CANTO THE
NINETEENTH.
ARGUMENT.
Discussion
of the Question, “ Whether they who have not the Benefit of Revelation can be
saved ?”
THE PAGEANT
stooping low, on easy sail,
Hung full
in view : while to the ELYSIAN gale
The banded
Choirs their heav’nly ditty thrill’d ;
Cloth’d in
such splendour as the ruby shows,
When SOL’s
collected light intensely glows
Within the
stone, with sanguine radiance fill’d.
II.
The sudden
flash my earthly eyes o’ercame,
Whilst
accents more than mortal seem’d to claim
My ravish’d
ear, as if by magic Pow’r,
The giant
Vision which before me spread,
III.
Like some sweet plumy harmonist
on high,
Whose matin
song salutes the glowing Sky,
From wing
to wing the heav’nly Music ran,
Aloft the
tuneful periods seem’d to float
Thro’ the
still air in many an heav’nly note,
And thus,
at last, the wondrous Shape began :
IV.
“ For just
designs, and many an holy deed,
Thus plum’d
with heav’nly life aloft I lead
This
glorious cavalcade thro’ show’rs of joy,
That leave
no wish unfill’d ; the tribes below,
Tho’ blind
as moles, with awful rev’rence bow,
Our worth
acknowledge, but our guidance fly.
V.
“ As from
unnumber’d torches waving high,
One stream
of radiance floating o’er the Sky,
Paints the
dun clouds ; ev’n so the tuneful strain
Of many a
single Voice, distinct and sweet
Compos’d,
aloft in Æther, seem’d to meet,
Articulate and
full, above the plain.”
VI.
“ O ye !” I
cry’d, “ that like th’ ELYSIAN bloom
Of endless
transport shed a soft perfume,
In such a
Zephyr as fore-runs the Morn
Of blest
Eternity : O condescend !
That famine
of the Spirit to suspend,
Which in my
Soul intensely seems to burn.
VII.
“ For well
I know, that, if the Worlds that run
Their
circuit far beneath th’ empyreal Sun,
Hail the
reflexion of eternal Light ;
You that so
far within his noon-tide ray
Reside in
bliss, must drink a purer day
Where no
invidious vapour dims your sight.
VIII.
I stand,
and try with sharpen’d sight to read
Above, the
answer to my warm request.”
As when the
unhooded Falcon sees with joy
Light, and
with wing unfurl’d salutes the Sky,
Its
transport thus the starry Form express’d :
IX.
“ With such
clear PÆANS, o’er the liquid space
Sail’d the
long triumph of eternal Grace,
Of ransom’d
souls compos’d, and show’d afar
Signs of
augmented joy, respondent Choirs,
Such holy
strains began, as Heav’n inspires,
When to new
Souls her beamy gates unbar.
X.
“ That
Pow’r omnific,” thus the Voice began,
“ Whose
golden compass such a circuit ran,
Thro’ the
wide boundaries of vacant space,
And call’d
Creation from the womb of Night,
Is
bounteous still, or frugal of his light,
As fits the
purpose of eternal Grace.
XI.
“ Yet, tho’
the Image of th’ eternal Mind
Gave all
its sov’reign stamp, yet unconfin’d,
And ever
unemploy’d, beyond the bound
Of matter
and of space, a fund remains,
Still new,
of energy in him that reigns,
Hid in th’
abyss of Entity profound.
XII.
“ Portions
of this to each created pow’r
His bounty
gives, if, on th’ appointed hour,
They wait,
and rightly use what he bestows ;
The first
that ’gainst his sov’reign Lord rebell’d,
Aspir’d,
before his time, (by pride impell’d,)
To seize
the boon, and sunk to endless woes.
XIII.
“ To no
inferior Nature can be giv’n,
To taste
the full munificence of Heav’n ;
Nor
infinite in finite bounds is held,
Sole
measure of itself ; our mortal sight
(A cloudy
ray of uncreated light)
Is by this
awful prospect still repell’d.
XIV.
“ No
farther can our mental optics pierce
His essence
pure, who fram’d the universe,
Than in the
azure deep our glance can go,
Tho’ near
the shore, we soon descry the sand,
The bottom
mocks our sight, when far from land,
Tho’ stable
as the mountain’s breezy brow.
XV.
“ No light
can be, but from a source serene,
In vain you
look, is vapours intervene
By passion
rais’d, ’tis easy hence to tell
From whence
so many doubts are seen to rise
In your dim
Soul, like mists that hide the Skies
(Exhal’d
from dregs terrene) with cloudy veil.
XVI.
“ I see
what thoughts your working Mind divide,
You wonder
why the Soul by GANGES side
Is doom’d, altho’
he never heard the name
Of CHRIST,
yet listens to the God within,
(Guide of
his blameless steps,) and flees from Sin,
By Nature
led, and Reason’s sov’reign claim.
