
PART VII.
BETSEY CLARK IN DREAM-LAND.
This is an English translation of the poem Akdamut, written in 1060 in Worms, Germany by Rabbi Meir ben Isaac.
Before reading the ten divine commands,
O let me speak in awe two words, or three,
Of the One who wrought the world
And sustained it since time’s beginning.
At God’s command is infinite power,
Which words cannot define.
Were all the skies parchment,
And all the reeds pens, and all the oceans ink,
And all who dwell on earth scribes,
God’s grandeur could not be told.
Sovereign over the heavens above,
God reigns supreme on earth below.
God launched creation unaided
And contains it in the bounds of His law.
Without weariness God created,
Only by divine will, uttered in a gentle sound.
God wrought His works in six days,
Then established His glorious sovereignty
Over the life of the universe.
Myriads of angelic hosts serve God,
Divine messengers that propel life’s destiny.
They arise each morning to their calling.
All the celestial beings join in a chorus of praise;
In unison they call to one another:
All the earth is full of the glory of the thrice Holy One.
In a mighty roar,
As the thundering noise of vast waters,
Moving amidst the heavenly spheres
Where the divine light grows brilliant,
The angelic hosts proclaim their words of adoration:
Praised be God’s glory by every whispering lip
From the place of His abode which is everywhere.
All the celestial hosts roar their response in awe:
The splendor of God’s dominion
Is acclaimed from age to age.
Yet dearer to God than this
Is the song of the children of Israel,
Rising to Him morning and evening,
In free outpourings of adoration.
Chosen to be the faithful servants of God’s will,
They continually rehearse God’s praises,
Who summoned them in love
To pursue the labors of Torah,
And accepts their supplications and entreaties,
Which weave a crown of glory for the Almighty.
The Eternal cherishes their prayers
And keeps them ever before Him,
Thus declaring the greatness of Israel
Who reiterate that God is One.
Israel acclaims the glory of the Ruler of the universe,
And offers God homage before kings and princes.
They all gather and ask in wonder,
Who is this your beloved, O fair one,
For whom you brave the perils of the lion’s den?
If you but join our fold,
We would cover you with splendor and glory;
In every land would we ratify your every wish.
A wise reply is Israel’s:
How can you know God with your foolish minds?
How compare the glories you bestow
With the glory that is God’s,
With the splendor of God’s deeds
In the hour of our deliverance,
When the light divine will shine on us
While darkness covers your mocking multitudes,
When God will manifest His glorious might
And render His foes their due,
And triumph to the people
Abounding in virtue
Whom God has loved.
Joy unmarred will reign in hearts ennobled, pure.
Jerusalem will rise again;
Her exiled children will come back to her.
Day and night God will shed His glory on her,
And build in her anew His sacred shrine of praise.
The righteous will possess the reward for their service.
They will dwell before their Creator,
Arrayed on golden thrones,
With seven steps ascending,
Resplendent as the azure of the sky
And the brightness of the stars.
They will acclaim God:
It is God we trusted with faith unyielding
In the days of our captivity.
God will lead us forever,
Renewing us with the glee of youthful dancers.
We still possess the portion
God set apart for us in ancient days.
Leviathan and the wild ox of the mountains
Will charge and contend with each other,
The beast goring fiercely with its horns,
The sea monster striking with its mighty fins.
But Adonai will make an end of them
With His great sword,
And prepare a banquet for the righteous.
They will sit at tables of precious stones,
Rivers of balsam flowing before them:
And they will drink the precious wine
Stored for them from the first of days.
O you upright who have heard the song of God’s praise,
May you ever be in the blessed circle of God’s faithful.
Through all eternity, exalted be Adonai
Who conferred true love upon us
By entrusting to us the Torah.
The poem subsequently was used in the 1917 Christian hymn The Love of God.
“I BELIEVE just as did the writer of these lines,” said the Rosicrucian, as he began his recital in the cabin of the “Uncle Sam,” after partaking of what the purveyors of that steamship line, in the rich exuberance of their facetious imaginations were pleased to call a supper…Originally we were taller than many of our present trees, and coarser than our mountains. We are smaller and better than ever before, and our worst man is better than the best of the preceding state. The worst, in the next change, will be better than our best. To illustrate, let me say, that the following persons, viz.: Thurlow W —, Abraham L— ., Russel L. —, J. Gordon B .— , Henry J. R.— , Win. Cullen B— , Jefferson D——, John C. Fre—, James Buch—, Wigfall, Charles Su, Horace G, Fernando—W, George B. Mc—, Gen. J. H—k—r, Dr. H. F. G—d—r, Charles T—n—s, Lizzie D— and myself, respectively, were, previously to the last change: the first, a feudal lord; the second, an editor; the third, a Danish prince; the fourth, a court-jester; the fifth, a missionary; the sixth, a generalissimo; the seventh, a harpist; the eighth, a theatrical manager; the ninth, a knife— grinder; the tenth, a privateer; the eleventh, a preacher; the twelfth, a schoolmaster; the thirteenth, a trumpeter; the fourteenth, a politician; the fifteenth, a hunter; the sixteenth, a very little boy, died exceedingly young; the seventeenth, an emperor; the eighteenth, a born queen and the last, a barber’s clerk; so that it is evident, that though our progress is slow, still that we are ‘Coming up.’ Little as our actual worth may be, still we are better now, generally speaking, than in the former stage. Thus, we will grow smaller at every change. Some worlds, and their dwellers, in this universe have thus decreased, and being sometimes seen by people here, have been called Fays or Fairies. The world has yet to undergo some thousands of these changes, until at last we become very small indeed, which will occur when conception is no longer possible in the universe, either in the vegetable or animal worlds; and then will occur the change and transference beyond the wall.
[Thurlow Weed, Abraham Lincoln, Russell Lowell, J. Gordon Bennett, Henry J. Raymond, William Cullen Bryant, Jefferson Davis, John C. Fremont, James Buchanan, Louis Wigfall, Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley, Fernando Wood, George B. McClellan, General Joseph Hooker, Dr. H.F. Gardner, Charles Trinius, Lizzie Doten. Each of the seven parts of the book is predominantly fiction, but some sections have abundant chronological, autobiographical and geographical detail that sheds light on Randolph and his times. Much of the autobiographical material includes diatribes against Spiritualist enemies, often unnamed, not helpful to the historical researcher. But in Part VII the tale becomes about the Civil War and eighteen more historical figures enter the narrative.]