XXIII + 

Scene⁠—Hell. + 

Lucifer and Festus entering. + 

Lucifer + 

Behold my world! Man’s science counts it not + 

Upon the brightest sky. He never knows + 

How near it comes to him; but, swathed in clouds, + 

As though in plumed and palled state, it steals + 

Hearselike and thieflike round the universe, + 

For ever rolling and returning not⁠— + 

Robbing all worlds of many an angel soul⁠— + 

With its light hidden in its breast, which burns + 

With all concentrate and superfluent woe. + 

Nor sun nor moon illume it, and to those + 

Which dwell in it, not live, the starry skies + 

Have told no time since first they entered there. + 

Worlds have been built, and to their central base + 

Ruined and rased to the last atom; they + 

Of neither know nor can⁠—unconscious save + 

To agony⁠—nought knowing even of God + 

But His omnipotence to execute + 

Torture on those He hath in wrath endowed + 

With Heaven’s own immortality, to make + 

Them feel what woe the Almighty can inflict, + 

And the all-feeble suffer, and not be + 

Annihilated as they would. Be sure + 

That this is Hell. The blood which hath embrued + 

Earth’s breast, since first men met in war, may hope + 

Yet to be formed again and reascend, + 

Each drop its individual vein; the foam-bubble, + 

Sun-drawn out of the sea into the clouds, + 

To scale the cataract down which it fell, + 

Or seek its primal source in earth’s hot heart; + 

But for the lost to rise to or regain + 

Heaven, or to hope it, is impossible. + 

Festus + 

Are all these angels then, or men, or both? + 

Or mortals of all worlds? + 

Lucifer + 

Immortals all. + 

Festus + 

What numbers! + 

Lucifer + 

All are spirits fallen through sin + 

At various periods of eternity; + 

And not by one offence, to one same doom, + 

And at one moment, did they down from Heaven + 

Like to the rapid droppings of a shower;⁠— + 

No! each distinct as thunder-peals, they fell; + 

Save those that fell with me. With me began + 

Sin even in Heaven; with me but sin remains. + 

Once I alone was Hell. Behold my fruits! + 

Festus + 

What do yon fiends! some ’mong them look like mortals: + 

Their hearts shine through them like live coals thorugh ashes. + 

They look like madmen gone delirious. + 

Oh! horror! let me hence! + 

Lucifer + 

Nay, hear! + 

Festus + 

I hear! + 

A strain incongruous as a merry dirge, + 

Or sacramental bacchanal might be. + 

Lucifer + 

Men are they not, but devils at the best; + 

And I would have thee mark them. + 

Festus + 

I attend. + 

Fiends + 

Fill the bowl! it burns but blackly: + 

Fill it up with living fire: + 

Drunkard! hadst thou sipped as slackly + 

As thou pourest⁠—pour it higher! + 

Then thou hadst ne’er with me been bound + 

In Hell to dwell; + 

But let the burning health go round⁠— + 

Drunkard!⁠—to Hell! + 

Fill! it drinks but cold and leadly; + 

Fill it up with bubbling fire: + 

Drink! ’tis nothing half so deadly + 

As thy soul when living, Liar! + 

Or thou hadst ne’er with me been bound + 

In Hell to dwell; + 

But let the burning health go round⁠— + 

Liar!⁠—to Hell! + 

Fill! it boils but sick and sadly; + 

Fill! some more immortal fire: + 

Murderer! drain it quickly, madly, + 

As the stab thou gav’st thy sire! + 

Or thou hadst ne’er with me been bound + 

In Hell to dwell; + 

But let the burning health go round⁠— + 

Murderer!⁠—to Hell! + 

Festus + 

Nay, let me quit! now know I what Hell is. + 

What are they⁠—drunkards, liars, murderers? + 

Lucifer + 

Can wine destroy the soul? or Hell’s fierce flames + 

Feed upon holy water, wherewith Priest + 

Baptiseth sinless babe? Can liar make + 

God lie? or cheat his neighbour of his soul? + 

No! God’s salvation waiteth not on man’s + 

Weak will nor ministry; nor man’s perdition + 

