"Send me!"--coiled 'neath his courtly smile A scarce concealed disdain-- "And none shall hence, from heaven to earth, That shall not rise again; My saving plan exception scorns. Man's will?--Nay, mine alone. As recompense, I claim the right To sit on yonder throne! "Ceased Lucifer. The breathless hush Resumed and denser grew. All eyes were turned; the general gaze One common Magnet drew. A moment there was solemn pause-- Listened Eternity, While rolled from lips Omnipotent The Father's firm decree: "Jehovah, thou my Messenger! Son Ahman, thee I send; And one shall go thy face before, While twelve thy steps attend; And many more on that far shore, The pathway shall prepare, That I, the First, the last may come, And earth my glory share. "After and ere thy going down, An army shall descend-- The host of God, and house of him Whom I have named my friend. Through him, upon Idumea, Shall come, all life to leaven, The guileless ones, the sovereign Sons, Throned on the heights of heaven. "Go forth, thou Chosen of the Gods, Whose strength shall in thee dwell! Go down betime and rescue earth, Dethroning death and hell, On thee alone man's fate depends, The fate of beings all. Thou shalt not fail, though thou art free-- Free, but too great to fall. "By arm divine, both mine and thine, The lost thou shalt restore, And man, redeemed, with God shall be, As God forevermore. Return, and to the parent fold This wandering planet bring, And Earth shall hail thee Conqueror, And Heaven proclaim thee King." 'Twas done. From congregation vast Tumultuous murmurs rose; Waves of conflicting sound, as when Two meeting seas oppose; 'Twas finished. But the Heavens wept; And still their annals tell How one was Choice of Elohim, O'er one who fighting fell. ("Elias," Canto III, Part One.) The Way of Salvation. CHAPTER I. The Law of Obedience. Man Helpless.--When Adam and Eve had transgressed the divine command by partaking of the forbidden fruit, it was as if the human race had fallen into a pit, from which they were powerless, by any act of their own, to emerge. They could not climb out, for they did not know how to climb; and even had they known, there was no means by which to climb. Human endeavor, unassisted, could accomplish nothing in the way of deliverance. Man in his mortal condition needed spiritual enlightenment, having forgotten all that he had previously known. In other words, he needed a ladder, that he might climb out of the pit, and that ladder was furnished in the revelation, of the Gospel of Christ. Without it there is no salvation, no exaltation. The Tower of Babel symbolizes the situation: All man's efforts to reach heaven, without divine assistance, must end in confusion and failure.