Chapter II: Part 2

Nor rash nor vain is that presentiment; 580
Yes,--for one moment thou shalt see thy Lord.
Thus will it be: what time thou art arraigned
Before the dread tribunal, and thy lot
Is cast for ever, should it be to sit
On His right hand among His pure elect,
Then sight, or that which to the soul is sight,
As by a lightning-flash, will come to thee,
And thou shalt see, amid the dark profound,
Whom thy soul loveth, and would fain approach,--
One moment; but thou knowest not, my child, 590
What thou dost ask: that sight of the Most Fair
Will gladden thee, but it will pierce thee too.

SOUL

Thou speakest darkly, Angel! and an awe
Falls on me, and a fear lest I be rash.

ANGEL

There was a mortal, who is now above
In the mid glory: he, when near to die,
Was given communion with the Crucified,--
Such, that the Master's very wounds were stamped
Upon his flesh;[29] and, from the agony 599
Which thrilled through body and soul in that embrace
Learn that the flame of the Everlasting Love
Doth burn ere it transform....

ß5

... Hark to those sounds!
They come of tender beings angelical,
Least and most childlike of the sons of God.

FIRST CHOIR OF ANGELICALS

Praise to the Holiest in the height,[30]
And in the depth be praise:
In all His words most wonderful;
Most sure in all His ways!

To us His elder race He gave 610
To battle and to win,
Without the chastisement of pain,
Without the soil of sin.

The younger son He willed to be
A marvel in his birth:
Spirit and flesh his parents were;
His home was heaven and earth.

The Eternal blessed His child, and armed,
And sent him hence afar,
To serve as champion in the field 620
Of elemental war.

To be His Viceroy in the world
Of matter, and of sense;
Upon the frontier, towards the foe,
A resolute defence.

ANGEL

We now have passed the gate, and are within
The House of Judgment; and whereas on earth
Temples and palaces are formed of parts
Costly and rare, but all material,
So in the world of spirits nought is found, 630
To mould withal and form into a whole,
But what is immaterial; and thus
The smallest portions of this edifice,
Cornice, or frieze, or balustrade, or stair,
The very pavement is made up of life--
Of holy, blessed, and immortal beings,
Who hymn their Maker's praise continually.

SECOND CHOIR OF ANGELICALS

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise:
In all His words most wonderful; 640
Most sure in all His ways!

Woe to thee, man! for he was found
A recreant in the fight;
And lost his heritage of heaven,
And fellowship with light.

Above him now the angry sky,
Around the tempest's din;
Who once had angels for his friends,
Had but the brutes for kin.

O man! a savage kindred they; 650
To flee that monster brood
He scaled the seaside cave, and clomb
The giants of the wood.

With now a fear, and now a hope,
With aids which chance supplied,
From youth to eld, from sire to son,
He lived, and toiled, and died.

He dreed[31] his penance age by age;
And step by step began
Slowly to doff his savage garb, 660
And be again a man.

And quickened by the Almighty's breath,
And chastened by His rod,
And taught by Angel-visitings,
At length he sought his God:

And learned to call upon His name,
And in His faith create
A household and a fatherland,
A city and a state.

Glory to Him who from the mire, 670
In patient length of days,
Elaborated into life
A people to His praise!

SOUL

The sound is like the rushing of the wind--
The Summer wind among the lofty pines;
Swelling and dying, echoing round about,
Now here, now distant, wild and beautiful;
While, scattered from the branches it has stirred,
Descend ecstatic odours.

THIRD CHOIR OF ANGELICALS

Praise to the Holiest in the height, 680
And in the depth be praise:
In all His words most wonderful;
Most sure in all His ways!

The Angels, as beseemingly
To spirit-kind was given,
At once were tried and perfected,
And took their seats in heaven.

For them no twilight or eclipse;
No growth and no decay:
'Twas hopeless, all-ingulfing night, 690
Or beatific day.

But to the younger race there rose
A hope upon its fall;
And slowly, surely, gracefully,
The morning dawned on all.

And ages, opening out, divide
The precious and the base,
And from the hard and sullen mass,
Mature the heirs of grace.

O man! albeit the quickening ray, 700
Lit from his second birth,
Makes him at length what once he was,
And heaven grows out of earth;

Yet still between that earth and heaven--
His journey and his goal--
A double agony awaits
His body and his soul.

A double debt he has to pay--
The forfeit of his sins,
The chill of death is past, and now 710
The penance-fire begins.

Glory to Him, who evermore
By truth and justice reigns;
Who tears the soul from out its case,
And burns away its stains!

ANGEL

They sing of thy approaching agony,
Which thou so eagerly didst question of:
It is the face of the Incarnate God
Shall smite thee with that keen and subtle pain;
And yet the memory which it leaves will be 720
A sovereign febrifuge to heal the wound;
And yet withal it will the wound provoke,
And aggravate and widen it the more.

SOUL

Thou speakest mysteries; still methinks I know
To disengage the tangle of thy words:
Yet rather would I hear thy angel voice,
Than for myself be thy interpreter.

ANGEL

When then--if such thy lot--thou seest thy Judge,
The sight of Him will kindle in thy heart,
All tender, gracious, reverential thoughts. 730
Thou wilt be sick with love, and yearn for Him,
And feel as though thou couldst but pity Him,
That one so sweet should e'er have placed Himself
At disadvantage such, as to be used
So vilely by a being so vile as thee.
There is a pleading in His pensive eyes
Will pierce thee to the quick, and trouble thee.
And thou wilt hate and loathe thyself; for, though
Now sinless, thou wilt feel that thou hast sinned,
As never thou didst feel; and wilt desire 740
To slink away, and hide thee from His sight
And yet wilt have a longing aye to dwell
Within the beauty of His countenance.
And these two pains, so counter and so keen,--
The longing for Him, when thou seest Him not;
The shame of self at thought of seeing Him,--
Will be thy veriest, sharpest purgatory.

SOUL

My soul is in my hand: I have no fear,--
In His dear might prepared for weal or woe.
But hark! a grand mysterious harmony: 750
It floods me, like the deep and solemn sound
Of many waters.

ANGEL

We have gained the stairs
Which rise towards the Presence-chamber; there
A band of mighty Angels keep the way
On either side, and hymn the Incarnate God.

ANGELS OF THE SACRED STAIR

Father, whose goodness none can know, but they
Who see Thee face to face,
By man hath come the infinite display
Of Thy victorious grace; 760
But fallen man--the creature of a day--
Skills not that love to trace.
It needs, to tell the triumph Thou hast wrought,
An Angel's deathless fire, an Angel's reach of thought.

It needs that very Angel, who with awe,
Amid the garden shade,
The great Creator in His sickness saw,
Soothed by a creature's aid,
And agonised, as victim of the Law
Which He Himself had made; 770
For who can praise Him in His depth and height,
But he who saw Him reel amid that solitary fight?

SOUL

Hark! for the lintels of the presence-gate
Are vibrating and echoing back the strain.

FOURTH CHOIR OF ANGELICALS

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise:
In all His words most wonderful;
Most sure in all His ways!

The foe blasphemed the Holy Lord,
As if He reckoned ill, 780
In that He placed His puppet man
The frontier place to fill.

For even in his best estate,
With amplest gifts endued,
A sorry sentinel was he,
A being of flesh and blood.

As though a thing, who for his help
Must needs possess a wife,
Could cope with those proud rebel hosts,
Who had angelic life. 790

And when, by blandishment of Eve,
That earth-born Adam fell,
He shrieked in triumph, and he cried,
"A sorry sentinel;

The Maker by His word is bound,
Escape or cure is none;
He must abandon to his doom,
And slay His darling son."

ANGEL

And now the threshold, as we traverse it,
Utters aloud its glad responsive chant. 800

FIFTH CHOIR OF ANGELICALS

Praise to the Holiest in the height,
And in the depth be praise:
In all His words most wonderful;
Most sure in all His ways!

O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.

O wisest love! that flesh and blood
Which did in Adam fail, 810
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail;

And that a higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
God's Presence and His very Self,
And Essence all divine.

O generous love! that He who smote
In man for man the foe,
The double agony in man
For man should undergo; 820

And in the garden secretly,
And on the cross on high,
Should teach His brethren and inspire
To suffer and to die.

ß6

ANGEL

Thy judgment now is near, for we are come
Into the veiled presence of our God.

SOUL

I hear the voices that I left on earth.

ANGEL

It is the voice of friends around thy bed,
Who say the "Subvenite" with the priest.
Hither the echoes come; before the Throne 830
Stands the great Angel of the Agony,
The same who strengthened Him, what time He knelt
Lone in the garden shade, bedewed with blood.
That Angel best can plead with Him for all
Tormented souls, the dying and the dead.

ANGEL OF THE AGONY[32]

Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee;
Jesu! by that cold dismay which sickened Thee;
Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrilled in Thee;
Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee;
Jesu! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee; 840
Jesu! by that innocence which girdled Thee;
Jesu! by that sanctity which reigned in Thee;
Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee;
Jesu! spare these souls which are so dear to Thee,
Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee;
Hasten, Lord, their hour, and bid them come to Thee,
To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.

SOUL

I go before my Judge. Ah!...

ANGEL

... Praise to His Name!
The eager spirit has darted from my hold, 850
And, with the intemperate energy of love,
Flies to the dear feet of Emmanuel;
But, ere it reach them, the keen sanctity,
Which with its effluence, like a glory, clothes
And circles round the Crucified, has seized,
And scorched, and shrivelled it; and now it lies
Passive and still before the awful Throne.
O happy, suffering soul! for it is safe,
Consumed, yet quickened, by the glance of God.

SOUL

Take me away, and in the lowest deep[33] 860
There let me be,
And there in hope the lone night-watches keep,
Told out for me.
There, motionless and happy in my pain,
Lone, not forlorn,--
There will I sing my sad perpetual strain,
Until the morn.
There will I sing, and soothe my stricken breast,
Which ne'er can cease
To throb, and pine, and languish, till possest 870
Of its Sole Peace.
There will I sing my absent Lord and Love:--
Take me away,
That sooner I may rise, and go above,
And see Him in the truth of everlasting day.

ß7

ANGEL

Now let the golden prison ope its gates,
Making sweet music, as each fold revolves
Upon its ready hinge. And ye great powers,
Angels of Purgatory, receive from me
My charge, a precious soul, until the day, 880
When, from all bond and forfeiture released,
I shall reclaim it for the courts of light.

SOULS IN PURGATORY[34]

1. Lord, Thou hast been our refuge: in every generation;

2. Before the hills were born, and the world was: from age to age Thou art God.

3. Bring us not, Lord, very low: for Thou hast said, Come back again, ye sons of Adam.

4. A thousand years before Thine eyes are but as yesterday: and as a watch of the night which is come and gone.

5. The grass springs up in the morning: at evening-tide it shrivels up and dies.

6. So we fail in Thine anger: and in Thy wrath we are troubled.

7. Thou hast set our sins in Thy sight: and our round of days in the light of Thy countenance.

8. Come back, O Lord! how long: and be entreated for Thy servants. 890

9. In Thy morning we shall be filled with Thy mercy: we shall rejoice and be in pleasure all our days.

10. We shall be glad according to the days of our humiliation: and the years in which we have seen evil.

11. Look, O Lord, upon Thy servants and on Thy work: and direct their children.

12. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us: and the work of our hands, establish Thou it.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

ANGEL

Softly and gently, dearly-ransomed soul,[35]

In my most loving arms I now enfold thee,
And, o'er the penal waters, as they roll,
I poise thee, and I lower thee, and hold thee. 900

And carefully I dip thee in the lake,[36]
And thou, without a sob or a resistance,
Dost through the flood thy rapid passage take,
Sinking deep, deeper into the dim distance.
Angels, to whom the willing task is given,
Shall tend, and nurse, and lull thee, as thou liest;
And Masses on the earth, and prayers in heaven,
Shall aid thee at the Throne of the Most Highest.

Farewell, but not for ever! brother dear,
Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; 910
Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here,
And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.

[11] As suggested in the Introduction, the musical character of the verse of "The Dream of Gerontius" is brought out more and more by careful study of the changes of the meaning of the poem and their expression. "The Dream" is a series of lyrics,--each lyric voicing its own feeling and sensitively tuned to that feeling. According to the scansion most in use in English, the first supplicating lyric may be classed as in pentameter iambic. Gerontius is yet in the body, and the rime, used solemnly, marks a difference--which has a delicate symbolism--between his utterances in the body and his utterances when his soul has left the body. What we call blank verse is used by the Spirit--rime disappears, but the rhythm remains the same. Using verse-notation, we find five accented notes in each line, if we consider the lines at all. There are two quarter-notes in each bar, which may be written as

[12] (p. 25.) Gerontius dreams that he is dying. He has not strength to pray. He hears the persons near his bed praying for him, in the language prescribed by the Church, "The Litany for the Dying." The three opening invocations are in Greek, "Kyrie Eleison" ("Lord, have mercy"), "Christe Eleison" ("Christ, have mercy"), "Kyrie Eleison" ("Lord, have mercy"). The next invocation in the Litany is "Sancta Maria, Ora pro eo," which Cardinal Newman translates into English. With the exception of the first three and the last two invocations, the Litany is in Latin. The Litany is too long for the purpose of the poem, and the author has translated into English some of the invocations that would naturally strike the "fainting soul." "Be merciful" ("Propitius esto"), the assistants continue, still using parts of the Litany as versified by Cardinal Newman.

[13] "_Kyrie EleÔson_," etc. The poet has retained the sound-form used in the Prayer-books, and he shows his musical taste by not changing it.

[14] "_Rouse thee_," etc. Gerontius concentrates all his vitality. The effect is of nervous energy. The time is quickened and alternately slowed.

[15] "_Be merciful_," etc. The Assistants begin with the solemn chant of the Church, and change to the supplication of anxious human hearts:

or

[16] "_Sanctus fortis_, _Sanctus Deus_," etc. This is the ecstasy of faith, hope, and love. It is three Acts in one, rapidly and forcibly expressed. The energy and strength of self-forgetfulness fail when he, still in the body, sighs:

"I can no more; for now it comes again,"--

Note the musical effect of

"And, crueller still,
A fierce and restless fright begins to fill
The mansion of my soul. And, worse and worse,
Some bodily form of ill."

The pauses after "ill" express horror and weakness,--

[17] (p. 29.) Holy Strong One, Holy God,
From the depth I pray to Thee.
Mercy, O my Judge, for me;
Spare me, Lord.

In the Proper for the season of Good Friday the passage which suggested this reads, in Greek and Latin:

1st choir. Agios O Theos (O Holy God).
2d choir. Sanctus Deus (O Holy God).
1st choir. Agios Ischyros (O Holy Strong One).
2d choir. Sanctus Fortis (O Holy Strong One).

[18] (p. 30.) Death dissolves me.

[19] "_Rescue him, O Lord_," etc. The solemn chant again. Note the difference in metre between this and the "Novissima hora est; and I fain would sleep. The pain has wearied me." Note the ardor of the Priest's "Proficiscere, anima Christiana," etc.

[20] (p. 32.) The final hour is here. "Into Thy hands." The whole of this prayer for the dying is: "Into Thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. O Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Holy Mary, pray for me. O Mary, Mother of grace, Mother of mercy, do thou protect me from the enemy and receive me at the hour of death."

[21] (p. 32.) "Go forth, O Christian soul, from this world." These words begin the prayer of the priest, recited while the soul is departing from the body. It is paraphrased in English by the Cardinal.

[22] "_I went to sleep_," etc. The soul of Gerontius has left
the body:

[23] (p. 35.) "Another marvel." According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, each soul is given at its birth in charge of a Guardian Angel. It is this angel that sings, "My work is done." "Alleluia" is from two Hebrew words united by a hyphen. It means "Praise the Lord." St. John in the Apocalypse says that he heard the angels singing it in heaven. It occurs in the last five Psalms and in Tobias.

[24]
"_My work is done_,
My task is o'er,"

is expressed with a joyous movement,--

[25] Compare the thought in "Hamlet"--Act II, Scene II.--"What a piece of work is man!"

[26] (p. 41.) When the soul has departed, the priest says the prayer beginning "Subvenite, Sancti Dei; occurrite Angeli Domini," etc. ("Come to his assistance, ye saints of God," etc.).

[27] "_Low-born clods_," etc. The most marked change comes here. The solemnity and sweetness of the soul and the angel's music--their _leit-motif_--is easily discernible. Now come dissonances and discords,--the rapidity of jangled cymbals struck in scorn. The phrase "chucked down" has been censured as "inelegant." Its meaning and sound accord exactly with the spirit of the demoniac chorus.

[28] (p. 49.) "Extension," "the position of parts outside parts." See p. 366, General Metaphysics, by John Rickaby, S.J., Manuals of Catholic Philosophy.

[29] (p. 51.) St. Francis d'Assisi. In 1224, while on Mount Alvernus, keeping a fast of forty days in honor of St. Michael, a seraph appeared and marked the hands, feet, and right side of St. Francis with the five wounds of Our Lord's Passion.

[30] "_Praise to the Holiest in the height._" A movement associated by English readers with the hymn particularly:

or

[31] (p. 54.) "Dreed," from the old English verb "dreogan," to suffer.

[32] "_Angel of the Agony._" Note the solemn and pathetic rhythm effect.

[33]
"_Take me away_, and in the lowest deep,
There let me be," etc.

The catalexis--pause--is finely used here:

[34] (p. 64.) This appeal is paraphrased by the author from the Psalms. The words at the end are translated from the Lesser Doxology: "Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto. Sicut erat in principio et nunc, et in sÊcula sÊculorum. Amen." The Greater Doxology begins: "Gloria in excelsis Deo." "Doxology" is from two Greek words meaning "praise" and a "discourse."

[35]
"_Softly and gently, dearly ransomed soul_,
In my most loving arms I now enfold thee," etc.

[36] (p. 66.) In Dante's Vision of Purgatory (Canto I.) hell is spoken of as a "cruel sea," and the water surrounding the Island of Purgatory as the "better waves." The spirit of Gerontius is dropped into these "better waves"--"miglior acqua."

"Per correr miglior acqua alza le vele
Omai la navicella del mio ingegno
Che lascia dietro a se _mar si crudele_."

"O'er better waves to speed her rapid course,
The light bark of my genius lifts her sail,
Well pleased to leave so cruel sea behind."

--_Cary's Translation._

[A][In compliance with a suggestion received by the Editor the full text of Father Faber's "The Eternal Years," referred to on page 14, is printed on the following pages.]

THE ETERNAL YEARS[37]

By FREDERICK WILLIAM FABER, D.D.

1

How shalt thou bear the Cross that now
So dread a weight appears?
Keep quietly to God, and think
Upon the Eternal Years.

2

Austerity is little help,
Although it somewhat cheers;
Thine oil of gladness is the thought
Of the Eternal Years.

3

Set hours and written rule are good,
Long prayer can lay our fears:
But it is better calm for thee
To count the Eternal Years.

4

Rites are as balm unto the eyes,
God's word unto the ears:
But He will have thee rather brood
Upon the Eternal Years.

5

Full many things are good for souls
In proper times and spheres;
Thy present good is in the thought
Of the Eternal Years.

6

Thy self-upbraiding is a snare,
Though meekness it appears;
More humbling is it far for thee
To face the Eternal Years.

7

Brave quiet is the thing for thee,
Chiding thy scrupulous fears;
Learn to be real, from the thought
Of the Eternal Years.

8

Bear gently, suffer like a child,
Nor be ashamed of tears;
Kiss the sweet Cross, and in thy heart
Sing of the Eternal Years.

9

Thy Cross is quite enough for thee,
Though little it appears;
For there is hid in it the weight
Of the Eternal Years.

10

And knowst thou not how bitterness
An ailing spirit cheers?
Thy medicine is the strengthening thought
Of the Eternal Years.

11

One Cross can sanctify a soul;
Late saints and ancient seers
Were what they were, because they mused
Upon the Eternal Years.

12

Pass not from flower to pretty flower;
Time flies, and judgment nears;
Go! make thy honey from the thought
Of the Eternal Years.

13

Death will have rainbows round it, seen
Through calm contrition's tears,
If tranquil hope but trims her lamp
At the Eternal Years.

14

Keep unconstrain'dly in this thought,
Thy loves, hopes, smiles, and tears;
Such prison-house thine heart will make
Free of the Eternal Years.

15

A single practice long sustained
A soul to God endears:
This must be thine--to weigh the thought
Of the Eternal Years.

16

He practises all virtue well,
Who his own Cross reveres,
And lives in the familiar thought
Of the Eternal Years.

[37] "It appears that Newman thinks so highly of that poem ["The Eternal Years"] that he asked to have it sung to him during his recent illness, and remarked: '"Lead, Kindly Light" are the words of one seeking the truth. "The Eternal Years" are those of one who has found it.'"--May, 1889, Grant Duff's _Notes from a Diary_.

* * * * *

Transcriber's Notes:

Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal signs=.

All footnotes and endnotes have been reorganized into a single system of sequentially numbered footnotes.

Every effort has been made to replicate the text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies.

Obvious punctuation errors and minor printer errors repaired.

Both Eleison and EleÔson appear in text, left as originally printed.