He soared on golden clouds and sang aloud: "Hail me, I was found worthy after Thee To feel what Thou dost feel, and to behold At humble distance the Messiah's thoughts, Which in the fearful and most dreadful hour Of His humiliation, fill His mind. No finite being ever saw God's thoughts: Yet I have been found worthy from afar, From an obscure dimension of created And but finite understanding, to extend My view into Divine Infinitude! O with what feelings of creation new, Divine Messiah, those redeemed by Thee— With what surpassing transport they will see Thee on Thy everlasting throne of glory! How they will then behold those radiant wounds, The splendid testimonies of Thy love To Adam's race! How they will shout Thy praise In never-ceasing songs and alleluias! Ah, then the angel Death's tremendous trump Will nevermore be heard, nor thunders, then, O'er Thy redeemed from the Throne will roll, The depths will bow before Thee, and the heights To Thee, the Judge, will folded hands uplift. The last of days will evanescent die Before the throne, lost in eternity. And Thou wilt gather all the righteous souls Around Thee, that they, face to face, may see Thy glory and behold Thee as Thou art."
Now the Messiah from the crimsoned dust Rose victor, and the heavens sang aloud— The third heaven, of the great Messiah's most Transcendent sufferings which brought endless life To precious souls, as now gone over Him. So sang the heavens.
IV.—Pilate's Wife Bewails the Saviour's Sufferings
The Messiah is seized and bound. The assembled priests are seized with consternation, but their fears are removed by the arrival of successive messengers. Jesus being taken before Annas, Philo goes thither and brings Him to Caiaphas. Portia, Pilate's wife, comes to see Jesus. She approaches from the Procurator's palace near the hall of assembly, by an arcade lit by lamps.
Impelled by curiosity at last The great and wondrous Prophet to behold, She to the high-priest's palace came in haste, Only few attendants being with her. And Portia saw Him Who awoke the dead, And Who serenely bore the hellish rage And malice of indignant priests, and now, With wondrous magnanimity stood forth Resolved to act with greatness, unadmired, To beings so degenerate still unknown. With fervid expectation and with joy She stood and gazed upon the Holy Man, And saw how He, sublime with dignified Serenity, His base accusers faced.
On false evidence of suborned witnesses Jesus is condemned. Eloah and Gabriel discourse on the Saviour's sufferings.
Gabriel: Eloah! He at whose command the dead
Of the renewed creation shall arise,
The tempest of the resurrection shaking
The earth around, that she with bearing throes
Will yield the dust at His almighty call.
He then with thunders and attendant hosts
Of angels and in terrors clad, that stars
Before Him sink, will judge that sinful world.Eloah: He said, Let there be light! And there was light.
Thou, Gabriel, sawest how at His command
Effulgent beams rushed forth! With thought profound
He still advanced: and lo, at His right hand
Ten thousand times ten thousand beings bright
Collected, and an animating storm
Advanced before Him. Then the suns
Rolled in their orbits! Then the harmony
Of morning spheres resounded round the poles.
And then the heavens appeared!Gabriel: And at His word
Eternal night sank far below the heavens!
Thou sawest, Eloah, how He stood on high
O'er the Profound. He spake again, and, lo,
A hideous mass inanimate appeared
And lay before Him, seeming ruins vast
Of broken suns, or of a hundred worlds
To chaos crushed. He summoned then the flame,
And the nocturnal blaze rushed in the fields
Of everlasting death. Then misery
Existed, which from the depths ascended
In cries of anguish and despondency.
Then was created the infernal gulf!
Thus they communed. Portia no longer could
The Blessed Saviour's sufferings behold,
And lone ascended to the palace roof.
She stood and wrung her hands, her weeping eyes
To heaven uplifted, while she thus express'd
The agitated feelings of her heart:
"O Thou, the First of Gods, who didst create
This world from night of darkness, and who gav'st
A heart to man! Whatever be Thy name—
God, Jupiter, Jehovah, Romulus?
Or Abraham's God? Not of chosen few,
Thou art the Judge and Father of us all!
May I before Thee, Lord, with tears display
The feelings of my heart, and rend my soul?
What is the crime of this most peaceful man?
Why should He thus be barbarously used
And persecuted even unto death
By these inhuman and relentless men?
Dost Thou delight from Thine Olympus, Lord,
To look on suffering virtue? Is to Thee
The object sacred? To the heart of men,
That is not of humanity devoid,
It is most awful, wondrous, and endearing;
But He who formed the stars, can He admire
And wonder? No, far too sublime is He
To admiration ever scope to give!
Yet th' object must e'en to the God of Gods
Be sacred, else He never could permit
That thus the good and guiltless be oppress'd.
My tears of pity and compassion flow,
But thou discernest suffering virtue's tears
That flow in secret and to Thee appeal.
Great God of Gods, reward and if Thou canst,
Admire the magnanimity He shows."
Peter, in deep distress, tells John he has denied his Master, then departs and deplores his guilt.
V.—The Day of Oblation
Eloah welcomes the returning morn with a hymn, and hails the Day of the Atonement, precious, fair day of oblation, sent by Love Divine.
The Messiah is led to Pilate, and is accused by Caiaphas and Philo. Judas, in despair, destroys himself. Jesus is sent to Herod, who, expecting to see a miracle, is disappointed. After being treated with derision, Jesus is sent back to Pilate, who seeks to save Him, but is persuaded to release Barabbas. Jesus is scourged, arrayed in a purple robe, crowned with thorns, and delivered to the priests, who cause Him to be led to crucifixion. Eloah descends from the throne and proclaims that the Redeemer is led to death, on which the angels of the earth form a circle round Mount Calvary. Jesus is nailed to the cross. One of the two thieves crucified with Him is converted. Uriel places a planet before the sun to obscure the dreadful scene on Calvary, and then conducts to earth the souls of all future generations of mankind.
The Angel of Death descends to address Jesus, Who dies. The earth shakes, the veil of the Temple is rent, the Old Testament saints are raised. The converted thief dies. Joseph of Arimathea begs the body of Jesus, and he and Nicodemus wrap it in spices and perform the interment. Mary and some devout women meet in John's house, to which Nicodemus brings the crown of thorns taken from the body at burial. The interment is solemnised by choirs of risen saints and angels.