id="id00114">Elect of Elohim[1]

Sing I a song of aeons gone, 440
    Of life from mystery sprung,
Ere sun, or moon, or rolling stars
    Their radiance earthward flung;
Ere spirit-winged intelligence
    Forsook those shining spheres.
Exceeding glory there to gain
    Through mortal toil and tears.

A song they learn whose lives eterne
    Transcend yon twinkling night,
Pale Olea's silver beam[2] outsoar, 450
    Shinea's golden flight;
Passing the angel sentries by,
    Mounting o'er stars and suns,
To where the orbs that govern burn,
    Royal and regnant ones.

Declare, O Muse of mightier wing,
    Of loftier lore, than mine!
Why God is God, and man may be
    Both human and divine;
Why Sons of God, 'mid sons of men, 460
    Unrecognized may dwell,
So masked in dense mortality
    That none their truth can tell.

From worlds afar, from heavenmost star,
    Heard I, or seemed to hear,
A sweet refrain, as summer rain,
    A cadence soft and clear.
A voice, a harp,—Was it the same?—
    Harping those harps among,
Leading the lyric universe, 470
    On those high hills of song?

In solemn council sat the Gods;
    From Kolob's height supreme,
Celestial light blazed forth afar
    O'er countless kokaubeam;
And faintest tinge, the fiery fringe
    Of that resplendent day,
'Lumined the dark abysmal realm
    Where earth in chaos lay.

Silence. That awful hour was one 480
    When thought doth most avail;
Of worlds unborn the destiny
    Hung trembling in the scale.
Silence self-spelled, and there arose,
    Those kings and priests among,
A power sublime, than whom appeared
    None nobler 'mid the throng.

A stature mingling strength with grace,
    Of meek though godlike mien;
The glory of whose countenance 490
    Outshone the noonday sheen.
Whiter his hair than ocean spray,
    Or frost of alpine hill.
He spake;—attention grew more grave,
    The stillness e'en more still.

"Father!" the voice like music fell,
    Clear as the murmuring flow
Of mountain streamlet trickling down
    From heights of virgin snow.
"Father," it said, "since one must die, 500
    Thy children to redeem
From spheres all formless now and void,
    Where pulsing life shall teem;

"And mighty Michael[3] foremost fall,
    That mortal man may be;
And chosen saviour Thou must send,
    Lo, here am I—send me!
I ask, I seek no recompense,
    Save that which then were mine;
Mine be the willing sacrifice, 510
    The endless glory Thine!

"Give me to lead to this lorn world,
    When wandered from the fold,
Twelve legions of the noble ones
    That now Thy face behold;
Tried souls[4], 'mid untried spirits found,
    That captained these may be,
And crowned the dispensations all
    With powers of Deity.

"Who blameless bide the spirit state, 520
    Clothe them in mortal clay,
The stepping-stone[5] to glories all,
    If man will God obey,
Believing where he cannot see,
    Till he again shall know,
And answer give, reward receive,
    For all deeds done below.

"The love that hath redeemed all worlds[6]
    All worlds must still redeem;
But mercy cannot justice rob— 530
    Or where were Elohim?
Freedom—man's faith, man's work, God's grace—
    Must span the great gulf o'er;
Life, death, the guerdon or the doom,
    Rejoice we or deplore."

Still rang that voice, when sudden rose
    Aloft a towering form,
Proudly erect as lowering peak
    'Lumed by the gathering storm;
A presence bright and beautiful, 540
    With eye of flashing fire,
A lip whose haughty curl bespoke
    A sense of inward ire.

"Send me!"—coiled 'neath his courtly smile
    A scarce concealed disdain—
"And none shall hence, from heaven to earth,
    That shall not rise again.
My saving plan exception scorns[7].
    Man's will?—Nay, mine alone.
As recompense, I claim the right 550
    To sit on yonder Throne!"

Ceased Lucifer. The breathless hush
    Resumed and denser grew.
All eyes were turned; the general gaze
    One common magnet drew.
A moment there was solemn pause—
    Listened eternity,
While rolled from lips omnipotent
    The Father's firm decree:

"Jehovah, thou my Messenger[8]! 560
    Son Ahman, thee I send;
And one shall go thy face before,[9]
    While twelve thy steps attend.
And many more on that far shore
    The pathway shall prepare,
That I, the first, the last may come,
    And earth my glory share.

"After and ere thy going down,
    An army shall descend—
The host of God, and house of him 570
    Whom I have named my friend[10].
Through him, upon Idumea[11],
    Shall come, all life to leaven,
The guileless ones, the sovereign sons,
    Throned on the heights of heaven.

"Go forth, thou Chosen of the Gods,
    Whose strength shall in thee dwell!
Go down betime and rescue earth,
    Dethroning death and hell.
On thee alone man's fate depends, 580
    The fate of beings all.
Thou shalt not fail, though thou art free—
    Free, but too great to fall.

"By arm divine, both mine and thine,
    The lost thou shalt restore,
And man, redeemed, with God shall be,
    As God forevermore.
Return, and to the parent fold
    This wandering planet bring[12],
And earth shall hail thee Conqueror, 590
    And heaven proclaim thee King."

'Twas done. From congregation vast,
    Tumultuous murmurs rose;
Waves of conflicting sound, as when
    Two meeting seas oppose.
'Twas finished. But the heavens wept;
    And still their annals tell
How one was choice of Elohim,
    O'er one who fighting fell.

—-

A stranger star that came from far 600
    To fling its silver ray,
Where, cradled in a lowly cave,
    A lowlier infant lay;
And led by soft sidereal light,
    The orient sages bring
Bare gifts of gold and frankincense,
    To greet the homeless King.

O wondrous grace! Will gods go down
    Thus low that men may rise?
Imprisoned here