Upon his brother’s hatred or neglect. + 

Can murderer slay the soul? or suicide + 

Drug immortality? Their sin is great, + 

And is eternally condemned of God; + 

But of their nature, the which Death destroys, + 

Their own as well as victim’s recompense. + 

When Time hath overcome the ruin wrought + 

Upon their hearts who loved the dead, that they + 

Who suffered most have most forgiven ill⁠— + 

Shall the dead slay the living ceaselessly?⁠— + 

Shall God, who is all Love, reverse, reserve, + 

Here in Hell, ages afterwards, those crimes? + 

And because man hath sinned a moment, crown + 

All crime in instituting punishment + 

Unending for an instantaneous wrong? + 

Shall that be justice? It were more than vengeance. + 

Yet such the Deity men fable, such + 

The Hell whereto they doom themselves. + 

Festus + 

No more. + 

The world is all sufficient for itself; + 

And Hell and Heaven are not the equivalents + 

Of earth’s iniquities and righteousness. + 

Lucifer + 

Can those who are idolators defraud + 

God of His worship? who adore the world, + 

Gold, or as savages, the stars and Heaven, + 

And Elements of Earth? None worship Him, + 

But with and in His spirit. Nought attains + 

His love but that proceedeth from it first. + 

His praise is everlasting in all worlds + 

And starry ages of eternity. + 

Can they who covet the world’s worthiest goods, + 

Wealth, honour, power, knowledge, rank, or aught + 

Merit eternal torment for a sin + 

Wherewith is bound the world’s prosperity + 

And human glory? Nought eternal is + 

But that which is of God. All pain and woe + 

Are therefore finite. Can the robber steal + 

From God or Heaven a thing or from the soul? + 

Or the deflowerer desecrate and undo + 

The espousals of the spirit with its Lord? + 

How weak is virtue, then, and vice, how vain! + 

How wretched human righteousness⁠—and sin, + 

How despicable to the soul assured, + 

Since neither hath a recompense. The one + 

By Him destroyed who can alone unmake + 

That He hath made; the other perfected, + 

United, Deified in God the son + 

With His own nature. Infinite Universe! + 

Thou hast no like, no second favourite + 

To mortal man of God’s. + 

Festus + 

What mean the words + 

Of yonder fiendish chant, there? + 

Lucifer + 

Words and shaped + 

Are equally as soon assumed by spirits. + 

What mean my words to thee? + 

Festus + 

In sooth, I know not. + 

I am constrained to hear them. + 

Lucifer + 

As for these!⁠— + 

It is a fire of soul in which they burn, + 

And by which they are purified from sin⁠— + 

Rid of the grossness which had gathered round them, + 

And burned again into their virgin brightness. + 

All things work round like worlds. The orb of Hell + 

Hath yet its place in Heaven as thine and all. + 

But, as a spiritual quality, + 

As spirit is the substance of all matter⁠— + 

Hidden or open, heatlike doth inhere + 

In all existence⁠—or for good or ill. + 

Look at yon spirit. + 

Festus + 

What was it brought thee hither? + 

Spirit + 

I was an angel once, ages agone; + 

But doing good and glorifying not + 

God, who empowered me, He sent me here + 

To fire the proud spot from my heart. + 

Festus + 

And when + 

Wilt thou do this, and own thou hast wronged God? + 

Spirit + 

I do repent me, and confess it now. + 

I will not ask God now to let me be + 

What once I was; but might I only sit + 

A footstool for some other worthier far + 

Who owneth now my throne, I should be happy⁠— + 

Far happier than I was in my proud prayers, + 

That God would give me worlds on worlds to govern, + 

And in receiving all their prayers and blessings. + 

God! remember me! O save me! + 

Festus + 

See! + 

I do believe there is an angel coming + 

This way from Heaven. + 

Spirit + 

He comes to me⁠—to me! + 

Angel + 

