome worlds. The Chaldean band + The Northland chose, lured by a favoring star, + For South, as North, of human soul was bare. + But liberty loves most a northern zone, 1570 + Where nature's ramparts e'en 'gainst nature's war + Put forth protection. Liberty alone +Mahonri's realm[30] might rule--no king, no crown, no throne. + + Still, mighty spirit, thou art manifest! + What creed or clan shall win Columbia's crown? + Though freedom weep, by anarchy opprest, + Hesperia's face reflect Europa's frown, + Sceptered religion ne'er shall tread men down. + Belief and unbelief here find one plane, + That freedom's greater cause[31] be not o'erthrown, 1580 + But spring and spread till every tongue maintain +The kingdom of the King whose throne all worlds sustain. + + Here dawns that universal liberty-- + Theme of the prophet tongue, the poet pen-- + When, winged with power and crowned with purity, + Earth shall be heaven, and gods shall dwell with men; + Fraternity divine, that e'er hath been, + And e'er shall be, the blissful lot of those + Who, conquering self, bind Satan, fetter sin, + And soar beyond the reach of mortal woes, 1590 +Rising to sainted heights, as all past Zions rose[32]. + + Till then no king upon this crownless land, + Reserved to freedom and to righteousness. + 'Gainst her none prosper, lifting hostile hand. + Blest haven, fortressed by God's mightiness[33]! + Kingcraft and priestcraft plant their sure distress. + The past hath spoken--heed the warning tone: + Of pride beware, and baser sordidness-- + Self's groveling tyranny, with heart of stone, +Whereby, in ages gone, this land did grieve and groan. 1600 + + "Give us a king[34]!" their cry, when power had come, + When wealth was massed, and men were multiplied; + "A king! A king!"--vibrant the echoing dome + From northern lake to gulf and ocean tide; + For Satan in their hearts had planted pride. + Grieved was the nation's wise and watchful sire; + Grieved was the faithful kinsman at his side; + From eyes of both shot gleams of righteous ire, +As voiced ambitious will its ominous desire. + + They sighed: "This leadeth to captivity-- 1610 + Perchance destruction, ending dark and dire. + Yet must we yield to human liberty + Its own, e'en though a brand from freedom's fire + Kindle for freedom's self the fatal pyre." + So saying, they anointed one their king + Who craved the crown, by patriot son and sire + Put by in pure denial, lest it bring +First care, then crime, and waken woes then slumbering. + + For though a king see duty's pathway plain, + And walk therein, as he who now arose; 1620 + What monarch from misrule can all refrain, + When privilege lifts power o'er friends and foes? + Bare is the reign untarnished to the close, + And rarer still the blameless dynasty. + Ofttimes as princes the unkingliest pose, + Because, forsooth, they come of some tall tree, +Whose root and trunk were sound, while branches blasted be. + + True kingliness--what else proves man a king? + A slave, though throned and sceptered, bides a slave; + Nor pride, nor pelf, nor all that power may bring, 1630 + Can make the serf a sovereign, or yet save + The dust of either from the common grave. + Royal the soul must be, or comes to end + All royalty. Spirit, then blood, God gave; + And each at last its separate way doth wend +Home to the parent source, to meet no more, nor blend. + + Scarce gone the goodly ruler when his realm + Saw fierce rebellion rear its horrent head. + Usurping treason seized the civic helm, + Wrong trampled right, and justice, judgment, fled. 1640 + Ages looked on while battling kingdoms bled. + Lifted the warning voice--its pleading vain: + A blood-drowned continent, a sea of dead, + And, of a mighty people, fallen, self-slain, +A prophet and a king, a solitary twain[35]. + + That prophet saw the coming of the Lord + Unto the Old, the New, Jerusalem; + Saw Israel returning at His word + From wheresoe'er His will had scattered them; + The realm's wide ruin saw, and strove to stem. 1650 + That king, sole scion of a perished race, + Casting his blood-stained sword and diadem, + Lived but to see another nation[36] place +Firm foot upon the soil, then vanished from its face. + +--- + + Wondrous, indeed, that ancient word and wise; + But wiser and more wondrous still the tale-- + The after tale[37] of silent centuries, + Tongued by the guardian of the tome of gold: + + Again, athwart the wilderness of waves + Surging old East and older West between, 1660 + Where the lone sea a flowery southland laves, + And Zarahemla reigns as ocean queen, + Braving the swell, a storm-tossed bark is seen. + From doomed Jerusalem, to Jacob dear, + Albeit a leper[38], groping, blind, unclean, + Goes forth Manasseh's prophet pioneer[39], +Predestined to unveil the hidden hemisphere. + + His lot to reap and plant on this rare shore + The promise of his fathers: Joseph's bough[40], + From Jacob's well, the billowy wall runs o'er; 1670 + Abides in strength the archer-stricken bow, + Unto the utmost bound prevailing now, + Of Hesper's heaven-upholding hills. Bend, sheaves + Of Israel, as branches bend with snow, + Unto his sheaf grown mightiest! Here, as leaves +For multitude, the son the great sire's glory weaves. + + Ere chimes for him the earth-departing hour, + Summoning a weary soul to restful toil + In risen worlds, where life puts on all power, + Lehi his house convenes,--their hearts the while 1680 + Aglow beneath the burning words that pile + A pyramid of prophecy whose spire + Empierces heaven,--and lest they soil + The prospect pure, and tempt Jehovah's ire, +Warns them 'gainst ways of pride and paths of dark desire. + + He speaks of Joseph's, Judah's, destiny; + Of blighting and of blessings yet to pour; + Proclaims deliverance his own shall see, + When cometh one the wandering to restore; + Forenames a chosen seer[41] (revealed of yore, 1690 + When the boy dreamer's star o'er Egypt rose), + Bringing from dust a blest land's buried lore[42]. + Seals then his benison, and eyelids close +To wake on worlds divine, whither, past all, he goes. + + The favored son[43] of that prophetic sire-- + Favored because most faithful and most just-- + Hath soared to sacred mysteries still higher, + And tongued to envious ears the heavenly trust. + And serpent self, that demon of the dust, + Hath coiled and clung around rebellious souls, 1700 + Ne'er friendly though fraternal, whose distrust + And jealousy breed bitterness that rolls +Rivers of wormwood 'twixt two races and their goals. + + Now peoples twain the Promised Land divide: + Northland and Southland see their tribes increase, + From Arctic floe to far Antarctic tide; + From where the Eastern waves their thunders cease, + To where the Western waters are at peace. + White and delightsome, they that worship God; + They that deny Him, dark, degenerate, these, 1710 + Doomed the stern wild to penetrate and plod-- +Transgression's scourge and school, the Chastener's heavy rod[44]. + + The throneless ruler of the regnant race-- + King, but no tyrant--prophet, priest, and seer, + Meets upon sacred summits, face to face + (As when to Moses drew Jehovah near), + The Infinite and Spirit Minister[45], + Meets Him as man meets man, and by His grace + The power is given, with seeric eye to peer, + Time's vista viewing through prophetic glass: 1720 +Plain to his gaze revealed, the unborn ages pass. + + War, slaughter, conquest; heroes, sages, famed; + Kingdoms, republics, empires, rise and fall; + Till pride unknown, and tyranny unnamed, + Where righteous rule brings blessedness to all. + Then self again, the universal thrall. + The faithful, dead or dwindled to a few, + Crime begets crimes the heavens to appall. + Now arrows of God's anger pierce them through, +And horrors piled on horrors make misery's retinue. 1730 + + All this and more the prophet-prince foresaw[46]; + Messiah's self--Jehovah--Him beheld,-- + The Perfect One, in whom was found no flaw, + Though slander as an ocean round Him swelled. + Life's deathless tree--deathless, though demon-felled; + The crash resounding to this far-off shore, + Whose winnowed remnant welcomed Him, revealed + In risen glory, when had ceased the roar +Of wrecking tempests, flung His radiant face before. + + At Whose rebuke the haughty mountains bowed. 1740 + Shorn by the whirlwind, sunk, or swept away, + No more their frown the lowly valleys cowed, + Rising like billows 'mid the wrathful fray, + And dashing 'gainst the skies their dusty spray. + Rocks, boulders, hills, no titan strength could lift, + Hurtle as pebbles in the storm-fiend's play. + Earth opes her jaws, and through the yawning rift +Cities, peoples, vanish; of hope, of life bereft. + + Three hours of tempest, and three days of night; + Thick darkness, thunder-burst, and lightning flash; 1750 + Millions engulfed, millions in prostrate plight, + Groveling as slaves that feel or fear the lash, + Mingling their groans and cries with grind and crash + Of crags the cyclone's catapult impels, + Whose shrieking flails the fields and forests thrash! + Wild o'er the land roused ocean's anger swells, +And flame's relentless tongue the final doom[47] foretells. + + Three hours of stormful strife--then all is still, + Save for a voice the universe might hear, + Proclaiming what hath hapt as heaven's high will, 1760 + Dispensing pardon and dispelling fear. + Anon a mightier marvel doth appear; + Uprolls the misty curtain of the sky-- + The midday sun no more their minister, + Greater hath risen! and glories multiply, +As angels in their gaze earthward and heavenward fly. + + He greets them as a shepherd greets his flock; + Shows them His wounded side, His hands, His feet; + Then builds His church upon the stricken Rock, + Where flow life's healing waters, limpid, sweet, 1770 + As infant innocence[48], that joys to meet + Its great Original. With holy hand + He ministers, bids death and hell retreat, + And singles twelve from out the sainted band, +To sow with words of life the trembling, tear-worn land. + + He bids them prize the truth from heaven outpoured-- + What late His tongue hath told, and all that seers + Of earlier days, who owned Him as their Lord, + Have sounded in a world's unwilling ears; + That truth with truth may blend in after years, 1780 + As rivers many to one ocean flow; + That when Messiah in his might appears, + Men all may see Him as he is, and know +The Majesty of Heaven, 'mid nations bending low. + + He greets them as His "other sheep"[49]--a fold + Unknown to Judah, but to Jesus known; + And tells of others still, whose fate untold + Hath been the skeptic's scoff and stumbling stone. + All Israel must hear, and one alone + The shepherd be, to guide and govern all. 1790 + Where'er, from torrid belt to icy zone, + They wander, they must heed the warning call, +And flee to Zion's shore ere crumbling Babel fall. + + He numbers them with Joseph, known of old, + Whose flock the wolves shall tear in time to come; + Because a wasteful heir his portion sold, + A prodigal forsook the parent dome, + To riot in the wilderness and roam, + Feeding on husks: yet, turning at the last, + Redeemed from darkness, to the Father's home; 1800 + And there, the hour of retribution past, +Forgiven, at His dear feet their weary souls they cast. + + Anon He pictures Japheth's destiny[50]: + The Gentile prospering in the Promised Land, + The guardian of the ark of liberty, + So long as he for human right shall stand, + Nor trample on Jehovah's high command. + But woe to them of flinty heart and face + Who from Him turn, to smite with ruthless hand + The withered remnant of a star-ruled race! 1810 +For Laman yet shall spring, a lion to the chase[51]. + + Vexing the vexer with a vengeance sore, + Who, false to highest hope of human need, + Shall tyrant turn, and play the part no more + Of nursing parent unto Joseph's seed, + For whom a nation founded was and freed, + That from its hand to his fierce house might flow + The promise of his fathers. God shall plead + With Japheth, till his pride shall melt like snow, +Swept from the mountain side, chased by the sun's red glow[52]. 1820 + + His word now builds the New Jerusalem-- + (Earth-born, though basking in eternal rays)[53], + Which Japheth, blent with Jacob, joined with Shem, + Shall rear on Joseph's land in modern days. + The Father's work of wonder He portrays:-- + A servant, marred[54], though hurt not, and yet healed, + Whom wisdom hearkens to, whom faith obeys; + Arm of the Lord, long lying unrevealed, +Uplifted and made bare, His flock to fold and shield. + + Sounds then a parting note, a plaint of woe, 1830 + 'Gainst coming ages of iniquity, + Ere purifying floods o'er earth shall flow, + And man from sin and self delivered be. + Then, of the twelve, he sanctifieth three[55], + With power o'er death, and gives them to remain + Till comes He in His glory, Lo! they see + The opening heavens receive Him once again; +And marvels else behold, that mortal tongues must chain. + + Three generations pass in righteousness; + A fourth begins, and still from strand to strand 1840 + Peace rules, love reigns, and wealth and wisdom bless + The banded nations, walking hand in hand; + Christ's word supreme above a willing land, + Where rich and poor, common their goods, their gold, + Seeking God's glory, free and equal stand, + Loving each one his neighbor, as of old; +Forebeam of day divine[56], when night's dull mists have rolled. + + That restful day shall dawn; but e'en as storm, + Darkness and devastation, judgments dire, + Changed with convulsive throe the land's first form, 1850 + Made mountains plains, plains mountains, purged with fire + And flood this soil--as saw my nation's sire, + Ere light and peace looked down from realms above;-- + So shall it be[57], and more, when heaven's hot ire, + Besoming a world's iniquity, shall move, +In burning, melting might, the gold, the dross, to prove. + + Two centuries of love the land caress; + Buried the ancient feud, and banished vice; + When pride, to breed anew the old distress, + Crawls like a serpent to this paradise: 1860 + Again the tempter's wiles the weak entice; + Again the fall, the sorrow and the shame; + Again, while angels weep, do fiends rejoice; + For now divided hearts, with hate aflame, +Belie with wicked deeds their righteous faith and fame. + + Farewell to peace and power forever past! + Deepest in crime the once delightsome race, + Which melts as would the avalanche if cast + Into the furnace of the red sun's face[58]. + Men vie in deeds that devils would debase; 1870 + Southland 'gainst Northland strives with might insane; + Backward, still backward, bends the bloody chase[59]; + Crimson the land with carnage; main to main +Surges a sea of slaughter--millions are the slain! + + The white dissolves; the swart, the red, remains. + Night clothes the continents, and 'thwart the gloom + No ray descends on shadowed peaks or plains, + From history's sun. Darkness, a living doom, + Mantles mind, soul, making the land one tomb. + Then bursts the dawn--breaks forth the East in light, 1880 + Where Japheth, cramped and straitened, cries for room. + Rent mystery's veil, naked, in savage plight, +Now occidental realms greet oriental sight[60]! + + First found by him whose faith was mightiest, + And now by one whose patience[61] most excels. + Ere storm-pushed prow hath pierced the wordless West, + A kingly soul, unthroned, uncrowned, compels + The homage of a queen. His mind dispels + The gathered gloom of ages; mutineers + And malcontents his presence calms and quells. 1890 + Past threatening reefs of bigotry he steers, +And builds a bridge of life that binds the hemispheres. + + The Gentile comes, as destiny decrees, + To Zion's land[62], for freedom held in store, + And Israel's triumph. Friends of freedom, these, + Like to the pilgrim bands that long before + A refuge found upon this sheltering shore. + But followers of right oft wrong the right; + Oppressed become oppressors[63] in an hour; + And now, as day that pushes back the night, 1900 +The strong the weak assail, enslave, and put to flight. + + Nor yet can fate forsake them: Japheth's hand + 'Gainst Jacob's wrath-doomed remnant still prevails. + Tyrants oppress him from the motherland[64]; + The Lord of Hosts a champion arms and mails, + To quell whose might no human power avails; + Nor grander cause or chieftain e'er came forth. + Him as its sire the new-born nation hails, + And e'en would crown the man of matchless worth[65], +Did heaven vouchsafe such king to shame the kings 1910 + of earth. + + But thou hast heard: No king upon this land + From Japheth's loins. Yet shall there come a King, + And Japheth's host with Jacob's equal stand, + While bending nations to that Monarch bring + Their gold, their glory--friendship's offering. + What though invasion, anarchy, shall strive + To strangle right, to poison freedom's spring? + Naught that conspires 'gainst Zion's weal can thrive. +Jehovah--He shall reign, and righteous rule survive. 1920 + + Forerunner thou, and thy forerunners these, + Prophet of Ephraim, Joseph's namesake seer[66]! + More than those ancient bridgers of the seas, + Unveiler of the long hid hemisphere, + Whose mystery lies booked and buried here. + Mass thou the might of Joseph, yet to join + With Judah's might, Messiah's throne to rear; + That on this sacred shore may rise and shine +The City Pure-in-Heart--Kingdom of King divine. + + Woe to the tongue that 'gainst thee shall contend! 