Time making good the promise plighted there,
Welding another link in wonder's chain,
Writing new chapters of a story strange,
Confounding human learning, fools and wise. 2660
---
So came once more the panoply of power[19].
So rose the ensign o'er a waiting world.
Armed thus with knowledge and authority,
Armed and equipt, with staff, and stone in sling,
Fares forth a champion for Israel,
To grapple with Philistia and prevail.
Guide unto God, repointer of the path,
Untrodden through a thousand years nigh twained,
The while men roamed, as once o'er trackless wild,
The savage, by the untaught trapper trained; 2670
Blind leading blind through thick and thorny wold.
Light 'mid the darkness, beam from heaven's full blaze,
Driving the mists, that comprehended not
His brightness nor their own obscurity;
Holding him blind who saw as few have seen.
He, blind, forsooth, who more than all beheld!
Sinking deep shafts to mines of mystery,
Shallow and empty to the worldly wise;
Soaring to heights by human lore undreamt,
Yet deemed an earth-mole, groping, groveling. 2680
Aloft, alone, an exile among men,
A wanderer in a solitary way,
Pariah of prejudice and unbelief,
Whose lowering features fiercely on him frowned.
Thought's prisoner and truth's, that maketh free
The spirit, though the body pine in chains,
Albeit the tongue, the pen, in durance be,
Consigned to silence, captive unto light,
And crucified betwixt ideal and real.
But who art thou that lookest forth sublime, 2690
A soul upsoaring as from sepulture,
Body and spirit pure and free from stain,
As gold and silver tried by seven-timed fire?
Speak! Art not thou the Woman Wonderful[20],
Summoned from out the silent wilderness,
Arisen from the grave of centuries,
No more to be despoiled or trodden down?
A symbol of exalted sanctity,
The consecration of the contrite heart;
Of ancient types the modern complement, 2700
Chief splendor of time's sparkling firmament,
Whose silver stars bespoke this sun of gold.
But when did darkness comprehend the day?
When welcomed pleasure thorn-crowned sacrifice,
Whose higher, holier joys than sin can know,
As dust and ashes to the sensual soul?
Jewels to swine, that, turning, rent the hand,
And fain 'neath foot had torn and trampled all.
Such was Truth's fate, alas! in modern time,
'Mid Christian men;--but not her final fate. 2710
For who can stay the sun-like march of Truth?
Who dim with bloody hand her beam divine?
First shall he halt the progress of the stars,
The bright procession of the infinite;
Blot out the day-beam, dull the scythe of time,
Shear morning's wings, roll back eternal night,
Or shake the moveless throne of destiny.
Lifted an ensign never to be furled,
Unsheathed a falchion evermore to flame,
Till earth-born realms, in one wide empire rolled, 2720
Hail conquering Christ as life and light of all.
CANTO NINE
Upon The Shoulders of The Philistine[1]
The Eaglet's nest is empty[2]--void the lair
Of the young Lion. Where, O Ephraim, where?
Where billows break along a storied strand[3],
Heroic wave, a fair and favored land.
Realm of a rising glory--this thy name!
The cradle of the Kingdom--this thy fame!
There rose the morn--though flecked with fire and blood--
The morn benign of human brotherhood,
Foredestined to a passing cloud's eclipse. 2730
Self-trammeled cause, harried by hounds and whips
Of persecution, whose infuriate maw,
Usurping oft the form and force of law,--
To lawless hands a far too ready rod,--
Had fain engulfed the growing work of God.
Widowed, bereft, a land left desolate,
A wounded bird that mourns a driven mate,
The plumage from its bleeding body torn,
And scattered wide o'er realms remote, forlorn.
On, Ephraim, on! thy pilgrim flight renew. 2740
Land of the Sun--Shinea's land[4]--adieu!
Yet stay! Ere storm could burst, was visioned there,
Within the portal of the House of Prayer,
A promise, a fulfillment, long foretold:
Elias and Messias there behold!
With angel keepers of the ancient keys
Of gathering and of sealing mysteries.
