"As now, in lesser liberty's abode, Incarnate spirit of fell tyranny Would trample on the type of Freedom's Code[26], Befriending human right where'er it be. But hear me, Heaven! Come life, come death, to me, Jehovah's captain, in His name and fear, I vow to Him His people shall be free-- Ay, free all men, as in that former sphere, 5060 When hurled from yon dread height the power of Lucifer. "Fear not--Truth's cause shall triumph. Sown the seed Whose harvest knows no failure, no delay. Crooked shall straighten to the future need, And crudeness unto culture shall give way; And part shall change to perfect in that day. Firm, strong--not smooth, the building's basic stone, Hidden from view; while rests the heavenly ray On polished wall, on gleaming spire and cone: Jacob's, not Esau's hand[27] shall rear Messiah's throne. 5070 "Great the beginning--glorious the end; Elijah comes, the Kingdom to complete[28]. Farewell! This from your father, brother, friend. No more your prophet, patriarch, ye meet, Till here all prophets, patriarchs, ye greet, Mingling with Gods, while heaven on earth shall dwell, To drink the wine of wisdom at His feet, The Husbandman and Vine of Israel. Thus saith the God of Jacob--Joseph's God. Farewell!" --- Then sank to rest, his mortal mission done. 5080 Hark to those shouts that hail a homing king! A crimson aureole rounds the sinking sun, Omen of golden dawn swift following; Death's winter promise of eternal spring-- Celestial Edens, empires, throne on throne, And worlds once waste, redeemed, there blossoming. Future now present, and the past unflown, While all unguised, unveiled, life, death, earth, time, are known. EPILOGUE The Angel Ascendant[1] But what are life, death, earth, and time to thee, Eternal Truth? Thou goest on for aye. 5090 Lives, deaths, earths, times, their plurals multifold, These but the bubbles on thy boundless wave, The sands of thy great glass, the flickering gleams Of life that knows nor origin nor end. These but the sparks flung from thy flaming forge, The falling star-dust of thy firmament, Where stars go down that straightway suns may rise. Each ray of light, each principle of power, Each epoch-measuring hap of history, Had it a tongue would it not testify: 6000 "There cometh after me a mightier; I but prepare the way his face before; I but baptize with water, he with fire?" Till now tells not the past this oft-told tale, Which yet the future shall proclaim and prove? Thou Angel, there ascending from the East, Who criest unto four, Hurt not, but spare, Till we the servants of our God have sealed! Who art thou and why risest now to view? "I am that Voice which crieth in the waste; 6010 That wandereth through all worlds, invisible; That sayeth unto all, Prepare, prepare, Behold He cometh! Go ye out to meet.