1930 + Break weapons all that smite this iron rod[67], + Beginning of the burden of the end-- + The promised fulness of the word of God; + The voice of ages whispering from the sod. + That voice withstood, remaineth shut and sealed + The mightier things in mystery's abode, + Volume on volume slumbering unrevealed, +While wake these lesser truths till now from man concealed. + + Speak thou to Laman's remnant, and reveal + The great things done, the greater yet to do, 1940 + That bring deliverance unto Israel. + To white, to red, to men of every hue, + To all redeemed His mighty merit through, + Teach thou the way--tell how by Grace sublime + The spirit gardens[68] of the endless blue + Are visited, each vineyard in its time, +While glad sabbatic bells ring out their grateful chime. + + Earth's hour is nigh--her blest millennial hour, + And dawn there shall a higher, holier day, + Prepared for by these principles of power, 1950 + Divinest laws that loftiest worlds obey, + Where gods and angels honor them alway. + There greatest by humility are known, + There order reigns, and right doth all realms sway; + Like claiming like, and cleaving to its own, +Sovereign and subject sharing the glory of the Throne. + + But earth's proud will must bend to will of heaven, + Or twain can ne'er be one, that one for all;-- + By angel love the demon lust be driven, + And man set free from self's ignoble thrall. 1960 + Let not the mighty task thy mind appall. + What God hath done shall He not do again? + A day of power shall batter down the wall; + The willing heart shall rend the hampering chain; +And o'er this ransomed world, first Son, then Sire, shall reign. + + Proclaim the Dispensation of the End, + Era pre-destined, pre-ordained of yore, + When all of Christ's, on earth, in heaven, shall blend, + And build the Empire of the Evermore. + Ascendeth One who all things shall restore-- 1970 + The dead to life, the dew-drop to its source. + Spirit must reign, the carnal rule no more; + And this lest earth, winging the sunward course, +Unmeet for such a change, melt 'neath consuming curse. + + Smite thou that sin of self, which binds the world + In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong; + That sin most serpentine, round all men curled, + Within whose fatal fold earth writhes full long. + To loose the coil doth unto thee belong. + To free the soul from sordid tyranny, 1980 + Be sacrifice the burden of thy song. + Ay, sacrifice shall set the prisoner free, +And men this truth shall learn, that light is liberty. + + + + +CANTO SEVEN + +The Arcana Of The Infinite[1] + + +Flake upon flake, then slide succeeding slide, +The marvel and the wonder multiplied. + +Garnered in one vast mind[2] the glacial store, +The glittering avalanche of heavenly lore, +Whose living streams shall slake the burning thirst +Of time unborn, of nations yet unnurst; +Torrent of truth, river of prophecy, 1990 +Rolling through worlds to find fulfillment's sea. + +He stands, as Moses on the mystic mount, +Where knowledge pours from wisdom's purest fount; +Stands 'neath the droppings of the crystal eaves, +Stands on the loftiest summit man achieves, +Where light eternal--was, is, and to be-- +'Lumines the vistas of immensity, +The ultimates of human destiny. + +He walks and talks with God, as friend with friend; +He reads the Book of Time from end to end, 2000 +And in the Volume of Eternity +Peruses past and far futurity; +Ranges to realms of wider mystery-- +Ne'er-ending hope, ne'er-ending history; +While from all depths that sink, all heights that soar, +Come voices, visions, of the Evermore. +Like unto like, above, beneath, the skies, +Deep calls to deep, and faith to faith replies. + +He hears the solemn dispensations[3] chime, +From morn till eve, from birth to death, of time; 2010 +He notes the markings of the horologe, +The set times of the great unerring Judge; +Then sees those dispensations as they run +Their 'lotted course, like hours 'twixt sun and sun. +Wave after wave rolls o'er the shining sand, +Wave after wave breaks higher up the strand, +With all of weal or woe the ages send. +As sundered ocean tides that shoreward tend, +Now past and future o'er the present pend, +Till on the narrow isthmus sea meets sea, 2020 +And time no longer parts eternity. + +He hears the soundings of the trumpets seven[4], +Whose angels, stooping from the heights of heaven, +Proclaim, in tones to rend the echoing spheres, +The secrets of the Seven Thousand Years; +The secret of a book with seven seals, +That all of mortal mystery reveals; +Man's course, God's chronicle, life's tale told true, +Nor tinged with favor's tint, with hatred's hue; +Earth's week of history, whose sabbath chime 2030 +Summons to rest the weary soul of time. + +The Holy Order[5] that for aye hath reigned, +For loyal faith and lofty deeds ordained; +The all-creating, all-controlling chain, +Whereby the Gods perpetuate their reign, +Whereby the higher, bending, lift the lower; +Wielding the sceptre of Almighty Power, +Ruling by right the nations, ill aware +Whence came the thrones that have been, thrones that + are; 2040 +Which sets up one and puts another down, +Their fate proclaimed as fortune's smile or frown; +The power that reigns not save in righteousness, +Persuades in meekness, chastens but to bless; +The might of heaven, the pure and potent chain +Stainless, save mortal links their lustre stain, +And plunged through fire are purified again, +He sees extending through the storms of time, +Anchor and cable of a ship sublime. + +Pilots of life on death's fierce tempest tossed, 2050 +Love's legionaries, saviors of the lost; +A sacred army's solemn pride and boast, +The janissaries of the heavenly host; +The jeweled circlet of the Central Gem, +Jehovah's body-guard--the Gibborim. + +The guileless followers of the guiltless Lamb, +Of Israel ere Earth knew Abraham[6]; +Sealed in the forehead with the sacred Name, +Bearing the Ark of God, the Sword of Flame[7]; +Behold them coming, coming, as they came 2060 +Whene'er was kindled here the beacon blaze +By each Elias of the olden days! +Truth, error, shine and shadow[8], alternate, +As oft as mankind proves degenerate. + +But ever, as the day-beam sinks and dies, +The stars reset their lanterns in the skies; +And unto Moses in the wilderness +Comes greater light, succeeded by the less[9]. +Till truth the fulness of its ray restores, +And heaven o'er earth the holy unction pours, 2070 +By ministers upon each hemisphere,[10] +Sent to proclaim what every soul must hear. + +The promise past, fulfillment now is seen, +The Perfect Church[11], resplendent in the sheen +Of risen Righteousness, whose arm once more +Puts forth in power to rescue and restore. +Gray grows to crimson, crimson melts to gold, +And dawns the day by starry night foretold, +Whose lamps prophetic pale their silvery rays, +Lost in the golden light of Latter Days. 2080 +A twofold Church, a dual Bride he sees; +Time's the full reflex of Eternity's. + +Visioned the Dispensation of the End, +Where Zions meet, where dispensations blend, +And time's sad rivers cease their mighty moan +In sobbing requiem o'er his sunken throne, +Till death departs, and joy, from zone to zone, +Welcomes the rightful Heir unto his own. + +Visioned the Council of the Ancient One[12], +Where stars make ready for the rising Sun; 2090 +Where Adam yields the mortal world he won, +Unto the Sabbath Lord, till sabbath done, +And Sire receives the Kingdom from the Son. +Ere when, award of fulness is there none; +Though great ones gain the far celestial shore, +Shining and perfect as they shone before. + +'Lumed by the Lamp that giveth endless view, +Discerns he spirits false and spirits true; +Unmasking Satan with the keys of light[13], +That blind may see and deaf may hear aright, 2100 +A message marvelous to eyes and ears, +The rhythmic message of the songful spheres. + +"Truth is eternal!"--Thus the solemn voice-- +"'Twas not her birth made morning stars rejoice, +Nay, but her mission to a new-born sphere, +Whither, as oft, her shining bark would steer +With spirit crew, kin to the kingly race +Peopling the burning orbs of bourneless space. + +"Truth is eternal, endless as its God, +Author and framer of the changeless code, 2110 +Ever-returning, oft-repeating plan, +Redeeming from all worlds the race of man. +Life-saving line, far flung from heaven to earth, +To rescue souls--God's wealth, supremest worth-- +Rescue the fallen and the penitent, +Who else must bide in hopeless banishment. +Unending were their mortal prisonment, +Did ne'er truth's sunlight gild the gloomy sod, +Gospel of mercy, gift of the gracious God, +Who gave up life to bridge the dark gulf o'er, 2120 +And close its cruel jaws forevermore; +Love, striving with belief and unbelief, +Gleaning life's harvest to the latest sheaf. + +"A God whose glory is intelligence, +A God whose knowledge gives omnipotence, +Who makes, maintains, redeems, and glorifies, +Bending to lift the lowliest to the skies, +By triple lever, by the mystic birth, +By Three in heaven, the typed of three on earth: +Water, that signifies obedience, 2130 +Sure test of faith, true sign of penitence; +Spirit whereby the flesh is justified, +And blood, whereby the soul is sanctified;-- +Lifting by these, but not by these alone, +By every word from Him upon the Throne, +Spirit 'mid spirits, most intelligent[14], +Wherefore their Sovereign Sire benevolent, +Giver of life and light whereby the rest +Press on and on till all things are possessed. + +"Intelligence, eternal[15], uncreate, 2140 +Though God-begotten in the spirit state, +Where all creations see maturity, +Ere launched as souls upon the mortal sea, +To prove their worth, make choice 'twixt wrong and right, +And walk by faith as erst they walked by sight; +As free to sound the gulf as soar the height. + +"Man a divinity in embryo, +Who, ere he reign above, must serve below; +His spirit in earth element baptize, +For birth and death are baptism[16] to the wise. 2150 +The space that parts the lower from the higher, +Spanned by development of son to Sire, +Of daughter unto Mother's high estate, +Where man and woman are inseparate. + +"Time a probation; earth, through time, a school, +Where justice reigns, though oft the unjust rule. +Pain, trouble, toil, preceptors of the soul; +Death, birth, but portals to and from life's goal-- +Life's fount, where all as infant spirits sprang, +And sons of God in countless chorus sang, 2160 +Unheeding earthly sorrow[17]--parent pang +Of after joy, o'er which their triumph rang. + +"The fall, whereby the worlds are put in pawn, +And held in durance till redemption dawn, +A plan divine that changeth part to whole, +Immortal spirit to immortal soul. + +"Second estate[18] here interlinked with first, +For godliness where spirit life was nurst, +And Satan's rebel host, heaven's third, were sent +To unentabernacled banishment; 2170 +Tempters, beguilers, triers of the true, +Who now reap greater gain, or sadly rue +The loss of all, surrendering to him +Who warreth endlessly 'gainst Elohim, +And, shorn of glory, would all light bedim; +Where many, wrecked, to awful depths go down, +While few return to wear the waiting crown, +Reigning where others serve. + + "Each woe, each bliss, +In after worlds, the yield of life in this; 2180 +Here garnered are the fruits from fields of yore, +And sown the harvest of the evermore. + +"The called are not the chosen past mischance; +The sanctified to glorified advance, +And stewardship becomes inheritance. +Redemption free, for God hath paid the price; +All else man wins by toil and sacrifice. + +"As sun, or moon, or varying star[19], appears +Each heir of glory in those endless spheres: +Sun-like the souls that live celestial laws, 2190 +And moon-like they who at terrestrial pause-- +Who honor not the Saviour in the flesh, +But after, in the spirit realm, refresh +Their fainting, fettered lives at mercy's fount, +And, far as merit buoys them, upward mount; +Saved, glorified, by faith and penitence, +Made valid, through vicarious ordinance[20], +For all who Him believe, who Him obey, +And own in other worlds His sovereign sway. +Nor lost forever souls unsaved today: 2200 +Telestial they who taste the pangs of hell, +And pay guilt's debt ere they in glory dwell, +Twinkling as stars whose numbers none can tell. + +"Souls that to high celestial realms have won, +Dwell with the gods, beholding Sire and Son; +While bounds are set that bar terrestrial heirs +(With whom the Gracious One his presence shares), +And dwellers in the far telestial spheres, +To whom the Holy Spirit ministers. +God's servants these, but to His glorious home-- 2210 +The loftiest heights of heaven--they cannot come. + +"Justice and Mercy each shall have its own, +Nor one thrust other from the dual throne; +Each shoal and deep a final fullness see, +And like clasp like through all eternity. + +"But who shall sound the bottomless despair +Of one condemned the second death to share? +If, re-ensnared in Satan's subtle mesh, +A soul redeemed its Saviour pierce afresh, +Spurning the Spirit, scorning proffered ruth, 2220 +A traitor utterly to light and truth, +Then flames perdition's gulf, death's last abyss, +The lake of fire, all life's antithesis. +All power then powerless to change its plight; +For what avails the burnt-out lamp to light? +Justice can lay no blame on blameless shelves, +Nor mercy save when souls will damn themselves. + +"Twofold is death, but life has threefold sway; +What ne'er created was, endures alway. +The organized disorganized may be, 2230 +But not the life that lives undyingly. +Nothing bides nothing: that which is shall be; +Though form, not essence, change unceasingly. +Space, spirit, matter, all eternal are, +And death but on creation wages war. +Whate'er beginning had may have an end, +But life eternal doth itself defend. + +"Man's inmost spark, his being's primal fire, +As birthless and as deathless as its Sire,-- +No more the maker of that unmade germ 2240 +Than man the framer of the spirit form, +Born and begotten in the first estate, +God's creature, whom God's power can uncreate. +Spirit to spirit, dust to dust returns, +But bright intelligence forever burns, +Though banished from the presence of the light, +Exiled and wandering in the outer night, +Remembering past, and mourning present blight, +The end whereof, a mystery to man, +Unsolved while bending 'neath the mortal ban, 2250 +None but the doomed partaker e'er shall scan. + +"Higher than heaven, deeper than hell, profound, +His course wherein no crookedness is found-- +An onward, upward, never-ending round. + +"Comes forth all life at resurrection's call, +When soul immortal sheds its mortal thrall; +The just first rising, who with Christ shall reign, +While sinners tarry till He sounds again, +Late issuing, in shame and self contempt, +When Lucifer, unbound, shall newly tempt, 2260 +Still striving for a glory not his own, +Till by the Arm Almighty overthrown. + +"Spirit and body, blending, make the soul, +As halves, uniting, form the perfect whole. +Spirit and element, commingled, one, +Inheriting the Glory of the Sun, +Symbol a greater union yet to be, +When heaven and earth shall wed eternally, +And restitution's edict seal and bind +Eternal matter to eternal mind, 2270 +Like unto like, for night weds not with day, +And order's mandate e'en the gods obey. + +"The sealing of the sexes, mate to mate, +Earnest of exaltation's lofty state, +Where evermore they reign as queens and kings, +And endless union endless increase brings; +While serve as angels the unwedded ones, +Abandoning their right to royal thrones. + +"One are the human twain, as sheath and sword-- +Woman and man, the lady and the lord; 2280 +Each pair the Eve and Adam of some world, +Perchance unborn, or into space unhurled. + +"From endless spirit, endless element, +The worlds that glow in glory's firmament. +Created all and governed all by law, +Perfect they shine, or show sin's fatal flaw; +Their Maker's will obey or disobey, +And felons found a felon's debt[21] must pay; +While wiser orbs, obedient at school, +Are robed in radiance, and have learned to rule-- 2290 +Are lords of light, resplendent and supreme, +E'en as great Kolob 'mid the kokaubeam. + +"Earth a celestial law hath magnified[22], +And by that law shall she be sanctified, +And by the same shall she be glorified; +By fire refined, the gold from dross set free, +Shining forever as a crystal sea, +Celestial seer-stone[23], making manifest +All things below to souls upon her breast-- +Chosen, omniscient, children of the Sun, 2300 +Offspring of Adam, Michael, Ancient One, +Who comes anon his fiery throne to rear, +His council summoning from far and near. +Ten thousand times ten thousand bow the knee, +And "Father" hail him, "King," eternally. + +"For so are governed all those worlds of fire, +That chorus in a universal choir +The glory of the Lord Omnipotent, +Whose power hath framed through infinite extent +The splendors of the flashing firmament; 2310 +Sire of the universe, and King of Kings, +O'er countless realms; each dusty dot that springs +To blazing being, empire of a god, +Who equals Him, yet owns His sovereign rod, +The Central Scepter of Omnipotence, +The God of Gods, Supreme Magnificence, +Regnant o'er all that is or e'er shall be, +Throned on the summit of eternity. + +"Souls there above who once below all things, +All things inherit, and are priests and kings, 2320 +Pillars immovable, princes unto God, +No more outgoing from that high abode, +Where past and future present are alway, +And years a thousand even as a day". + +Who here have lived, or would have lived, the law[24], +Exalted, numbered with the gods, he saw, +One with the wisdom of Omniscience, +And glorious with All Intelligence. +So thorough and so just the perfect plan, +Weighing the motive with the work of man! 2330 + +Nor this the tithe of what those tongues unfold, +Nor tithe of tithe of what can ne'er be told. +As unto Judah's one and Joseph's three[25], +Who tasted of translation's ecstacy; +Or him who, spared from Babel's doom, beheld +Messiah's unclothed spirit[26], faith-compelled; +Or him of Tarsus, tranced, the triple seer[27] +Of things unlawful to be uttered here;-- +As unto souls like these was given to see +The marvel past, the mystery to be, 2340 +So upon him, their peer of modern days, +The Source of all-revealing sends its rays. + +Broken the fountains of the upper deep; +Opened the sepulchres where ages sleep; +The past, the future, now the present leaven; +With truth from earth blends righteousness from heaven, +Welding the parted links of being's chain, +Old making new, the dead live again. + +O message marvelous to eyes and ears! +Voices and visions of the mystic spheres! 2350 +Voices of noonday, visions of the night, +Whisperings of angels, and their presence bright! +Voice of the Architect of Life's vast Plan, +Speaking as God to God, as man to man! + + + + +CANTO EIGHT + +The Lifted Ensign[1] + + +Armed now with knowledge, panoplied with power, +With two-edged sword of God's authority, +Girded by heavenly hands on shepherds twain[2], +The first and second of a gathering flock, +Transcribers of the buried book of gold, +Whose mystic page, unsealed by gift divine, 2360 +Save part withheld of mightier mystery, +Now challenges the wise and wondering world;-- +Armed and equipt, with staff, and stone in sling, +Strong in the Lord, the God of Israel, +The dauntless David of a later day +Fares forth to meet the Giant of Untruth[3]. + +Thenceforth a warrior and a wanderer, +A victor hated for his victories; +Targe for the javelin of jealousy; +Hunted and hounded through the wilderness; 2370 +Outlawed by all, all save a loyal few, +The patient sharers of his painful lot, +Companions of his mortal pilgrimage, +Recalled with him, their earthly errand o'er, +To grace the courts of High Jerusalem. + +But ere a day for that departure dawns, +Unveiled once more the face of mystery. +Speaks from the musty tomb of buried time, +The all-remembering Spirit of the Past: + +"Time yet was young[4], but old iniquity, 2380 +Outcast of worlds redeemed, on earth was rife, +And, self-enchained, a fallen race lay prone +At feet of Lucifer. And demons laughed, +And hell rejoiced, and all that ribald host +Clapt hand, and danced and jeered derisively; +While gods and angels wept, their pitying tears +Whitening the spectral mountains cold and lone, +Wakening to virile springs a spirit waste. + +"And there the sainted commonweal[5] arose, +Haven divine, hill of the sanctified, 2390 +Oasis-like 'mid burning sands of sin; +God's people, pure in heart, and one in all, +No poor among them, pride and greed unknown; +Saved by the tidings first to Adam taught, +And next to Enoch's generation told. + +"Righteous, they dreamt no evil, feared no ill, +And death, the universal doom, defied. +Earth not their pillow; they shall one day pass +From mortal to immortal painlessly. + +"Self's chain was sundered[6]; devils glared aghast, 2400 +And gnashed their teeth with disappointed rage, +Trembling in terror lest perdition's pit +Engulf them ere the time. Then gathering power, +As if for Armageddon's conflict[7] dire, +When triumphs Michael o'er the foe unchained, +Hell's molten belch of burning hatred hurled +Upon those hapless sons of earth who scorned +The refuge of the righteous; her bright towers, +Far-beaming with terrestrial radiance[8]-- +The promise fair of full celestial change,-- 2410 +Bidding the vile beware, nor venture near +The awful mountain of God's holiness. + +"Waxed foul the world in wickedness, piled high +A hideous monument of shame and crime, +Which, toppling with its own weight, crashing fell, +Whelming in ruin the guilty race of man, +Whose spirits, as fierce seas their dust devoured, +By fiercer fiends to dungeon deeps were driven. +Nor thence redeemed till He who died for all +Soared from the cross to set the captive free[9]. 2420 + +"The while, on fearless wings of purity, +Cleaving as bird or ransomed soul the air, +The sainted city entered into rest, +Envied of Babel, climbing robber-like[10]; +Bride of the Highest, midway hovering, +Till folded in the bosom of the Gods, +Where Zions from unnumbered worlds have fled. +Type temporal of spirit antitype, +A future moral height foreshadowing. + +"Foreseen the fatal deluge. Ere the doom 2430 +Of all save faithful Noah and his seven,-- +Tri-branching tree[11] of race regenerate, +Yielding anew life's fruit and foliage,-- +Earth mourned as Rachel, Rizpah, o'er the slain, +The slain of men unborn, who yet must die +Degenerate in the days that were to be. + +"Then Enoch wept, and sued in sympathy, +And God gave answer thus: + + 'Earth yet shall rest, +And, sanctified, shall see her Saviour reign, 2440 +Monarch of worlds, His realms as ocean sands. +But it shall be within the latter days, +The days of vengeance and of wickedness, +When men the Sole-begotten crucify, +And He shall go again to judge the world, +Proclaimed by truth, forerun by righteousness, +Gathering the pure-in-heart unto a place-- +A holy place my people shall prepare, +There to await my coming, mine and thine. +Then shown the resurrection's shadowing: 2450 +Zion above, from all creations past, +Shall meet and blend with Zion from below; +Spirits and bodies of the just shall join, +And in the midst my tabernacle be. +Yea, as I live, so will I forth again, +My oath to thee, my covenant, to fulfill; +And earth shall garb in glory of her God, +And Noah's righteous seed in Me rejoice.'" + +These things spake God to Moses, from the mount +Whose name is veiled to ken of humankind; 2460 +And thus that prophet, but through unbelief +And cunning craftiness, at war with Light, +The fulness of his message sleeps till now, +When one like unto him[12] and Him he typed, +Brings forth the buried meaning from its grave. + +On twain of ocean-parted hemispheres, +Saw noon of time a twofold type[13] of peace, +A pledge, a token, of millennial rest, +An earnest of the Commonweal to come; +But no fulfillment of the promise old, 2470 +No ripe fruition of the ancient oath, +To Enoch sworn, through Moses re-affirmed, +By Ephraim's prophet made to live again. + +--- + +Promise now sought fulfillment[14],--it was time; +For weary earth lay groaning 'neath her load. +"Unclean, unclean," her cry, as leprous sin +With foul intent clasped close her shrinking form, +And baned with foetid breathing all her soul. + +Long she had mourned and wept o'er life's decay; +Her waning strength, from age and weariness, 2480 +Her mother powers, unholy passion's prey, +Bringing, in lieu of giants, pygmies forth, +To fall untimely on her withered breast. +Dwindling and dwarfed in all save wickedness, +And knowledge, oft made pander unto ill, +With learning gorged, for wisdom famishing, +Man both a glutton and a starveling seemed. + +For Self, the sordid, sat once more enthroned, +Binding in servile chains a universe, +Where mightily men strove for place and fame, 2490 +Greedy for power, as gluttonous for gold. +And who sought neighbor's weal, save kith and kin +Or petted friendling prest a favored claim? + +Disorder reigned, and satire laughed to scorn +Grotesque, invidious inconsistency: +Talent on title waiting, brain on birth! +Genius at oars, and dullards at the helm! +The prancing war-steed fastened to the plow, +The ass unto the chariot--oft with rein, +Curbing the mettled courser's noble rage, 2500 +Or goading him with needless cruelty! + +Matter was monarch; Spirit stood apart, +Unknown, unseen, or spurned and thrust aside +By thronging myriads, bending supple knee, +And basking in the proud usurper's smile. + +Men bowed not down to sun and moon and stars, +To bird, nor beast, nor reptile, as of yore; +But worshipt still at other creature shrines, +Ignoring the Creator's primal claim. + +Pride sneered at poverty--if poor of purse, 2510 +But gave its hand to beggared intellect, +To bankrupt soul, and greeted them as peers. +Learning, if lowly pillowing its head, +A pauper deemed, and pitied or condemned. +And many, stung by adder glance of scorn, +Shunning a life of noble toil and care, +To Mammon, e'en in marriage, sold themselves, +Offering a lawless fire at passion's shrine, +Or staining hands and heart with sabler sins. + +Shameful the serfdom of the earth-bound soul, 2520 +Base passion's basest slave and prisoner; +Charmed by no music but the clink of coin; +Cankered and crusted o'er with avarice; +Dupe, dreaming shadow real, and substance show. + +Where party more than principle was prized, +Where private gain was labeled "public good," +And "patriotism" masked hypocrisy, +Science, when sordid, or subservient +To worldly ends, to aims material, +Stood pedestaled and robed in honors rare: 2530 +While art fell fainting at the patron's door, +Or starved and froze in cheerless attic den. + +For aye the flesh must first be comforted, +And e'en the body's luxuries abound, +Ere mind of man may clothe its nakedness, +Or hungering heart and spirit have their own. + +Music, the drama, all art, still divine, +Though oft to ends ignoble basely bent, +In atmospheres miasmic, fever-fraught, +To folly pandering and to lechery; 2540 +Or using gifts God-lent for good of all, +Gain's maw to glut, fame's lust to gratify. +Forgot the Giver, and adored the gift, +As in the pagan days of olden time. + +And thou, where thou, O sage philosophy, +Heir to a hundred shadows of thy name! +Where thy spent waves on speculation's strand? +Still striving, finite for the infinite, +Man groping for the mystery of God, +A river that would fain engulf the sea! 2550 + +Religion dead, and poesy so deemed, +Because unwedded to a carnal age, +Unprostituted to its paltry aims, +Or hid beneath vast verbal rubbish heaps, +The dust and debris of the former fires. +Religion dead, but bigotry alive, +And ne'er more active upon earth than now, +When sect 'gainst sect in battle order stood, +And schisms and dissensions multiplied. +Some worshipt nothing, naming it a god; 2560 +Some deemed the mortal dust a thing divine; +Religious, irreligious, bigotry, +Each counted victims by the hecatomb. + +What wonder, when truth's meanings tortured were, +The living God dethroned, and in His stead, +A monster crouching on the Mercy Seat, +Whose mere caprice, naught else, did save or damn? +Wafting the blood-stained criminal to bliss, +If he but gasped, half hung, the holy Name? +Thrusting the spotless infant into hell, 2570 +If un-elect, or unbaptized for sin! +To endless woe or weal forefating all. +What wonder justice, reason, stood aghast, +While faith, revolting, rushed to doubt's extreme? + +Critics, high-soaring, sought to clip the wings +Of arrogance in all creeds save their own. +Half-fledged conclusion, findings premature, +Grounded on tale of rock or ruin old, +More credence had, more reverence, from men, +Than sacred lore of heaven-lit centuries. 2580 +All miracle was myth, nor aught worth while, +Save, leaded down with learned theories, +It crawled, an earth-worm, wanting will to climb +Above the level of the commonplace. + +Fanatics in the state as in the church, +Their prejudices palmed for principle, +Vain vagaries and dreams for doctrine sound; +And woe to him who lisped of liberty, +Or thought aloud one thought unthought before! +Freedom to think and breathe--God-granted boons, 2590 +Alike, to savage, serf, and citizen-- +Was all that freedom signified to some, +Who, as they doled a gift already given, +Boasted themselves magnanimous and wise. +Freedom to speak and act as conscience bade, +As God commanded, crushed or captive bound, +E'en where men vaunted most of liberty. + +And peace was yet a dream unrealized, +For war still sowed and reaped his harvests red; +And Christian guns were mightiest and slew most. 2600 + +Nor yet stood toil 'gainst capital arrayed, +The starving masses 'gainst the Midases, +As erst arose, 'gainst moss-grown old regimes, +The trampled Terror[15], scrawling with fierce hand +On history's flaming scroll his red revenge, +With that blood-reeking pen, the guillotine; +Nor yet faced frowning mass contemning class[16], +Jeering, oblivious of the lurking doom, +The glooming clouds where groaned the gathering storm. +But murderous craft and oath-bound anarchy, 2610 +With secret deeds of darkness, had begun +To sap the life of human government, +And plot against the safety of mankind; +While greeds and lusts and passions manifold, +Preying on frailty and on innocence, +Ran riot 'mid the fairest, brightest, best. + +Where, promise, thy fulfillment, pledged of yore? +'Twas time--full time--the far-seen ensign waved, +Hailing the morn on heights of holiness, +Proclaiming peace and freedom to the world. 2620 +'Twas time disorder fled, time justice reigned, +And rightfully were held dominion's keys; +Time pure religion's sceptre should return, +By poesy extolled, by art adorned, +With science and with reason reconciled; +Time feeble earth her panacea found, +Time health gave life its old longevity, +Time pride should bend, time lust to love should yield, +And self confess the joy of sacrifice. +'Twas time an Enoch came[17], a Zion rose. 2630 + +Sound, trump of God! as when old Jordan's wave +Shook with the thunder-tread of Joshua's host, +Shook with the shouting and the trumpet blasts, +Heard the loud roar of crumbling Jericho, +And in mad haste ran shuddering to the sea! +Speak now the doom foreshadowed by that fall-- +The mightier doom of Modern Babylon: + +Bow down thy head, proud mistress of the world! +Humble thy haughty crest, degenerate queen! +Lift but thine eyes to where God's finger glows 2640 +In fiery warning on thy festal wall, +Drowning in dread the voice of revelry, +Thy saturnalia's ribald shout and song. +Ended thine empire, Weighed-and-Wanting-Found! +Down to the dust in all thy worldliness, +Thou thing of brass, of iron, and of clay! +Sound, trumpet, sound! The looked-for signal looms! +The fateful stone upon the image rolls! + +"On you, my fellow servants, I confer +The priestly power of Aaron, with the keys 2650 +Of angel ministries, of penitence, +Of water-birth that washes free from sin. +And greater things than these shall yet be given-- +The holier powers of high Melchizedek, +Which Mightier by three shall minister." + +And on each head was laid a holy hand[18]; +Time making good the promise plighted there, +Welding another link in wonder's chain, +Writing new chapters of a story strange, +Confounding human learning, fools and wise. 2660 + +--- + +So came once more the panoply of power[19]. +So rose the ensign o'er a waiting world. + +Armed thus with knowledge and authority, +Armed and equipt, with staff, and stone in sling, +Fares forth a champion for Israel, +To grapple with Philistia and prevail. + +Guide unto God, repointer of the path, +Untrodden through a thousand years nigh twained, +The while men roamed, as once o'er trackless wild, +The savage, by the untaught trapper trained; 2670 +Blind leading blind through thick and thorny wold. + +Light 'mid the darkness, beam from heaven's full blaze, +Driving the mists, that comprehended not +His brightness nor their own obscurity; +Holding him blind who saw as few have seen. +He, blind, forsooth, who more than all beheld! + +Sinking deep shafts to mines of mystery, +Shallow and empty to the worldly wise; +Soaring to heights by human lore undreamt, +Yet deemed an earth-mole, groping, groveling. 2680 + +Aloft, alone, an exile among men, +A wanderer in a solitary way, +Pariah of prejudice and unbelief, +Whose lowering features fiercely on him frowned. +Thought's prisoner and truth's, that maketh free +The spirit, though the body pine in chains, +Albeit the tongue, the pen, in durance be, +Consigned to silence, captive unto light, +And crucified betwixt ideal and real. + +But who art thou that lookest forth sublime, 2690 +A soul upsoaring as from sepulture, +Body and spirit pure and free from stain, +As gold and silver tried by seven-timed fire? + +Speak! Art not thou the Woman Wonderful[20], +Summoned from out the silent wilderness, +Arisen from the grave of centuries, +No more to be despoiled or trodden down? +A symbol of exalted sanctity, +The consecration of the contrite heart; +Of ancient types the modern complement, 2700 +Chief splendor of time's sparkling firmament, +Whose silver stars bespoke this sun of gold. + +But when did darkness comprehend the day? +When welcomed pleasure thorn-crowned sacrifice, +Whose higher, holier joys than sin can know, +As dust and ashes to the sensual soul? +Jewels to swine, that, turning, rent the hand, +And fain 'neath foot had torn and trampled all. +Such was Truth's fate, alas! in modern time, +'Mid Christian men;--but not her final fate. 2710 + +For who can stay the sun-like march of Truth? +Who dim with bloody hand her beam divine? +First shall he halt the progress of the stars, +The bright procession of the infinite; +Blot out the day-beam, dull the scythe of time, +Shear morning's wings, roll back eternal night, +Or shake the moveless throne of destiny. + +Lifted an ensign never to be furled, +Unsheathed a falchion evermore to flame, +Till earth-born realms, in one wide empire rolled, 2720 +Hail conquering Christ as life and light of all. + + + + +CANTO NINE + +Upon The Shoulders of The Philistine[1] + + +The Eaglet's nest is empty[2]--void the lair +Of the young Lion. Where, O Ephraim, where? + +Where billows break along a storied strand[3], +Heroic wave, a fair and favored land. +Realm of a rising glory--this thy name! +The cradle of the Kingdom--this thy fame! + +There rose the morn--though flecked with fire and blood-- +The morn benign of human brotherhood, +Foredestined to a passing cloud's eclipse. 