Heareth not sinners; but if any man

Doeth God's will, and is his worship

per,

HELEN.

It is fair,

It was not heard that any man hath

began opened

SIMON.

Is not Mount Tabor

If He

That perseveres! So doth it stand recorded

In the divine Chaldæan Oracles
Of Zoroaster, once Ezekiel's slave,
Who in his native East betook himself
To lonely meditation, and the writing
On the dried skins of oxen the Twelve
Books

Of the Avesta and the Oracles! Therefore I persevere; and I have brought thee

From the great city of Tyre, where men deride

The things they comprehend not, to this plain

Of Esdraelon, in the Hebrew tongue Called Armageddon, and this town of Endor,

Where men believe, where all the air is full

Of marvellous traditions, and the Enchantress

That summoned up the ghost of Samuel Is still remembered. Thou hast seen the land;

Is it not fair to look on?

I regret the gossip Of friends and neighbors at the open

door On summer nights.

SIMON.

An idle waste of time.

The Queen of Sheba, and Semiramis, And Sara of seven husbands, and Jezebel, And other women of the like allurements;

dreams,

That take such shapes before me, that I see them;

These effable and ineffable impressions Of the mysterious world, that come to

And visions most divine appear in ether.

Æon,

The Mother of Angels!

HELEN.

And the concubine Of Simon the Magician! Is it honor For one who has been all these noble dames,

To tramp about the dirty villages
And cities of Samaria with a juggler?
A charmer of serpents?

SIMON.

He who knows himself Knows all things in himself. I have charmed thee,

Thou beautiful asp: yet am I no magician.

I am the Power of God, and the Beauty of God!

I am the Paraclete, the Comforter!

HELEN.

Illusions! Thou deceiver, self-deceived! Thou dost usurp the titles of another; Thou art not what thou sayest.

SIMON.

Then feel my power.

HELEN.

fatal ?

I take this orange-bough, with its five leaves,

Each equidistant on the upright stem;
And I project them on a plane below,
In the circumference of a circle drawn
About a centre where the stem is planted,
And each still equidistant from the other,
As if a thread of gossamer were drawn
Down from each leaf, and fastened with
a pin.

Now if from these five points a line be traced

To each alternate point, we shall obtain The Pentagram, or Solomon's Pentangle,

A charm against all witchcraft, and a sign,

Which on the banner of Antiochus Drove back the fierce barbarians of the North,

Demons esteemed, and gave the Syrian King

The sacred name of Soter, or of Savior. Thus Nature works mysteriously with

man;

Would I had ne'er left Tyre! He looks at her, and she sinks into a deep sleep.

And all are subject to one law, which,

broken

Even in a single point, is broken in all;

Demons rush in, and chaos comes again.

By this will I compel the stubborn spirits, That guard the treasures, hid in caverns deep

On Gerizim, by Uzzi the High-Priest, The ark and holy vessels, to reveal Their secret unto me, and to restore These precious things to the Samaritans.

Made of the air, and fading into air.
He is at Nazareth, He is at Nain,
Or at the Lovely Village on the Lake,
Or sailing on its waters.

HELEN.

So say those

Ἰησοῦ, ἐλέησόν με !

Θάρσει· ἔγειραι, ὕπαγε! Ἡ πίστις σου σέσωκέ σε!

THE MOTHER.

Thy faith hath saved thee! Ah, how true that is!

For I had faith; and when the Master

came

Into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, fleeing From those who sought to slay him, I went forth

And cried unto Him, saying: Have

mercy on me,

O Lord, thou Son of David! for my daughter

Is grievously tormented with a devil. But he passed on, and answered not a word.

And his disciples said, beseeching Him: Send her away! She crieth after us! And then the Master answered them and said:

I am not sent but unto the lost sheep Of the House of Israel! Then I worshipped Him,

Saying: Lord help me! And He answered me,

It is not meet to take the children's bread

And cast it unto dogs! Truth, Lord, I said;

And yet the dogs may eat the crumbs which fall

From off their master's table; and He turned,

And answered me; and said to me: O

woman,

Great is thy faith; then be it unto thee Even as thou wilt. And from that very

hour

my delight!

THE DAUGHTER.

There came upon my dark and troubled

mind

A calm, as when the tumult of the city
Suddenly ceases, and I lie and hear
The silver trumpets of the Temple
blowing

Their welcome to the Sabbath. Still I wonder,

That one who was so far away from me And could not see me, by his thought alone

Had power to heal me. Oh that I could see Him!