I thank thee I am not as other men,
Extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
Or even as this Publican. I fast
Twice in the week, and also I give tithes
Of all that I possess! The Publican,
Standing afar off, would not lift so much
Even as his eyes to heaven, but smote his
breast,

Saying God be merciful to me a sinner!
I tell you that this man went to his house
More justified than the other. Every one

Bystanders

then lies still.)

How motionless

happy;

When thou art silent, I am satisfied.
Thy presence is enough. I ask no more.
Only to be with thee, only to see thee,
Sufficeth me. My heart is then at rest.
I wonder I am worthy of so much.

Martha. Lord, dost thou care not that
my sister Mary

Hath left me thus to wait on thee alone? I pray thee, bid her help me.

Christus. Martha, Martha, Careful and troubled about many things Art thou, and yet one thing alone is needful!

Thy sister Mary hath chosen that good part,

Which never shall be taken away from her!

Jesus

Hath healed him.

He says a man called

We know this is our son. Pharisees.

Rabboni, yea;

Was he born blind?

The Parents. He was born blind. Pharisees. Then how doth he now see? The Parents (aside). What answer shall we make? If we confess

It was the Christ, we shall be driven forth Out of the Synagogue! We know, Rabboni,

This is our son, and that he was born blind;

But by what means he seeth, we know not, Or who his eyes hath opened, we know

not.

He is of age; ask him; we cannot say ; He shall speak for himself.

Pharisees.

Give God the praise! We know the man that healed thee is a

sinner!

The Beggar. Whether he be a sinner I

know not;

One thing I know; that whereas I was

blind,

I now do see.

Helen.

Happier was I in Tyre.

O, I remember now the gallant ships Came sailing in, with ivory, gold and silver,

And apes and peacocks; and the singing sailors;

And the gay captains, with their silken dresses,

Smelling of aloes, myrrh, and cinnamon! Simon. But the dishonour, Helen! Let the ships

Of Tarshish howl for that!

Helen. And what dishonour? Remember Rahab, and how she became The ancestress of the great Psalmist David;

And wherefore should not I, Helen of Tyre,

Attain like honour?

Simon. Thou art Helen of Tyre, And hast been Helen of Troy, and hast been Rahab,

The Queen of Sheba, and Semiramis, And Sara of seven husbands, and Jezebel, And other women of the like allurements; And now thou art Minerva, the first Æon, The Mother of Angels !

Helen.
And the concubine
Of Simon the Magician! Is it honour
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!
Thou deceiver, self-

Helen. Illusions!

deceived!

From the elements of Fire and Earth and Water,

And the all-nourishing Ether! It is written,

Look not on Nature, for her name is fatal!

Yet there are Principles, that make apparent

The images of unapparent things,
And the impression of vague characters
And visions most divine appear in ether.
So speak the Oracles; then wherefore
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 Saviour. Thus Nature works mysteriously with