Hail, sufferer! + 

Spirit + 

Sinner. + 

Angel + 

God hath bade me bring thee + 

Away to Heaven; thy throne is kept for thee; + 

And all the hosts of Heaven are on the wing + 

To welcome thee again. + 

Spirit + 

I dare not come: + 

I am not worthy Heaven. + 

Angel + 

But God will make thee. + 

Festus + 

Spirit⁠—farewell! and may we meet again + 

In better time and place. + 

Spirit + 

Glory to God! + 

I go⁠—farewell!⁠—and I will speak of thee. + 

But, oh! repent! Be humble, and despair not. Angel and Spirit rise. + 

Lucifer + 

Oh! think, when all are judged, what hosts of souls + 

Will then be mine at last!⁠—what wings of fire! + 

Deemest thou yet as mortal? + 

Festus + 

This is not + 

As thou didst speak of Hell, nor as I judged. + 

Lucifer + 

Hell is the wrath of God⁠—His hate of sin. + 

God hates man’s nature; be it said of his + 

As of all beings! + 

Festus + 

How hate that He hath made? + 

Lucifer + 

The infinite opposition of Perfection + 

To imperfection leaves nor choice nor mean. + 

Thus the demeanour of thy world grieved God, + 

Till its destruction pleased Him, and its name + 

Was struck out of the starry scroll; thus all + 

Creation worketh infinite grief in Time. + 

When human nature is most perfect, then + 

Its fall is nearest, as of ripest fruit. + 

Man’s pleasure in the world⁠—to both of which + 

His nature is made fit⁠—is not of God, + 

Save theirs on whom His spirit He bestows, + 

As in a twilight between earth and Heaven, + 

A promissory Being unfulfilled⁠— + 

But still how glorious to the stone-blind world. + 

This is in time, but in eternity, + 

He raises, remakes, adds to all He made + 

His own immortalizing love and grace, + 

Which keeps them ever pure as is the sea, + 

And incorruptible in godly will. + 

The bliss of God and man originates, + 

Unites, and ends in self⁠—in Deity: + 

To whom is neither motive⁠—good⁠—nor end + 

Greater or less or other than Himself. + 

Festus + 

But how can the Creator glory find + 

In Hell, or creature, good⁠—if God be Love, + 

Or man a being salvable? Oh, say! + 

But who comes hither? + 

Lucifer + 

It is the Son of God!⁠— + 

Omnipotent! before whose steadfast feet + 

The thrones of Heaven, which hoped to have o’erthrown thine, + 

But now all strengthless, hopeless, Godless here, + 

Rose once and ebbed forever, even these + 

Deep in their fiery abyss of woe + 

Unbent, unbettered will again rush forth + 

In all the might of madness and despair, + 

To prove their hatred of Thee and Thy love. + 

Salvation is the scorn of Angels here. + 

What dost Thou here, not having sinned? + 

Son of God + 

For men + 

I bore with death⁠—for fiends I bear with sin; + 

And death and sin are each the pain I pay + 

For the love which brought me down from Heaven to save + 

Both men and devils; and the Father makes + 

And orders every instant what is best. + 

Festus + 

This is God’s truth: Hell feels a moment cool. + 

Son of God + 

Hell is His justice⁠—Heaven is His love⁠— + 

Earth His long suffering: all tbe world is but + 

A quality of God; therefore come I + 

To temper these⁠—to give to justice, mercy; + 

And to long-suffering, longer. Heaven is mine + 

By birthright. Lo! I am the heir of God: + 

He hath given all things to me. I have made + 

The earth mine own, and all yon countless worlds, + 

And all the souls therein; yea, soul by soul, + 

And world by world, have I redeemed them all⁠— + 

One by one through eternity, or given + 

The means of their salvation: why not, then, + 

Hell? + 

Festus + 

Every spirit is to be redeemed. + 

Son of God + 

Mortal! it has: the best and worst need one + 

And same salvation. There is nothing final + 

In all this world but God; therefore these souls + 

Whom I see here, and pity for their woes⁠— + 

But for their evil more⁠—these need not be + 

Inhelled for ever; for although once, twice, thrice, + 

On earth or here they may have put God from them, + 

Disowned His prophets⁠—mocked His angels⁠—slain + 

His Son in his mortality⁠—and stormed + 

His curses back to Him; yet God is such, + 

That He can pity still; and I can suffer + 

For them, and save them. Father! I fear not, + 

But by Thy might I can save Hell from Hell. + 

Fiends! hear ye me! Why will ye burn for ever? + 

Look! I am here all water: come and drink, + 

And bathe in me! baptize your burning souls + 

In the pure well of life⁠—the spring of God. + 

I come to save all souls who will be saved. + 

Come, ye immortal fallen! rise again! + 

There is a resurrection for the dead, + 

And for the second dead. And though ye died, + 

And fell, and fell again, and again died⁠— + 

There is a life to come, a rise for all⁠— + 

A life to come for ever, and a rise + 

Perpetual as the spring is in the year. + 

Fiend + 

Thou Son of God! what wilt thou here with us? + 

Have we not Hell enough without Thy presence? + 

Remorse, and always strife, and hate of all, + 

I see around me: is it not enough? + 

Why wilt Thou double it with Thy mild eyes? + 

Son of God + 

Spirit! I come to save thee. + 

Fiend + 

How can that be? + 

Son of God + 

Repent! God will forgive thee then: and I + 

Will save thee: and the Holy One shall hallow. + 

Repent thou, for thy judgment is at hand; + 

But if thou slurrest over these means and times, + 

Which have been given thee for repentance here⁠— + 

Tremble! This Hell is nothing to thy next. + 

Believest thou I can save thee? + 

Fiend + 

Son of God! + 

I do believe it. Let me worship. + 

Son of God + 

Come! + 

Come to me! Lo! I will but touch thy brow, + 

And make thee bright as morning is in Heaven. + 

Spirit + 

Angel of light I am again! Look here! + 

This⁠—this is to be saved! + 

Lucifer + 

I like it not. + 

Son of God + 

Hear! ye immortals dead! this I can do. + 

Repent! and be all angels. + 

Spirit + 

Oh, believe! + 

He is God. Worship Him! He comes to save us. + 

Lucifer + 

Stand thou beside me: I will speak to them; + 

Or they will sure believe Him. Hell! oh Hell! + 

Powers of perdition! thrones of darkness!⁠—hear! + 

Wrath, ruin, torment!⁠—hear me! It is I! + 

Thanks, fiends! I know ye hate me well, and may: + 

I tempted, ruined, damned ye every one. + 

Were ye not proud, now, to be conquered by me? + 

But wherefore so supine? Am I your lord? + 

Me do ye doubt? or dare ye Him believe? + 

What is an angel dressed in shiny white? + 

Can I not make ye angels? Ay! and more: + 

I cannot make ye less⁠—nor ye yourselves⁠— + 

Nor God⁠—nor Son of God. But hark to me! + 

Be still, ye thunderblasts and hills of fire! + 

Hell doth out-din itself.⁠—Hell-hearted slaves! + 

What are ye that I thus should toil for ye? + 

Who hardly earn the fire that burns ye up? + 

Power I have proffered, but ye have refused: + 

Nothing is for ye but your fiery fate. + 

Kingdoms I have prepared, and ye have spurned. + 

Slaves! slaves! ye are too much at ease! Ye leave + 

Me single in the work of woe. I, sole, + 

Go forth to sow destruction: I, alone, + 

Reap ruin. Had ye been as I, ere now + 

The universe had been all Hell; and, for + 

A pit, each fiend had had a world to rule. + 

Rise! Yet we’ll play all hell against all Heaven. + 

Up! up! and then at once we will battle God; + 

And hurling each his orb against the throne, + 

Strange if we will not scatter it like sand. + 

To reign is nothing half like to dethrone! + 

Dethrone! and each is greater then than God. + 

And will ye, then, give up your hopes of Heaven, + 

And entrance as young conquerors fresh from spoil, + 

And choice of thrones won by your death-red hands, + 

For pitiful repentance, like him yonder? + 

Forbid it! all the prowess, pride, and pain + 

Of Hell that we have borne with! do ye not? + 

Meanwhile man’s world is straight to be destroyed. + 

Be glad! be glad! Earth’s sons may soon be here. + 

And here, as earnest of the truth I tell, + 

Behold this earthling standing by my side! + 

Speak to them, Festus. + 

Festus + 

Nay, I dread them. + 

Lucifer + 

Speak! + 

Great spirits! he scarce is worthy to address ye, + 

In that I cannot say he yet is damned. + 

Festus + 

But I am here; what recks it how or why? + 

Ye care not and I know not. It is fate: + 

The will of God and him who sets me here; + 

And which I question not. It must be good, + 

Whether decreed that I be saved or lost. + 

But I have poor pretensions for this place; + 

And none, I hope, have worse that are to come. + 

For I have never mocked the word of God, + 

Nor torn it into fuel for my scorn: + 

Nor doubted, saving tremblingly, His being:⁠— + 

His love to man⁠—His right to be adored⁠— + 

Never have hated, never wronged my race⁠— + 

Deluded nor rejoiced in their delusion; + 

Never have beckoned off the good from good⁠— + 

Never have mocked nor scattered hopes⁠—nor e’er + 

Have wasted hearts, nor desolated hearths; + 

And if I have once, twice, as who hath not? + 

Toyed with temptation, yet even he will say + 

Who standeth there, that I have never given + 

Up to his burning dalliance my soul. + 

And yet he is my friend, the Evil one. + 

And why is wondrous; judge ye wherefore too. + 

I have no malice, envy, nor revenge; + 

None of those petty passions which bad hearts + 

Scourge red into themselves⁠—for passions are + 

Sufferings⁠—and which to nourish is his want; + 

Wherein doth lie his power: these I have not. + 

And save enjoying earth, I have done never + 

Aught that he could take part in. But he came + 

From God he said, to give; and I believed;⁠— + 

Great spirits lie not⁠—doubt not. + 

Lucifer + 

He says truth. + 

But it is not for him nor you to know + 

The reason of my doings: it is the thing + 

Unfeared and unforethought which tempts, betrays. + 

It is I who bait the world to do its will. + 

As to this mortal, God hath sanctioned all + 

That I have done, or may do to the end; + 

Which I have nought to do with. Son of God! + 

Go on redeeming!⁠—I will go on damning. + 

God! go on making!⁠—I will go on marring. + 

Go on believing, man!⁠—I go on tempting. + 

Saint! angel! cherub! seraph! and archangel! + 

Go ye on blessing!⁠—I will go on cursing! + 

I now retrack my course to earth; therein + 

To work out what remaineth of the fate + 

Of this man, and await his world’s destruction. + 

What next may hap I care not. + 

Festus + 

Let us hence! + 

Lucifer + 

Where is He? + 

Festus + 

There⁠—see many do believe. + 

Orb of perdition! thou too shalt die out, + 

And thy red sheeted flames shall fail for aye. + 

Thy palpitating piles of ruin, hot + 

With ever active agony, and quick + 

With soul immortal, down whose midnight heights + 

The wrath of God in cataracts of fire + 

Precipitates itself unceasingly, + 

Shall rush into destruction as a steed + 

Rushes into the battle, there to die. + 

Thy quivering hills of black and bloody hue, + 

Death-breathing, shall collapse like lifeless lungs, + 

And end in air and ashes. Thou shall be + 

Dashed from creation spark-like from a hand + 

Scarless: pass like a rolled syllable + 

Of midnight thunder from the coming day. + 

The river of all life, which flows through Heaven, + 

Shall yet reach thee and overflood thy flames!⁠— + 

Thou shalt no more vex God nor man; nor all + 

The seekings of the soul shall hunt thee out. + 

Thy day is sometime over. Be it soon! + 

And thou the lost world which the world hath lost! + 