Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-12-08

80 forth Once more IN my wretch
- edness l bethought me of death
A knife was at my girdle wherewith
might cut the thread of sorrow and set M
spirit free. Free? sh. free to fly to fac
the last vengeance of the holy GOdsl Alas
and alas! / did not care to die. Bette
the earth with all its woes than the quicA
approach of those unmitigated terror
that, lowering in dim Amenti, wait thu
advent of the fallen.
l grcveled on the ground and wept tear
of agony for the lost, unchangiDg past
wept till could weep no more; but from
the silence came no answer, no answer bu
the echoes of my grief. Not a ray of hope
My soul wandered in darkness more ut
ter than that which wandered about me
I wac forsaken of the Gods and cast out OF
men. Terror took hold upon me, crouch
ing in that lonely place hard by the males
ty of the awful dead. l rose to fly. How
could fly in this gloom?-how find my
path down the passages, End enid the col
umns? Aud where should | fly, who had
no place # refuge? Once more l crouched
down, and the great fear grew on me till
the cold sweat ran from my brow and my
soul was faint within me. Then, In my
last despair, prayed aloud TO Isis, to
whom had not dared TO pray for many
days.
80 Isis Holy Motherp 1 cried, "put
away Thy wrath, and of Thine infinite
pity, o Thou all pitiful, hearken to the
voice of anguish Of him who was thy son
and servant but who by sin hath fallen
from the vision of Thy love. o thrOned
Glory, who, being in all things, hast of all
things understanding and of all griets
knowledge, cast the weight of Thy mercy
against the scale of my evil doing, and
make the balance equal. Look down upon
my woe, and measure ii; count up the sum
of my repentance, and take Thou note oil
the food of sorrow that sweeps my soul
away. o Thou Holy. whom it was given
to me to LOOK upon face to face, by that
dread hour of cummune l summon
Thee; summon Thee bys the mystic
word. Come, then, in mercy to save me;
or, in fury, to make an end of that which
can no more be borne"
And, rising from my knees, l stretched
out my arms and dared to cry aloud the
Word of Fear, the which to use unworthily
is death.
Swiftly the answer came. For in the
silence I heard the sound eff the shaken
sistra heralding the coming of the Glory.
Then at the far end of the chamber grew
the semblsnce of the horned moon, CLEAN
ing family in the darkness, and 'twixt the
golden horns rested the small dark cloud,
in and out whereof the fiery serpent
climbed.
And my knees waxed loose in the pres
ence OF the Glory, and | sank down be-
fore it.
Then spake the small, sweet voice within
the cloud:
"Harmschis, who was ny servant and
my son. l have heard thy prayer and
the summons that thou hast dared to utter,
which on the lips of one with whom have
cOmmuned, hath power to draw me from
the UltsrmOst. No more, Harmachis,
may we be one in the bond of love divine,
for me hast thou put away of thine own
act. Therefore, after this long silence
come, Harmachis, clothed in terrors, and
perchance, ready for vengeance; for not
lightly can Isis be drawn from the halls of
her Divinity"
"Smite, Goddessi" I answered. Smite,
and give me over to those who wreak Thy
vengeance; for no longer can bear the
burden of my woe"
"Ald if thou csnst not bear thy burden
here, upon this earth, came the soft reply
chow then shalt thou bear the greater bur
den that shall be laid upon thee there,
coming defiled and yet unpurifed into my
dim realm of death, that is Life and
Change amending? Nay, Harmachis, l
smite not, for not all am wroth that thou
hast dared to utter the awful word which
calls me down to thee Hesrken, Har-
machis; praise not, reproaeh not, for 1
am the Minister of reward and punish
ment and the Executor of DEGREES; and if
l give, give in silence; and if l amite, in
silence do I smite. Therefore, naught
Will add to thy burden by the weight of
heavy words, though through thee it has
come to pass that soon shall Isis, the Mys-
terry, be but memory in Egypt. Thou hast
sinned, and heavy shall be thy punish
ment, as did warn thee, both in the flesh
and in my kingdom of Amenti. But
told thee that there is a road of repent
snce, and surely thy feet are set thereon,
and therein must thou walk with hum
bic heart, eating of the bread of litter
ness, till such time as thy doom be
measured"
Have I, then, no hope, o Holy?"
THAT which is done, Harmachis, is
done, nor can its issues be altered. Kbem
shall no more be free till all its temples
are as the desert dust; strange people
shall, from age to sge, hold her hostage
and in bonds; new religions shall arise and
wi,her within the shadows of her pyrs-
mids, for to every world, race and age the
cOuntensnces of the gods are changed.
This is the tree that shall spring from thy
seed of sin, Harmschis, and from the sin
of those who tempted theew
"Alas! l am undoneln cried.
"Yea, thou art undOne, and yet shall this