The Judgement of the Flood :: :: University of Virginia Library

First, the Beginning is; wherein is hid
In Unity of Being, all that can
Be manifested in diversity,
Involved, but not confused, though Chaos called;
Both Spirit's womb, and Nature's; Heavens, and Earths,
Or, all in each, the Heaven, the Earth, alone.
First, is Jehovah, the Elohim next;
Then Adonäi, image of the First:
Jehovah, One in All—the One in Three—
For in the Three abides the Universe,
And in the One the All projects the Twain.
Before the Worlds is Wisdom; with the Three
She sits; Bride, Sister, Daughter of the One,
Herself thus Three in One; and, one with Love,
(Receiving the fecundity divine,)
Teems with creations endless, brings them forth
In everlasting Order. Heaven, and Earth
Roll in her eyes, upon her bosom globe;
Twin orbs, that to her countenance are as eyes,
And to her bosom ever-swelling breasts,
From whose twin founts the milk of mercy flows;
Circles of being, though distinct, conjoined,
Spirit, and Nature, inseparable mates;

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Mother of all, yet Virgin though betrothed.
Hell is not yet; anon the Heaven, and Earth,
Within the mirrour of the universe,
Shew, to herself, herself; well-pleased, she looks,
And dwells in them, as her inhabit they;
In heaven as Wisdom known, Beauty on earth.

Nor place, nor state, alone; but Heaven, and Earth,
Intelligent, and loving, live to love,
For generation live, and procreant bliss—
Spirit with Nature plays in amorous sport;
And Being, from their chaste embraces, grows
In number; from their mother, Natures named;
The eldest, Nature, as by excellence,
Masculine nature; but by various names
His Brethren known; a perfect brotherhood,
A brotherhood of Seven; the youngest called
Eternity, in tongue celestial; Time
In dialect terrene. High Powers are all—
But them the Spirit celestial, in his care
And love mysterious, hides; and over them
A veil of darkness throws: is called the sphere
Of their concealment, Hell. But they in gloom,
Though each be solaced with a sister's love,
For freedom pine, and supplicate for light.
Them hears Terrestrial Nature; wild with woe,
Their cry she echoes, and the passionate moan
Doth pass 'tween Hell, and Earth, and Chaos fill.
‘Vain,’ Earth exclaims, ‘that I should children own,
Yet at my nipples they should never nest,
And my capacities of mother-love
Turn inward, so to madden. Love Divine—
Why are my chambers unarrayed, and void,
And Darkness on the Chaos where I lie;
A desolate vessel, floating an abyss?’

The youngest of her children then found voice—
‘Appeal not thou against the will of Heaven:

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Both wise, and just is he;—but know, thy strong
Desire is as a spell within my heart:
Free me;—when he descends, it shall prevail.’

Clad in the gloom of glory, Heaven, as wont,
Descended to embrace maternal Earth,
Hovering diffuse. On the material deep
Spirit paternal broods; whereat therefrom
A yearning harmony of sighs, and sounds
Arose; a charming music—sweet, as 'twere
By Wisdom's self even uttered; and, indeed,
Her mind it was Eternity informed,
And gave him all his power. Subdued by Love,
Heaven melted, and more tenderly embraced
Imploring Earth; more ardently impressed
Spirit the deep of Nature. What should be
New-born, was free to build, and occupy
The desolate spaces formless wheresoe'er.
Nor what is sworn by Heaven, by Spirit vowed,
Fulfilment may delay. Beauty at once,
Emerging from the deep, made Chaos glad,
And mighty Powers, Heaven's offspring, peopled Earth.

But Light is not; then Love, to be revealed,
Again speaks in thy heart, Eternity;
And gives to thee, and to thy Bride a Son,
Known by the glorious name of Lucifer.
By him is Light borne even into Hell,
And every Nature, fettered there, released,
With him, the eldest, masculine, who bore
Maternal appellation. Him they own
As most excelling; yet from gratitude,
Confess the youngest, who, by name of Time,
Governs both them, and all material powers.