Haloed with fire, while burns the heavenly glow,
Upon the Prophet they their powers bestow[5].
Speed then swift messengers his face before, 2750
To blaze his sacred name on every shore;
Chosen and missioned from the sending skies,
The slumbering nations to evangelize.
Resounds 'gainst error's shield truth's ringing lance,
Unlettered light 'gainst learned ignorance;
Priestcraft dethroned, by Priesthood downward hurled,
While ancient thunder shakes the modern world.
Already, to redeem red Laman's bands[6],
Have virile footprints prest those virgin lands,
Where westering empire, in creative might, 2760
Rolls a new world upon the wondering sight;
Where flower-starred prairies, in the far extent,
Kiss with soft lips the bending firmament,
And sea-like rivers, solitary, lone,
Pour their proud waters toward the burning zone.
Land of all lands the rarest[7], where shall rise,--
Mirrored magnificence of earth and skies,
Each gate a pearl, each pinnacle a gem,--
The jasper walls of New Jerusalem;
The golden glory of the hemispheres, 2770
Jehovah's throne through all the Thousand Years.
The land where Adam fell, where Enoch rose,
Where time began and history shall close.
Thereto and thence, by brand and fagot driven,
His fault to man, his fealty to heaven,
With here and there, perchance, an idle word
Vainglorious zeal or vengeful might afford,
Flies Ephraim, scorched and scourged, from Japheth's
wrath[8],
Pushed on and on o'er steep and thorny path, 2780
Whipt, plundered, wounded, bleeding, to the goal,
Where joy in fullness crowns the conquering soul.
Then hath not war, that bringeth woe and pain,
The right betimes, like gentle peace, to reign?
What strife, what tempest, wreaks its wrath in vain?
Prosperity and persecution blend,
As sun and storm, faith's branch with fruit to bend.
Twain are the shoulders[9] of the Philistine,
That Israel onward bear, as breeze and brine
The tempest-driven bark that safe o'er sea 2790
Carried calm Caesar[10] and his destiny.
Progression fails with opposition's flight,
And darkness is but handmaid unto light.
Mistrustful of "the law of liberty[11],"
Sounding from far the doom of slavery,
Maddened by jealous fear, the Gentile sees
Peril in purling stream, in whispering breeze,
Telling of wondrous thrift, of mystic power,
Of spirit gifts--the Bride's becoming dower;
Sees menace[12] in that migrant fold's increase, 2800
A menace to his power, his pride, his peace;
And, as of old, when Egypt's despot frowned
On Jacob's increase, growth from fruitful ground,
Or when fell Herod, fain to slay life's Lord,
Pierced Rachel's bosom with unpitying sword;
With feigned or real suspicion of intent
That could but lurk in minds by malice bent,
And ne'er found lodgment in the dreams of those
Now fearfully beset by whelming foes,
Force joins with fraud, impelled by lust of crime, 2810
And innocence bewails the evil time.
A second Pharaoh now o'er Israel see!
A Herod[13] in the home of Liberty!
Where wingĕd Nemesis shall find her own,
Gathering the whirlwind[14] where the wind was sown.
Friendless, unsheltered, forth the exiles go,
Lit by their burning homes athwart the snow,
Till crimson footprints stamp the frozen path,
And icy billows bar them from the wrath
Of cruel fiends, whose fellows, masked as men, 2820
Where languish sons of light in darksome den,
Gloat, while they guard, and flout with jest obscene
The helpless victims of that heartless scene;
Exulting foully, boastingly, the while,
O'er deeds none else than devils would defile.
Till patience, past enduring, dures no more;
Heard, above jackal's yell, the lion's roar.
Thunders and flames Jehovah's threatening rod,
And shakes the dungeon[15] with the wrath of God--
A lightning tongue to scorch His cowering foes, 2830
And scourge them to the kennels whence they rose.
When known such power, such might of word and will,
Since Christ bade tempest sleep and waves be still?
Free, whereso'er he wends, is hope renewed,
Demons unhoused, disease and death subdued[16].
