Israfel; letters, visions, and poems
the mission is given to a man, or a revelation, or a new hope, he is in a certain sense lifted above humanity, and he is to be judged henceforth by a higher standard than that which we refer to when we decide upon the actions of ordinary men.
He is still, indeed, a frail and fallen nature, lapsed from that " pure land lying in the pure sky," which the sublime Plato dreamed of, but he can no longer plead the same excuse for life because the seed of a new nature has been sown within him, a light has been kindled in his soul, a call has come to him, which he must follow — if he will not, woe be unto him!
He must suffer, he must achieve, he must reign. He is the vas insigne electionis ; he is electus ex millibus. If he proves himself unworthy of this vocation, he will descend from the illuminated mansion of his own
spiritual being- into the perdition of a degenerate existence; to him may be applied the lines — Lucifer, thy star Is dimmed forever! Desolate and grey Its lone lands stretch, vast temples open stand In solitude and silence. Be sure that such a nature will be scourged till it attains an elevation far above that which was first required of it
At an altitude supreme
Thy throne awaits thee; it is thine, and thou Must reign there, whether by thine own will's free And fair cooperation, or, if not, By Destiny that drives thee to the steps. Beware lest on it to eternity With tortured soul, to thine own woe, thou reignest!
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