Classic Poem

CANTO VII.

Argument.

The Incarnation of the Word, the Immortality of the Soul, and the Resurrection.

" God of Sabaoth, glory unto thee,
Who with surpassing splendour dost o'ershine
The bright, blest spirits of the golden sea! "
Thus, moving ever to its strain divine,
This soul, on whom a double light was shed
Was manifest unto my mortal eyne;
And with the others in its dance it sped,
Till, like swift sparks that from the anvil break,
By sudden distance it from me was hid.
I doubted, and within my mind I spake:
" Speak, speak, " I said, " unto that Dame who aye
With sweetest drops thine eager thirst doth slake. "
But yet the lowly reverence whereby
I still am ruled, if but by B or ice ,
Me bent as one on whom deep sleep doth lie.
Short time I thus was left by Beatrice,
Who, with a smile whose radiance well had made,
In fiery pain man rich in blessedness,
Spake: " The true insight which on me is laid,
Infallible, doth show thy wond'ring thought,
How just revenge be justly punishid.
But soon I will resolve thee of thy doubt:
See that thou hearken to my words, for they
With weighty import unto thee are fraught.
The man for whom there dawn'd no natal day,
Because he suffer'd not the curb which still
Doth profit, upon all his race did lay
Like condemnation: therefore sick and ill,
In error, man for centuries made moan,
Until the Word descended, to fulfil
The broken law. That Nature, which had gone
So far from its great Maker, did he take,
With act of his eternal love alone.
Now raise thy mind to that which here I speak:
This Nature, when united once again
Unto its Maker, was sincere and meek
As first created; ere its own sad stain
Had cast it forth from Paradise, because
It left the way of truth and life. The pain
Imposed by the sharp sorrow of the cross,
If measured by the nature here assumed,
Was never yet endured for such just cause;
And ne'er was any so unjustly doom'd,
If thou regardest Him on whom was laid
Such grief, in mortal nature. Thus, resumed
Within one act, are many things array'd:
The self-same death was pleasing unto God,
And to the Jews; Earth trembled, as afraid,
And Heaven was open'd. This I now have show'd,
That it no longer should seem strange to thee,
Since a just pain just punishment hath sow'd.
But still thy mind I all entangled see
Within a knotted band, from thought to thought,
And fain from thence thou would'st thou wert set free
Thou say'st: " With clearness all thy words are fraught;
But yet 'tis hid why God hath will'd it thus,
And our redemption in this manner wrought."
My brother, this decree in the abyss
Of Light Divine is buried from all eyes,
Unlearnid in the flame of love, I wis.
And since, indeed, this truth deep-hidden lies,
Which many gaze on, and but few discern,
Hear why such manner was most just and wise.
Lo! God's great goodness, which doth ever spurn
All envy, self-enkindled hath reveal'd,
With glittering light, the loveliness etern.
That which, immediate, is from thence distill'd;
Is never-ending; since the impress knows
No change, when its Creator once hath seal'd.
And all that from his hand, immediate, flows,
Is wholly free, for it abideth still
Exempt from novelty. The more it shows
Conformity unto its Maker's will,
The more it pleases him: the Holy Love,
Shining on all things, with most life doth fill
Aye its most perfect likeness. Man doth prove,
From all these things, advantage; and if one
Fail, from his high estate he needs must move.
That which enslaveth him is sin alone,
Which makes him all unlike the chiefest gain,
Since little of its light on him hath shone:
Nor to his dignity he turns again,
If all be not fulfill'd where guilt made void,
And evil pleasure punish'd with just pain.
Your nature, when by sin it was destroy'd,
In Adam fell from its primeval worth,
As from the peace in Paradise enjoy'd.
Nor can it rise to where it had its birth,
(If subtly thou gaze,) by any path,
Save what by one of these two straits goes forth:
Or God alone of his free goodness hath
Forgiven, or man himself should satisfy,
For his mad sinfulness, the Heavenly wrath.
In the eternal counsels' depth, thine eye
Now fix; and listen with attentive mind,
That thou the meaning of my words descry.
Man ne'er the means to satisfy may find,
Because so low, in truth, he cannot bend,
In meek obedience, as he first inclined,
By disobedience, upward to ascend:
This is the reason why ye never may
Have power full satisfaction to extend.
And thus must God, in his most righteous way,
Man to the fulness of his life restore,
By one or both those paths, as, sooth, I say.
But, as the work is by the workman more
Beloved, the clearer it doth represent
The goodness of the heart which erst it bore;
Even thus God's bounty, which doth set its print
On all the world, by each and every way
To raise you to your first estate was bent.
Nor, 'twixt the latest night and the first day,
Was deed of such transcendent grandeur done,
Nor shall be evermore. A brighter ray
Of glory shone when God gave up his Son,
That man might be sufficient to arise
Once more, than had he pardon'd him alone.
And all too scant the store that satisfies
Just vengeance, if the sinless Son of God
Had not been humbled in our earthly guise.
But that I may not here thy wish defraud,
This matter now more plainly I declare,
That thou must see it as to me 'tis show'd.
Thou say'st: " I see the fire, I see the air,
And earth, and water, and the rest, endure
But little, nor corruption them doth spare;
Yet all were made by the same Being pure:"
Thus, if within my words the truth doth stand,
They from corruption aye should be secure.
The angels, brother, and the blissful land
Wherein thou journeyest, indeed may claim
Wholly to be created by the hand
Of God. The elements thou here dost name,
And all the things which do from them proceed,
Only from power creative have their frame:
Created was the substance which they need;
Created was the virtue ministrant
To them, within the stars which round them speed.
The soul of every brute and every plant,
By ray and motion of these holy fires,
A nature aptly influenced doth grant.
But Heavenly goodness human life inspires,
Immediate, and such love doth o'er it shed,
That it for evermore its source desires:
Thence, of your resurrection may be led
An argument, if thou bethink thee well
How erst our mortal frame was fashionid,
When our First Parents came, in Paradise to dwell "