The Messenger of Morn[1]

"Wake, slumbering world! Vain dreamer, dream no more!
The shadows lift, and o'er night's dusky beach
Ripple the white waves of morn. Awake! Arise!

"Ocean of dispensations—rivers, rills, 1050
Roll to your source! End, to thine origin!
And Israel, to the rock whence ye were hewn[2]!
For He that scattered, gathereth His flock,
His ancient flock, and plants their pilgrim feet
On Joseph's mountain top and Judah's plains;
Recalls the children of the covenant
From long dispersion o'er the Gentile world,
Mingling their spirits with the mystic sea,
Which sent them forth as freshening showers to save
The parched and withered wastes of unbelief[3]. 1060
Japheth! thy planet pales[4], it sinks, it sets;
Henceforth 't is Jacob's star must rise and reign.

"Daughter of Zion! be thou comforted,
And wash from thy wan cheek all trace of tears.
Gone are the days of dole and widowhood,
The days of barrenness that brought thee scorn;
Thy wilderness now weds, thy desert blooms.

"Rejoice, Jerusalem! thou art redeemed;
Again thy temple and thy towers arise;
Heard is the harp of David in thy halls; 1070
Greater than Solomon's thy wisdom shines.

"From spirit heights, where thou art beautiful,
Lamp of the nations, send thy light afar!
Take on thy new name—One and Pure in Heart!
For thou shalt see thy God, His presence thine.

"Time, mighty daughter of Eternity!
Mother of centuries[5]—seventy, seven-crowned!
Assemble now thy children at thy side,
And 'ere thou diest teach them to be one[6].
Link to its link rebind the broken chain 1080
Of dispensations, glories, keys, and powers,
From Adam's fall unto Messiah's reign;
A thousand years of rest, a day with God,
While Shiloh reigns[7] and Kolob once revolves.

"Six days thou, Earth, hast labored[8], and the seventh,
Thy sabbath, comes apace! Night's sceptre wanes,
And in the East the silvery Messenger
Gives silent token of the golden Dawn.

"Once more the ancient tidings[9] among men!
Once more the sign and seal of heavenly power! 1090
Renewal of an endless covenant,
Elias, restitution, unity!

"His burden! Hear it, nations! Hear it, isles!
Ere falls an hour, night's darkest hour of doom.
The trial ends, the judgment now begins.
Out, out of her, my people, saith your God!"

—-

Who towers aloft, as mountain girt with hills,
Amid the strength of Ephraim's stalwart sons,
To trumpet thus the closing acts of time?
Speak, oracle, what sayest thou of thyself? 1100
Who art thou, man of might and majesty?

"Would God I might but tell thee who I am!
Would God I might but tell thee what I know[10]!"

Then was he of the Mighty—one with those
Descended from the Empire of the Sun,
Adown the glowing stairway of the stars?
Regnant and ruling ere they left the realms
Of life supernal, left their sovereign thrones,
To wander oft as outcasts of mankind,
Unknown, unhonored, e'en like One who came 1110
Unto His own, by them spat on and spurned?
Avails it aught, their name or nation here?
Their state and standing there, the vital tale.

Peers of that Empire, nobles of the skies,
The sceptered satraps of the King of Kings,
The royal retinue of Him who reigns
First-born of many brethren—Gibborim[11],
Great ones worthy the Word[12] that was to come;
Foreknown, elect, predestined, preordained,
Sons of the Gods, and saviours of mankind, 1120
Building the highway for Messiah's feet,
And wheresoe'er He fareth following.

I saw in vision such a one descend,
And garb him in a guise of common clay;
His glory veiling from the gaze of all,
Who wist not that a great one walked with men;
Nor knew it then the soul incarnate there,
Betwixt the temporal and spirit spheres
So dense forgetfulness doth intervene;
Yet learned his truth betime by angel tongues, 1130
By voice of God, by heavenly whisperings.