But gratitude by greater benefit
May be outbid; and Light on Darkness grow
Unto the perfect noon.

Mysterious Time,

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As day the night, bright Lucifer usurps;
And the obscure Eternity, displaced
By the progressive Hours with radiant hair,
Retires to higher Heaven: So Wisdom wills;
So Love ordains.

The godship of the world
Thus Lucifer receives; and whom his light
Had franchised, they on him confer their gifts,
And hail him Prince of Air; the Lightning his,
And his the Thunder that succeeds the flash.

Thus Light was first revealed, unsphered, unorbed,
Shining upon the genesis of things,
A fluid mass, unshaped, unoccupied,
Informing it, and peopling Earth with Powers,
Ere yet the Ages in their cycles rolled.
—All is creating yet, created nought:
And Love creative acts eternally
On forces motionless, and nebulous,
Within the silent, dreamless mystery;
'Till Light appears, and Love, beholding, sees
That it is good, distinguishing the light
From darkness.—Loth, be sure, his reign to lose,
He wages conflict endless, and still pleads
His elder right. On him, and on his brood,
Light yet persistent wins, from less to more;
And with his triumph thus One Æra crowns.

So Wisdom wills; so Love. This War eterne
Is still of Love. Where Wisdom, Order is.
—Still Love ordains that, 'midst this sum of powers,
Order, made manifest, distinction make,
'Twixt power, and power; and whatso is above,
From whatso is beneath; forenaming it,
(As still the visible firmament we name,)
Spirit celestial, or the expanse of air,
Or, in the plural, the Disposing Heavens.
—For know, the Spiritual Heavens as many seem,

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Material Earths but one; yet, learn the truth,
That in the One is Many, and in the Many
One only, with the All preceding both;
Hence Love decrees, that Order, simply one,
Affirmed should be for Powers manifold,
Or rather Omniform as All in All;
Seven spirits waiting on the Throne of one,
Yet omnipresent through the Universe.
Darkness, meanwhile, with Light, in loving strife,
Contests supremacy; till victor Light,
New triumph won, a Second Æra crowns.

So Love, so Wisdom wills. Let Order rule
The subject living forces, and assign
To these a rare, and those a denser form,
Distinguishing the simple, and concrete;
And Love, contemplating their dual kinds,
One Fluid calls, one Solid; goodness sees
In each; and bids the womb of Matter teem
With Life, developed full, or in the germ;
Productive each of offspring, like itself,
Of solid, and of fluid each combined,
Proportional; organic. Ever Love
Looks on, and ever sees the work is good;
While on the shore of Darkness, like a flood
After long ebb, Light steals, and covering it,
New triumph won, the Third great Age completes.

So Love ordains, so Wisdom. Fit the Light
Should be constrained, and within spheres confined,
By All-disposing Order; in the Heavens
Displayed, gemmed on the bosom of the Air,
And sailing in the Spiritual Deep.
—Straight the Divine Intelligence impressed
Each passive force with motion. One and all,
Their centre seek; and, mingling in the chase,
Condense, and crystallize; and, circling round
The point of rest, with progress equable,

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Of solid, liquid, and ethereal, form
Both Sun, and Moon, and Planetary orbs;
Bearers of Light.

Then there was War in Heaven—
For Lucifer with Wisdom, conference high
Maintaining, had discoursed; and she, his parle
Repeating, of the Word Eternal gained
The passionate suit that it was Death to plead—
‘Grateful Vicissitude of Day, and Night,
Of Light, and Darkness; mutability
Wedding to Time as his terrestrial bride,
Whose law by marriage contract his became’—
—So sang the Hours, in hymeneal song,
Bridesmaidens they, erelong themselves to wed
The dark-browed Youths whose locks were raven black,
Children of Darkness; spite of their Old Sire,
Abhorring change, prohibiting revolt;
Darkness thrice-nameless, thrice-unknown; now named,
Now by the Stars invaded, and revealed,
Or wandering, or fixed. Then Knowledge rose,
Fair Wisdom's youngest brother, and would prate
Of Good, and Evil, in his frolic mood,
Which Darkness would not brook—and darker grew
With anger, frowning tempest.

