for my love once
given can never be taken away, though by sin it may seem lost to thee.
Remember then this: if thou dost triumph, thy guerdon shall be great; if
thou dost fail, heavy indeed shall be thy punishment both in the flesh
and in the land that thou callest Amenti. Yet this for thy comfort:
shame and agony shall not be eternal. For however deep the fall from
righteousness, if but repentance holds the heart, there is a path--a
stony and a cruel path--whereby the height may be climbed again. Let it
not be thy lot to follow it, Harmachis!

"And now, because thou hast loved Me, my son, and, wandering through the
maze of fable, wherein men lose themselves upon the earth, mistaking the
substance for the Spirit, and the Altar for the God, hast yet grasped a
clue of Truth the Many-faced; and because I love thee and look on to
the day that, perchance, shall come when thou shalt dwell blessed in my
light and in the doing of my tasks: because of this, I say, it shall be
given to thee, O Harmachis, to hear the Word whereby I may be summoned
from the Uttermost, by one who hath communed with Me, and to look upon
the face of Isis--even into the eyes of the Messenger, and not die the
death.

"_Behold!_"

The sweet Voice ceased; the dark cloud upon the altar changed and
changed--it grew white, it shone, and seemed at length to take the
shrouded shape of a woman. Then the golden Snake crept from its heart
once more, and, like a living diadem, twined itself about the cloudy
brows.

Now suddenly a Voice called aloud the awful Word, then the vapours burst
and melted, and with my eyes I saw that Glory, at the very thought of
which my spirit faints. But what I saw it is not lawful to utter. For,
though I have been bidden to write what I have written of this matter,
perchance that a record may remain, thereon I have been warned--ay, even
now, after these many years. I saw, and what I saw cannot be imagined;
for there are Glories and there are Shapes which are beyond the reach
of man's imagination. I saw--then, with the echo of that Word, and the
memory of that sight stamped for ever on my heart, my spirit failed me,
and I sank down before the Glory.

And, as I fell, it seemed that the great hall burst open and crumbled
into flakes of fire round me. Then a great wind blew: there was a sound
as the sound of Worlds rushing down the flood of Time--and I knew no
more!

CHAPTER VII

OF THE AWAKING OF HARMACHIS; OF THE CEREMONY