CHRIST. Then, at last, I, wrapping round me your humanity, Which, being sustained, shall neither break nor burn Beneath the fire of Godhead, will tread earth, And ransom you and it, and set strong peace Betwixt you and its creatures. With my pangs I will confront your sins; and since those sins Have sunken to all Nature's heart from yours, The tears of my clean soul shall follow them And set a holy passion to work clear Absolute consecration. In my brow Of kingly whiteness shall be crowned anew Your discrowned human nature. Look on me! As I shall be uplifted on a cross In darkness of eclipse and anguish dread, So shall I lift up in my piercèd hands, Not into dark, but light--not unto death, But life,--beyond the reach of guilt and grief, The whole creation. Henceforth in my name Take courage, O thou woman,--man, take hope! Your grave shall be as smooth as Eden's sward, Beneath the steps of your prospective thoughts, And, one step past it, a new Eden-gate Shall open on a hinge of harmony And let you through to mercy. Ye shall fall No more, within that Eden, nor pass out Any more from it. In which hope, move on, First sinners and first mourners! Live and love,-- Doing both nobly because lowlily! Live and work, strongly because patiently! And, for the deed of death, trust it to God That it be well done, unrepented of, And not to loss! And thence, with constant prayers, Fasten your souls so high, that constantly The smile of your heroic cheer may float Above all floods of earthly agonies, Purification being the joy of pain! [_The vision of CHRIST vanishes. ADAM and EVE stand in an ecstasy. The Earth-zodiac pales away shade by shade, as the stars, star by star, shine out in the sky; and the following chant from the two Earth Spirits (as they sweep back into the Zodiac and disappear with it) accompanies the process of change._ _Earth Spirits._ By the mighty word thus spoken Both for living and for dying, We our homage-oath, once broken, Fasten back again in sighing, And the creatures and the elements renew their covenanting. Here, forgive us all our scorning; Here, we promise milder duty: And the evening and the morning Shall re-organize in beauty A sabbath day of sabbath joy, for universal chanting. And if, still, this melancholy May be strong to overcome us, If this mortal and unholy We still fail to cast out from us, If we turn upon you, unaware, your own dark influences,-- If ye tremble when surrounded By our forest pine and palm trees, If we cannot cure the wounded With our gum trees and our balm trees, And if your souls all mournfully sit down among your senses,--