XVII.
“ Beyond
the Christian pale he breath’d his last :---
Why is his
guiltless Soul to HADES cast ?
Can
sov’reign Justice breathe so hard a doom ?
Why for
inevitable mis-belief
Is the pure
Sage dismiss’d, and virtuous Chief,
For ever
more to wail in STYGIAN gloom ?
XVIII.
“ But, who
art thou,” it said, “ who dar’st to climb
The seat of
judgement, and thro’ space and time,
With feeble
eyes that only reach a span,
To search ?
---If Scripture light had ne’er been giv’n,
Vain were
it to explore the will of Heav’n,
A privilege
beyond the reach of Man.
XIX.
“ O earthly
Minds ! to darkness ever prone !
Th’
Almighty Being in himself alone
Complete,
to sov’reign good attentive still,
To that
primæval scope for ever tends,
And
portion’d bliss with sov’reign Justice blends,
In the pure
essence of th’ eternal Will.
XX.
“ Thither
can no created thing aspire,
Unless that
influence of the plastic Sire
That fills
the Mind with vigour new, be giv’n.”
As to the
fost’ring Bird, her callow brood
Look up
with grateful eye, when fill’d with food,
So I
rever’d the Messenger of Heav’n.
XXI.
Spangl’d
with living gems, it seem’d to spread
The ample
vans, and thus in Thunder said :
“ The paths
of Justice, as my words to thee,
Are far
beyond thy depth.” Then all around
Begun from
wing to wing a solemn sound,
In one loud
chant of heav’nly harmony.
XXII.
The Vision
spread, distinct with many a Star,
Like that
fam’d Ensign, terrible in war,
Which o’er
the trembling world victorious ROME
Terrific
hung ; and thus began again
The
sov’reign Voice : “ To see this blest domain,
None but
the ransom’d in all ages come.
XXIII.
“ Ere
MARY’s SON distain’d the sacred wood,
And in all
ages since, his streaming blood
All Souls
redeems, that genuine Faith display ;
But many on
his Name with boldness call,
Who
underneath his righteous doom shall fall,
When
virtuous PAGANS soar to endless day.
XXIV.
“ Such
HYPOCRITES the NABATHEAN Band
Shall see
with scorn, where rang’d on either hand
The ghostly
Flocks for ever shall divide,
Those to
eternal joys in Heav’n’s domain,
And these
to tenements of endless pain,
When the
strong FIAT parts the living tide.”
XXV.
The SOPHI
then shall scorn the Sons of ROME,
When that
dread volume shall decide their doom,
That clear,
as Summer’s noon, their duty show’d ;
Proud
ALBERT then shall see the roll expand,
And the dread
movement of that awful hand
That writes
his sentence for BOHEMIAN blood.
XXVI.
PHILIP
shall then, his coining fraud deplore,
In louder
strains than when the tusky boar
Stumbled
his steed ; SEQUANA’s banks return’d,
The proud
discordant BRITONS then shall know
For what a
prize they caus’d their shields to flow
With
hundreds’ blood, so oft’ by ALBION mourn’d.
XXVII.
“ IBERIA,
then, her luxuries shall weep ;
Then the
BOHEMIAN, from his torpid sleep,
In horror
shall awake, and mourn his days
Unvalu’d,
misemploy’d : and SALEM’s heir
Shall see
one guiltless mark his worth declare,
While his
foul crimes the sacred page deface.
XXVIII.
“ That
Caitiff then, his avarice shal rue,
And all his
vileness, whom TRINACRIA knew,
Where old
ANCHISES rests in hallow’d mold,
Tho’ ÆTNA
flam’d at hand with vengeful ire,
He fear’d
not then her cataracts of Fire,
So hot,
within, he felt the thirst of gold.
XXIX.
“ A darker
page his giant deeds shall claim,
Deep
glowing, to express the culprit’s shame,
There too,
the brother Kings their fate shall know,
When
ARRAGON and sad MAJORCA mourn,
Two
glorious crowns of old, now stain’d with scorn,
Their
thrones disgrace, their kingdoms overthrow.
XXX.
NORWEGIA’s
Monarch, with the TUSCAN King,
Their
smother’d guest shall then severely sting ;
SCLAVONIA
too, the burning stamp shall feel,
With which
he falsified VENETIA’s coin :
O blest
HUNGARIA ! if your King resign
His crown,
and from the coming vengeance steal.
XXXI.
“ Happy
NAVARRE ! if proud PIRENE’s brow,
With its
deep frown could check the coming foe ;
NICOSEA
too, and FAMAGOSTA’s bands,
Lament
their lot ; they soon the lance must wield,
For their
fierce Tyrant in the bloody field,
Against
more blameless foes from other lands.”
END OF THE
NINETEENTH CANTO.