2730 + +Self-trammeled cause, harried by hounds and whips +Of persecution, whose infuriate maw, +Usurping oft the form and force of law,-- +To lawless hands a far too ready rod,-- +Had fain engulfed the growing work of God. + +Widowed, bereft, a land left desolate, +A wounded bird that mourns a driven mate, +The plumage from its bleeding body torn, +And scattered wide o'er realms remote, forlorn. + +On, Ephraim, on! thy pilgrim flight renew. 2740 +Land of the Sun--Shinea's land[4]--adieu! + +Yet stay! Ere storm could burst, was visioned there, +Within the portal of the House of Prayer, +A promise, a fulfillment, long foretold: +Elias and Messias there behold! +With angel keepers of the ancient keys +Of gathering and of sealing mysteries. +Haloed with fire, while burns the heavenly glow, +Upon the Prophet they their powers bestow[5]. + +Speed then swift messengers his face before, 2750 +To blaze his sacred name on every shore; +Chosen and missioned from the sending skies, +The slumbering nations to evangelize. +Resounds 'gainst error's shield truth's ringing lance, +Unlettered light 'gainst learned ignorance; +Priestcraft dethroned, by Priesthood downward hurled, +While ancient thunder shakes the modern world. + +Already, to redeem red Laman's bands[6], +Have virile footprints prest those virgin lands, +Where westering empire, in creative might, 2760 +Rolls a new world upon the wondering sight; +Where flower-starred prairies, in the far extent, +Kiss with soft lips the bending firmament, +And sea-like rivers, solitary, lone, +Pour their proud waters toward the burning zone. + +Land of all lands the rarest[7], where shall rise,-- +Mirrored magnificence of earth and skies, +Each gate a pearl, each pinnacle a gem,-- +The jasper walls of New Jerusalem; +The golden glory of the hemispheres, 2770 +Jehovah's throne through all the Thousand Years. +The land where Adam fell, where Enoch rose, +Where time began and history shall close. + +Thereto and thence, by brand and fagot driven, +His fault to man, his fealty to heaven, +With here and there, perchance, an idle word +Vainglorious zeal or vengeful might afford, +Flies Ephraim, scorched and scourged, from Japheth's + wrath[8], +Pushed on and on o'er steep and thorny path, 2780 +Whipt, plundered, wounded, bleeding, to the goal, +Where joy in fullness crowns the conquering soul. + +Then hath not war, that bringeth woe and pain, +The right betimes, like gentle peace, to reign? +What strife, what tempest, wreaks its wrath in vain? +Prosperity and persecution blend, +As sun and storm, faith's branch with fruit to bend. +Twain are the shoulders[9] of the Philistine, +That Israel onward bear, as breeze and brine +The tempest-driven bark that safe o'er sea 2790 +Carried calm Caesar[10] and his destiny. +Progression fails with opposition's flight, +And darkness is but handmaid unto light. + +Mistrustful of "the law of liberty[11]," +Sounding from far the doom of slavery, +Maddened by jealous fear, the Gentile sees +Peril in purling stream, in whispering breeze, +Telling of wondrous thrift, of mystic power, +Of spirit gifts--the Bride's becoming dower; +Sees menace[12] in that migrant fold's increase, 2800 +A menace to his power, his pride, his peace; +And, as of old, when Egypt's despot frowned +On Jacob's increase, growth from fruitful ground, +Or when fell Herod, fain to slay life's Lord, +Pierced Rachel's bosom with unpitying sword; +With feigned or real suspicion of intent +That could but lurk in minds by malice bent, +And ne'er found lodgment in the dreams of those +Now fearfully beset by whelming foes, +Force joins with fraud, impelled by lust of crime, 2810 +And innocence bewails the evil time. + +A second Pharaoh now o'er Israel see! +A Herod[13] in the home of Liberty! +Where winged Nemesis shall find her own, +Gathering the whirlwind[14] where the wind was sown. + +Friendless, unsheltered, forth the exiles go, +Lit by their burning homes athwart the snow, +Till crimson footprints stamp the frozen path, +And icy billows bar them from the wrath +Of cruel fiends, whose fellows, masked as men, 2820 +Where languish sons of light in darksome den, +Gloat, while they guard, and flout with jest obscene +The helpless victims of that heartless scene; +Exulting foully, boastingly, the while, +O'er deeds none else than devils would defile. + +Till patience, past enduring, dures no more; +Heard, above jackal's yell, the lion's roar. +Thunders and flames Jehovah's threatening rod, +And shakes the dungeon[15] with the wrath of God-- +A lightning tongue to scorch His cowering foes, 2830 +And scourge them to the kennels whence they rose. +When known such power, such might of word and will, +Since Christ bade tempest sleep and waves be still? + +Free, whereso'er he wends, is hope renewed, +Demons unhoused, disease and death subdued[16]. + +Where Sire of Waters[17] sweeps o'er silvery sands, +Prest by the pilgrim feet of many lands, +Aloft, alone, a sacred city stands. +City, mother of many[18], none more rare, +A blossoming waste shall yield, now burnt and bare; 2840 +City, mother of empire, famed as fair, +Whose birth the solemn muse must yet declare. + +Where groaned the land with dread malarial ill, +Healed by a hand divine, o'er vale and hill +See roof and dome and glittering fane arise! +Unworldly link[19], rewelding Earth and Skies! + +Then comes Elijah's mightier mission[20] forth, +And mortal vows take on immortal worth, +Kindling anew hope's ever living fires, +Turning the mutual hearts of sons and sires, 2850 +While doors to spirit dungeons open swing, +That love to light the living dead may bring! + +But gaze from sinking unto soaring sun! +Beyond the wave the conquering word hath won +Past horrent hosts of Lucifer that rose, +With wrath of man, the message to oppose. +Vain strife, where fiends archangels would assail, +Warring 'gainst mightiness that must prevail-- +Prevail to save a periled ship. 'Tis done; +The crisis past[21] with Albia stormed and won; 2860 +East floweth West--"The Gathering" hath begun. + +And now, to fruitful lands, 'neath favoring skies, +Befriended by the just[22], the brave, the wise, +Till truth, too mighty for the common ken, +Hath put a sword betwixt the souls of men, +Fares garnered Ephraim, earliest offering[23] +Of Israel's hope, Idumea's harvesting. + +Nations besprent with Abrahamic blood +Meet there and mingle in that widening flood. +Impelled by helping hand or hostile power, 2870 +By friendly looks or frowns that darkly lower, +Gathers the flock of faith from every land +Where roving Ephraim mixt with Japheth's band; +Philistia's shoulder bearing Israel's flight, +That Japheth, too, may come to Zion's light, +And Joseph be o'er all his brethren blest, +A saviour in his Egypt of the West[24], +Where corn and wine, 'mid famine, comfort life, +Where peace and plenty shame a world at strife, +And, bending from the ice-barred North, shall come-- 2880 +As bent their stars in his, the dreamer's dome-- +Assyria's long lost captives[25], wending home. + +Westward, far westward, chase the lingering night, +Impelling Spirit! Angel of the Light! +Westward, still westward, till the morn shall burn +In high meridian glory; till shall turn +Fate's restless tide, re-rolling o'er the East, +Spoiling the spoiler, spreading freedom's feast, +Foiling dark anarchy, thy fellest foe, +Land, chosen land! stunned, staggering 'neath its blow; 2890 +Rallying the loyal[26] in a common cause, +Rending the eagle from the bear's red claws; +Hurling invasion backward o'er the Isles, +Building anew upon the olden piles, +Beginnings of the crowning commonhood-- +A modern Zion where the ancient stood. + +Backward, roll backward, river of the blood! +Back to thy fountain, hurrying human flood-- +To Adam's land, the far Edenic shore; +For last is first and old is new once more, 2900 +And nations rise where nations fell before! + +Joseph, uprisen from the grave-like mound, +His ancient and inglorious battle ground[27], +Retreads with modern step the painful path +Where erst he fled[28], a fugitive from wrath; +Fated to flee till ebbs that westward flow, +Bearing from Japheth bitter curse and blow, +While patient heaven holds off the woeful fate +That cometh swift and layeth desolate +The powers that prey on Jacob--all that hate 2910 +The God of Joseph, and the just decree +That builds him here a boundless destiny. + +Westward, burn westward, morn divinely bright! +Morn of Jehovah, morn of Jacob's might! +But stand thou still on Zion, glorious light! +For there must dawn the day that knows no night. + +Beginnings that have here in beauty stood, +Prone, as from withering fire or wasting flood, +A little season wrecked and ruined lie[29], +Till they that build put pride and passion by, 2920 +And, taught by pain, through suffering's fiercest fires, +Part with all lustful, covetous desires. + +When faith shall wear the armor without flaw, +And union such as sainted Enoch saw[30] +Honors the fullness of celestial law, +Then--sword of God and blade of Gideon, +Dazzling, confounding, driving on and on, +Till besomed as with fire the fated land, +Where Zion, guileless, glorious, shall stand, +A terror only to her trembling foes[31], 2930 +Ensign of peace and Eden of repose, +Where life's tree blossoms and light's fountain flows. + +Meanwhile her valiant ones, her tried and true +Daughters and sons, shall they not dare and do? +In vain, alas! in vain of such to sing, +With trembling hand a tuneless harp I string. +For who can count the cost, the painful price, +Measure the sorrow and the sacrifice, +Rare spirits of a more than Spartan race +Compelled their souls of halting dread to face? 2940 +Harp of the Hebrew seer! Be thine to break +The muse's slumber, bid the world awake, +And glow o'er deeds yet done for conscience' sake. +What tongue than Zion's own can loose the spell? +Whose voice than modern Leah's, Rachel's, tell +The story of a burden borne so well? + +Bending, not breaking, 'neath thy load of care, +Sowing to joy, thou shalt not reap despair! +Planting the hope of human purity, +That righteousness may crown futurity,-- 2950 +Patience! endure! for pain shall bring thee power[32]. +Time but a dream--eternity thy dower. +Where perfect love casts forth the jealous fear, +A diamond in thy diadem each tear; +And every sigh that rent thy suffering breast, +A wave of rapture on the shores of rest. +My lot as thine, purest of pure-in-heart! +Be mine the bitter as the better part. + +But sorrows else have shadowed all things there; +The voice of mourning drowns the voice of prayer. 2960 +Dampened e'en now with death's prophetic dew, +Thy cold, pale brow, O fated, fair Nauvoo! + +Remains for thee no peace, for thine no rest, +Till on the parching plain, the frozen crest; +A desert land of unlocked mystery, +Frowning on hope, and dumb to history. + +Yet ere the burning wilderness be won, +Shines down on other deeds the shuddering sun. +City of Joseph[33]! Look! from 'leaguered walls, +Where Calvary's crimson light on Carthage falls! 2970 + +Ere murderous fate the martyr's bolt hath sped, +While deepening darkness glooms a sky of lead, +And thundrous threatenings tone their notes of dread, +Looms to the fore an archangelic form, +A sunlit summit shining o'er the storm; +A towering rock above the rushing tide +Of eager souls that surge on every side, +Where living waters from the fountain play, +And glowing words light up the darkened way. + +Undaunted 'neath the shadow of his doom, 2980 +Calm as a statue, solemn as a tomb, +Heedless of self, while hoarsely rumbles near +Hate's fiery flood, that alien to all fear, +That more than man, nor less than godlike soul, +Erect upon life's summit, at death's goal, +Unlocks time's portal, swings the future's gate, +And opes to Ephraim's gaze his glorious fate. + +O diver in the days and years to be! +Searching the caves of that prophetic sea, +What bringest from the deeps of destiny? 2990 + + + + +CANTO TEN + +The Parted Veil[1] + + + Choice Seer, with spirit eye did he behold + The sanguine scene that told his tragic fate? + Surged by the flood of grief and shame that rolled + Above the murdered honor of a State[2], + Where innocence again fell prey to hate? + There be who say he visioned all to come-- + Forsaken cities, weeping, desolate, + The desecrated fane, the blazing dome[3], +The weary wanderings far in quest of peace and home. + + Saw, then, a tender hopeful tragedy 3000 + (Pathetic omen of his tribe's increase) + Uncurtained 'neath the star-hung canopy: + Babes, new-born babes[4], there slumbering in a fleece + Of moon-lit frost, as buds that bide release, + When winter casts its mantle white and cold, + Protecting life where life hath seemed to cease; + Frail lambs, fresh penned within the Saviour's fold, +And, like Him, manger-nurst, homeless on earth's threshold. + + Homeless a nursing nation, born e'en so-- + Born in a day. O Day! and eyes of Night! 3010 + Watch now the "little one" "a thousand"[5] grow, + As grows the torrent from the trickling height, + The blaze of noonday from the dawning light;-- + The birth-throes of an empire, whose blest reign, + Bounding from lowliness, soars past the sight + Of all save prophecy, while cities twain[6] +Sceptre the universe, with foot on land and main! + + Whose but a prophet's eye such end could see? + Whose but a prophet's tongue the issue tell?-- + A modern march of ancient destiny, 3020 + Another Exodus and Israel, + Bidding his bonds, his all, save hope, farewell; + Widening, 'mid alien wastes, true freedom's fame, + Where bondage, chained to darkness, fain would dwell[7]; + And rearing temples to Jehovah's name, +Where looms the Aztec's altar[8], quenched of its ancient flame. + + There bringing forth the promise of thy land, + O rare and wondrous West!--the prophecy + Of glittering cities strewn along thy strand, + O golden empire[9] of the sunset sea! 3030 + God-gifted Seer, while gazing endlessly, + Sawest thou an Eden on the desert brine[10], + Begirt with desolation's mystery, + Ere gusht the riven rock with milk and wine, +Where all was treeless waste and sun-baked alkaline? + + Sawest thou, O prophet! till the pioneer + Builded his eagle nest, and pure and brave + Homed on the white-helmed peak and crystal mere? + O matchless land--the home their valor gave, + Mighty in will to bless, in work to save, 3040 + Redeemed, redeeming, all must own thy worth! + Slander may wound thee, tyranny enslave, + Still thou art mine, loved land of all the earth, +Land of the honey-bee[11], land of my mortal birth! + + Land prest by footprint of my pilgrim sire[12]; + Land visioned by my more than sire, whose soul + Swept the far future with a glance of fire, + Bade hope, as memory, her page unroll; + Beheld uplifting, as a parted scroll, + The curtain from a kingdom yet to be, 3050 + Binding in one world-realms from pole to pole; + Saw monarchs bow, saw nations bend the knee, +Saw dead and risen time take on eternity. + + "Hear me, my people[13]! I shall not be slain + While unfulfilled my mission? Then, like Him + Who holds my hand, linked in an endless chain, + Which cannot die, whose light can ne'er grow dim, + Must I return to Home and Elohim. + Though here I fain would linger--human choice! + If weal to friend or foe--ay, e'en to them, 3060 + Might purchased be, with my poor life the price, +Welcome, thrice welcome death. I will the sacrifice. + + "Nor marvel at my mood. Could you but gaze + Upon the wonders of the worlds of God, + Where burn, amid the universal blaze, + The Father's fullness and the Son's abode, + Won by their feet who walk the rightful road, + Nor weary in well-doing; 'twere alone + Reward for all that here hath been your load. + Forgive--leave all to heaven, whose highest Throne 3070 +Made endless love to endless life the stepping stone. + + "Hearken, O House of Joseph! Here must end + My mortal toil. Now, as from Nebo's height[14], + I see, like him of old, my day descend. + But looms afar upon my sinking sight + Another Canaan. Clothe for pilgrim flight. + A Joshua cometh! Him let Israel heed, + And loyal be unto that council's right + On whom the Kingdom rolls; for they must lead +To where privation's hand shall sow dominion's seed. 3080 + + "A glacier's might, your gathered strength shall stand, + Stalwart upon the mountains[15], and shall send + Swift messengers to sound o'er sea and land + Last warning to the nations. Hither wend + Awakening hosts, who eager hearing lend + While yet the voice of grace, the voice of God, + Summons the house of Abraham his friend; + Calls them the wave to cleave, the wild to plod, +On, on to that safe rest, ere falls the reckoning rod. + + "For war shall wound[16] this nation--rend it wide, 3090 + And trample nations all. Anon shall slaves + 'Gainst masters rise, and anarchy o'erride + Till tyranny be trodden as the paves, + Till patriot might puts forth its hand and saves + The crimsoned land from chaos. Hearken, all! + When ruin's host the blood-red banner waves, + Who heeded first the Gospel's warning call +Shall be the last of realms to crumble and to fall. + + "Britannia! Thou among the during ones, + A nursing mother unto Israel's might; 4000 + Foremost to send thy daughters and thy sons + From shores afar, from darkness unto light. + As thou hast favored truth and 'friended right, + Their tongues shall plead for thee in time to come, + And nerve thine arm when perilous thy plight. + Borne on thy shoulder o'er the billowing foam, +Joseph and Judah find their heritage, their home. + + "I saw, while justice showed the vision dire, + Till mercy's hand let fall the lifted veil, + The goal of the ungodly--blood and fire, 4010 + Earthquake and whirlwind, pestilential hail + Smiting earth's face with desolating flail. + And this, the mere beginning of their woe, + Whose final fate a doom the damned bewail; + While they that follow Christ, anon shall go +To guide and save lost souls, groping in shades below. + + "Good fears not evil--grapples with it strong, + Hell turns to heaven, the unclean purifies; + For evil is but good, the right bent wrong. + No weakling unto loftiest worlds can rise; 4020 + No coward e'er hath scaled celestial skies; + 'Tis strength that wins the goal of blessedness, + 'Tis knowledge saves, 'tis wisdom glorifies; + Intelligence alone can lift and bless +The fallen, innocent till snared in sin's duress. + + "What matter, if my mortal race be run, + Where earth enfolds me to her mother breast? + While ye, my people--yonder setting sun + Points out your path. For you, no peace, no rest, + Till firm your weary feet upon the West, 4030 + Where, moveless as yon snowy spine of hills, + Befriended by the tempest, unopprest, + And bounteous as the sun that sends the rills +To bless the vales, God's first-born fold[17] His purpose fills. + + "Affliction here, but friendship there and peace; + (More cruel Christian white than savage red), + And in a day when warning tongues shall cease, + And plain be seen what prophets all have said; + When peace shall have no pillow for her head, + Save lofty heights where loyal hosts abound; 4040 + Brave sons of battling sires[18], who toiled and bled + That this might evermore be freedom's ground, +Shall give to you their strength God's Kingdom here to found. + + "Bide mountain-walled, my people! stalwart, strong, + Till poureth down from hallowed founts on high, + The might that doth to righteousness belong, + The might of faith, the power of purity-- + Despair and terror to iniquity. + Then, Ephra-Judah, who the hand shall bind + That clears thy path before thee? Foes shall fly 4050 + As driven dust, as ashes in the wind; +The crouching Lion springs, and He the prey shall find. + + "And by that power[19] shall Zion be redeemed, + Yea, with a mighty hand, an out-stretched arm, + With marvels, miracles, ne'er done nor dreamed + Since wonder oped her eyes. The world's alarm + Shall surge, an angry sea; but fear nor harm + Can hover near the conquering host of God. + 'Gainst Lucifer's shall Michael's legions form, + Besoming the chosen soil with chastening rod, 4060 +Till sainted towers arise on Eden's ancient sod. + + "The place appointed. Naught else is designed; + Naught else can heaven accept. Put forth the hand, + Plant stakes of Zion, tight her cords to bind, + Where'er ye move, O fated pilgrim band! + But bring forth Zion's self on Zion's land[20]; + The consecrated soil, whereon ye stood + With me, of late, loyal while treason fanned + The flame still thirsting for a martyr's blood. +There build, in time to be, a city unto God. 4070 + + "Nor there alone; for all is Zion's land, + North unto South, East unto Western wave, + Far as the hemisphere's wide wings expand, + She sits, a sovereign queen, ice-crowned, to lave + Her glowing hands in tropic tides, while brave + Her snowy feet in faith the southern sea. + Arm patient, slow to smite, yet swift to save, + A friend to right, a foe to tyranny. +And there be living now who then shall live and see. + + "While here the glory of the Common Good[21], 4080 + Shadowed and symboled by a patriot band, + Whose triumph wrought for human brotherhood, + Extending that high cause from strand to strand, + Shall bring deliverance unto every land. + But anarchy would foil the lofty aim, + The peace, the union, by Jehovah planned; + Wherefore 'tis doomed to failure and to shame, +With all unrighteous rule, whate'er its place or name. + + "The sceptered harlot,[22] throned on human seas, + Chief link of Satan's world-encircling chain; 4090 + The secret craft and crime--iniquities + Whereby the Wicked One extends his reign; + All these must perish from the Lord's domain, + Nor aught of guile be found His Kingdom through. + Truth's sun hath risen--all lesser lights must wane; + And wrong and false that masks as right and true, +Shall feel the scourge of flame that Sodom's sin o'erthrew. + + "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 damns 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 God, to whom all gods 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 Gods, e'en Sons of God, 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 Gods--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 damned, 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 Gods, while heaven on earth shall dwell, + To drink the wine of wisdom at His feet, + The Husbandman and Vine of Israel. +Thus saith the God of Jacob--Joseph's God. 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 glass, 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 God 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 Gods 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 Shiloh[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 worship 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 God. + +"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, God'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 multitude. + +"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 hell'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, God'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 God-- +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!" + +--- + +Enough, I know thee, Strong and mighty One, +That standest in the presence of the Lord! +That leadest Israel from bondage old, +That liftest up the Ensign unto all! +Know thee, thou Muse and Minstrel of the Mount, +Thou Harper on the Hills of Melody? +I know thee, and am here to work thy will, +To hymn thy praise, perchance behold thy power, 7030 +When, iris-crowned and clothed as with a cloud, +Thy face the sun, thy feet as pillared fire, +Thou comest down from Heaven, and swearest by +Eternity, that Time shall be no more! + +Ancient of Ages! Angel of the East! +Spirit of Promise! Prophet of the Dawn[22]! + + + + +NOTES + + +Explanation: The first figure at the beginning of the Note indicates +the word or phrase marked in the text; the second figure gives the +number of the line in which it is found. + +NOTE TO DEDICATION. The Dedication is to President Joseph F. Smith, +sixth in succession to the leadership of the Latter-day Saints, +nephew to Joseph the Prophet, and son of Hyrum the Patriarch, who +were martyred at Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. The poem made its +appearance during President Smith's administration, and the author +owes much to his kind encouragement and appreciation. + +NOTE TO THEME. The words of the Theme are a passage from the "Key to +John's Revelation" (Doctrine and Covenants 77:9). + +NOTE TO PRELUDE. The Author, while ill, prayed that he might live to +produce a work that would continue his ministry as a teacher after +his mortal tongue was stilled. The beginning of the answer to his +prayer was an immediate inspiration to write this poem. + +--- + +CANTO ONE + +1--Title: **As From a Dream.** The subject of this Canto is the +author's spiritual awakening. + +2--20. **Baal and Astoreth** (also rendered Ashtoreth). Pagan +deities, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. They were +worshiped by the idolatrous Israelites. The Prophet Elijah's +controversy with the priests of Baal is one of the most dramatic +episodes in sacred history. (I Kings 18:19-40). Baal was the sun god, +chief male divinity of the Phoenicians; Ashtoreth, representing the +moon, a goddess of the Philistines--the same as Astarte of the +Zidonians. The corresponding deities among the Greeks and Romans were +Zeus or Jupiter and Aphrodite or Venus. + +3--60. **Truth's Triple Key.** The Spirit of Truth, revealing past, +present and future. + +4--86. **Ambrosial Gardens.** The Gardens of the Gods--Heaven. + +5--92. **Paradise.** The Spirit World, a place of rest for the +righteous, awaiting resurrection and exaltation to glorious spheres +beyond. (Alma, 40:11-14; "Joseph Smith's Teachings," pp. 184, 185; +Key to Theology, 14.) + +6--101. **Love's Eyes.** Love is usually represented as a blind boy, +Cupid, shooting his arrows aimlessly. Love, when spiritually +enlightened, is no longer blind, but has a definite purpose in view. + +7--111. **Lethean Ground.** Lethe, in classic mythology, signifies +oblivion. It was the name of a river in Hades, of which the dead +drank and forgot all. + +8--117. **O Thou, Of Beauty!** The stanza beginning with these words +is an apostrophe to Woman. + +9--130. **Apple of Ashes.** On the shores of the Dead Sea there +grows, it is said, a fruit resembling the apple, beautiful and +inviting to the eye, but turning to ashes at the touch. + +10--167. **Equally May Win.** The vanquished, as well as the +victorious, may gain, through experience, development. + +11--174. **What Soul Can Grow?** Pride, greed, hate, and all other +perverted passions, are as weeds and thorns in the garden of the +heart. It is fair to presume that the Saviour, when he exhorted his +disciples to forgive and love their enemies, had in view the welfare +of the disciples themselves. It was more for their sake than for the +sake of their enemies, that He gave the exhortation. + +12--185. **The Spirit of the Infinite.** The Holy Spirit, assumed +throughout the poem to be acting through "Elias," the Genius of +Progress, who also has his agents or instruments. + +13--219. **Time's Hills and Vales.** A metaphor suggested by the Book +of Abraham (3:18, 19). + +--- + +CANTO TWO + +1--Title: **The Soul of Song.** Herein the author is represented as +soliloquising upon his native mountains, where he meets the Soul of +Song and is inspired to sing the epic of time and eternity. As the +Soul of Song, "Elias" makes his first appearance in the action of the +poem. + +2--261. **The Sacred Garden.** The Garden of Eden. + +3--263. **Titan Stand.** The Titans were a group of mythical giants, +descended from the gods. (Greek and Roman mythology.) + +4--276. **Orphean Boon.** Orpheus, son of the Muse Calliope, received +from Apollo or Minerva a lyre upon which he played so skillfully that +rocks and trees were moved, rivers ceased to flow, and savage beasts +forgot their wildness, charmed by the wonderful sounds. (Ibid.) + +5--281. **Oh, Were My Words!** A paraphrase of Job 19:23, 24. + +6--288. **Melting Gift.** The power of speech or of song. + +7--384. **Voice of the Stars.** Another reference to Job (38:7). + +8--390. **The Body's Bard.** This allusion is to poets who exalt the +material over the spiritual, the sensuous over the intellectual, the +body of things over the soul of things. + +9--407. **This Most Ancient Shore.** Modern science, confirming +modern revelation, is beginning to regard America as the Old World, +not the New. + +10--408. **And Man Shall Rise.** Zion, City of the Pure-in-Heart, is +to stand upon the ancient site of the Garden of Eden. + +11--415. **Shepherd Psalmist.** David, who played before King Saul, +exorcising the evil spirit which held the monarch bound. (I Samuel +18:10 and 19:9.) + +--- + +CANTO THREE + +1--Title: **Elect of Elohim.** Elohim, or Eloheim, the Hebrew plural +for God. To the modern Jew it means the plural of majesty, not of +number; but to the Latter-day Saint it signifies both. As here used +it stands for "The Council of the Gods," or, as in Psalms 82:1, "The +Congregation of the Mighty." In that council or congregation was +elected, before Earth was formed, the Redeemer of the World. (Pearl +of Great Price--Moses 4:1-4; Abraham 3:22-28; Compendium p. 285.) +This Canto glimpses the choosing of Messiah, the rebellion of +Lucifer, the Saviour's descent to Earth, his crucifixion and return +to Glory. It is the beginning of the poem proper. + +2--450. **Olea's Silver Beam.** Olea, according to the Book of +Abraham, is Moon; Shinehah (Shinea) Sun; and Kokaubeam, Stars. Kolob, +according to the same authority, is a great governing planet "nigh +unto the throne of God." (Abraham 3; D. and C. 76:25, 28.) + +3--504. **Mighty Michael.** Michael the Archangel, leader of the +hosts of Heaven against Lucifer and his rebellious legions, became +Adam and fell from an immortal to a mortal state that he might become +the progenitor of the human family. + +4--516. **Tried Souls.** In "Mormon" theology "soul" means body and +spirit combined, but in general literature, and especially poetry, +"soul" and "spirit" are synonyms. + +5--522. **The Stepping-Stone.** God's children, such as kept the +first or spirit estate, were given bodies upon this planet, thus +becoming souls, capable of eternal increase and advancement. (Abraham +3:26.) Two-thirds of the spirits then populating the Spirit World +were found worthy of opportunities for experience and development in +mortality, while one-third--those who rebelled--were denied that +privilege. (Compendium p. 288.) + +6--528. **The Love That Hath Redeemed All Worlds.** The Gospel of the +Christ, the highest expression of God's love for man, has saved many +worlds, and is destined to save many more. (Moses 1:33-39.) But the +Gospel is more than a means of escape from impending ills; it existed +before man had need of salvation. A divine plan for human progress, +embracing both the Fall and the Redemption, it was framed in the +heavens before this earth was organized, and is a free gift from God +to man. Man, however, to avail himself of its benefits, must yield +obedience to its requirements. Redemption (resurrection) comes +unconditionally, but salvation and exaltation depend upon human works +as well as upon divine favor. A soul may be redeemed--raised from the +dead--and yet condemned at the final judgment for evil deeds done in +the body. Likewise may a soul be redeemed and saved, and yet come +short of the glory that constitutes exaltation. To redeem, save and +glorify is the threefold purpose of the Gospel of Christ. The English +word "Gospel" comes from the Anglo-Saxon "Godspell" or God-Story--the +story of God. In its fullest sense it signifies everything connected +with the redemptive career of that Divine Being who gave His life +that man might eternally live. + +7--548. **Exception Scorns.** Lucifer, who fain would have been the +Redeemer, proposed to save by coercive methods, involving the +destruction of human agency, and demanded as his reward the honor +that belongs to God. (Moses 4:1-4; Abraham 3:22-28) + +8--560. **My Messenger.** It was Jehovah the God of Israel who became +Jesus of Nazareth and died to redeem mankind (D. and C. 110:1-4). He +is Son Ahman, concerning whom Orson Pratt, citing an unpublished +revelation, says: "What is the name of God in the pure language? The +answer says 'Ahman.' What is the name of the Son of God? Answer, 'Son +Ahman, the greatest of all the parts of God, excepting Ahman.' What +is the name of men? 'Son Ahman,' is the answer." (Journal of +Discourses, Vol. II, p. 342.) + +9--562. **Thy Face Before.** An allusion to Elias, the lesser going +before the greater. + +10--571. **My Friend.** Abraham, the friend of God, and father of the +faithful. + +11--572. **Idumea.** The World--here used as a synonym for Earth. + +12--589. **This Wandering Planet Bring.** "This earth will be rolled +back into the presence of God and crowned with celestial +glory."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 288). + +13--613. **The Hour of Noon.** The Meridian Dispensation. + +14--615. **Light's Sun and Moon.** Christ, the light of the sun, moon +and stars, and the power by which they were made. (D. and C. 88:7, 8, +9.) + +15--619. **Elias? Yea and Nay.** John the Baptist, forerunner of the +Christ, was an Elias, a restorer; but, according to Joseph Smith, not +the Elias who is to restore all things. There are many Eliases, +Joseph says: "When God sends a man into the world to prepare for a +greater work, holding the keys of the power of Elias, it was called +the doctrine of Elias even from the early ages of the world." +(Compendium, p. 281.) + +16--621. **Learned to Shine.** Before the Twelve Apostles were +chosen, John the Baptist proclaimed the Lamb of God, and said +concerning Him: "He must increase, and I must decrease." John was +therefore as the waning Moon in the presence of the rising Sun. + +17--640. **A City Doomed.** Jerusalem, over which the Saviour wept, +prophesying its downfall. (Matthew 23:37-39.) + +18--656. **Gloom-Wrapt Gethsemane.** The Saviour's agony in the +Garden of Gethsemane is an incident familiar to every reader of the +New Testament. + +19--675. **Immanuel.** One of the titles of the Saviour, meaning "God +with us." + +--- + +CANTO FOUR + +1--Title: **Night and the Wilderness.** This part of the poem is an +allegory of the Christian or Meridian Dispensation, following the +death of Jesus and his forerunner; portraying the mission of the +Comforter, and showing the departure from the primitive Faith, after +the passing of the apostolic Twelve, one of whom--the Church having +gone into the Wilderness--remains to testify of things to come. The +"Night" is the spiritual night that followed the setting of the Sun +of Righteousness--a night lit by Moon and Stars, with lesser lights +twinkling through the Dark Ages and onward into modern times. The +"Wilderness" is the world invisible. (D. and C. 88:66.) + +2--688. **An Eagle's Wings.** The Roman Empire, emblemized by the +Eagle, dominated the then known world. + +3--696. **Peace to Flow.