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His presence was so saintly to behold,
He seem'd in sinless Paradise grown old.

“This day,' said he, 'in Time's star-lighted
round,

Renews the anguish of that mortal wound
On me inflicted, when the Serpent's tongue
My Spouse with his beguiling falsehood stung.
Though years of grace through centuries have pass'd,
Since my transgression, this may be the last;
Infirmities without, and fears within,
Foretell the consummating stroke of sin;
The hour, the place, the form to me unknown,
But God, who lent me life, will claim his own;
Then, lest I sink as suddenly in death,
As quicken'd into being by his breath,
Once more I climb'd these rocks with weary pace,
And but once more, to view my native place,
To bid yon garden of delight farewell,
The earthly Paradise from which I fell.
This mantle, Enoch! which I yearly wear
To mark the day of penitence and prayer,—
These skins, the covering of my first offence,
When, conscious of departed innocence,
Naked and trembling, from my Judge I fled,
A hand of mercy o'er my vileness spread ;-
Enoch! this mantle, thus vouchsafed to me
At my dismission, I bequeath to thee;
Wear it in sad memorial on this day,
And yearly at mine earliest altar slay
A lamb immaculate, whose blood be spilt
In sign of wrath removed and cancell'd guilt:
So be the sins of all my race confest,

So on their heads may peace and pardon rest.'
-Thus spake our Sire, and down the steep descent
With strengthen'd heart and fearless footstep went:
O Javan! when we parted at his door,
I loved him as I never loved before.

"Ere noon, returning to his bower, I found
Our father laboring in his harvest ground
(For yet he till'd a little plot of soil,
Patient and pleased with voluntary toil);

But O how changed from him, whose morning eye
Outshone the star, that told the sun was nigh!
Loose in his feeble grasp the sickle shook;
I mark'd the ghastly dolor of his look,
And ran to help him; but his latest strength
Fail'd;-prone upon his sheaves he fell at length:
I strove to raise him; sight and sense were fled,
Nerveless his limbs, and backward sway'd his head.
Seth pass'd; I call'd him, and we bore our Sire
To neighboring shades from noon's afflictive fire:
Ere long he 'woke to feeling, with a sigh,
And half unclosed his hesitating eye;
Strangely and timidly he peer'd around,
Like men in dreams whom sudden lights confound;
Is this a new Creation?-Have I pass'd
The bitterness of death?'-He look'd aghast,
Then sorrowful;-No; men and trees appear;
Tis not a new Creation,-pain is here:
From Sin's dominion is there no release?
Lord! let thy Servant now depart in peace.'
-Hurried remembrance crowding o'er his soul,
He knew us; tears of consternation stole
Down his pale cheeks:- Seth!-Enoch! Where is
Eve?

How could the spouse her dying consort leave?'

"Eve look'd that moment from their cottage-door
In quest of Adam, where he toil'd before;
He was not there, she call'd him by his name;
Sweet to his ear the well-known accents came;
Here am I,' answer'd he, in tone so weak,
That we who held him scarcely heard him speak;
But resolutely bent to rise, in vain

He struggled till he swoon'd away with pain.
Eve call'd again, and turning towards the shade,
Helpless as infancy, beheld him laid;

She sprang, as smitten with a mortal wound,
Forward, and cast herself upon the ground
At Adam's feet; half-rising in despair,
Him from our arms she wildly strove to tear;
Repell'd by gentle violence, she press'd
His powerless hand to her convulsive breast,
And kneeling, bending o'er him, full of fears
Warm on his bosom shower'd her silent tears.
Light to his eyes at that refreshment came,
They open'd on her in a transient flame;

And art thou here, my Life! my Love!' he cried,
Faithful in death to this congenial side?
Thus let me bind thee to my breaking heart,
One dear, one bitter moment, ere we part.'

Leave me not, Adam! leave me not below;
With thee I tarry, or with thee I go,'
She said, and yielding to his faint embrace,
Clung round his neck, and wept upon his face.
Alarming recollection soon return'd,
His fever'd frame with growing anguish burn'd:
Ah! then, as nature's tenderest impulse wrought,
With fond solicitude of love she sought
To soothe his limbs upon their grassy bed,
And make the pillow easy to his head;
She wiped his reeking temples with her hair;
She shook the leaves to stir the sleeping air;
Moisten'd his lips with kisses: with her breath
Vainly essay'd to quell the fire of Death,
That ran and revell'd through his swollen veins
With quicker pulses, and severer pains.

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The sun, in summer majesty on high,
Darted his fierce effulgence down the sky;
Yet dimm'd and blunted were the dazzling rays,
His orb expanded through a dreary haze,
And, circled with a red portentous zone,
He look'd in sickly horror from his throne:
The vital air was still; the torrid heat
Oppress'd our hearts, that labor'd hard to beat.
When higher noon had shrunk the lessening shade,
Thence to his home our father we convey'd,
And stretch'd him, pillow'd with his latest sheaves,
On a fresh couch of green and fragrant leaves.
Here, though his sufferings through the glen were
known,

We chose to watch his dying bed alone,
Eve, Seth, and I.In vain he sigh'd for rest,
And oft his meek complainings thus express'd:

Blow on me, Wind! I faint with heat! O bring
Delicious water from the deepest spring;
Your sunless shadows o'er my limbs diffuse,
Ye cedars! wash me cold with midnight dews.
-Cheer me, my friends! with looks of kindness
cheer;

Whisper a word of comfort in mine ear;
Those sorrowing faces fill my soul with gloom;
This silence is the silence of the tomb.

