XVIII + 

Scene⁠—Heaven. + 

Lucifer and Festus, entering. + 

The Archangels + 

Infinite God! Thy will is done: + 

The world’s last sand is all but run: + 

The night is feeding on the sun. + 

Lucifer + 

All-being God! I come to Thee again, + 

Nor come alone. Mortality is here. + 

Thou bad’st me do my will, and I have dared + 

To do it. I have brought him up to Heaven; + 

God + 

Thou canst not do what is not willed to be. + 

Suns are made up of atoms, Heaven of souls; + 

And souls and suns are but the atoms of + 

The body I, God, dwell in. What wilt thou + 

With him who is here with thee? + 

Lucifer + 

Show him God. + 

God + 

No being, upon part of whom the curse + 

Of death rests⁠—were it only on his shadow, + 

Can look on God and live. + 

Lucifer + 

Look, Festus, look! + 

Festus + 

Eternal fountain of the Infinite, + 

On whose life-tide the stars seem strown like bubbles, + 

Forgive me that an atomie of being + 

Hath sought to see its Maker face to face. + 

I have seen all Thy works and wonders, passed + 

From star to star, from space to space, and feel + 

That to see all which can be seen is nothing, + 

And not to look on Thee the Invisible. + 

The spirits that I met all seemed to say, + 

As on they sped upon their starward course, + 

And slackened their lightning wings on moment o’er me, + 

I could not look on God whate’er I was. + 

And Thou didst give this spirit at my side + 

Power to make me more than them immortal. + 

So when we had winged through Thy wide world of things, + 

And seen stars made and saved, destroyed and judged, + 

I said⁠—and trembled lest Thou shouldst not hear me, + 

And make Thyself right ready to forgive, + 

I will see God, before I die, in Heaven. + 

Forgive me, Lord! + 

God + 

Rise, mortal! look on me. + 

Festus + 

Oh! I see nothing but like dazzling darkness. + 

Lucifer + 

I knew how it would be. I am away. + 

Festus + 

I am Thy creature, God! oh, slay me not, + 

But let some angel take me, or I die. + 

Genius + 

Come hither, Festus. + 

Who art thou? + 

Genius + 

I am + 

One who hath aye been by thee from thy birth, + 

Thy guardian angel, thy good genius. + 

Festus + 

I knew thee not till now. + 

Genius + 

I am never seen + 

In the earth’s low thick light, but here in Heaven, + 

And in the air which God breathes, I am clear. + 

I tell to God each night thy thoughts and deeds; + 

And watching o’er thee both on earth and here, + 

Pray unto Him for thee and intercede. + 

Festus + 

And this is Heaven. Lead on. Will God forgive + 

That I did long to see Him? + 

Genius + 

It is the strain + 

Of all high spirits towards Him. Thou couldst not + 

Even if thou wouldst, behold God; masked in dust, + 

Thine eye did light on darkness; but when dead, + 

And the dust shaken off the shining essence, + 

God shall glow through thee as through living glass, + 

And every thought and atom of thy being + 

Shall guest His glory, be overbright with God. + 

Hadst thou not been by faith immortalized + 

For the instant, then thine eye had been thy death. + 

Come, I will show thee Heaven and all angels. + 

Lo! the recording angel. + 

Festus + 

Him I see + 

High-seated, and the pen within his hand + 

Plumed like a storm-portending cloud which curves + 

Half over Heaven, and swift, in use divine, + 

As is a warrior’s spear! + 

Genius + 

The book wherein + 

Are writ the records of the universe, + 

Lies like a world laid open at his feet. + 

And there, the Book of Life which holds the names, + 

Formed out in starry brilliants, of God’s sons⁠— + 

The spirit-names which angels learn by heart, + 

Of worlds beforehand. Wilt thou see thine own? + 

Festus + 

My name is written in the Book of Life. + 

It is enough. That constellated word + 

Is more to me and clearer than all stars, + 

Henceforward and for aye. + 

Genius + 

Raise still thine eyes! + 

Thy gleaming throne! hewn from that mount of light + 

Which was before created light or night + 

Never created, Heaven’s eternal base, + 

