From the horrific scene at last the sun.
Loud howled the wind, which to a tempest rose; While rolled the thunder, and amid the storm Of furious hail, the vivid lightning gleamed; And, as if under Nature's final throes,
Heavens, how the very earth, from shore to shore, Portentous shook, and trembled to its centre ! Great chasms yawned, and to their basements rocked Convulsed the lofty everlasting mountains; Thus indicated all, in heaven and earth, The end of all things had at length arrived. And hence another change came o'er my dream. Hushed were the thunders, and the tempest ceased- All, all, was still and silent as the grave. Meanwhile through the impenetrable gloom, Midway in heaven-methinks I yet behold Him Borne on a sunbeam of celestial lustre, A mighty Herald bright in burning glory, With dazzling pinions cleaving the dark clouds, And rolling them in mountains by his breath, In pomp divine and majesty descended;
And from beneath His wings a trump tremendous, Of burnished gold, He took, and which He sounded Much louder than ten thousand peals of thunder, Which shook the very pillars of the sky, And penetrated, with a power divine, Even Nature's deepest, innermost recesses. O most momentous, memorable hour! How did its thrilling energy pervade, Yea, rend the iron prison-house of Death,
And summon forth, to life and liberty,
Its lonely, slumbering, earth-forgotten captives, Of every circumstance, and class, and clime, Age, creed, and character! Again to heaven Instinctively my wondering eyes I turned, And, oh! ecstatic, ever-rapturous sight, And hallowed while I live, in recollection, Refulgent, brighter than a thousand suns, Millions unnumbered of ethereal natures, All gay with life and immortality, Led by a potent all-victorious hero
Through the unknown, untravelled vast of space, In pageantry unrivalled and divine,
Fleet as the lightning to this nether world Winging their mystic way were then beheld, And with intense and glowing radiations Earth and immensity alike illuming.
Meanwhile a gorgeous and resplendent throne, Immaculate and shining as the snow,
Wreathed on the height and lackered by the sun,
The world polluted as a rainbow spanned,
On which descended, in empyreal glory, That princely Leader of the host divine, Wearing a jewell'd crown of starry brightness, Before whose sheen, as wax before the fire, The everlasting mountains seemed to melt, The ocean as in terror to recede,
And Nature tremble to her inmost core. Around Him then, in filial exultation And joy, this retinue illustrious thronged,
Above all fear secure, victorious waving Palms of immortal and eternal triumph, Shouting hosannahs, and in thrilling rapture Ascribing honour, majesty, dominion, Glory, and blessing unto Him alone.
At the same moment, wonderful, amazing, From every corner of the rugged earth, And every quarter of the secret deep, Crowds, countless as the very stars of heaven, By some strange, supernatural propulsion, Towards that peerless Monarch on the throne Were pouring fast. O can I e'er forget That sweet placidity of soul, that trust, That thrilling joy, and transport some betrayed, Contrasted with the sullen gloom, and anguish, Regret, remorse, and terror, and despair That marked the guilty and the ever-wretched, As every eye seemed as if spell-bound fixed On that ineffable, illustrious One,
Whose throne the endless millions clustered round, But into two grand classes stood divided,
Each as eternally to each opposed
As vice to virtue? By that King of kings How was the one acknowledged and accepted, And smiling welcomed with, "O come, ye blessed," And on His right hand honoured and adorned With the insignia of His royal friendship Divine, and destined ever to endure !
While, oh! the others, how my nature trembles As memory the melancholy picture
Of their sad fate, with all its dismal shades, Still mournfully recalls; how self-condemned, Vile outcasts, rebels, how aghast they stood, Detested by the virtuous universe! Methinks I hear yet, pealing in mine ear, That deep-toned awful knell, "Depart, ye cursed," As one of whom I felt myself included. The final destinies of all awarded,
On harps of gold loud hallelujahs sounding, All crowned with immortality, the just In one vast happy and harmonious whole Heaven's azure heights triumphantly ascended In nameless glory, headed by their King. Next from that solemn and momentous bar, 'Mid hopeless wailings, on the whirlwind's wing That hideous, sable, wrath-doomed throng was borne, By Heaven accursed, fiendish legions led Through scenes of universal conflagration, To realms of black unmitigated misery; Remorse and suffering, and despair eternal, Where mercy never smiles, hope never dawns, And Heaven hath ceased for ever to be gracious. OI remember, and will ne'er forget,
That paralyzing horror and dismay Which seized my guilty and polluted soul When first those rueful, melancholy regions Of endless sin and death, by Heaven decreed For the apostate, God-abandoned felons, In all their terrors, burst upon my view; Nor when with that accursed rebel host,
Through the dark, gloomy, adamantine portals I felt myself by fiends exulting dragged, And headlong plunged into the burning surge Of that dread yawning bottomless abyss I often scouted as a vain chimera,
When with my gay companions o'er my cups. How terrible, methought, the wrath of God! How insupportable the sinner's doom 'Mong devils rolling in a sea of fire, Tossed to and fro, and worried by a mob Of uncontrolled, fierce, and infernal passions, Without a hope or arm to interpose, Struggling in agony from day to day, Dying perpetually through years and ages! Thus spending an eternity in dying, Amid the clamorous howls and dismal yells, The groans and curses of the lost for ever; With which, in horror nameless, I awoke, And blessed the still forbearing hand of Heaven.
LINES ADDRESSED TO JOHN SE.
EAR me a wee, sir, when I write:
Abhorring scandal and a' spite,
And every word I now indite
It's truth, I'll swear;
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