Vondel's Lucifer Part 22

Give ear, ye Angels all; give ear, ye hosts Of Heaven. The highest Goodness, from whose breast 240 Flow all things good and all things holy, who Of His beneficence ne'er wearied grows And of whose teeming grace the riches never Shall know decrease; whose might and Being transcend The comprehension of His creatures all: This Goodness, in the image of Himself, Formed man, also the Angels that they might Together here with Him securely hold The Realm eterne--the good ne'er-comprehended.

Having the while with faithfulness maintained 250 His firm prescribed law. He also built This wondrous universe, the world below Made manifest, and meet for G.o.d and man, That in this garden man might rule and there Might multiply; acknowledge G.o.d with all His seed; Him ever serve and e'er revere, And thus mount up, by the stairway of the world, The firmament of beatific light Within, into the ne'er-created glow.

Though Spirits may seem pre-eminent, above 260 All other beings, yet G.o.d hath decreed, Even from eternity, that man shall high Exalted be, even o'er the Angel world; Him destined for a glory and a crown Of splendor not inferior to His own.

Ye shall behold the eternal Word above, When clad in flesh and bone, anointed Lord And Chief and Judge, mete justice to the hosts Of Spirits, to Angels and to men alike, From His high seat, in His unshadowed Realm. 270 There in the centre stands the holy Throne Already consecrate. Let all the hosts Angelic then have care to worship Him, When He shall ride in triumph in, who hath The human form exalted o'er our own.

Then dimly shines the bright translucent flame Of Seraphim, beside this light of man, This glow and radiance divine. The rays Of Mercy shall all Nature's splendors drown.

'Tis fated thus--and stands irrevocable. 280

Chorus.

All that the Heavens ordain shall please G.o.d's hosts.

Gabriel:

So be ye faithful, ever rendering thus Both G.o.d and man your service: since mankind So well beloved are by G.o.d Himself.

Who honors Adam wins his Father's heart.

And men and Angels, issuing from one stem.

Are brothers and companions, chosen for One lot, the sons and heirs of the Most High, A stainless line. One undivided will, One undivided love, be this your law. 290 Ye know how all the Angel hosts into Three Hierarchies and lesser Orders nine Are duly separate: of Seraphim And Cherubim and Thrones, the highest, they Who form G.o.d's inmost Council and confirm All His commands; the second Hierarchy, Of Dominations. Virtues. Powers, that on The mandates of G.o.d's secret Council wait And minister to man's well-being and bliss.

The third and lowest Hierarchy, composed 300 Of Princ.i.p.alities and all Archangels And Angels, is unto the middle rank Subordinate, and service finds beneath The sphere of purest crystalline, in their Particular charge, that wide is as the vault Of starry s.p.a.ce. And when the world shall spread Its widening bounds without, shall unto each Of these some province there allotted be, Or he shall know what town or house or being Is to his care committed, to the praise 310 And honor of G.o.d's crown. Ye faithful ones, Ye G.o.ds immortal, go then and obey Chief Lucifer, bound by your G.o.d's commands.

Bring glory to high Heaven in serving man, Each in his own retreat, each on his watch.

Let some before the G.o.dhead incense burn And lay before His towering Throne their prayers, Their wishes and their offerings for mankind, Singing the G.o.dhead praise until the sounds Re-echo through the corridors of Heaven, 320 In endless jubilation. Let some whirl The constellations and the globes of Heaven, Or open wide the skies, or pile them high With pregnant clouds, to bless the mount below With sunshine, or with soft, refreshing showers Of manna and of pure mellifluous dews; Where G.o.d is by the happy pair adored, The primal innocence 'mid Eden's bowers.

Let those that air and fire and earth and sea O'er range, each, in his element, his pace 330 So moderate, as Adam may require; Or chain in bands the lightnings, curb the storm, Or break the ocean's fury on the strand.

Let others make a charge of man himself.

Even to a hair the sovran Deity Knoweth the hairs upon his head. Then bear Him gently on your hands, lest he should dash His foot against a stone. Let one now as Amba.s.sador from the Omnipotent Be sent below to Adam. King of Earth. 340 That he perform his bounden charge. I voice The orders to my trump on high enjoined.

To these the G.o.dhead holds you firmly bound.

Chorus of Angels:

_Strophe_.

Who is it on His Throne, high-seated, So deep in boundless realms of light, Whose measure, s.p.a.ce nor time hath meted, Nor e'en eternity; whose might, Supportless, yet itself maintaineth, Floating on pinions of repose; Who, in His mightiness ordaineth 350 What round and in Him changeless flows And what revolves and what is driven Around Him, centre of His plan; The sun of suns, the spirit-leaven Of s.p.a.ce; the soul of all we can Conceive, and of the unconceived, The heart, the life, the fount, the sea, And source of all things here perceived, That from Him spring, that His decree Omnipotent and Mercy flowing 360 And Wisdom from naught did evoke, Ere this full-crowned palace glowing, The Heaven of Heavens, the darkness broke?