But who remains his mystery to solve,
His letter to unlock with spirit key?
The veil to lift by death and silence thrown
O'er all the splendors of that life sublime?

Sound, Angel, sound! thou fifth of seven[13], ordained
To usher in the world-millennials,
To storm the dungeon doors of history,
And liberate the thoughts and deeds of men!
Sound, trump of God! Voice of a thousand years, 1140
Call of the Christ—His clear familiar tone,
Heard in the ages and the aeons past,
Told to the times and worlds that went before;
Call of the Spirit, answered by the blood,
Voice of the Shepherd, by the sheep well known.

A living prophet unto dying time,
Heralding the Dispensation of the End,
When Christ once more His vineyard comes to prune,
When potent weak confound the puny strong,
Threshing the nations by the Spirit's power, 1150
Rending the kingdoms with a word of flame;
That here the Father's work may crown the Son's,
And earth be joined a holy bride to heaven,
A queen 'mid queens, crowned, throned, and glorified.

Wherefore came down this angel of the dawn,
In strength divine, a stirring role to play
In time's tense tragedy, whose acts are seven.
His part to fell the false, replant the true,
To clear away the wreckage of the past,
The ashes of its dead and dying creeds, 1160
And kindle newly on earth's ancient shrine
The Light that points to Life unerringly;
Crowning what has been with what now must be;
A mighty still bespeaking mightier.

—-

Earth rose from wintry sleep[14], baptized and cleansed,
And on her tranquil brow, that seemed to feel
The holy and confirming hand of Heaven,
The warm light in a wealth of comfort streamed;
Nature's great floor green-carpeting anew
For some glad change, some joyful happening, 1170
Told in the countless caroling of birds,
Gilding the foliage, glorying the flowers,
Mirroring mingled hues of earth and sky.

Glad happening, in sooth, for ne'er before,
Since burst the heavens when Judah's star-lit hills
Heard angel choristers peal joy's refrain
Above the mangered Babe of Bethlehem,
Had earth such scene beheld, as now within
The bosom of a sylvan solitude,
Hard by the borders of a humble home, 1180
Upon that fair and fateful morn was played.

Players, immortal twain and mortal one,
Standing but fourteen steps upon life's stair,
An unlearned boy, thinker of thoughts profound,
Boy and yet man, dreamer of lofty dreams.

Not solemn, save betimes, when hovered near
Some wingÉd inspiration from far worlds,
Some great idea's all-subduing spell—
His heart grew humbler then, his look more grave;
Not melancholy—mirthful, loving life, 1190
And brimming o'er with health and wholesome glee.
A stalwart spirit in a sturdy frame,
Maturing unto future mightiness.

Bowing to God, yet bending to no creed,
Adoring not a loveless deity,
That saved or damned regardless of desert,
Ne'er reckoning the good or evil done;
Loving and worshipping the God of love,
The gracious God of reason and of right,
Long-suffering and just and merciful, 1200
Meting to every work fit recompense,
Yet giving more, far more, than merit's claim;
Bowing to Him, but not to man-made gods,
And shunning shameful strife where peace should dwell,
He holds aloof from those degenerate sects,
Bewildering Babel of conflicting creeds,
And pondering the apostolic line,
"Let any lacking wisdom, wisdom ask,
And God will freely give, upbraiding none,"
He puts the promise to the utter test. 1210

What pen can paint the marvel that befell?
What tongue the wondrous miracle portray?
Than theirs, the Vision's own, what voice proclaim
Whose dual presence[15] dimmed the noonday beam,
Communing with him there, as friend with friend,
And giving to that prayer reply of peace?

Tell how, as Moses on the unknown mount[16],
From whom in rage fled baffled Lucifer,
Who fain had guised him as the Son of God,
To win the worship of that prophet pure— 1220
Tell how with gloom he strove ere glory dawned,
And black despair met bright deliverance.
Tell how in heart of that sweet solitude,
Within the silent grove, sequestered shade,
While spirit hosts unseen spectators stood,
Watching the simple scene's sublimity,
Eternity high converse held with time;
Time, parent of the hovering centuries,
Mother of dispensations, travailing,
And bringing forth her last and mightiest child; 1230
Heaven's awful Sire, through Him both Sire and Son,
There blazoning the beginning of the end.

