Ye have all cause to weep Since you depend on Man. I told it and foretold. ANGELS Truly thou didst. SATAN Dear fools! But have ye heart to hold Such plaint before the Lord, to apprise Him of this thing In its full naked fact and call your reckoning? ANGELS We dare not face his frown. He lives in ignorance. His pride is in His Earth. If He but looks askance We tremble and grow dumb. SATAN And ye will bear it then? ANGELS We dare not grieve His peace. He loves this race of men. SATAN The truth should hardly grieve. ANGELS He would count it us for pride. He holds Mankind redeemed, since His Son stooped and died. We dare not venture. SATAN See, I have less than you to lose. Give me your brief. ANGELS Ay, speak. Thee He will not refuse. Mayhap thou shalt persuade Him. SATAN And withal find grace. The Lord is a just God. He will rejudge this case, Ay, haply, even mine. O glorious occasion! To champion Heaven's whole right without shift or evasion And plead the Angels' cause! Take courage, my sad heart, Thine hour hath come to thee, to play this worthiest part And prove thy right, thine too, to Heaven's moralities, Not worse than these that wait, only alas more wise! ANGELS Hush! Silence! The Lord God! (_Entereth the Lord God, to whom the Angels minister. He taketh His seat upon the throne_). THE LORD GOD Thank ye, my servants all. Thank ye, good Seraphim. To all and several, Sons of the House, God's blessing--who ne'er gave God pain. Impeccable white Spirits, tell me once again How goeth it with the World, my ordered Universe, My Powers and Dominations? Michael, thou, rehearse The glory of the Heavens. Tell me, star and star, Do they still sing together in their spheres afar? Have they their speech, their language? Are their voices heard? MICHAEL All's well with the World. Each morn, as bird to answering bird, The Stars shout in Thy glory praise unchanged yet new. They magnify Thy name. THE LORD GOD Truth's self were else untrue. Time needs be optimist nor foul its own abode. Else were Creation mocked--and haply I not God. In sooth all's well with the World. And thou my Raphael, How fare the Spirit hosts? Say, is _thy_ world, too, well? RAPHAEL All's well with the World. We stand, as aye, obedient. We have no thought but Thee, no asking, no intent More than to laud and worship, O most merciful, Being of those that wait. SATAN (_aside_) The contemplative rule Out-ministers the active. These have right to boast, Who stand aye in His presence, beyond the Angel host. THE LORD GOD And none of ye grow weary? RAPHAEL