"The sceptered harlot,[22] throned on human seas,
Chief link of Satan's world-encircling chain; 4090
The secret craft and crime—iniquities
Whereby the Wicked One extends his reign;
All these must perish from the Lord's domain,
Nor aught of guile be found His Kingdom through.
Truth's sun hath risen—all lesser lights must wane;
And wrong and false that masks as right and true,
Shall feel the scourge of flame that Sodom's sin o'erthrew.
"More would I tell that in my bosom burns,
But bigot fires would flame as ne'er before;
For truth, rejected, friend to traitor turns, 5000
And damns where fain 'twould save. Six mounting o'er,
My spirit to a seventh realm[23] did soar,
And saw and heard—Ah, would that I might say!
Though memory but renewed a former lore,
What all may learn when full the dawning day,
When twinkling, twilight faith to knowledge shall give way.
"Hope not till then to have my history,
What life hath scribed to scan; nor tongue nor pen
Can tell the tale, dispel the mystery,
That hides me from the dim, dull gaze of men. 5010
Sojourning here, within this shadowed scene,
A medial stage, a mortal compromise,
The spirit's might, the body's weight, between,
Deem not that e'en earth's wisest can be wise,
Till heaven the blindness touch that seals all human eyes.
"One little fold I lift of that vast veil:
How came he God, to whom all gods must bow—
The very Sire, whom all the sons now hail
As mightiest of the mighty? I avow
That even He was once as we are now; 5020
That we like Him can be—yea, by degrees,
Mount unto loftiest heights, till on each brow
Be writ the Name of Names. Not angels these,
But Gods, e'en Sons of God, through all eternities.
"Weighed in the balance here, nor wanting found;
Tried in the fire, triumphant from the test;
Though wrung their hearts, their finest feelings ground,
Betwixt life's upper, nether, millstones prest,
Till proved, of good and brave, the bravest, best.
Less faith than theirs who follow Abraham, 5030
Honoring o'er all Jehovah's high behest,
Uplifts no gate of that Jerusalem—
The Bosom of the Gods—the Glory of I AM.[24]
"Bide valiant here, as ye were valiant there.
Whence came delightsome bodies, soaring minds,
Aspiring thrones to win and crowns to wear?
Spring not all seeds according to their kinds?
Each act, each word, each thought, delivers, binds,
Dwarfs or develops. Man's all-crowning state
His own creation. What the Judgment finds, 5040
The soul reveals; and weal or woe the fate,
'Tis freedom's chainless choice, for all on will must wait.
"Stand as ye stood, my legion brave, what time
The starry host, celestial symphony,
Choraled the anthem seraphic, sublime,
To the spelled ear of all eternity!
Lifted your hands for light and liberty[25],
When fraud with force progression's path would pave.
Fought we with Michael, drove the dragon, he
Who planned to seize all worlds, all worlds enslave, 5050
And would have damned, destroyed, what Christ came down
to save.
"As now, in lesser liberty's abode,
Incarnate spirit of fell tyranny
Would trample on the type of Freedom's Code[26],
Befriending human right where'er it be.
But hear me, Heaven! Come life, come death, to me,
Jehovah's captain, in His name and fear,
I vow to Him His people shall be free—
Ay, free all men, as in that former sphere, 5060
When hurled from yon dread height the power of Lucifer.
"Fear not—Truth's cause shall triumph. Sown the seed
Whose harvest knows no failure, no delay.
Crooked shall straighten to the future need,
And crudeness unto culture shall give way;
And part shall change to perfect in that day.
Firm, strong—not smooth, the building's basic stone,
Hidden from view; while rests the heavenly ray
On polished wall, on gleaming spire and cone:
Jacob's, not Esau's hand[27] shall rear Messiah's throne. 5070
"Great the beginning—glorious the end;
Elijah comes, the Kingdom to complete[28].
Farewell! This from your father, brother, friend.
No more your prophet, patriarch, ye meet,
Till here all prophets, patriarchs, ye greet,
Mingling with Gods, while heaven on earth shall dwell,
To drink the wine of wisdom at His feet,
The Husbandman and Vine of Israel.
Thus saith the God of Jacob—Joseph's God. Farewell!"