Elias Part 7

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 c.u.morah's[26] archive old:

CANTO SIX

From Out The Dust[1]

Jehovah's land--thy country--once mine own, A sacred soil, a consecrated sh.o.r.e, Where cometh up the universal Throne, 1410 Dominion that endureth evermore.

Whose G.o.d, with G.o.ds, 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 l.u.s.trous 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 repet.i.tion. 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 G.o.dly 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.

j.a.pheth, 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 G.o.d 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, sp.a.w.n 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 j.a.pheth's planet pales, That peace and freedom may remain thy friends, While hither, from all lands, all worlds, G.o.d'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 G.o.d; 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 l.u.s.tre 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 G.o.ds 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 G.o.d'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 ma.s.sed, 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, G.o.d gave; And each at last its separate way doth wend Home to the parent source, to meet no more, nor blend.