Wane the swift years; the boy a youth now grown;
And on his brow, woe-carved, a world of care.
Bending, an Atlas,[17] 'neath the titan's load,
Daily he climbs the hill of sacrifice,
Viewing from far the mount of martyrdom.

Nor marvel at his lot; hath he not told—
A crime man ne'er forgave in fellowman—
Told the wise world that God hath spoke again? 1240

"'Twas from below!" Thus bigotry in rage.
"Nay, from above," the meek though firm reply.
"No vision is there now—the time is past."
"But I have seen," affirms truth's constancy.
"God is a mystery, unknowable."
"God is a man—I saw Him, talked with Him."
"Man?" "Ay, of holiness—Exalted Man[18]."

A strife of words, of warring tongues, now waged,
And weapons vied with words the truth to slay;
Nor truth alone, but her brave oracle, 1250
A boy, by men, by neighborhoods, oppressed.

Still through his soul the solemn warning rang,
Still from his mouth the startling message flamed:
"No church the Christ's. None, therefore, can I join.
All sects and creeds have wandered from the way.
Priestcraft in lieu of Priesthood sits enthroned.
Dead forms deny the power of godliness.
Men worship with their lips, their hearts afar.
None serve acceptably in sight of heaven.
Wherefore a work of wonder shall be wrought, 1260
And perish all the wisdom of the wise[19]."

The wrangling sects forgave—well nigh forgot
Their former feuds and fears and jealousies;
And, joining hands, as Pilate Herod joined,
One guilty day when God stood man-condemned,
In friendly reconcilement's cordial clasp,
They doomed to death and hell "this heresy."
None sought, from "Satan's wile," a soul's reclaim,
But all were bent his humble name to blast;
And pious, would-be murder led the van 1270
Of common hatred and hostility.

But Truth, thou mother of the living thought,
The deathless word, the everduring deed!
What puny hand thy giant arm can stay?
When crushed or backward held, thine hour beyond?
Can bigot frown or tyrant fetter quell
Thy high revolt, O Light Omnipotent!
When God would speak with man, who tells Him nay?
Can hell prevent when heaven on earth would smile?

Pillowed in prayerful thought the wakeful seer. 1280
Without, broods darkness o'er a dreaming world;
Within, an angel's face turns night to day:
"A messenger from God[20] to thee I come;
Thy sins are pardoned through thy penitence;
Henceforward heard in every creed and clime
The good and evil tongues that trump thy fame.
Behold!"

Amazement now fresh wonder views;
And while enwrapt, as wave-like visions roll
Their spirit splendors on that gifted gaze, 1290
In words akin to these the tale tells on:

"A slumbering secret hides in yonder hill,
Graven on gold, in characters unknown—
Unknown to thee, but known to me and mine,
The language of my people, ages gone.
Beside the sacred volume, buried there
At His behest who gave my sire command,
The seer-stones, Urim, Thummim, named of old,
Whereby thou shalt dispel the mystery
That hangs above this heaven-favored land, 1300
And Joseph, speaking from the dust, shall join
With Judah, page to page[21], God's grace to tell.

"But be aware, lest Mammon's charm allure,
And tempt from truer wealth that shines within.
More than the lamp the light—be this thy quest:
Seek thou the gold that gilds eternity.