** "(I) The immense field covered by the +conquests of Alexander gave to the civilized world a unity of +language, without which it would have been, humanly speaking, +impossible for the earliest preachers to have made known the good +tidings in every land which they traversed. (II) The rise of the +Roman Empire created a political unity which reflected in every +direction the doctrines of the new faith. (III) The dispersion of the +Jews prepared vast multitudes of Greeks and Romans for the unity of a +pure morality and a monotheistic faith. The Gospel emanated from the +capital of Judea; it was preached in the tongue of Athens; it was +diffused through the empire of Rome; the feet of its earliest +missionaries traversed the solid structure of undeviating roads by +which the Roman legionaries--'those massive hammers of the whole +earth'--had made straight in the desert a highway for our God. +Semite and Aryan had been unconscious instruments in the hands of God +for the spread of a religion which, in its first beginnings, both +alike detested and despised. The letters of Hebrew and Greek and +Latin inscribed above the cross were the prophetic and unconscious +testimony of three of the world's noblest languages to the undying +claims of Him who suffered to obliterate the animosities of the +nations which spoke them, and to unite them all together in the one +great Family of God."--Dean Farrar, in "The Life and Work of St. +Paul," abridged edition, Book II, pp. 61, 62. + +4--706. **She-Wolf's Might.** The She-Wolf, traditionally the nurse +of Romulus and Remus, who founded Rome, was also an emblem of that +world-conquering power, which, though eventually it persecuted the +Christians, at first protected them from their Jewish oppressors. +Judah's emblem was the Lion. As for the remaining figure in the +allusion, it is written that the Saviour said to his disciples: "I +send you forth as lambs among wolves." + +5--707. **Iron-Limbed.** The phrases "iron-limbed," "brazen-loin," +"silver-breasted," "golden Babylon," characterize respectively the +Roman, Graeco-Macedonian, Medo-Persian, and Babylonian empires, +which, in reverse order, ruled successively the ancient world. +Beginning with Babylon, the "head of gold," these four universal +powers figure in the Prophet Daniel's interpretation of +Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2). + +6--713. **Asian Kin.** Alexander the Great extended his conquests as +far eastward as India, whose native inhabitants claim kinship with +European peoples through a common Aryan ancestry. If this claim be +true, then the Hindoos, like the Europeans, are descended from +Japheth, the eldest son of Noah, and consequently are "Gentiles"--a +word springing from "Gentilis," meaning "of a nation," that is, a +nation not of Israel. + +7--718. **Kurush.** Cyrus, founder of the Medo-Persian empire. + +8--730. **Lofty Vineyards.** D. and C. 88:51-61. + +9--731. **Spirit Moon and Speaking Stars.** The Holy Ghost and the +Apostolic Twelve. + +10--732. **The Woman Wonderful.** The Church of Christ, represented +by a Woman (Revelation 12), and referred to in other places as the +Bride, the Lamb's Wife. + +11--736. **Glory's Symboling.** Sun, moon and stars, symbolizing +celestial, terrestrial, and telestial glories. (D. and C. 76:96-98.) + +12--742. **Vicegerent.** The Comforter, concerning whom Jesus said, +"It is needful that I go, or He will not come unto you." In other +words, the greater Light had to depart, before the lesser could shine +in its fulness. + +13--743. **The Unembodied One.** Says Joseph the Seer: "The Father +has a body of flesh and bones, as tangible as man's; the Son also; +but the Holy Ghost is a personage of spirit." (D. and C. 130:22.) + +14--748. **After and Ere.** God and Christ, the Father and the Son, +by the power of the Holy Ghost created all things, and by that power +will raise all from the dead. + +15--756. **Prophet Still Pleading.** The Spirit of Prophecy, typified +by John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness. + +16--774. **Those Fluent Stars.** The Twelve Apostles, oracles of God +and crown of the Church of Christ. (Rev. 12:1.) + +17--781. **Save Haply One.** John the Beloved. (John 21:20-23; D. +and C. 7 and 77.) + +18--789. **Leading the Lost.** It is believed that John the Revelator +will lead the Lost Tribes from "The Land of the North." (D. and C. +77:14; Rev. 10:8-11.) + +19--806. **The Man-Child.** The Man-Child of the Apocalypse (Rev. +12:5) represents the Priesthood--divine authority--which was taken +from the Earth, with the fulness of the Gospel, after the passing of +the Apostles. + +20--815. **Japheth Sways.** Gentile domination over Israel, +particularly in those nations where the Jews have been and are still +oppressed. + +21--820. **Antaeus-Like.** Antaeus was a fabled giant, vanquished by +Hercules. Each time that Hercules threw him the giant gained fresh +strength from coming in contact with the ground. + +22--822. **Conquering His Dust-Adoring Conqueror.** The modern Jew is +said to hold the purse-strings of the world. + +23--831. **That Gentile Hosts Might See.** Saul of Tarsus, afterwards +Paul the Apostle, persecuted the Church of Christ before his +conversion (Acts 9:1-19). Thus was typified the spiritual blindness +of Israel, which caused the Gospel to be carried to the Gentiles. +Paul, the principal agent for their illumination, declares: +"Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the +Gentiles be come in." (Rom. 11:25.) + +24--832. **Martyred, Immolate.** Israel's dispersion, like Adam's +fall and Christ's crucifixion, was part of a mighty plan for the +promotion of the human race. Adam fell that mortal man might be. +Christ died to burst the bands of death and make the fall effectual +unto the higher ends ordained. The children of Israel were scattered +over the world, in order that the Gospel might make its way more +readily among all peoples. The history of Israel is the history of a +martyred nation, suffering for the welfare of other nations, whatever +may be said of the transgressions of the chosen people, which +occasioned and justified the calamities that came upon them. + +25--841. **From 'Neath the Yoke.** The future redemption of the Negro +race. + +26--843. **See and Hear His Risen Lord.** The House of Israel is +privileged to receive the personal ministrations of the Saviour, +while the Gentiles are ministered to by the Holy Ghost. (III Nephi +15:23.) + +27--847. **In the Mire.** Beginning of the Christian departure from +the true Faith. + +28--850. **The Heaven-Lit Torch.** The Light of the Gospel, enjoyed +by the primitive Christians, though compelled to hide from their +Roman persecutors and worship God on mountain tops and in the +catacombs. + +29--852. **Incense * * * Diana's Shrine.** Diana was a deity +worshiped by the Romans. "Incense"--metaphorically the vain +philosophies, traditions and customs, adopted by the false Church +that came up in the place of the true Church and paganized itself in +order to be popular with the world. + +30--855. **Shearing Compromise.** The result, spiritually, of the +enthronement of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman +Empire, A. D. 324. + +31--861. **East from West.** The pseudo Church, as well as the Empire +of the Caesars, divided itself into East and West, with +Constantinople and Rome as the capital cities. + +32--874. **She Was Wont.** "She" stands for the true Church of Christ. + +33--880. **Crimson Courtesan.** The Scarlet Woman described by John +the Revelator (Rev. 17). + +34--900. **Till the Judgment Sits.** A reference to Daniel 7:21-27. + +35--902. **Glory Lift the Gloom.** Messiah's second coming. + +36--903. **The Moonlike One.** The Holy Spirit, ruling the Night of +Ages, after the Light of the World has departed. + +37--908. **Impelling to All Action.** The impelling power of the +Spirit of God is interestingly set forth in I Nephi 13:10-19. See +also Lowell's poems "Columbus" and "A Glance Behind the Curtain." + +38--951. **Wayward Son of Deity.** Napoleon and other conquerors type +the class of characters here described. + +39--973. **Some Said Jeremias.** When the Saviour inquired, "Whom do +men say that I am?" Peter answered "Some say Thou art Elias, and some +say Jeremias." Elias and Jeremias are Greek forms of the Hebrew names +Elijah and Jeremiah. Joseph Smith, however, drew a distinction +between the spirit of Elias and the spirit of Elijah. (Compendium, +pp. 281-283.) + +40--983. **Mirror and Model of Humanity.** "God created man in his +own image." (Gen. 1:27.) + +41--997. **Incomprehensible.** So modern Christians contend +respecting Deity. It is true only in part. God's unrevealed infinite +fulness is of course incomprehensible to the finite mind. But what He +has revealed concerning Himself is not incomprehensible. Else why did +He reveal it? + +42--1008. **Each as a Star.** The Jewish or Mosaic Dispensation shed +light that prepared the world for a greater--the Christian +Dispensation; which, in its turn, made ready for one greater +still--the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times. This is the +significance of "Elias." (Compendium, p. 281.) + +43--1020. **A Weapon for the Right.** Such writers as Voltaire, +Paine, and Ingersoll, subserve the cause of Christ by shattering +false traditions, erroneously supposed by many to be true teachings +of the Saviour and his Apostles. + +--- + +CANTO FIVE + +1--Title: **The Messenger of Morn.** The fore part of this Canto, +down to and including the line, "Out, out of her, my people, saith +your God," summarizes the message borne by the modern Prophet. The +curtain now rises upon the last act of the redemptive drama--the +final restoration of the Gospel; Joseph the Seer, as the Elias of the +scene, heralding the tidings of the approaching millennial reign. + +2--1052. **Whence Ye Were Hewn.** An allusion to Isaiah 51:1-3. + +3--1060. **Wastes of Unbelief.** Gentile or heathen lands, refreshed +by the sprinkled blood of Israel--the blood that believes--and by +spiritual visitations that accompany or follow such dispersions. + +4--1061. **Japheth, Thy Planet Pales.** Japheth stands for the +Gentiles, whose "fulness" now "comes in." + +5--1077. **Mother of Centuries.** Time, as distinguished from +Eternity (though technically eternity includes time), comprises seven +thousand years, or seventy centuries, covered by seven Gospel +dispensations. The Quorum of the Seventy, with the presiding First +Council, is a probable typing in this connection. + +6--1079. **Teach Them to Be One.** "It is necessary, in the ushering +in of the dispensation of the fulness of times, * * * that a whole +and complete and perfect union and welding together of dispensations +and keys and powers and glories should take place and be revealed +from the days of Adam even to the present time."--Joseph Smith, (D. +and C. 128:18.) + +7--1084. **Shiloh Reigns.** Shiloh is another Hebrew name for +Messiah, whose reign of a thousand years will equal in duration one +revolution of the planet Kolob. (Abraham 3:4.) + +8--1085. **Hast Labored.** The seven thousand years of Earth's +"temporal existence" correspond to the seven seals of the Apocalyptic +Book (Rev. 5 and 6) and are as seven great days, four of which had +passed before Christ came, while nearly two have gone by since. +According to this reckoning we are now in the Saturday evening of +human history. The Millennium will be the seventh day--the World's +Sabbath. (D. and C. 77:12; Abraham 3, 4, and 5). + +9--1089. **Ancient Tidings.** The Everlasting Gospel, first revealed +to Adam, who presides over all the dispensations. (History of the +Church, Vol. 4, pp. 207-209). + +10--1103. **What I Know.** Joseph Smith is said to have expressed the +wish that he might reveal his identity and declare all that God had +made known to him. + +11--1117. **Gibborim.** Mighty ones. King David's six hundred guards +were called "The Gibborim," for their heroic bravery. (Geike, "Hours +With the Bible," Vol. III, pp. 254, 276, 325, 339). + +12--1118. **Worthy The Word.** The explanation of this phrase is in +that saying of the Saviour's: "Is it not written that they are gods +to whom the word of God comes?"--meaning, of course, a superior race +of men. + +13--1136. **Fifth of Seven.** The Fifth Angel is he who "committeth +the everlasting gospel." (D. and C., 88:103). + +14--1165. **From Wintry Sleep.** At this point begins the personal +history of the Prophet, who is also the subject of previous +allusions. ("Writings of Joseph Smith"--Pearl of Great Price). + +15--1214. **Dual Presence.** Joseph's vision of the Father and the +Son. + +16--1217. **Unknown Mount.** A mountain referred to in the Book of +Moses. (1:1). + +17--1235. **An Atlas.** Atlas was one of the Titans. He is depicted +with the globe on his back. + +18--1247. **Exalted Man.** "God himself is an exalted man."--Joseph +Smith, ("Times and Seasons," August 15, 1844). + + "As man now is, God once was; + As God now is, man may be."-- + Lorenzo Snow, Biography, p. 46. + +19--1261. **Wisdom of the Wise.** The stanza in which this phrase +occurs is based upon Isaiah 29:13, 14. + +20--1283. **A Messenger From God.** The Angel Moroni. + +21--1302. **Page to Page.** The Book of Mormon, or Stick of Joseph, +joins with the Hebrew Bible, or Stick of Judah, as foretold by +Ezekiel (37:16-20). + +22--1310. **Ready For The Fall.** Prophecy ripe for fulfillment. + +23--1311. **Elias Comes.** Moroni, restoring the Gospel, predicts the +coming of a greater, to restore all things. + +24--1324. **Fullest Freedom.** The Kingdom of God will protect all +men in the enjoyment of their rights. The citizens and lawmakers of +that Kingdom will not be all of one religious faith. So taught Joseph +Smith and Brigham Young. + +25--1331. **Primal Language.** The Adamic tongue or Pure Language, +brought back in the restoration of all things. + +26--1407. **Ramah * * * Cumorah.** Book of Mormon names. That book is +an abridged history of two great races, the Jaredites and the +Nephites, who inhabited America prior to its discovery by Europeans. +Their occupancy of the land was successive, the Jaredites coming from +the Tower of Babel, B. C. 2218; and the founders of the Nephite +nation from Judea, B. C. 600. The Jaredites perished about the time +that the Nephites came. The latter were destroyed, A. D. 384, by the +Lamanites, a degenerate and savage faction of their own people, whose +remnants were found by Columbus and named Indians. The golden plates +containing the Nephite-Jaredite record were taken by Joseph Smith +from the Jaredite hill Ramah, called by the Nephites, Cumorah. + +--- + +CANTO SIX + +1--Title: **From Out The Dust.** A paraphrase of Isaiah 29:4. The +prediction is held to have been fulfilled in the coming forth of the +Book of Mormon. This entire Canto is based upon the general content +of that volume. It embodies the prehistoric story of America, assumed +to have been related by the angel custodian to the translator of the +buried Book of Gold. + +2--1415. **Must Righteous Be.** See Ether 2:8-12. + +3--1434. **Former State.** The Book of Mormon is the only adequate +explanation of the origin of the American Indians. + +4--1457. **Ancient Altar.** Adam's altar, in Adam-ondi-Ahman, +otherwise Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri, (D. and C. 116; +History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 388). + +5--1461. **Dual Grave.** Burial in earth and hell, or death temporal +and spiritual. + +6--1466. **Where Adam Dwelt.** According to Joseph Smith, Jackson +County, Missouri, is the ancient site of the Garden of Eden. Our +First Parents, after their expulsion from Eden, dwelt in the Valley +of Adam-ondi-Ahman. See Note 4. + +7--1468. **Still Chaste.** The fall of Adam and Eve, while +technically a sin because of a broken law, should be stressed as the +means whereby God's children obtained their bodies, rather than as an +act of moral turpitude. There are two general classes of +crimes--malum per se and malum prohibitum. Malum per se is a Latin +phrase signifying "an evil in itself," while malum prohibitum means +"that which is wrong because forbidden by law." The transgression of +our First Parents was malum prohibitum, and the consequent descent +from an immortal to a mortal condition was the Fall. + +8--1470. **Love's Work.** Adam's fall prepared the way for Christ's +redemptive mission. Had there been no fall, man would have remained a +spirit, without a body, and consequently imperfect. Christ redeemed +the soul--spirit and body--and put it in the way to perfection. + +9--1471. **Zion of Primeval Days.** The City of Enoch. (Moses +7:18-64; History of the Church, Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210; D. and C. +84:99-102.) + +10--1479. **Final Change.** The change wrought upon the people of +Enoch by translation not being equivalent to resurrection, they will +have to undergo a further change, to prepare them for celestial +glory. But they will not taste of death. A similar lot is that of +John the Beloved (John 21:20-23; D. and C. 7); also of the Three +Nephites (III Nephi 28) and of certain ones mentioned by Paul (I Cor. +15:50-54). + +11--1480. **New Jerusalem.** The divinely chosen site for the Holy +City is Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. + +12--1484. **Japheth * * * Shem.** The reference is to Noah's blessing +upon Shem and Japheth (Gen. 9:26-27). From Shem came Abraham, the +ancestor of the House of Israel; and from Japheth the Gentiles, the +founders of the most enlightened nations of modern times, including +the United States of America. Ham, through Canaan, was the progenitor +of the negro race, long held in slavery in this and other Gentile +countries. The Ethiopian has also served the Semite, as Noah +predicted. How Japheth has "dwelt in the tents of Shem," is partly +shown by the history of Palestine, long dominated by the Gentiles, +particularly the Turks, who still possess it. Japheth's remarkable +blessing has also been realized in the history of our own country, +America, which the Gentiles now inhabit, and where, according to the +Book of Mormon, they are to assist in gathering Israel and building +the New Jerusalem, (III Nephi 20 and 21). It is their privilege to +share, if they will, in all the blessings promised to the chosen +people. (Abraham 2:9-11.) "The tents of Shem" may be interpreted to +mean the homes of the people of God, lineally descended from Shem, +through Abraham. + +13--1485. **An Ark of Peace.