Whereon God’s throne is ’stablished. Sit on it! + 

Festus + 

Nay, I will forestall nothing more than sight. + 

Genius + 

Turn then and view yon streams where spirits sport + 

Quaffing immortal life, preparing aye + 

For higher and intenser Being still. + 

These are the upper fountains of the Heavens, + 

The emanations of Eternity; + 

By washing them in which they purify + 

Their eyes to penetrate the essential light + 

In all things hidden, seen alone by eyes + 

Fire-spirited, etherially clear, + 

Which like the fabled stone, conceived of fire, + 

Son of the sun, transmutes all seen to soul. + 

And such the bliss and power reserved for man; + 

Yet but the surface-shadow canst thou see. + 

The substance is to be. Behold yon group + 

Of spirits blest! in their divinest eyes + 

The spirit speaks, and shows that in their own + 

All doubt and want hath ceased, as death hath ceased. + 

Hither they come, rejoicing, marvelling. + 

Festus + 

How all with kindly wonder look on me! + 

Mayhap I tell of earth to their pure sense. + 

Some seem as if they knew me. I know none. + 

But how claim kinship with the glorified + 

Unless with them like-glorified! Yet, yes⁠— + 

It is⁠—it must be;⁠—that angelic spirit!⁠— + 

My heart outruns me⁠—mother! see thy son. + 

Angel + 

Child, how art thou here? + 

Festus + 

God hath let me come. + 

Angel + 

Hast thou not come unbidden and unprepared? + 

Festus + 

Forgive me, if it be so. I am come. + 

And I have ever said there are two who will + 

Forgive me aught I do⁠—my God and thou! + 

Angel + 

I do! may He! + 

Festus + 

Dear mother, thou art blessed; + 

And I am blessed, too, in knowing thee. + 

Angel + 

Son of my hopes on earth and prayers In Heaven! + 

The love of God! oh, it is infinite + 

Even as our imperfection. Promise, child, + 

That thou wilt love Him more and more for this, + 

And for His boundless kindness thus towards me. + 

Now, my son, hear me! for the hours of Heaven + 

Are not as those of earth; and all is all + 

But lost that is not given unto God. + 

Oft have I seen with joy thy thoughts of Heaven, + 

And holy hopes, which track the soul with light, + 

Rise from dead doubts within thy troubled breast, + 

As souls of drowned bodies from the sea, + 

Upwards to God, and marked them so received, + 

That oh! my soul hath overflowed with rapture + 

As now thine eye with tears. But oh! my son + 

Beloved! fear thou ever for thy soul; + 

It yet hath to be saved. Nought perfect stands + 

But that which is in Heaven. God is all-kind; + 

And long time hath he made thee think of Him; + 

Think on Him yet in time. Ere I left earth, + 

With the last breath which air would spare for me, + 

With the last look which light would bless me with, + 

I prayed thou mightst be happy and be wise⁠— + 

And half the prayer I brought myself to God⁠— + 

And lo! thou art unhappy and unwise. + 

Festus + 

Blessed one! I rejoice that thou art clear, + 

And all who have cared for me, of my misdeeds. + 

Thy spirit was on those who nurtured me. + 

All word and practice that could be of good, + 

Was given me; so that my sin is splendid. + 

Yes! if I have sinned, I have sinned sublimely; + 

And I am glad I suffer for my faults. + 

I would not if I might, be bad and happy. + 

Angel + 

God laughs at ill by man made and allows it. + 

The vaunt of mountainious evil and the power + 

To challenge Heaven from molehill, child! + 

Festus + 

God hath made but few better hearts than mine, + 

However much it fail in the wise ways + 

Of the world, as living in the dull dark streets + 

Of forms and follies wherein men build themselves. + 

Angel + 

The goodness of the heart is shown in deeds + 

Of peacefulness and kindness. Hand and heart + 

Are one thing with the good as thou shouldst be. + 

The splendor of corruption hath no power + 

Nor vital essence; and content in sin + 

Shows apathy, not satisfied control. + 

Do my words trouble thee? Then treasure them. + 

Pain overgot gives peace as death does Heaven. + 

All things that speak of Heaven speak of peace. + 

Peace hath more might than war. High brows are calm. + 

Great thoughts are still as stars; and truths, like suns, + 

Stir not; though many systems tend round them. + 

Mind’s step is still as death’s; and all great things + 

Which cannot be controlled, whose end is good. + 

Behold yon throne! there, Love, Faith, Hope are one! + 

There, judgment, righteousness, and mercy make + 

One and the same thing. God’s salvation is + 

His vengeance, and his wrath glory, as on earth + 

Destruction restoration to the pure. + 

Humanity is perfected in Heaven. + 

Festus + 

I did not make myself, nor plan my soul. + 

I am no angel nursed in the lap of light, + 

Nor fed on milk immortal of the stars, + 

Nor golden fruit grown in the summery suns. + 

How am I answerable for my heart? + 

It is my master, and is free with me, + 

As fixed with fate, even as a star which moves, + 

Yet moveth only on a certain course + 

In certain mode;⁠—its liberties are laws, + 

Its laws tyrannic; I cannot hinder it, + 

It cannot hinder God. All that we do + 

Or bear is settled from eternity; + 

Whereof is no beginning, midst, nor end. + 

To act, is ours; quite sure, whate’er we do, + 

Whether it be for our own good or ill, + 

Or others’ ill or good, it is for God’s + 

Glory⁠—the same and always: it is ordered. + 

The soul is but an organ, and it hath + 

No power of good and evil in itself, + 

More than the eye hath power of light or dark. + 

God fitted it for good; and evil is + 

Good, in another way we are not skilled in. + 

The good we do is of His own good will⁠— + 

The ill, of His own letting. Doth not nature⁠— + 

All light in life, shine, marsh-like, too, in death? + 

Yea, wandering fires wait even on rottenness + 

Like a stray gleam of thought in an idiot’s brain. + 

And thus I look on souls that seem decaying + 

In sin, and flying off by elements. + 

All may not live again; but all which do + 

Must change perpetually e’en in Heaven; + 

And not by death to death, but life to life. + 

Angel + 

No! step by step, and throne by throne, we rise + 

Continually towards the infinite, + 

And ever nearer⁠—never near⁠—to God. + 

Festus + 

Yet merit or demerit none I see + 

In nature, human or material, + 

In passions or affections good or bad. + 

We only know that God’s best purposes + 

Are oftenest brought about by dreadest sins. + 

Is thunder evil or is dew divine? + 

Does virtue lie in sunshine, sin in storm? + 

Is not each natural, each needful, best? + 

How know we what is evil from what good? + 

Wrath and revenge God claimeth as His own. + 

And yet men speculate on right and wrong + 

As upon day and night, forgetting both + 

Have but one cause, and that the same⁠—God’s will, + 

Originally, ultimately Him. + 

All right is right divine. A worm hath rights + 

A king cannot despoil him of, nor sin; + 

Yet wrongs are things necessitate, like wants, + 

And oft are well permitted to best ends. + 

A double error sometimes sets us right. + 

In man there is no rule o£ right and wrong + 

Inherent as mere man. Why, conscience is + 

The basest thing of all. Its life is passed + 

In justifying and condemning sin; + 

Accomplice, traitor, judge and headsman, too, + 

But conscience knows its business and performs. + 

Nothing is lost in nature; and no soul, + 

Though buried in the centre of all sin, + 

Is lost to God; but there it works His will + 

And burns comformably. The weakest things + 

Are to be made the examples of His might; + 

The most defective, of His perfect grace, + 

Whene’er He thinketh well. Oh! everything + 

To me seems good and lovely and immortal; + 

The whole is beautiful; and I can see + 

Nought wrong in man nor nature, nought not meant; + 

As from His hands it comes who fashions all, + 

All holy as His word. The world is but + 

A revelation. He breathes Himself upon us + 

Before our birth, as o’er the formless void + 

He moveth at first, and we are all inspired + 

With His spirit. All things are God or of God. + 

For the whole world is in the mind of God + 

What a thought is in ours. Why boast we then + 

Of aught? All that is good belongs to God; + 

And good and God are all things, or shall be. + 

Angel + 

There lacks in souls like thine unsaved, unraised, + 

The light within⁠—the light of perfectness⁠— + 

Such a there is in Heaven. The soul hath sunk + 

And perished like a light-house in the sea; + 

It is for God to raise it and rebuild. + 

Genius + 

And his, thy son’s, He will raise. Since with me, + 

I have shown him infinite wonders: we have oped + 

And scanned the golden scroll of Fate, wherein + 

Are writ, in God’s own hand, all things which happen. + 

There we have seen the record of his being⁠— + 

His long temptation, sin, and suffering. + 

Festus + 

And hear it, oh beloved and blessed one! + 

Mine own salvation! + 

Angel + 

God is great in love; + 

Infinite in His nature, power, and grace; + 

Creating, and redeeming, and destroying⁠— + 

Infinite infinitely. But in love⁠— + 

Oh! it is the truth transcendant over all⁠— + 

When thus to one poor spirit He gives His hand, + 

He seems to impart His own unboundedness + 

Of bliss. We seem to be hardly worth destroying, + 

And much less saving; yet He loveth each + 

As though all were His equal. + 

Festus + 

I know all + 

I have to go through henceforth⁠—all the doubts, + 

Passions of life, and woes; but knowing them + 

Hinders them not; I bear obeyingly; + 

And pine no more, as once when I looked back + 

And saw how life had balked, and foiled, and fooled me. + 

Fresh as a spouting spring upon the hills + 

My heart leapt out to life; it little thought + 

Of all the vile cares that would rill into it, + 

And the low places it would have to go through⁠— + 

The drains, the crossings, and the null-work after. + 

God hath endowed me with a soul that scorns life⁠— + 

An element over and above the world’s: + 

But the price one pays for pride is mountain-high, + 

There is a curse beyond the rack of death⁠— + 

A woe, wherein God hath put out His strength⁠— + 

A pain past all the mad wretchedness we feel, + 

When the sacked secret hath flown out of us, + 

And the heart broken open by deep care⁠— + 

The curse of a high spirit famishing, + 

Because all earth but sickens it. + 

Angel + 

Go, child! + 

Fulfil thy fate! Be⁠—do⁠—bear⁠—and thank God! + 

To me it seems as I had lived all ages + 

Since I left earth; and thou art yet scarce man. + 

Festus + 

It was not, mother, that I knew thy face; strange + 

The luminous eclipse that is on it now, + 

Though it was fair on earth, would have made it + 

Even to one who knew as well as he loved thee; + 

And if these time-tired eyes ever imaged thine, + 

It was but for a moment, and the sight + 

Passed; and my life was broken like a line + 

At the first word⁠—but my heart cried out in me. + 

Angel + 

I knew thee well. And now to earth again! + 

Go, son! and say to all who once were mine⁠— + 

I love them, and expect them. + 

Festus + 

Blessed one! + 

I will. + 

Angel + 

I charge thee, Genius, bear him safely. + 

Genius + 

Through light, and night, and all the powers of air, + 

I have a passport. + 

Angel + 

God be with thee, child! + 

Genius + 

Come! + 

Festus + 

I feel happier, better, nobler now. + 

See where she sits, and smiles, and points me out + 

To those who sit along with her. Who are + 

The two? + 

Genius + 

One is the mother of mankind, + 

And one the mother of the Man who saved + 

Mankind; and she, thine own, the mother of + 

The last man of mankind⁠—for thou art he. + 

Festus + 

Am I? It is enough: I have seen God. + 

Genius + 

God and His great idea, the universe, + 

Are over and above us. Be the one + 

Worshipped, the other reverently proved. + 

Wilt sojourn for a time among the worlds, + 

And test their natures? + 

Festus + 

Gladly. + 

Genius + 

Seek we, then, + 

All rareness and variety these worlds + 

Can offer, ere we reach thine orb. Descend! + 

Now is the age of worlds. + 