But, O, God! what wondrous transformation Seized me in its mighty grasp of power! As a bud, by Nature’s potent magic, Bursts at once into a perfect flower! Like the record of a wise historian, Lay unsealed the wondrous Book of Life; Swelling grandly, like a chant Gregorian, Perfect unison arose from strife; And I knew then that this grim, defiant elf, That this clay-born image, was my weaker self; That this demon, Doubt, with which I held such strife, Was the sense’s logic--the phenomena of life; And as Perseus slew the fabled Gorgon, Must this mocking fiend be met and slain, That transfixed in cold and stony silence Faith and Hope no longer might remain. Only when the conscious soul asserted What the flesh and sense so long concealed, GOD WITHIN--ONE WITH THE WEAK AND HUMAN, Did the INNER MYSTERY stand revealed. O, what glorious consummation to my strife! Death of Death! and Life unto Eternal Life! All around, the grand and awful mountains Hushed in silent reverence seemed to stand, White and shining, Like the pearly portals of the better land. Then I heard the angels singing, Soft and clear the sweet notes ringing, Dropping gently like a golden rain From the treasured wealth of day; And I caught these words of blessing, Floating down the heavenly way:-- SONG OF THE ANGELS. “O, what is the life of the soul, But the life of the Infinite Whole? For God and his creatures are One, As the tide from the ocean of light, Which sets through the day and the night, Is the same in the star-beam or sun. “He hath laid out the sea and the land; He hath balanced the Heavens in his hand; And the Earth, in that order sublime, How greatly and grandly she rolls, And casts off her harvests of souls, In the boundless fruition of Time! “We ask not his face to behold; Of his glory we need not be told; For the Word of his witness is near. His Life is the Infinite Light, Which quickens our blindness to sight; And he speaks that his children may hear. “He suffers and sins with them all; He stands, or he falls when they fall; For he is both substance and breath. Their strength from his greatness they draw; His wisdom and will are their law; And he is their Saviour in death. “When the depths of all hearts are unsealed Shall the word of his truth be revealed, That MAN is by NATURE DIVINE; And faith in God’s presence within, Shall strengthen the spirit to win A peace which no tongue can define.” * * * * *