XXIX
Scene—Elsewhere.
Festus
Alone.
I feel as if I could devour the days
Till the time came when I shall gain mine end;
God shall have made me ruler, and all worlds
Signed the sublime recognizance. Till then—
Even as a boat lies rocking on the beach,
Waiting the one white wave to float it free,
Wait I the great event;—too great it seems.
Yet, Lord, thou knowest that the power I seek
Is but for others’ good and Thine own glory,
And the desire for it inspired by Thee.
So use me as I use it. Thou hast passed
Thy word that such I shall enjoy, and then
My mission is accomplished in this world.
I go unto another, where all souls
Begin again, or take, up life from where
Death broke it at. I cannot think there will be
Like disproportion there between our powers
And will, as here; if not, I shall be happy.
I feel no bounds. I cannot think but thought
On thought springs up, illimitably, round,
As a great forest sows itself; but here
There is nor ground nor light enough to live.
Could I, I would be every where at once,
Like the sea, for I feel as if I could
Spread out my spirit o’er the endless world,
And act at all points:—I am bound to one.
I must be here, and there, and everywhere,
Or I am nowhere. Sense, flesh, fueling, fail
Before the feet of the imperious mind,
To which they are but as the dust she treads—
Windlike treads o’er, uplifts and leaves behind.
How mind will act with body glorified
And spiritualized, and senses fined,
And pointed brilliantwise, we know not. Here
Even, it may be wrong in us to deem
The senses degradations, otherwise
Than as fine steps, whereby the Queenly soul
Comes down from her bright throne to view the mass
She hath dominion over, and the things
Of her inheritance; and reascends,
With an indignant fiery purity,
Not to be touched, her seat. The visible world,
Whereby God maketh Nature known to us,
Is not derogatory to Himself
As the pure Spirit Infinite. A world
Is but, perhaps, a sense of God’s, by which
He may explain His nature, and receive
Fit pleasure. But the hour is hard at hand,
When Time’s grey wing shall winnow all away,
The atoms of the earth, the stars of Heaven;
When the created and Creator mind
Shall know each other, worlds and bodies both
Put off for aye; man and his Maker meet
Where all, who through the universe do well,
Embrace their heart’s desire; what things they will,
And whom remember; live, too, where they list;
And with the beings they love best, and God,
Inherit and inhabit boundless bliss.
Hear me, all-favouring God! my latest prayer;
Thou unto whom all nations of the world
Lift up their hearts, like grass-blades to the sun;
Thou who hast all things and hast need of nought;
Thou who hast given me Earth and all it holds,
Give me, from out Thy garner stored with good,
Some sign, Lord! while I live, in proof to earth
My prayers are with Thee; that they rend the clouds,
And, rising through the sightless dark of space,
Reach to Thy central throne. Oh! let me feel,
What was my constant dream in my young years,
And is in all my better moments now—
My hope, my faith, my nature’s sum and end,
Oneness with Thee and Heaven. Lord! make me sure
My soul already is in unison
With the triumphant. Ah! I surely hear
The voices of the spirits of the saints,
And witnesses to the Redeeming Truth;
Not, as of old, in scanty scattered strains,
Breathed from the caves of earth and cells of cities—
Nor as the voice of martyr choked with fire—
But in one solemn Heaven-pervading hymn
Of happiness impregnable, as when
From the bright walls of the Son’s city they
Looked on the war of Hell, host upon host,
Foiled by God’s single sword before their gates
Of perfect pearl;—nearer and nearer now!
This is the sign, O God! which Thou hast given,
And I will praise Thee through Eternity.
The Saints
From Heaven.
Call all who love Thee, Lord, to Thee!
Thou knowest how they long
To leve these broken lays, and aid
In Heaven’s unceasing song;
How they long, Lord, to go to Thee,
And hail Thee with their eyes—
Thee in Thy blessedness, and all
The nations of the skies;
All who have loved Thee and done well,
Of every age, creed, clime,
The boat of saved ones from the ends
And all the worlds of time:
The wise in matter and in mind,
The soldier, sage, and priest,
King, prophet, hero, saint, and bard,
The greatest soul and least;
The old and young and very babe,
The maiden and the youth,
All re-born angels of one age—
The age of Heaven and truth;
The rich, the poor, the good, the bad,
Redeemed, alike, from sin;
Lord! close the book of time, and let
Eternity begin.
Festus
Will ye away, ye blessed ones? To God
I then commend ye, and my soul with yours.
And midst the light in which ye live, oh! mind
Of all the sunless days and starless nights
Which myriads pass on earth, and pray for them!
Oh! pray for those who in the world’s dark womb
Are bound, Who know not yet their Father, God!—
Lord of all earth, all worlds, all Heaven! lift up
My spirit to Thy glory! Let me share
The comfort of Thy love, and while ordained
To the great task I have to go through, let
No more misgivings, fears, nor mortal doubts,
With the cold dew of darkness chill the soul
Which Thou hast hallowed with Thy love, and which,
Like molten gold within its mould, hath made
The thing that holds it precious;—or if, Lord!
For Thine own purpose, Thou wilt suffer such,
May they pass quick and perish tracelessly;
So, too, all thoughts of earth and pangs of death
May I o’ercome at last, and with Thy chosen,
Seraphs and saints, and all-possessing souls,
Which minister unto the universe,
Enthroned in spirit and intensest bliss,
Succeed to Heaven for ever.
Guardian Angel
Mortal, hear!
The soul once saved shall never cease from bliss,
Nor God lose that He buyeth with His blood.
She doth not sin. The deeds which look like sin,
The flesh and the false world, are all to her
Hallowed and glorified. The world is changed.
She hath a resurrection unto God
While in the flesh, before the final one,
And is with God. Her state shall never fail.
Even the molten granite which hath split
Mountains, and lieth now like curdled blood
In marble veins, shall flow again when comes
The heat which is to end all; when the air
Is as a ravening fire, and what at first
Produced, at last consumeth; but the soul
Redeemed is dear to God as His own throne,
And shall no sooner perish. Hearken, man!
Wilt thou distrust God? Doubt on doubt no more.
Prepare thee for the power and lot sublime
Whereto the Lord hath called thee. He hath heard
The prayers with which thou hast entreated Him,
And bids me tell thee, shrink not, doubt not. He
Will comfort and uphold thee at the end;
For after God the Chooser, God the Slain,
Cometh the God of Comfort to the heart,
Whose action and effect is ministrant
For ever after—consummating all.
Festus
I fear, I fear this miracle of Death
Is something terrible. But go to God,
Thou angel, and declare that I repent
Of all misdeeds; that but for His own grace
I should repent of my whole life; that on
That grace, which now hath sanctified the whole,
I trust for all the rest of it, and then
For ever; that I am prepared to act
And suffer as He bids, and in all things
To do His will rejoicing.
Angel
It is done.
Festus
Oh! I repent me of a thousand sins,
In number as the breaths which I have breathed.
Am I forgiven?
Angel
Child of God, thou art.
It is God prompts, inspires, and answers prayer;
Not sin, nor yet repentance, which avails:
And none can truly worship but who have
The earnest of their glory from on high—
God’s nature in them. The world cannot worship.
And whether the lip speak, or in inspired
Silence we clasp our hearts as a shut book
Of song unsung, the silence and the speech
Is each His; and as coming from and going
To Him, is worthy of Him and His Love.
Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth;
The expiration of the thing inspired.
I go. Thy God is with thee. We shall meet
Again in Heaven, no more to part
Festus
Thou art gone!
’Tis sweet to feel we are encircled here
By breath of angels as the stars by Heaven;
And the soul’s own relations, all divine,
As kind as even those of blood;—and thus
While friends and kin, like Saturn’s double rings,
Cheer us along our orbit, we may feel
We are not lone in life, but that earth’s part
Of Heaven and all things. Praise we, therefore God!
O all ye angels, pray and praise with us!—