Where Sire of Waters[17] sweeps o'er silvery sands,
Prest by the pilgrim feet of many lands,
Aloft, alone, a sacred city stands.
City, mother of many[18], none more rare,
A blossoming waste shall yield, now burnt and bare; 2840
City, mother of empire, famed as fair,
Whose birth the solemn muse must yet declare.
Where groaned the land with dread malarial ill,
Healed by a hand divine, o'er vale and hill
See roof and dome and glittering fane arise!
Unworldly link[19], rewelding Earth and Skies!
Then comes Elijah's mightier mission[20] forth,
And mortal vows take on immortal worth,
Kindling anew hope's ever living fires,
Turning the mutual hearts of sons and sires, 2850
While doors to spirit dungeons open swing,
That love to light the living dead may bring!
But gaze from sinking unto soaring sun!
Beyond the wave the conquering word hath won
Past horrent hosts of Lucifer that rose,
With wrath of man, the message to oppose.
Vain strife, where fiends archangels would assail,
Warring 'gainst mightiness that must prevail--
Prevail to save a periled ship. 'Tis done;
The crisis past[21] with Albia stormed and won; 2860
East floweth West--"The Gathering" hath begun.
And now, to fruitful lands, 'neath favoring skies,
Befriended by the just[22], the brave, the wise,
Till truth, too mighty for the common ken,
Hath put a sword betwixt the souls of men,
Fares garnered Ephraim, earliest offering[23]
Of Israel's hope, Idumea's harvesting.
Nations besprent with Abrahamic blood
Meet there and mingle in that widening flood.
Impelled by helping hand or hostile power, 2870
By friendly looks or frowns that darkly lower,
Gathers the flock of faith from every land
Where roving Ephraim mixt with Japheth's band;
Philistia's shoulder bearing Israel's flight,
That Japheth, too, may come to Zion's light,
And Joseph be o'er all his brethren blest,
A saviour in his Egypt of the West[24],
Where corn and wine, 'mid famine, comfort life,
Where peace and plenty shame a world at strife,
And, bending from the ice-barred North, shall come-- 2880
As bent their stars in his, the dreamer's dome--
Assyria's long lost captives[25], wending home.
Westward, far westward, chase the lingering night,
Impelling Spirit! Angel of the Light!
Westward, still westward, till the morn shall burn
In high meridian glory; till shall turn
Fate's restless tide, re-rolling o'er the East,
Spoiling the spoiler, spreading freedom's feast,
Foiling dark anarchy, thy fellest foe,
Land, chosen land! stunned, staggering 'neath its blow; 2890
Rallying the loyal[26] in a common cause,
Rending the eagle from the bear's red claws;
Hurling invasion backward o'er the Isles,
Building anew upon the olden piles,
Beginnings of the crowning commonhood--
A modern Zion where the ancient stood.
Backward, roll backward, river of the blood!
Back to thy fountain, hurrying human flood--
To Adam's land, the far Edenic shore;
For last is first and old is new once more, 2900
And nations rise where nations fell before!
Joseph, uprisen from the grave-like mound,
His ancient and inglorious battle ground[27],
Retreads with modern step the painful path
Where erst he fled[28], a fugitive from wrath;
Fated to flee till ebbs that westward flow,
Bearing from Japheth bitter curse and blow,
While patient heaven holds off the woeful fate
That cometh swift and layeth desolate
The powers that prey on Jacob--all that hate 2910
The God of Joseph, and the just decree
That builds him here a boundless destiny.
Westward, burn westward, morn divinely bright!
Morn of Jehovah, morn of Jacob's might!
But stand thou still on Zion, glorious light!
For there must dawn the day that knows no night.
Beginnings that have here in beauty stood,
Prone, as from withering fire or wasting flood,
A little season wrecked and ruined lie[29],
Till they that build put pride and passion by, 2920
And, taught by pain, through suffering's fiercest fires,
Part with all lustful, covetous desires.