** "It shall be the only people that +shall not be at war one with another." (D. and C. 45:69). + +14--1486. **The Ensign.** The Church of Christ in Latter Days. + +15--1487. **Joseph Signals Jacob.** Joseph, in Ephraim, begins the +work of Israel's gathering. + +16--1489. **Ancient of Days.** Adam as the Ancient of Days will +return to the place where he blessed his posterity. (D. and C. 116; +History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 388). See notes 4 and 6. + +17--1507. **Hesperia.** The West--America. + +18--1512. **That Servant.** The servant mentioned by the Saviour to +the Nephites. (III Nephi 21:10, 11). + +19--1515. **God's Legion.** "Zion, which shall come forth out of all +the creations which I have made." (Moses 7:64). + +20--1517. **Land of Joseph.** America, as the Latter-day Saints have +been taught to believe, was given to Joseph of old as an inheritance. +(Gen. 49:22, 26; Deut. 33:13-17). + +21--1519. **Gog and Magog.** Gog is the name of a person; Magog, of a +country or people. According to Ezekiel (38 and 39) Gog, "the chief +prince of Meshech and Tubal," was to come with his people from the +North to invade the land of Israel and there suffer defeat. Gog and +Magog are generally understood as symbolical expressions for the +heathen nations of Asia, more particularly the Scythians. In this +poem the allusion is to those nations that war against Zion. + +22--1538. **Where, Joseph?** Joseph Smith is meant. To him, after a +general introduction, Moroni relates the story of the Jaredites, as +told in that part of the Book of Mormon entitled "The Book of Ether." + +23--1540. **Wide Severing.** In the days of Peleg the earth was +"divided" (Gen. 10:25). Whether this means the dividing "to the +nations" of "their inheritance" (Deut. 32.8), or a tearing asunder of +the land into continents and islands, is not stated. The latter view, +the one here suggested, may help to explain why the site of the +Garden of Eden is now in North America. + +24--1543. **Sons of Shinar.** The Jaredites, who came from the Tower +of Babel, the place of which was "a plain in the Land of Shinar." +(Gen. 11:2). Shinar was Chaldea. + +25--1547. **Primal Tongue.** The language of the Jaredites--the pure +Adamic tongue--was not confounded. + +26--1554. **A Book Sublime.** A book written by the Jaredite leader, +and yet to come forth. That leader was Mahonri Moriancumr, though +this name does not occur in the Book of Mormon. "The Brother of +Jared" is the only appellation bestowed upon him there. Joseph Smith +supplied the missing name. + +27--1557. **Baptismal Billows.** The Jaredites, in barges, passed +through the depths of the ocean, to reach their Land of Promise +(Ether 6:6). Their voyage was therefore a baptism, more literal than +the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and referred to by +Paul as a baptism. (1 Cor. 10:2.) + +28--1561. **Shelem's Height.** The Mount Shelem, so called "because +of its exceeding height." (Ether 3:1). + +29--1566. **Wing-Like Continents.** North and South America. + +30--1573. **Mahonri's Realm.** North America, possessed by the +Jaredites down to about 600 B. C., when the nation was destroyed by +internecine strife. + +31--1580. **Freedom's Greater Cause.** The Cause of Christ. + +32--1591. **Past Zions Rose.** "Thou hast taken Zion to thine own +bosom, from all thy creations, from all eternity to all eternity." +(Moses 7:31.) + +33--1595. **Fortressed by God's Mightiness.** I Nephi 13:19; Ether +2:12; D. and C. 45:70. + +34--1601. **"Give Us a King."** The Jaredites demanded a king--a +demand reluctantly acceded to by their leaders, who foresaw, as did +Samuel the Prophet, in a similar situation, the evils that would +result. (Ether 6:22-28; I Samuel 8:4-22). + +35--1645. **Solitary Twain.** The Prophet Ether and King Coriantumr, +the last of the Jaredites. + +36--1653. **Another Nation.** The Nephites. + +37--1657. **After Tale.** These words--part of a brief comment by the +author--introduce a summary of the Nephite narrative. + +38--1665. **A Leper.** Jerusalem in her degenerate state. + +39--1666. **Prophet Pioneer.** Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, through +Manasseh, with a colony from Jerusalem, succeeds the all but extinct +Jaredites upon the Land of Promise, where they extend the glory of +their great ancestor. + +40--1669. **Joseph's Bough.** "Joseph is a fruitful bough." (Gen. +49:22). + +41--1690. **Chosen Seer.** Lehi predicts the coming of "a choice +seer" who is to be a lineal descendant of Joseph. The name of that +seer is also to be Joseph, and it is to be the name of his father--a +prophecy fulfilled in Joseph Smith, Jr. (II Nephi 3.) + +42--1692. **Buried Lore.** The Book of Mormon. + +43--1695. **Favored Son.** Nephi, who succeeded his father Lehi, and +against whom his brothers Laman and Lemuel rebelled, thus dividing +the nation into Nephites and Lamanites. + +44--1712. **Heavy Rod.** The Lord used the savage Lamanites to +scourge the enlightened yet ofttimes disobedient Nephites. + +45--1717. **Infinite and Spirit Minister.** The Spirit of the Lord, +declared by Nephi to be in the form of man, and with whom he +conversed as one man converses with another. (I Nephi 11:11). + +46--1731. **Prophet Prince Foresaw.** Nephi's vision of the future, +in which he beheld events upon both hemispheres--Christ's crucifixion +and resurrection, and his subsequent appearings to the more righteous +of the Nephites, preceded by awful judgments upon the wicked (III +Nephi 8-11). + +47--1757. **Final Doom.** The conflagrations that destroyed Nephite +cities were prophetic of the end of the world, which is to be by fire. + +48--1771. **Infant Innocence.** The children of the Nephites, blessed +by the Saviour. (III Nephi 17:11-24). + +49--1785. **Other Sheep.** Jesus said to his Jewish disciples, "Other +sheep I have, which are not of this fold." (John 10:16). They +supposed that he meant the Gentiles, instead of which, as the Book of +Mormon tells, he had reference to the Nephites and to other branches +of the House of Israel. (III Nephi 15:17-24; 16:1; 17:4.) + +50--1803. **Japheth's Destiny.** The Saviour portrays the future of +America and the diverse fates of the obedient and disobedient +Gentiles (III Nephi 16 and 21). + +51--1811. **A Lion to the Chase.** III Nephi, 20:16; 21:12. + +52--1820. **Sun's Red Glow.** The wrath of the Lamanites, turning +upon their white oppressors. + +53--1822. **Eternal Rays.** Divinely revealed laws by which Zion will +be redeemed (D. and C. 105:4, 5). + +54--1826. **Servant Marred.** "He shall be marred because of them." +(III Nephi 21:10.) + +55--1834. **He Sanctifieth Three.** The Three Nephites (III Nephi +28). + +56--1847. **Forebeam of Day Divine.** The happy condition of the +Nephites, for two centuries after the coming of Christ, was a +foretaste of the Millennium. + +57--1854. **So Shall It Be.** Terrible calamities are to precede the +Reign of Peace, as they preceded the events that typified it. +(Matthew 24). + +58--1869. **Avalanche * * * Sun's Face.** Nephites and Lamanites. + +59--1872. **Bloody Chase.** The Lamanites driving the Nephites to +their doom at the Hill Cumorah. + +60--1883. **Oriental Sight.** The Western Hemisphere discovered by +the Eastern. + +61--1885. **Faith * * * Patience.** The Brother of Jared was noted +for his exceeding faith (Ether 3:9). Columbus triumphed by patient +endurance. + +62--1894. **Zion's Land.** Joseph Smith declared the whole of America +to be the Land of Zion. + +63--1899. **Oppressed Become Oppressors.** Even the liberty-loving +settlers of New England, who had fled from tyranny in the Old World +to find freedom in the New, enslaved the red man and drove him from +his ancient possessions. + +64--1904. **The Motherland.** Great Britain, mother of the New +England colonies. + +65--1909. **Man of Matchless Worth.** Washington. + +66--1922. **Joseph's Namesake Seer.** Joseph Smith, Jr., (II Nephi 3). + +67--1931. **The Iron Rod.** The Word of God (1 Nephi 11:25). + +68--1945. **Spirit Gardens.** The Heavenly fields. (D. and C. +88:51-61). + +--- + +CANTO SEVEN + +1--Title: **The Arcana of the Infinite.** "Arcana," the Latin plural +of "Arcanum," signifies hidden, secret. This title is intended to be +an equivalent for "The Mysteries of the Kingdom"--the esoteric +features or advanced principles of the Gospel. Herein are summarized +those sublime doctrines that came directly to the modern Revelator +during and subsequent to the translating of the ancient plates. A +vision of the dispensations is involved--the reading of the Book of +Time and the Volume of Eternity. + +2--1986. **One Vast Mind.** Joseph Smith, Prophet, Seer, and +Revelator. + +3--2009. **The Solemn Dispensations.** In theology the term +"dispensation"--from "dispense," to deal out or distribute--signifies +the method or scheme by which God has at different times developed +his purposes and revealed himself to man. It also denotes a period +marked by some particular development of the Lord's work, such as the +Mosaic Dispensation, lasting from Moses to Christ; or the Meridian +Dispensation, ending in the apostacy that made necessary another +restoration of the Gospel and the Priesthood. While revelation is +silent upon the subject, it is probable that there are seven Gospel +dispensations--seven distinct periods during which the Plan of +Progression, revealed from Heaven to Earth, has been among the +children of men. The belief as to seven is partly based upon the +scriptural or symbolical character of that number, and upon the +Prophet Joseph's teachings relative to the seven periods, each of a +thousand years, answering to the seven seals of the mystical Book +seen by John in his vision on Patmos (Rev. 5, 6; D. and C. 77). + +4--2022. **The Trumpets Seven.** The Angels of the Dispensations. (D. +and C. 88:92-116). + +5--2032. **The Holy Order.** The Eternal Priesthood--divine +authority--and those who wield it, in Heaven and on Earth. (History +of the Church, Vol. III, p. 385; Vol. IV, p. 207; D. and C. 20, 68, +84, 107, 112, 121, 124; Alma 13:1-10.) + +6--2057. **Ere Earth Knew Abraham.** The pre-existence of the House +of Israel is intimated by Moses (Deut. 32:7, 8). The 144,000 +mentioned by John (Rev. 14:1) and by Joseph (D. and C. 77:11) were +"of all the tribes of the children of Israel." + +7--2059. **Ark of God * * * Sword of Flame.** Emblems, respectively, +of the Priesthood and the Gospel. + +8--2063. **Shine and Shadow.** Dispensations of heavenly light, +alternating with periods of spiritual darkness. + +9--2068. **Succeeded By The Less.** Moses, with the Melchisedek +Priesthood and the fulness of the Gospel, was taken back to Heaven, +leaving Israel to be governed by the Aaronic Priesthood and the Law. +(D. and C. 84:19-28.) + +10--2071. **Ministers Upon Each Hemisphere.** Jewish and Nephite +apostles. + +11--2074. **The Perfect Church.** The Church of Christ on Earth, +perfected after the pattern of the Church in Heaven. (D. and C. +76:67; 107:93. See also "Gospel Themes," p. 81.) + +12--2089. **The Ancient One.** "Daniel, in his seventh chapter, +speaks of the Ancient of Days; he means the oldest man, our father +Adam, Michael; he will call his children together and hold a council +with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man."--Joseph +Smith (History of the Church, Vol. 3, p. 386; D. and C. 116). + +13--2099. **Keys of Light.** "Three grand keys by which good or bad +angels or spirits may be known." (D. and C. 129). + +14--2136. **Most Intelligent.** "God himself, finding he was in the +midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw +proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to +advance like himself."--Joseph Smith ("Times and Seasons," August 15. +1844). + +15--2140. **Intelligence Eternal.** "Intelligence, or the light of +truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be" (D. and C. +93:29, 36). "The first principles of man are self existent with God." +("Times and Seasons," August 15, 1844). + +16--2150. **Birth and Death Are Baptism.** See "Gospel Themes," pp. +66, 67. + +17--2161. **Earthly Sorrow.** The trials of mortal life, foreseen +from spirit heights by the children of God, who nevertheless rejoiced +at the prospect of glory beyond. + +18--2167. **Second Estate.** Man's first estate is the spirit life; +his second estate, the mortal life. In the former he walks by sight, +in the latter by faith. + +19--2188. **Sun or Moon or Varying Star.** The heavenly bodies typify +celestial, terrestrial, and telestial glories. (D. and C. 76:96-98.) + +20--2197. **Vicarious Ordinance.** Temple work, done by the living in +behalf of the dead. (D. and C. 127 and 128.) + +21--2288. **Felon's Debt.** "This earth was organized or formed out +of other planets which were broken up and remodeled and made into the +one on which we live."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 287). + +22--2293. **Law Hath Magnified.** "The earth abideth the law of a +celestial kingdom." (D. and C. 88:25). + +23--2298. **Celestial Seer Stone.** Earth in its sanctified, +immortal, and eternal state will be like a sea of glass and fire +(Rev. 4:6), a great Urim and Thummim to its glorified inhabitants (D. +and C. 130:6-11). + +24--2325. **Would Have Lived The Law.** Men's desires as well as deeds +will form a basis for eternal judgment (History of the Church, Vol. +2, p. 380). + +25--2333. **Judah's One and Joseph's Three.** John the Revelator and +the Three Nephites. + +26--2336. **Unclothed Spirit.** The Spirit seen by the Brother of +Jared, and afterwards embodied as Jesus of Nazareth. + +27--2337. **The Triple Seer.** The Apostle Paul, "caught up to the +third heaven" (II Cor. 12:2). + +--- + +CANTO EIGHT + +1--Title: **The Lifted Ensign.** The Church of Jesus Christ of +Latter-day Saints, organized April 6, 1830. + +2--2357. **Shepherds Twain.** Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, the +first and second Elders of the Church. + +3--2366. **Giant of Untruth.** The parallel begun in the first stanza +continues through the second. + +4--2380. **Time Yet Was Young.** Here the main narrative reverts to +the story of Enoch and his city, as revealed to Joseph the Seer, and +embodied in the Book of Moses (6 and 7). In the poem that story +continues as far as the line, "And Noah's righteous seed in me +rejoice." + +5--2389. **Sainted Commonweal.** The City of Enoch. + +6--2400. **Chain * * * Sundered.** The people of Enoch, under the Law +of Consecration, attained to such a superior condition that it was +said of them: "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were +of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness, and there was +no poor among them." (Moses 7:18.) + +7--2404. **Armageddon's Conflict.** The final struggle between the +powers of Good and Evil, when Satan will be overthrown (D. and C. +88:112-115). + +8--2409. **Terrestrial Radiance.** "Their place of habitation is that +of the terrestrial order." They are "held in reserve to be +ministering angels unto many planets," and "as yet have not entered +into so great a fulness as those who are resurrected from the dead." +Joseph Smith ("History of the Church," Vol. 4, pp. 209, 210). + +9--2420. **The Captive Free.** Christ, during the interval between +his crucifixion and resurrection, visited and preached to "the +spirits in prison"--spirits disobedient in the days of Noah, and +swept away by the Deluge (I Peter 3:19, 20; and 4:61; Key to Theology +14). + +10--2424. **Climbing Robber-like.** According to the Bible, the +people who built the Tower of Babel did so that its top might "reach +unto heaven" (Gen. 11:4). Joseph Smith is said to have declared that +the "heaven" they had in view was the City of Enoch, then suspended +within sight of the earth. Endeavoring to get to Heaven by "another +way," the builders of Babel were comparable to "thieves and robbers." +Tradition asserts that the City of Enoch stood where the Gulf of +Mexico now is. + +11--2432. **Tri-Branching Tree.** Noah and his three sons, Japheth, +Shem and Ham. + +12--2464. **One Like Unto Him.** Joseph Smith was a man like unto +Moses, who was like unto Christ. Moses led Israel out of temporal +bondage, and Joseph began a work destined to deliver Israel from +spiritual bondage. Thus Moses and Joseph were both typical of Him who +redeemed the world from the bondage of sin and death. + +13--2467. **A Two-Fold Type.** The social and spiritual condition of +the Jewish saints and the Nephite disciples foretokened the +Millennium. Joseph Smith had in view the realization of what Enoch +had achieved, and what the primitive Christians endeavored to +accomplish, in preparing a people for the presence of the Lord. + +14--2473. **Sought Fulfillment.** Following these words is a +description of social conditions at the time of the advent of +"Mormonism." + +15--2604. **The Trampled Terror.** A personification of the French +Revolution. + +16--2607. **Frowning Mass, Contemning Class.** The social problem of +the Twentieth Century. + +17--2630. **Time An Enoch Came.** Joseph Smith is likened unto Enoch, +and even called by that name, in some of the early revelations (D. +and C., 78, 92, 96, and 104). This may have been done to impress the +fact that Joseph's work was similar to that of Enoch. + +18--2656. **A Holy Hand.** John the Baptist, ordaining Joseph and +Oliver to the Aaronic Priesthood, May 15, 1829 (D. and C. 13). + +19--2661. **Panoply of Power.** The Priesthood. The main narrative +here resumes from the point of digression. + +20--2694. **Again The Woman Wonderful.** The Church of Christ in its +Latter-day Restoration. + +--- + +CANTO NINE + +1--Title: **Upon the Shoulders of the Philistine.** Under this +caption, suggested by Isaiah 11:14, is treated the westward movement +of the Latter-day Saints, incidental to the gathering of scattered +Israel. + +2--2722. **Eaglet's Nest Is Empty.** Within a year after its +organization the church migrated from its birthplace, Fayette, Seneca +County, New York, and the surrounding region. + +3--2724. **Storied Strand.** The shore of Lake Erie, in Northern +Ohio, where the Saints began to settle early in 1831. There they +built their first Temple, and took initial steps toward founding the +United Order, under the Law of Consecration. + +4--2742. **Shinea's Land.** Kirtland, Ohio, and its environs, was +"The Land of Shinehah" (D. and C. 82:12 and 104:40-48). From that +part, in 1837-38, the Church moved its headquarters to Far West, +Caldwell County, Missouri. + +5--2750. **Their Powers Bestow.** An allusion to visions seen in the +Kirtland Temple, April 3, 1836 (D. and C. 110). + +6--2759. **Laman's Bands.** The first mission to the Lamanites +(Indians) was undertaken in the autumn of 1830. The missionaries +labored also among the white people of Ohio and Missouri. At +Independence, which was then on the frontier of the United States, +they crossed the line into Indian Territory, now the State of Kansas. + +7--2767. **Lands the Rarest.** The region drained by the Mississippi +and Missouri rivers. + +8--2779. **Japheth's Wrath.** The Gentiles in Western Missouri, +misapprehending the motives of the "Mormons" in gathering to that +part, and incited by evil-minded agitators, rose against the +newcomers, and drove them first from Jackson County, and eventually +from the State. + +9--2788. **The Shoulders.** Civilization, with its steamships, +railroads, and other utilities, and persecution, with faggot and +sword, have helped God's people to accomplish their destiny. "The +blood of the martyrs" has been "the seed of the Church," whose every +movement, voluntary or compulsory, has been toward the goal of its +ultimate triumph. + +10--2791. **Calm Caesar.** Julius Caesar, while crossing a stormswept +water, quieted the apprehensions of his boatman by remarking, "Fear +not, you carry Caesar and his fortunes." + +11--2794. **The Law of Liberty.** The Gospel of Christ, misnamed +"Mormonism." + +12--2800. **Sees Menace.** Having come mostly from the North and the +East, the "Mormons" were suspected by the slave-holding Missourians +of being abolitionists. This false charge, with others equally +groundless, caused the persecution that followed. + +13--2813. **A Second Pharaoh * * * A Herod.** These epithets fitly +characterize the Governor of Missouri, Lilburn W. Boggs, who issued +the edict under which the persecuted people were expelled. Said he, +to the mob-militia who drove them from their homes: "The Mormons must +be exterminated or driven from the State." + +14--2815. **Gathering the Whirlwind.** Missouri paid her debt to +justice during the Civil War, when her Western borders, where mob +violence had assailed her "Mormon" citizens, were ravaged again and +again by the fierce guerilla warfare that spent its fury in that +unhappy region. + +15--2829. **Shakes the Dungeon.** Joseph Smith and others were +imprisoned in Richmond Jail, where they were taunted by their guards, +who boasted of murders and outrages committed upon the defenseless +people after the surrender of Far West. The lion-hearted leader +endured it till he could endure no more. Springing to his feet, he +rebuked the ribald wretches, commanding them in the name of Jesus +Christ to be still. They obeyed, cowering before him and begging his +pardon. Parley P. Pratt, a fellow prisoner with the Prophet, says of +this remarkable incident: "He ceased to speak. He stood erect in +terrible majesty, chained and without a weapon. * * * I have seen the +ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals +arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath in the +courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to +give laws to nations * * * but dignity and majesty have I seen but +once, as it stood in chains at midnight in a dungeon, in an obscure +village of Missouri." (Autobiography, pp. 229, 230.) + +16--2835. **Disease and Death Subdued.** After the Prophet had +regained his freedom, and while his followers were settling at +Commerce (afterwards Nauvoo), an epidemic of fever and ague swept +over that region. Many, prostrated by the malady, were miraculously +healed under his administrations. + +17--2836. **Sire of Waters.** The Mississippi River. + +18--2839. **City, Mother of Many.** Nauvoo the Beautiful, built upon +the site of Commerce, in Hancock County, Illinois, was the parent and +model of many other cities subsequently founded by the Latter-day +Saints, mostly in the region of the Rocky Mountains. + +19--2846. **Unworldly Link.** The Nauvoo Temple, where work began in +this dispensation for the salvation of the dead. + +20--2847. **Elijah's Mightier Mission.** Malachi 3:1 and 4:5, 6; D. +and C. 110:4-16; History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 211; Gospel +Themes, pp. 138, 139. + +21--2860. **Crisis Past.** Early in 1837, during a period of apostacy +at Kirtland, the Prophet said: "Something new must be done to save +the Church." Thereupon he appointed Heber C. Kimball, of the Council +of the Twelve, to head a mission to Europe. Part of the opposition +encountered by Elder Kimball and his associates was a fierce +onslaught by evil spirits, at Preston, England, where they began +their labors. (Life of Heber C. Kimball, pp. 138-146.) The first +company of emigrating Saints from abroad sailed from Liverpool for +Nauvoo, in 1840. By that time another apostolic mission, headed by +Brigham Young, President of the Twelve, had been sent to the British +Isles. + +22--2863. **Befriended by the Just.** Many of the people of Illinois +extended a hospitable welcome to the plundered and homeless +"Mormons," fleeing out of Missouri. + +23--2866. **Earliest Offering.** Ephraim is the first branch of the +Israelitish tree to bear the fruits of faith in and obedience to the +Gospel in latter days. "Ephraim is my first-born," the Lord says +through Jeremiah (31:9). That is, Ephraim, who "mixed himself among +the people" (Hosea 7:8), is the first to be "born of God"--baptized +and gathered out from the nations. + +24--2877. **Egypt of the West.** America, where the gathered +descendants of Joseph are to re-enact upon a larger scale the part +played by their great ancestor in the famine-stricken nation on the +Nile. + +25--2882. **Long Lost Captives.** The Ten Tribes, carried away by the +Assyrians, B. C. 721, and who are to return from "the north +countries" (D. and C. 133:26-35). + +26--2891. **Rallying the Loyal.** The Latter-day Saints have been +taught to look forward to a time when they, lifting up an ensign to +lovers of law, order, and liberty, and reinforced by them, will save +this Nation, while anarchy is aiming at its life. + +27--2903. **Inglorious Battleground.** The field of Cumorah. + +28--2905. **Where Erst He Fled.** The House of Joseph, in modern +times, begins its march of destiny at the Hill Cumorah, where the +Nephites (also of Joseph) met their tragic fate. There is a tradition +to the effect that every Temple reared by the Latter-day Saints marks +a stage in the flight of the doomed Nephites, pursued by the +victorious Lamanites, to the final slaughter at that historic hill. + +29--2919. **Ruined Lie.** The allusion is to cities and temples built +and abandoned by the Saints in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. (D. and +C. 101, 103, and 105.) + +30--2924. **Union * * * Enoch Saw.** The United Order--all things +consecrated to God. (D. and C. 105:4, 5.) + +31--2930. **Her Trembling Foes.** "Let us not go up to battle against +Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible." (D. and C. 45:70.) + +32--2951. **Pain Shall Bring Thee Power.** Sacrificial trials, that +purify and elevate, redound to the advantage of posterity. The +parents suffer that the children may be blest. All noble and powerful +races have "come up through great tribulation." + +33--2969. **City of Joseph.** A name given to Nauvoo after the +Prophet's martyrdom. + +--- + +CANTO TEN + +1--Title: **The Parted Veil.** Joseph's vision and prophecy of the +future. He is represented as foretelling to his people their great +destiny. + +2--2994. **Honor of a State.** Joseph the Prophet and Hyrum the +Patriarch were murdered while under the pledged protection of the +Governor of Illinois. The mob that fired its fatal volleys into the +bosoms of the martyrs, and went unwhipped of justice, struck down the +honor of a sovereign commonwealth of the American Union. + +3--2998. **The Blazing Dome.** The Nauvoo Temple, burned by the mob +forces, after they had captured the city and expelled the remnant of +the persecuted community left behind at the beginning of the exodus +in February, 1846. + +4--3003. **New Born Babes.** Nine infants, it is said, were born in +the camps of the fugitive Saints, on Sugar Creek, Iowa, the first +night out from Nauvoo. + +5--3011. **Born in a Day. "Little One"--"A Thousand."**--Applications +of ancient prophecy. (Isaiah 60:22 and 66:8). + +6--3016. **Cities Twain.** Zion and Jerusalem, the future capitals of +the Saviour's Kingdom; the former the seat of representative +government, the latter of monarchical power. "Out of Zion shall go +forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isaiah 2:3; +Micah 4:2.) + +7--3024. **Fain Would Dwell.** The extension of slavery to the West +was the dream of the South before the Civil War. This was one reason +why the Southern States favored the war with Mexico. + +8--3026. **Aztec's Altar.** The region settled by the "Mormon" +people, between the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada, belonged +to Mexico, the Land of the Aztecs. + +9--3030. **Golden Empire!** California, as a Mexican province, +included the present States of Utah and Nevada. Some of the earliest +settlers of Salt Lake Valley had previously helped to colonize +California, and were among those who discovered gold there, January, +1848. + +10--3032. **Eden on the Desert Brine.** The redeemed Wilderness +surrounding the Great Salt Lake, and formerly known as "The Great +American Desert." + +11--3044. **Land of the Honey Bee.** The State of Utah. + +12--3045. **Pilgrim Sire.** The author's father, Horace Kimball +Whitney, was one of the Pioneers who entered Salt Lake Valley, July +24, 1847. + +13--3054. **Hear Me, My People!** At this point begins the Prophet's +farewell address. The preceding stanzas of this Canto are a +generalization of what follows in detail. + +14--3073. **Nebo's Height.** Joseph, compared to Moses, is +predicting his own death and the coming of his successor, the +President of the Twelve, upon whom the Prophet placed the right of +succession. + +15--3082. **Stalwart Upon the Mountains.** At Montrose, Iowa, August +6, 1842, Joseph Smith predicted that the Saints would be driven +westward, and would "become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky +Mountains." + +16--3090. **War Shall Wound.** On Christmas Day, 1832, the Prophet +foretold the war between the North and South. (D. and C. 87.) +According to tradition, he also declared that those nations that +first received the Gospel in this dispensation, would be preserved +when "the consumption decreed" "made a full end of all nations." + +17--4034. **First Born Fold.** Ephraim, fulfilling his mission in the +region of the Rocky Mountains. + +18--4041. **Brave Sons of Battling Sires.** Descendants of the +patriots of the American Revolution. + +19--4053. **And by that Power.** "The redemption of Zion must needs +come by power." (D. and C. 103:15.) + +20--4066. **Zion's Land.** Zion in a restricted sense--Jackson County. + +21--4080. **The Common Good.** Christ's Commonwealth, foreshadowed by +the American Union. + +22--4089. **The Sceptered Harlot.** The Woman described in the +Apocalypse as sitting "upon many waters"--a "great city" reigning +"over the kings of the earth." (Rev. 17.) + +23--5002. **A Seventh Realm.** Joseph, paraphrasing Paul, said +concerning himself: "I know a man who was caught up to the seventh +heaven." + +24--5033. **I Am.** The Name Divine. (Ex. 3:14.) + +25--5047. **Light and Liberty.** "At the first organization in Heaven +we were all present and saw the Saviour chosen and appointed, and the +plan of salvation made, and we sanctioned it."--Joseph Smith +(Compendium, p. 288). + +26--5055. **Freedom's Code.** The Gospel of Christ, "the perfect law +of liberty," typed by the American Constitution, guaranteeing freedom +and equal rights. + +27--5070. **Not Esau's Hand.** Culture as well as strength must play +its part in the building up of God's Kingdom. Zion, at first +primitive and crude, shall become "the perfection of beauty," "the +joy of the whole earth." Her original builders may be likened to the +massive, immovable foundations of a structure whose polished walls +and glittering spires are represented by their children, educated +under improved conditions, and yet to stand in the forefront of the +world's civilization. + +28--5072. **The Kingdom to Complete.** "The spirit and power of +Elijah is to come after, holding the keys of power, building the +temple to the capstone, placing the seals of the Melchisedek +Priesthood upon the House of Israel, and making all things ready; +then Messiah comes to his Temple."--Joseph Smith (Compendium, p. 283; +D. and C. 27). + +--- + +EPILOGUE + +1--Title: **The Angel Ascendant.** The Angel ascending from the East +(Rev. 7:2; D. and C. 77:9). This is Elias, an address to and a +response from whom forms the body of the epilogue, or final division +of the poem. + +2--6017. **Rose Again.** Elias the All-restorer is represented as +reopening for Adam the closed communication between Earth and Heaven. + +3--6018. **The City Sanctified.** The City of Enoch. + +4--6025. **Alien Fire.** The Gospel, restored through Noah, standing +at the head of a dispensation, was carried by his descendants, after +the Flood, to various parts of the earth, where fragments of it +remain, mixed with the traditions of men. Ceremonies similar to, or +suggestive of Gospel ordinances, and found among primitive peoples, +are thus accounted for. + +5--6027. **The Root of Shiloh.** Abraham, ancestor to Jesus of +Nazareth. + +6--6029. **Believing Blood.** "How, by the dispersion of the children +of Abraham, was the promise to the patriarch fulfilled, that in him +and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed? * * * +By this dispersion the blood of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob--the blood +of faith, the blood that believes--with choice spirits answering to +that blood, and selected for that purpose, were sent into those +nations where the Gospel was afterwards preached, spirits capable of +recognizing the truth, and brave enough to embrace it." (Gospel +Themes, p. 156.) + +7--6033. **Egypt's Chain.** The spirit of Elias was upon Moses when +he led Israel out of bondage. + +8--6036. **Long Captivity.** The Assyrian Captivity, which carried +away the ten tribes. + +9--6038. **Whose Sword.** The sword of Joshua, the conqueror of +Canaan. + +10--6042. **Kishon's Brook.** It was at the Brook Kishon that Elijah +slew the Priests of Baal. + +11--6045. **Named Ere Born.** Cyrus, the conqueror of Babylon, who +restored the captive Jews, was named by Isaiah more than a century +before his birth. (Isaiah, 45:1.) + +12--6049. **Long Sealed Canopy.** The Heavens at the opening of the +Last Dispensation. + +13--6055. **The Kingdom's Keys.** The Melchisedek Priesthood. Elijah +"holds the keys of the authority to administer in all the ordinances +of the Priesthood." (History of the Church, Vol. 4, p. 211; D. and C. +2.) + +14--6063. **Abrahamic Keys.** Elias, in the Kirtland Temple, +"committed the keys of the Gospel of Abraham." (D. and C. 110:12.) + +15--6067. **How Tell the Sum?** This stanza associates Columbus, +Jefferson and Washington, impersonally, with others previously +mentioned, as agents of Elias. + +16--6083. **Jacob Upon Esau's Heel.** Genesis, 25:26. + +17--7001. **Chaldean Dream.** The nations represented by the image +seen in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, are to pass, like the dream itself, +which the king was unable to recall. + +18--7010. **Adorned and Ready.** When the Church, the Bride, is fully +prepared, the Lord, the Bridegroom, will come. + +19--7015. **Destroyers Four.** Four angels (Rev. 7:1; D. and C. 77:8, +9). + +20--7017. **Twelve Times Twelve.** The One Hundred and Forty-Four +Thousand. (Rev. 14:1; D. and C. 77:11.) + +21--7022. **The Bow's Bright Promise.** Joseph the Seer gave, as a +sign of the Second Coming, the withdrawal of the rainbow. Christ +would not come during any year that the rainbow was visible; but when +it was permanently withdrawn, the world might know that His coming +was near at hand. (Compendium, p. 83.) + +22--7036. **Prophet of the Dawn.** Elias, the Morning Star. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Elias, by Orson F. Whitney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ELIAS *** + +***** This file should be named 37718.txt or 37718.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/7/1/37718/ + +Produced by the Mormon Texts Project, +http://bencrowder.net/books/mtp. 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