"The winter of the Gentile reign is o'er,
And Israel's springtime putteth forth its leaves.
Fruit planted in the gardens of the past
Hath ripened and is ready for the fall[22]. 1310

"Elias comes[23], Messiah's Messenger,
God's host to summon, and His house to save—
First by persuasion's pleading; that contemned,
By voice of wrath and stroke of violence.
He speaks—the mountains kneel, the valleys rise;
Rolls to the north the land-dividing wave;
Equality—nay, justice, holds the helm,
Each hath his own, the lost lamb finds the fold.
Elias comes—'tis restitution's reign,
And order hurls disorder from the throne. 1320

"War sheathes his fangs, aloft on fearless wing
Peace broods above a restful universe;
A common faith and interest unite,
But conscience still her fullest freedom[24] sees.
Wider than Church extends the Kingdom's bound:
The law from Zion, and the royal word,
The Monarch's edict, from Jerusalem;
A centralized diffusion's balanced sway,
God's might, man's right, in equilibrium.

"Babel no more—stilled all her strifeful tongues; 1330
The primal language[25] o'er the world prevails;
And all is found again as at the first,
While ransomed hosts, rejoicing, shout and sing:
The Lord His ancient people hath redeemed;
The Lord hath gathered all things into one;
And earth becomes a heaven, for she is clothed
In garments as the glory of His light
Who reigneth in the midst, Life's Majesty.

"But ere it break, that bright millennial day,
There falls a nightlier hour than night hath known, 1340
When sun shall frown, moon blush, when dizzy stars,
Drunken with fumes of man's iniquity,
Shall hurl them headlong from their sparkling thrones,
And grovel darkly in the deep abyss;
While heaven shall tremble as if palsy-struck,
Earth as an aspen shaken in the wind.
Men's hearts shall fail, and where be safety found?
For tribulations till that hour unknown,
Save in the feeble typings of the past,
Terrors of famine, fire, and pestilence, 1350
Terrors of whirling wind and whelming wave,
Allied to horrors strange as manifold,
Shall stalk abroad to humble humankind,
To lift the lowly and abase the proud,
To straight the crooked and make smooth the crude,
Jehovah's awful pathway to prepare—
Jehovah, He who cometh to his own,
And by His own at last is recognized.

"No more a lowly Lamb, to slaughter led;
A Lion in his risen majesty— 1360
Lion and Lamb, for gentleness and might,
Mercy and justice, there go hand in hand.

"But first, the sickle in the ripened grain,
Reaping where faith is found, while hope endures,
Drawing the Gentile unto Israel's God,
And gathering the strewn of Abraham.

"Wells truth from earth, pours righteousness from heaven,
Till wisdom's waters inundate the world.
Bestirred the wave by angel trumpets blown,
Wafting the chosen seed to safety's strand, 1370
Winning the West ere yet the East be spoiled.

"Elijah comes—Elijah, he whose rays
Bespeak the Lord of Glory, from whose light
All splendors, paling, hide their tapers dim.
He comes the world to reap, the vineyard prune,
The wheat to garner, and the tares to burn;
He comes, his face a furnace, melting pride,
Consuming wickedness and cleansing worth.
He comes the hearts of sons and sires to turn,
To plant anew the promises of old, 1380
Binding the present to the parent past,
Part unto whole, time to eternity.
He comes the priestly fulness to unfold,
The capstone of life's temple here to lay.
He comes lest man be taken unaware,
And laggard earth be smitten with a curse.

"Hark to that prophet—outstretched Arm of God,
Who comes the ancient order to restore;
And list to him who leads, as Moses led,
The gathered house and host of Abraham!" 1390

Thrice through the night the radiant messenger
In burning words breathed forth the marvel told;
Till memory's page, as traced with pen of fire,
Glowed with each utterance ineffable.

And on the morrow stood the sacred twain—
Mortal, immortal, present linked with past—
Above the spot where slumbering truth reposed;
Not to be wakened yet till autumns four
Had rained their dews upon its resting-place.

Meanwhile the unschooled prophet, angel-taught, 1400
In prayer and patience disciplined his soul;
And visiting yearly that revealing mount,
Learned from its lips a story of the past,
Affirmed in full when risen truth revealed
The pent-up secret of the centuries.

Words of the angel, Ramah's sentinel,
Custodian of Cumorah's[26] archive old: