The Voice ceased and there was silence. Then through the silence camea sound like the booming of the sea. It passed and presently, movedthereto by I know not what, I raised my eyes from my hands with which Ihad covered them, and saw a small dark cloud hanging over the Altar inand out of which a fiery Serpent climbed.
Then all the Spirits clad in light fell upon the marble floor, and witha loud voice adored; but what they said I could not understand. Behold!the dark cloud came down and rested on the Altar, the Serpent of firestretched itself towards me, touched me on the forehead with its forkytongue and was gone. From within the cloud a Voice sweet and low andclear spoke in heavenly accents:
"Depart, ye Ministers, leave Me with my son whom I have summoned."
Then like arrows rushing from a bow the flame-clad Spirits leapt fromthe ground and sped away.
"O Harmachis," said the Voice, "be not afraid, I am She whom thou dostknow as Isis of the Egyptians; but what else I am strive not thouto learn, it is beyond thy strength. For I am all things, Life is myspirit, and Nature is my raiment. I am the laughter of the babe, I amthe maiden's love, I am the mother's kiss. I am the Child and Servant ofthe Invisible that is God, that is Law, that is Fate--though myself I benot God and Fate and Law. When winds blow and oceans roar upon theface of the Earth thou hearest my voice; when thou gazest on the starryfirmament thou seest my countenance; when the spring blooms out inflowers, that is my smile, Harmachis. For I am Nature's self, and allher shapes are shapes of Me. I breathe in all that breathes. I wax andwane in the changeful moon: I grow and gather in the tides: I rise withthe suns: I flash with the lightning and thunder in the storms. Nothingis too great for the measure of my majesty, nothing is so small thatI cannot find a home therein. I am in thee and thou art in Me, OHarmachis. That which bade thee be bade Me also be. Therefore, though Iam great and thou art little, have no fear. For we are bound togetherby the common bond of life--that life which flows through suns and starsand spaces, through Spirits and the souls of men, welding all Nature toa whole that, changing ever, is yet eternally the same."
I bowed my head--I could not speak, for I was afraid.
"Faithfully hast thou served Me, O my son," went on the low sweet Voice;"greatly thou hast longed to be brought face to face with Me here inAmenti; and greatly hast thou dared to accomplish thy desire. For it isno small thing to cast off the tabernacle of the Flesh and before theappointed time, if only for an hour, put on the raiment of the Spirit.And greatly, O my servant and my son, have I, too, desired to look onthee there where I am. For the Gods love those who love them, but with awider and deeper love, and under One who is as far from Me as I am fromthee, mortal, I am a God of Gods. Therefore I have caused thee to bebrought hither, Harmachis; and therefore I speak to thee, my son, andbid thee commune with Me now face to face, as thou didst commune thatnight upon the temple towers of Abouthis. For I was there with thee,Harmachis, as I was in ten thousand other worlds. It was I, O Harmachis,who laid the lotus in thy hand, giving thee the sign which thou didstseek. For thou art of the kingly blood of my children who served Me fromage to age. And if thou dost not fail thou shalt sit upon that kinglythrone and restore my ancient worship in its purity, and sweep mytemples from their defilements. But if thou dost fail, then shall theeternal Spirit Isis become but a memory in Egypt."
The Voice paused; and, gathering up my strength, at length I spokealoud:
"Tell me, O Holy," I said, "shall I then fail?"
"Ask Me not," answered the Voice, "that which it is not lawful that Ishould answer thee. Perchance I can read that which shall befall thee,perchance it doth not please Me so to read. What can it profit theDivine, that hath all time wherein to await the issues, to be eager tolook upon the blossom that is not blown, but which, lying a seed in thebosom of the earth, shall blow in its season? Know, Harmachis, that Ido not shape the Future; the Future is to thee and not to Me; for it isborn of Law and of the rule ordained of the Invisible. Yet thou art freeto act therein, and thou shalt win or thou shalt fail according to thystrength and the measure of thy heart's purity. Thine be the burden,Harmachis, as thine in the event shall be the glory or the shame. Littledo I reck of the issue, I who am but the Minister of what is written.Now hear me: I will always be with thee, my son, for my love oncegiven can never be taken away, though by sin it may seem lost to thee.Remember then this: if thou dost triumph, thy guerdon shall be great; ifthou dost fail, heavy indeed shall be thy punishment both in the fleshand in the land that thou callest Amenti. Yet this for thy comfort:shame and agony shall not be eternal. For however deep the fall fromrighteousness, if but repentance holds the heart, there is a path--astony and a cruel path--whereby the height may be climbed again. Let itnot be thy lot to follow it, Harmachis!
"And now, because thou hast loved Me, my son, and, wandering through themaze of fable, wherein men lose themselves upon the earth, mistaking thesubstance for the Spirit, and the Altar for the God, hast yet grasped aclue of Truth the Many-faced; and because I love thee and look on tothe day that, perchance, shall come when thou shalt dwell blessed in mylight and in the doing of my tasks: because of this, I say, it shall begiven to thee, O Harmachis, to hear the Word whereby I may be summonedfrom the Uttermost, by one who hath communed with Me, and to look uponthe face of Isis--even into the eyes of the Messenger, and not die thedeath.
"_Behold!_"
The sweet Voice ceased; the dark cloud upon the altar changed andchanged--it grew white, it shone, and seemed at length to take theshrouded shape of a woman. Then the golden Snake crept from its heartonce more, and, like a living diadem, twined itself about the cloudybrows.
Now suddenly a Voice called aloud the awful Word, then the vapours burstand melted, and with my eyes I saw that Glory, at the very thought ofwhich my spirit faints. But what I saw it is not lawful to utter. For,though I have been bidden to write what I have written of this matter,perchance that a record may remain, thereon I have been warned--ay, evennow, after these many years. I saw, and what I saw cannot be imagined;for there are Glories and there are Shapes which are beyond the reachof man's imagination. I saw--then, with the echo of that Word, and thememory of that sight stamped for ever on my heart, my spirit failed me,and I sank down before the Glory.
And, as I fell, it seemed that the great hall burst open and crumbledinto flakes of fire round me. Then a great wind blew: there was a soundas the sound of Worlds rushing down the flood of Time--and I knew nomore!