When faith shall wear the armor without flaw,
And union such as sainted Enoch saw[30]
Honors the fullness of celestial law,
Then--sword of God and blade of Gideon,
Dazzling, confounding, driving on and on,
Till besomed as with fire the fated land,
Where Zion, guileless, glorious, shall stand,
A terror only to her trembling foes[31], 2930
Ensign of peace and Eden of repose,
Where life's tree blossoms and light's fountain flows.
Meanwhile her valiant ones, her tried and true
Daughters and sons, shall they not dare and do?
In vain, alas! in vain of such to sing,
With trembling hand a tuneless harp I string.
For who can count the cost, the painful price,
Measure the sorrow and the sacrifice,
Rare spirits of a more than Spartan race
Compelled their souls of halting dread to face? 2940
Harp of the Hebrew seer! Be thine to break
The muse's slumber, bid the world awake,
And glow o'er deeds yet done for conscience' sake.
What tongue than Zion's own can loose the spell?
Whose voice than modern Leah's, Rachel's, tell
The story of a burden borne so well?
Bending, not breaking, 'neath thy load of care,
Sowing to joy, thou shalt not reap despair!
Planting the hope of human purity,
That righteousness may crown futurity,-- 2950
Patience! endure! for pain shall bring thee power[32].
Time but a dream--eternity thy dower.
Where perfect love casts forth the jealous fear,
A diamond in thy diadem each tear;
And every sigh that rent thy suffering breast,
A wave of rapture on the shores of rest.
My lot as thine, purest of pure-in-heart!
Be mine the bitter as the better part.
But sorrows else have shadowed all things there;
The voice of mourning drowns the voice of prayer. 2960
Dampened e'en now with death's prophetic dew,
Thy cold, pale brow, O fated, fair Nauvoo!
Remains for thee no peace, for thine no rest,
Till on the parching plain, the frozen crest;
A desert land of unlocked mystery,
Frowning on hope, and dumb to history.
Yet ere the burning wilderness be won,
Shines down on other deeds the shuddering sun.
City of Joseph[33]! Look! from 'leaguered walls,
Where Calvary's crimson light on Carthage falls! 2970
Ere murderous fate the martyr's bolt hath sped,
While deepening darkness glooms a sky of lead,
And thundrous threatenings tone their notes of dread,
Looms to the fore an archangelic form,
A sunlit summit shining o'er the storm;
A towering rock above the rushing tide
Of eager souls that surge on every side,
Where living waters from the fountain play,
And glowing words light up the darkened way.
Undaunted 'neath the shadow of his doom, 2980
Calm as a statue, solemn as a tomb,
Heedless of self, while hoarsely rumbles near
Hate's fiery flood, that alien to all fear,
That more than man, nor less than godlike soul,
Erect upon life's summit, at death's goal,
Unlocks time's portal, swings the future's gate,
And opes to Ephraim's gaze his glorious fate.
O diver in the days and years to be!
Searching the caves of that prophetic sea,
What bringest from the deeps of destiny? 2990
CANTO TEN
The Parted Veil[1]
Choice Seer, with spirit eye did he behold
The sanguine scene that told his tragic fate?
Surged by the flood of grief and shame that rolled
Above the murdered honor of a State[2],
Where innocence again fell prey to hate?
There be who say he visioned all to come--
Forsaken cities, weeping, desolate,
The desecrated fane, the blazing dome[3],
The weary wanderings far in quest of peace and home.
Saw, then, a tender hopeful tragedy 3000
(Pathetic omen of his tribe's increase)
Uncurtained 'neath the star-hung canopy:
Babes, new-born babes[4], there slumbering in a fleece
Of moon-lit frost, as buds that bide release,
When winter casts its mantle white and cold,
Protecting life where life hath seemed to cease;
Frail lambs, fresh penned within the Saviour's fold,
And, like Him, manger-nurst, homeless on earth's threshold.
