But if these things be sooth, there still is time For penitence and pity: reconcile thee
With the true church, and through the church to heaven.
MAN. I hear thee. This is my reply; whate'er
may have been, or am, doth rest between
Heaven and myself.—I shall not choose a mortal my mediator. Have I sinn'd
Against your ordinances? prove and punish!
ABBOT. My son! I did not speak of punishment, But penitence and pardon ;-with thyself The choice of such remains-and for the last, Our institutions and our strong belief
Have given me power to smooth the path from sin To higher hope and better thoughts; the first I leave to Heaven-" Vengeance is mine alone!" So saith the Lord, and with all humbleness His servant echoes back the awful word.
MAN. Old man! there is no power in holy men, Nor charm in prayer-nor purifying form Of penitence-nor outward look-nor fast- Nor agony-nor, greater than all these, The innate tortures of that deep despair, Which is remorse without the fear of hell,
But all in all sufficient to itself
Would make a hell of heaven-can exorcise
From out the unbounded spirit, the quick sense Of its own sins, wrongs, sufferance, and revenge Upon itself; there is no future pang
Can deal that justice on the self-condemn'd He deals on his own soul.
For this will pass away, and be succeeded By an auspicious hope, which shall look up With calm assurance to that blessed place, Which all who seek may win, whatever be Their earthly errors, so they be atoned: And the commencement of atonement is The sense of its necessity.-Say on-
And all our church can teach thee shall be taught ; And all we can absolve thee, shall be pardon'd. MAN. When Rome's sixth Emperor was near his last,
The victim of a self-inflicted wound,
To shun the torments of a public death From senates once his slaves, a certain soldier, With show of loyal pity, would have staunch'd The gushing throat with his officious robe;
The dying Roman thrust him back and said- Some empire still in his expiring glance, "It is too late-is this fidelity?"
ABBOT. And what of this?
To reconcile thyself with thy own soul,
And thy own soul with Heaven. Hast thou no hope? 'Tis strange-even those who do despair above, Yet shape themselves some phantasy on earth, To which frail twig they cling, like drowning men. MAN. Ay-father! I have had those earthly
And noble aspirations in my youth,
To make my own the mind of other men, The enlightener of nations; and to rise
I knew not whither-it might be to fall; But fall, even as the mountain-cataract, Which having leapt from its more dazzling height, Even in the foaming strength of its abyss, (Which casts up misty columns that become Clouds raining from the re-ascended skies,) Lies low but mighty still.-But this is past, My thoughts mistook themselves.
MAN. I could not tame my nature down; for he Must serve who fain would sway-and soothe—
And watch all time-and pry into all place- And be a living lie-who would become
A mighty thing amongst the mean, and such The mass are; I disdain'd to mingle with A herd, though to be leader-and of wolves. The lion is alone, and so am I.
ABBOT. And why not live and act with other men?
MAN. Because my nature was averse from life; And yet not cruel; for I would not make, But find a desolation :-like the wind,
The red-hot breath of the most lone Simoom, Which dwells but in the desert, and sweeps The barren sands which bear no shrubs to blast,
And revels o'er their wild and arid waves,
And seeketh not, so that it is not sought,
But being met is deadly; such hath been The course of my existence; but there came Things in my path which are no more.
I'gin to fear that thou art past all aid From me and from my calling; yet so young,
Look on me! there is an order
Of mortals on the earth, who do become Old in their youth and die ere middle age, Without the violence of warlike death; Some perishing of pleasure-some of study— Some worn with toil-some of mere weariness- Some of disease-and some insanity-
And some of wither'd, or of broken hearts; For this last is a malady which slays
More than are number'd in the lists of Fate, Taking all shapes, and bearing many names. Look upon me! for even of all these things Have I partaken; and of all these things, One were enough; then wonder not that I Am what I am, but that I ever was, Or having been, that I am still on earth. ABBOT. Yet, hear me still-
Thine order, and revere thine
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