Longer now,
The Battle might not wait; for Motion was,
And power, by power attracted, or repelled,
Shewed love, or hatred, in one sphere combined,
Or formed opposing worlds. The solar god
Poured, hot, and bright, his influence through the mass,
Erst cold, and dern, and modified at will
Material form; himself thus suffering loss,
Whereat was Darkness pleased, but soon repaired
By the pervading Lucifer, whose aid
Might omnipresent seem; such power was his,
Though short of that, the balance to preserve,

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Of qualities by constant interchange,
And revolution. Meet, howe'er, the god
Soon moderate his wrath; for its fierce heat,
Invading matter, else will all dissolve;
Diffused all form in space aëriform.
Some of resistive temper stubbornly
Maintain coherence; but, already, more,
Capacious of less heat, compactness lose;
A few of warmth impatient, melt at once.
Anon, his passion cooled; and all was safe,
Each form concrete held in its central place,
And new were still begotten—for the war,
Though furious, yet by Love was overruled.

Then there was born to Earth, and Heaven at once
The Angel Victory, who, with rapid flight,
Chased Darkness into refuge, where he reigns
Among the planets which no light has reached,
Two thirds of space. Thus the Fourth Age had end.—

Then Wisdom 'gan complain. ‘Lo, here is change
Of Night, and Day; and Signs, in the Expanse,
Are set for Seasons, and for Days, and Years.
And lo, my Brother Knowledge reads them all;
Ourself enthroned above.’ Then spake the Word.
‘Wouldst thou descend? Observe example first—
Life is in me; hence Light in Lucifer:
See, where he shines on high, the Morning-Star.
In him abiding, Light begetteth Life,
Which he would multiply in living shapes,
As Light in me begat Life Infinite,
And made thee Mother of all things that be.
—So let the waters teem with things of life,
The air with volant creatures. It is good.
Blessèd be ye. Increase, and multiply;
Fill ye the waters of the sea, make glad
The expanded air betwixt yon Heaven, and Earth.’

Thus while he spake, bright Lucifer unsphered

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His glory; and, his state forsook, became
The mystic instinct, and sagacity,
Of those who thus were blessed, the inhabitants
Of sea, and air; genius of winds, and streams;
His life their light, exalted in his fall;
Mutation constant, till the Fifth Age ends.

Which seeing, Wisdom sighed: ‘I yearn for Death.’
Answered the Eternal Word: ‘Have thy desire:
Thy death, by law of Love, makes needful mine;
But I consent to both, for love of thee.
—Let, therefore, Earth bring living creatures forth;
Cattle, and creeping things, and forest beasts,
According to their kinds. Lo, it is good.’

Thus earth was peopled. But there needed yet
A lord to rule this heritage of life,
The wild of savage natures, reptile forms.

Then spake the Word again. ‘Let Lucifer
Be mind to them, according to his prayer,
Which the Elohim grant. Befits that We,
Structure, sublimer far, intelligence;
More lofty front, and attitude erect.
For Love hath spoken, both in thee, and me.

‘Let us make Man, our Image, like Ourself,
Both male, and female; let them rule the tribes
Of Ocean, Air of earth, and Earth herself,
And the seed-bearing herb, and fruitful tree,
Possess for fruit.’

Then Wisdom, glad, exclaimed,
‘So my delights long promised shall arrive,
And with the Sons of Men shall I disport,
Within the habitable parts of Earth.’

Whereto the Word replied: ‘Wherefore myself
Must Man become, be born, and suffer Death;
And thou, the Universal Mother, yield
Homage, as Woman, to a mortal lord,
Travail with Time, and bring forth Truth with pain,

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To perish in an agony of fire,
Only regaining thus immortal life,
By me redeemed from sorrow, and the grave.
Tempted by Lucifer to this result,
Forewarned; by strong desire, and love compelled;
That thou, though wise before, shouldst learn to know,
And with experience fill the reason's void.’

The Sixth Age ended; there was Rest in Heaven.

Jehovah, the Elohim, one Jehovah:
O Word, O Wisdom, O Eternal Love;
O ninefold Mystery, uncreate, unnamed;
Darkness profound, impenetrable proved
By Light's excess, that blinds us as we gaze;
Most hides itself in that which most reveals;
And teaches Man, that God may not be known.
Both Good, and Evil are His ordonnance;
And Light, and Darkness; He created both.

When I had read, I bowed my pensive knee
To the great Parent of the Universe;
And ordered, then, a solemn Sacrifice,
In presence of the people. On the tomb
Of Adam, the devoted Lamb I slew,
And took his skin, and with his blood transcribed
A sacred Song; first sung by me, and them,
As, then and there, the Spirit had inspired
Me, erst by Wisdom made a Friend of God,
And Prophet, as she makes all holy souls,
Who welcome her, when she would enter in.

Before all Being, Love is God. Of Love,
Light-giving Love, the Father gives the Son
Life in himself to have, and propagate.
None shall the Father see, at any time,
But he to whom the Co-eternal Son

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Himself reveals, revealing so the Sire.
Such the decree. Paternal Throne of Love,
Unutterable, inaccessible,
Abides in Light that aye shall limit round
The universe, and nought shall comprehend
For ever, and for ever. None shall hear
His voice, the filial Word except, and he
To whom the Word his will supreme reveals,
Within whose bosom I consorted live.

Eternal Silence is not. Love bespeaks
‘The Son—I am:’ and the Word answers—‘Yea,
Father, thou art, and I in thee!’ To whom
The Eternal Father:—‘Lo, I swear; of thee
And for thee are the Heavens, and the Earths:
Both the Beginning, and the End art thou.’
Where to the Son—‘According to thy will,
I constitute the Ages.’ And, at once,
Beginning is, the Heavens, the Earths are made;
Nor void, nor formless, nor in darkness hid
To the Creatours, though, unuttered yet,
In the Beginning lives the Word with Love;
Profound, unfathomable abyss, anon
Inspired, and vocal, . . Love become the Word,
And the far Spirit circumscribing space,
That Wisdom may complete the Work of Power.

Behold; the Heavens outspread, expanse of Air
In motion, destined to dispose the place
Of worlds innumerable, radiant orbs.
Nor Light is not. The Spirit obeys the Voice
Eternal; and, in floods of ether, Time
Transpicuous, from the agitated deep
Electric, . . whirling as a wheel, by force
Of the strong wind, that, like an eagle's wings,
Flutters above its waters, as a nest
Where life is teeming, . . soars, empyreal youth,
And beautiful as young. Thereat the Light

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Comes forth to welcome him; he, at her breasts
Cradled, grows in her aspect lovely, till
She diadems with day-beams his smooth brows;
And ancient Darkness hides but half a world.
Thereat to hail him is the rush of Floods,
And Heaven itself descendeth to divide
Their rivalry. The Land and Main appear,
And own his domination. Then with dance,
And voice of melody, and lyres of gold,
The choral Stars rejoice, with Sun, and Moon;
The finny nations of the watery deep,
Winged people of the aëreal hemisphere,
The children of the forest, and the field,
Make earth, and air, and ocean, glad with life.
Shout loud with joy the sons of Love in heaven—
Soon silent, for the Elohim speaking thus:

‘Let us make Man in our own Image.’ So
In his own Image, Love createth Man.
—Thus are the Heavens created, and their Hosts;
The Earths with their Inhabitants are made,
Creating yet, creating evermore.

Six eves, and morns the work divine endures,
And the profound knows motion; storm, and calm
Meting the days, and making each an æra.

Perfect in its completions, Love beholds
His Universe, and all pronounces good;
Fit altar for his worship—temple fit
For Man to dwell in: and, by seeing Love,
In nature visible, conform his works
To his exemplar, . . perfect, and preserve
His breathèd soul's similitude divine.
Then Love into his solitude retires,
And hallows his repose; hence sanctifies
The Seventh Day to man, recurring sign
Of his perpetual peace . . memorial aye
Of his creation, and completing joy.