Homeless a nursing nation, born e'en so--
Born in a day. O Day! and eyes of Night! 3010
Watch now the "little one" "a thousand"[5] grow,
As grows the torrent from the trickling height,
The blaze of noonday from the dawning light;--
The birth-throes of an empire, whose blest reign,
Bounding from lowliness, soars past the sight
Of all save prophecy, while cities twain[6]
Sceptre the universe, with foot on land and main!
Whose but a prophet's eye such end could see?
Whose but a prophet's tongue the issue tell?--
A modern march of ancient destiny, 3020
Another Exodus and Israel,
Bidding his bonds, his all, save hope, farewell;
Widening, 'mid alien wastes, true freedom's fame,
Where bondage, chained to darkness, fain would dwell[7];
And rearing temples to Jehovah's name,
Where looms the Aztec's altar[8], quenched of its ancient flame.
There bringing forth the promise of thy land,
O rare and wondrous West!--the prophecy
Of glittering cities strewn along thy strand,
O golden empire[9] of the sunset sea! 3030
God-gifted Seer, while gazing endlessly,
Sawest thou an Eden on the desert brine[10],
Begirt with desolation's mystery,
Ere gusht the riven rock with milk and wine,
Where all was treeless waste and sun-baked alkaline?
Sawest thou, O prophet! till the pioneer
Builded his eagle nest, and pure and brave
Homed on the white-helmed peak and crystal mere?
O matchless land--the home their valor gave,
Mighty in will to bless, in work to save, 3040
Redeemed, redeeming, all must own thy worth!
Slander may wound thee, tyranny enslave,
Still thou art mine, loved land of all the earth,
Land of the honey-bee[11], land of my mortal birth!
Land prest by footprint of my pilgrim sire[12];
Land visioned by my more than sire, whose soul
Swept the far future with a glance of fire,
Bade hope, as memory, her page unroll;
Beheld uplifting, as a parted scroll,
The curtain from a kingdom yet to be, 3050
Binding in one world-realms from pole to pole;
Saw monarchs bow, saw nations bend the knee,
Saw dead and risen time take on eternity.
"Hear me, my people[13]! I shall not be slain
While unfulfilled my mission? Then, like Him
Who holds my hand, linked in an endless chain,
Which cannot die, whose light can ne'er grow dim,
Must I return to Home and Elohim.
Though here I fain would linger--human choice!
If weal to friend or foe--ay, e'en to them, 3060
Might purchased be, with my poor life the price,
Welcome, thrice welcome death. I will the sacrifice.
"Nor marvel at my mood. Could you but gaze
Upon the wonders of the worlds of God,
Where burn, amid the universal blaze,
The Father's fullness and the Son's abode,
Won by their feet who walk the rightful road,
Nor weary in well-doing; 'twere alone
Reward for all that here hath been your load.
Forgive--leave all to heaven, whose highest Throne 3070
Made endless love to endless life the stepping stone.
"Hearken, O House of Joseph! Here must end
My mortal toil. Now, as from Nebo's height[14],
I see, like him of old, my day descend.
But looms afar upon my sinking sight
Another Canaan. Clothe for pilgrim flight.
A Joshua cometh! Him let Israel heed,
And loyal be unto that council's right
On whom the Kingdom rolls; for they must lead
To where privation's hand shall sow dominion's seed. 3080
"A glacier's might, your gathered strength shall stand,
Stalwart upon the mountains[15], and shall send
Swift messengers to sound o'er sea and land
Last warning to the nations. Hither wend
Awakening hosts, who eager hearing lend
While yet the voice of grace, the voice of God,
Summons the house of Abraham his friend;
Calls them the wave to cleave, the wild to plod,
On, on to that safe rest, ere falls the reckoning rod.
"For war shall wound[16] this nation--rend it wide, 3090
And trample nations all. Anon shall slaves
'Gainst masters rise, and anarchy o'erride
Till tyranny be trodden as the paves,
Till patriot might puts forth its hand and saves
The crimsoned land from chaos. Hearken, all!
When ruin's host the blood-red banner waves,
Who heeded first the Gospel's warning call
Shall be the last of realms to crumble and to fall.
