University of Virginia Library

SCENE V.

A Druidical Grove. Enter Caffa attended by Lucifer.
CAFFA.
But tell me, Lucifer—answer me this:
Who was the greatest in the Angel-World,
Great Lucifer, or Man?

LUCIFER.
The Angel-Man—
He was the greatest in the Spirit-World.

CAFFA.
But how did all men fall when Adam fell?

LUCIFER.
Just as the Angels fell with Lucifer.
Men are to Adam as they were to him.
No Angel has been honored with his name.
The highest title ever given to Man,
Was given to Christ when He was called God-Man.

CAFFA.
Indeed, a most unblushing flatterer.

LUCIFER.
I tell thee this to show thee what thou art—
What thou couldst never know till after death.
Thine origin is very great—for thou
Wert made in God's own image—pure.

CAFFA.
How low
We are compared with what we were.

LUCIFER.
Although
This earth is far from Heaven, yet, thou art far
From being wise in saying so. Thou art
As ignorant of the earth as of the place
From whence you fell. Was not the form of Christ
Man's form? It was Man's body glorified.
Why was it glorified? To show what he
Was formerly—what he must be again,
When he returns back to the Eden-World.

CAFFA.
The difference between what thou hast been—
What thou art now—how great!

LUCIFER.
It is the same
With Man.

CAFFA.
If Lucifer was placed so far
Beneath the Angel-Man in Heaven, why is
His wisdom greater here on earth?

LUCIFER.
Because
Man's body stands between his soul and God.

CAFFA.
Thou art not corporeal then?

LUCIFER.
When thou
Hast learned sufficient wisdom, thou wilt know
That there are different bodies in the world.

CAFFA.
If Man was made above great Lucifer,
Why does he not subdue him in this world?

LUCIFER.
Because he has forgotten what he was.

CAFFA.
You are inferior to the Angel-Man,
That you would tempt him to be like yourself?

LUCIFER.
Oh, no—I do it but to see how much
A noble Spirit will degrade itself.

CAFFA.
Which makes
The Devil laugh.

LUCIFER.
Would you not laugh were you
The Devil?

CAFFA.
Rather weep.

LUCIFER.
That shows again—
Although you may not think of it—how high
The Angel-Man is over Lucifer.
The one was made to weep, the other—smile.

CAFFA.
But tell me, why was Man turned out of his
Jerusalem above?

LUCIFER.
That he might pass
From his probation back to Heaven again.
It was by wisdom that the worlds were made;
By wisdom shall he be restored to joy again.
Ignorance has been the curse of all mankind.
It is enough to make the Devil laugh,
To think his shoulders are so broad. He is
The scapegoat of the sins of all mankind!

CAFFA.
But Lucifer would reign against God's will.

LUCIFER.
God's will! How could he reign against His will?
God made his soul to reign against His will?
This is absurd.

CAFFA.
That is upon the Scroll.

LUCIFER.
I cannot will against God's will. Will is
An attribute of soul.

CAFFA.
But it is free.

LUCIFER.
Most true. But freedom is to do God's will.
My life is but the breath of God in me.
Then tell me how he fell?

CAFFA.
He fell this wise:
By willing to abuse God's will in him.

LUCIFER.
But this were making it God's will to sin;
That he should will to do just what he did—
No more—else he had been God's equal long
Ago.

CAFFA.
Satan, you mean.

LUCIFER.
This will is Satan in
The Man. What is thy will, but this—to be
Superior to all men? I know you wish
To doubt my word, but it is true; for though
The Devil should speak truth as true as Heaven,
Yet, still he would not be believed—although
A truth on earth is but a truth in Heaven.
Is not the sun a symbol of God's love?
The bright expression of His love for Man?
Show me the Man who does not love his light.
It is by wisdom that we know this truth,
Which is to Man what light is to the earth.
What are the spheres in Heaven, but God's deep love
For Man, expressed in syllables of worlds?
He who can gaze upon the stars, at night,
And read not in them God's eternal love
For Man, in wonderful display, is not
The being God intended him to be.

CAFFA.
But when did Satan first appear to Man?

LUCIFER.
After the Sabbath of celestial rest.

CAFFA.
Oh! Satan! Satan! thou art wondrous wise!

LUCIFER.
It is long suffering that has made me so.
Those who believe that Man was made of earth,
May take a different ground—perhaps in Hell—
Which they deserve. As for myself, I know,
And, knowing, speak the truth.

CAFFA.
Ah! now we change
Our natures, for I laugh, while you should weep.

LUCIFER.
Yes, in thine ignorance, in knowing not
What you desire to know—what now thou art—
What thou hast been. He who does not believe
He was not made of earth, can never be
Above what he is now—but shall be less.

CAFFA.
I know Man's spirit is a part of God.

LUCIFER.
Now thou hast spoken right.

CAFFA.
But tell me, where
Didst thou receive thy form? will it decay?

LUCIFER.
This form?—It is a duplicate of thine.
I am the shadow of thyself.

CAFFA.
Now, you
Astonish me!

LUCIFER.
Not more than you do me.

CAFFA.
How long before we shall begin to go
Back to our former state again?

LUCIFER.
When earth
Is purified to what she was before.

CAFFA.
Then Satan will be chained.

LUCIFER.
Be sent again
Back to his former state from whence he fell.

CAFFA.
God send that hour!—then Man will be at rest.

LUCIFER.
He suffers more from Man than Man from him.

CAFFA.
No man believes that Satan will be saved.

LUCIFER.
But did not Shiloh say he meant to put
All things under His feet? The last that He
Will conquer will be Death. Man, then, will die
No more. Sin, then, will have an end—which is
But saying Satan then will die. This proves
That Lucifer will be restored. For how
Can Satan live, if Sin, his wife, be dead?
Although this is not written on your Scroll,
Deny it, if you can!

CAFFA.
Then you betrayed
The very pride which caused your fall!

LUCIFER.
It is
A noble pride that speaks the truth. So you
Accuse not me, but Him who is all truth;
For that is part of Him, as I am part.
As gold is purified by fire, so is the soul
By wisdom—wisdom is the soul's pure fire.

CAFFA.
Ah! hadst thou not deceived mankind, there would
Have been no need of being restored.

LUCIFER.
If this were not a temporal state,
Could that be an eternal one in Heaven!
We are to change in this, that we may be
Like what we were in that—that we may know
The difference between that state and this.

CAFFA.
When will the curse be taken from the earth?

LUCIFER.
In the beginning here on earth of rest.
Then will the Jubilee of joy begin,
So long expected here on earth, to last
A thousand years. Then will all things be changed,
And made most perfect, as they were the day
That Satan entered Paradise. He who
Has not the linen garments on of truth
And holiness, will, at that hour, appear
Before their Master, as the Virgins did
Who had no oil within their lamps, therefore,
Appeared before the door too late at night
To see the marriage rite performed, or eat
The Banquet long made ready for the wise.

CAFFA.
Will Satan be restored with Man, or on
Some future day with other sinful souls?

LUCIFER.
No—afterwards. The highest spirits will
Be made partakers first.

CAFFA.
The Sabbath then
Will end on earth.

LUCIFER.
To be continued in
A new rejoicing in the Heaven of heavens.

[Exeunt severally.