Twin portals to despair, Where bigotry, the blinded bat, Flaps through the midnight air! Through these, gloom-wrapt Gethsemane! Thy glens of guilty shade Grieved o'er the sinless Son of God, By gold-bought kiss betrayed; Beheld him unresisting dragged, Forsaken, friendless, lone, To halls where dark-browed hatred sat On judgment's lofty throne. As sheep before his shearers, dumb, Those patient lips were mute; The clamorous charge of taunting tongues He deigned not to dispute. They smote with cruel palm a face Which felt yet bore the sting; Then crowned with thorns his quivering brow, And, mocking, hailed him "King!" Transfixt he hung--O crime of crimes!-- The God whom worlds adore. "Father forgive them!" Drained the dregs; Immanuel--no more. No more where thunders shook the earth, Where lightnings tore the gloom, Saw that unconquered Spirit spurn The shackles of the tomb. Far-flaming light, a sword of might, A falchion from its sheath, It cleft the realms of darkness, and Dissolved the bands of Death; Hell's dungeons burst, wide open swung The everlasting bars, Whereby the ransomed soul shall win Those Heights beyond the Stars. --("Elias," Canto Three, Part One.) The Consummation.--It was finished!--not the work of the Lord, nor the revelation of his word and will to man; but the sacrifice, the immolation of the Spotless One, whose acceptable offering, the ransom of a lost creation, made it possible for redeemed humanity, by faith and good works, to lay hold upon eternal life, the greatest gift that Divinity can bestow. Commission of the Twelve Apostles.--"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; "They shall take up serpents: and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."--(Mark 16:15-18.) "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. "Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen."--(Matt. 28:18-20.) Such was the commission given by the Savior to the chosen Twelve, after his resurrection, and prior to his ascension into heaven.