"Britannia! Thou among the during ones,
A nursing mother unto Israel's might; 4000
Foremost to send thy daughters and thy sons
From shores afar, from darkness unto light.
As thou hast favored truth and 'friended right,
Their tongues shall plead for thee in time to come,
And nerve thine arm when perilous thy plight.
Borne on thy shoulder o'er the billowing foam,
Joseph and Judah find their heritage, their home.
"I saw, while justice showed the vision dire,
Till mercy's hand let fall the lifted veil,
The goal of the ungodly--blood and fire, 4010
Earthquake and whirlwind, pestilential hail
Smiting earth's face with desolating flail.
And this, the mere beginning of their woe,
Whose final fate a doom the damned bewail;
While they that follow Christ, anon shall go
To guide and save lost souls, groping in shades below.
"Good fears not evil--grapples with it strong,
Hell turns to heaven, the unclean purifies;
For evil is but good, the right bent wrong.
No weakling unto loftiest worlds can rise; 4020
No coward e'er hath scaled celestial skies;
'Tis strength that wins the goal of blessedness,
'Tis knowledge saves, 'tis wisdom glorifies;
Intelligence alone can lift and bless
The fallen, innocent till snared in sin's duress.
"What matter, if my mortal race be run,
Where earth enfolds me to her mother breast?
While ye, my people--yonder setting sun
Points out your path. For you, no peace, no rest,
Till firm your weary feet upon the West, 4030
Where, moveless as yon snowy spine of hills,
Befriended by the tempest, unopprest,
And bounteous as the sun that sends the rills
To bless the vales, God's first-born fold[17] His purpose fills.
"Affliction here, but friendship there and peace;
(More cruel Christian white than savage red),
And in a day when warning tongues shall cease,
And plain be seen what prophets all have said;
When peace shall have no pillow for her head,
Save lofty heights where loyal hosts abound; 4040
Brave sons of battling sires[18], who toiled and bled
That this might evermore be freedom's ground,
Shall give to you their strength God's Kingdom here to found.
"Bide mountain-walled, my people! stalwart, strong,
Till poureth down from hallowed founts on high,
The might that doth to righteousness belong,
The might of faith, the power of purity--
Despair and terror to iniquity.
Then, Ephra-Judah, who the hand shall bind
That clears thy path before thee? Foes shall fly 4050
As driven dust, as ashes in the wind;
The crouching Lion springs, and He the prey shall find.
"And by that power[19] shall Zion be redeemed,
Yea, with a mighty hand, an out-stretched arm,
With marvels, miracles, ne'er done nor dreamed
Since wonder oped her eyes. The world's alarm
Shall surge, an angry sea; but fear nor harm
Can hover near the conquering host of God.
'Gainst Lucifer's shall Michael's legions form,
Besoming the chosen soil with chastening rod, 4060
Till sainted towers arise on Eden's ancient sod.
"The place appointed. Naught else is designed;
Naught else can heaven accept. Put forth the hand,
Plant stakes of Zion, tight her cords to bind,
Where'er ye move, O fated pilgrim band!
But bring forth Zion's self on Zion's land[20];
The consecrated soil, whereon ye stood
With me, of late, loyal while treason fanned
The flame still thirsting for a martyr's blood.
There build, in time to be, a city unto God. 4070
"Nor there alone; for all is Zion's land,
North unto South, East unto Western wave,
Far as the hemisphere's wide wings expand,
She sits, a sovereign queen, ice-crowned, to lave
Her glowing hands in tropic tides, while brave
Her snowy feet in faith the southern sea.
Arm patient, slow to smite, yet swift to save,
A friend to right, a foe to tyranny.
And there be living now who then shall live and see.
"While here the glory of the Common Good[21], 4080
Shadowed and symboled by a patriot band,
Whose triumph wrought for human brotherhood,
Extending that high cause from strand to strand,
Shall bring deliverance unto every land.
But anarchy would foil the lofty aim,
The peace, the union, by Jehovah planned;
Wherefore 'tis doomed to failure and to shame,
With all unrighteous rule, whate'er its place or name.