Where o'er our eyes our wings extending To veil His dazzling Majesty, 'Mid harmonies to Him ascending, We fall before Him tremblingly And kneel, confused, in awe together.

Who is it? Name, or picture then His Being with a Seraph's feather. 370 Or is't beyond your tongue and ken?

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Who is it on His Throne, high-seated?"]

_Antistrophe_.

'Tis G.o.d: Being infinite, eternal, Of everything that being has.

Forgive us, O! Thou Power supernal, By all that is and ever was Ne'er fully praised, ne'er to be spoken; Forgive us, nor incensed depart, Since no imagining, tongue nor token Can Thee proclaim. Thou wert. Thou art Fore'er the same. All Angel praising 380 And knowledge is but faint and tame.

'Tis but foul sacrilege, their phrasing; For each bears his peculiar name Save Thee. And who can by declaring Reveal Thy name? And who make known Thine oracles? Who is so daring?

He who Thou art Thou art alone.

Save Thee none knows Thy power transcendent.

Who grasps Thy full divinity?

Who dares to face Thy Throne resplendent, 390 The fierce glow of eternity?

To whom the light of light revealed?

What's hid behind Thy sacred veil, From us Thy Mercy hath concealed.

Such bliss transcends the narrow pale Of our weak might. Our life is waning; But Thine, Lord, shall know endless days.

Our being in Thine finds its sustaining!

Exalt the G.o.dhead! Sing His praise!

_Epode_.

Holy! holy! once more holy! 400 Three times holy! Honor G.o.d!

Without Him is nothing holy!

Holy is His mighty nod!

Strong in mystery He reigneth!

His commands our tongues compel To proclaim what He ordaineth, What the faithful Gabriel With his trumpet came expounding.

Praise of man to G.o.d redounding!

All that pleaseth G.o.d is well. 410

Act II.

LUCIFER. BELZEBUB.

Lucifer:

Ye speedy Spirits, stay our chariot now, G.o.d's Morning-star in its full zenith stands; Its height is reached; and lo! the moment comes When Lucifer must set before this star, This double star that rises from below And seeks the way above, to tarnish Heaven With earthly glow. No more should ye adorn Proud Lucifer's apparel with glittering crowns, Nor gild his forehead with the glorious dawn Of morning-star, to which Archangels kneel. 10 Another splendor sweeps into the light Of G.o.d, whose radiance drowns our vaunted glory.

As to the eyes of man, below, the sun, By day, puts out the stars. The shades of night Bedim the Angels and the suns of Heaven: For man hath won the heart of the Most High, Within his new-created Paradise.

He is the friend of Heaven. Our slavery Even now begins. Go hence, rejoice and serve And honor this new race like servile slaves. 20 For G.o.d was man created; we, for him.

Let then the Angels bend their necks beneath His feet. Let each one now upon him wait And bear him even unto the highest Thrones On hands or wings: for our inheritance Shall pa.s.s to him, the chosen son of G.o.d.

We, the first-born, shall suffer in this Realm.

The son, born on that day, the sixth, and made In the image of the Father, shall attain The crown. And rightly unto him was given 30 The mighty sceptre, which shall cause even us, The ones first born, to tremble and to shake.

Here holds no contradiction now: ye heard What Gabriel's trump spake at the golden port?

Belzebub:

O! Stadtholder of G.o.d's superior Powers, Alas! we hear too well, amid the praise Of choristers, a discord that makes sad The feast eterne. The charge of Gabriel Is clear. It needs no tongue of Cherubim To unfold its sense. Nor was there need to send 40 Apollion below, a nearer view To gain of Adam's realm beneath the moon.

How gloriously the G.o.dhead dealt with him Doth well appear. He hath, for his defence, Even given a life-guard, many thousands strong, While He supports his rank and dignity, As if he were the supreme Chief of Spirits.

The ma.s.sive gate of Heaven stands ajar For Adam's seed. An earth-worm that hath crawled Out of the dust--out of a clod of clay 50 Defies thy power. Thou shalt yet man behold O'er thee exalted, so that thou shalt fall Upon thy knees and there, abased, adore, With drooping eyes, his lofty eminence, His power and high authority. He shall, When glorified by the Omnipotent, Yet seat himself, even by the side of G.o.d, Empowered to reign beyond the farthest rounds And endless circles of eternity.

That, from the bounds of time and s.p.a.ce set free, 60 Revolve unceasingly around one G.o.d, Who is their centre and circ.u.mference.

What clearer proof need we to see that G.o.d Shall glorify mankind, and us degrade?

For we were born to serve, and man, to rule.

Then henceforth put the sceptre from thy hand: There is another one below, who reigns, Or soon shall reign. Put off thy morning rays And wreaths of light before this sun, or else Have care to bring him in with songs of joy 70 And triumph and with honors full divine.

We soon shall see the Heavens changed in state.

Behold! the stars look out and from their paths Retreat, aglow with longing to receive With reverence this new and coming light.

Lucifer:

That shall I thwart, if in my power it be.

Belzebub: