Inhelled for ever; for although once, twice, thrice,
On earth or here they may have put God from them,
Disowned His prophets—mocked His angels—slain
His Son in his mortality—and stormed
His curses back to Him; yet God is such,
That He can pity still; and I can suffer
For them, and save them. Father! I fear not,
But by Thy might I can save Hell from Hell.
Fiends! hear ye me! Why will ye burn for ever?
Look! I am here all water: come and drink,
And bathe in me! baptize your burning souls
In the pure well of life—the spring of God.
I come to save all souls who will be saved.
Come, ye immortal fallen! rise again!
There is a resurrection for the dead,
And for the second dead. And though ye died,
And fell, and fell again, and again died—
There is a life to come, a rise for all—
A life to come for ever, and a rise
Perpetual as the spring is in the year.
Thou Son of God! what wilt thou here with us?
Have we not Hell enough without Thy presence?
Remorse, and always strife, and hate of all,
I see around me: is it not enough?
Why wilt Thou double it with Thy mild eyes?
Spirit! I come to save thee.
How can that be?
Repent! God will forgive thee then: and I
Will save thee: and the Holy One shall hallow.
Repent thou, for thy judgment is at hand;
But if thou slurrest over these means and times,
Which have been given thee for repentance here—
Tremble! This Hell is nothing to thy next.
Believest thou I can save thee?
Son of God!
I do believe it. Let me worship.
Come!
Come to me! Lo! I will but touch thy brow,
And make thee bright as morning is in Heaven.
Angel of light I am again! Look here!
This—this is to be saved!
I like it not.
Hear! ye immortals dead! this I can do.
Repent! and be all angels.
Oh, believe!
He is God. Worship Him! He comes to save us.
Stand thou beside me: I will speak to them;
Or they will sure believe Him. Hell! oh Hell!
Powers of perdition! thrones of darkness!—hear!
Wrath, ruin, torment!—hear me! It is I!
Thanks, fiends! I know ye hate me well, and may:
I tempted, ruined, damned ye every one.
Were ye not proud, now, to be conquered by me?
But wherefore so supine? Am I your lord?
Me do ye doubt? or dare ye Him believe?
What is an angel dressed in shiny white?
Can I not make ye angels? Ay! and more:
I cannot make ye less—nor ye yourselves—
Nor God—nor Son of God. But hark to me!
Be still, ye thunderblasts and hills of fire!
Hell doth out-din itself.—Hell-hearted slaves!
What are ye that I thus should toil for ye?
Who hardly earn the fire that burns ye up?
Power I have proffered, but ye have refused:
Nothing is for ye but your fiery fate.
Kingdoms I have prepared, and ye have spurned.
Slaves! slaves! ye are too much at ease! Ye leave
Me single in the work of woe. I, sole,
Go forth to sow destruction: I, alone,
Reap ruin. Had ye been as I, ere now
The universe had been all Hell; and, for
A pit, each fiend had had a world to rule.
Rise! Yet we’ll play all hell against all Heaven.
Up! up! and then at once we will battle God;
And hurling each his orb against the throne,
Strange if we will not scatter it like sand.
To reign is nothing half like to dethrone!
Dethrone! and each is greater then than God.
And will ye, then, give up your hopes of Heaven,
And entrance as young conquerors fresh from spoil,
And choice of thrones won by your death-red hands,
For pitiful repentance, like him yonder?
Forbid it! all the prowess, pride, and pain
Of Hell that we have borne with! do ye not?
Meanwhile man’s world is straight to be destroyed.
Be glad! be glad! Earth’s sons may soon be here.
And here, as earnest of the truth I tell,
Behold this earthling standing by my side!
Speak to them, Festus.
Nay, I dread them.
Speak!
Great spirits! he scarce is worthy to address ye,
In that I cannot say he yet is damned.
But I am here; what recks it how or why?
Ye care not and I know not. It is fate:
The will of God and him who sets me here;
And which I question not. It must be good,
Whether decreed that I be saved or lost.
But I have poor pretensions for this place;
And none, I hope, have worse that are to come.
For I have never mocked the word of God,
Nor torn it into fuel for my scorn:
Nor doubted, saving tremblingly, His being:—
His love to man—His right to be adored—
Never have hated, never wronged my race—
Deluded nor rejoiced in their delusion;
Never have beckoned off the good from good—
Never have mocked nor scattered hopes—nor e’er
Have wasted hearts, nor desolated hearths;
And if I have once, twice, as who hath not?
Toyed with temptation, yet even he will say
Who standeth there, that I have never given
Up to his burning dalliance my soul.
And yet he is my friend, the Evil one.
And why is wondrous; judge ye wherefore too.
I have no malice, envy, nor revenge;
None of those petty passions which bad hearts
Scourge red into themselves—for passions are
Sufferings—and which to nourish is his want;
Wherein doth lie his power: these I have not.
And save enjoying earth, I have done never
Aught that he could take part in. But he came
From God he said, to give; and I believed;—
Great spirits lie not—doubt not.
He says truth.
But it is not for him nor you to know
The reason of my doings: it is the thing
Unfeared and unforethought which tempts, betrays.
It is I who bait the world to do its will.
As to this mortal, God hath sanctioned all
That I have done, or may do to the end;
Which I have nought to do with. Son of God!
Go on redeeming!—I will go on damning.
God! go on making!—I will go on marring.
Go on believing, man!—I go on tempting.
Saint! angel! cherub! seraph! and archangel!
Go ye on blessing!—I will go on cursing!
I now retrack my course to earth; therein
To work out what
