Elias Part 9

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 G.o.d; 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 G.o.ds 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 l.u.s.t be driven, And man set free from self's ign.o.ble thrall. 1960 Let not the mighty task thy mind appall.

What G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 sh.o.r.eward 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, G.o.d'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 G.o.ds 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 l.u.s.tre 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 G.o.d, 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 sh.o.r.e, 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 s.p.a.ce.

"Truth is eternal, endless as its G.o.d, 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--G.o.d'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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d whose glory is intelligence, A G.o.d 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 G.o.d-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 s.p.a.ce 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 G.o.d 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 p.a.w.n, 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 G.o.dliness 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 G.o.d 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 h.e.l.l, 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 G.o.ds, 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.

G.o.d'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 ant.i.thesis.