Thither I hasten; help me on my way;
O sing to soothe me, and to strengthen pray!'
We sang to soothe him,-hopeless was the song;
We pray'd to strengthen him,—he grew not strong.
In vain from every herb, and fruit, and flower,
Of cordial sweetness, or of healing power,
We press'd the virtue; no terrestrial balm
Nature's dissolving agony could calm.
Thus, as the day declined, the fell disease
Eclipsed the light of life by slow degrees:
Yet while his pangs grew sharper, more resign'd,
More self-collected, grew the sufferer's mind;
Patient of heart, though rack'd at every pore,
The righteous penalty of sin he bore;
Not his the fortitude that mocks at pains,
But that which feels them most, and yet sustains.
"Tis just, 't is merciful,' we heard him say;
'Yet wherefore hath He turn'd his face away?
I see Him not; I hear Him not; I call;
My God! my God! support me, or I fall.'

"The sun went down, amidst an angry glare
Of flushing clouds, that crimson'd all the air;
The winds brake loose; the forest boughs were torn,
And dark aloof the eddying foliage borne;
Cattle to shelter scudded in affright;
The florid evening vanish'd into night:
Then burst the hurricane upon the vale,

In peals of thunder, and thick-volley'd hail;

He stirs the wound he once inflicted there,
Instils the deadening poison of despair,
Belies the truth of God's delaying grace,
And bids me curse my Maker to his face.
-I will not curse Him, though his grace delay
I will not cease to trust Him, though he slay;
Full on his promised mercy I rely,

For God hath spoken,-God, who cannot lie.
-Thou, of my faith the Author and the End!
Mine early, late, and everlasting Friend!
The joy, that once thy presence gave, restore
Ere I am summon'd hence, and seen no more:
Down to the dust returns this earthly frame,
Receive my Spirit, Lord! from whom it came;
Rebuke the Tempter, show thy power to save;
O let thy glory light me to the grave,
That these, who witness my departing breath,
May learn to triumph in the grasp of death.'

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He closed his eyelids with a tranquil smile,
And seem'd to rest in silent prayer awhile:
Around his couch with filial awe we kneel'd,
When suddenly a light from heaven reveal'd
A Spirit, that stood within the unopen'd door;—
The sword of God in his right hand he bore;
His countenance was lightning, and his vest
Like snow at sun-rise on the mountain's crest;
Yet so benignly beautiful his form,
His presence still'd the fury of the storm;

His look was love, his salutation, 'Peace!'

Prone rushing rains with torrents whelm'd the land, At once the winds retire, the waters cease;
Our cot amidst a river seem'd to stand;
Around its base the foamy crested streams
Flash'd through the darkness to the lightning's gleams,
With monstrous throes an earthquake heaved the
ground,

The rocks were rent, the mountains trembled round;
Never, since Nature into being came,
Had such mysterious motion shook her frame:
We thought, ingulf'd in floods, or wrapt in fire,
The world itself would perish with our Sire.

"Amidst this war of elements, within
More dreadful grew the sacrifice of sin,
Whose victim on his bed of torture lay,
Breathing the slow remains of life away.
Erewhile, victorious faith sublimer rose
Beneath the pressure of collected woes:
But now his spirit waver'd, went and came,
Like the loose vapor of departing flame,
Till at the point, when comfort seem'd to die
For ever in his fix'd unclosing eye,
Bright through the smouldering ashes of the man,
The saint brake forth, and Adam thus began:

O ye, that shudder at this awful strife,
This wrestling agony of Death and Life,
Think not that He, on whom my soul is cast,
Will leave me thus forsaken to the last.
Nature's infirmity alone you see;

My chains are breaking, I shall soon be free;
Though firm in God the Spirit holds her trust,
The flesh is frail, and trembles into dust.
Horror and anguish seize me;-'t is the hour
Of darkness, and I mourn beneath its power;
The Tempter plies me with his direst art,
I feel the Serpent coiling round my heart;

"Our Mother first beheld him, sore amazed, But terror grew to transport, while she gazed:

Tis He, the Prince of Seraphim, who drove
Our banish'd feet from Eden's happy grove;'
Adam, my Life, my Spouse, awake!' she cried;
Return to Paradise; behold thy Guide!

O let me follow in this dear embrace!'
She sunk, and on his bosom hid her face.
Adam look'd up; his visage changed its hue,
Transform'd into an Angel's at the view:

I come!' he cried, with faith's full triumph fired,
And in a sigh of ecstacy expired.

The light was vanish'd, and the vision fled;
We stood alone, the living with the dead;
The ruddy embers, glimmering round the room,
Display'd the corpse amidst the solemn gloom;
But o'er the scene a holy calm reposed,
The gate of heaven had open'd there, and closed.

"Eve's faithful arm still clasp'd her lifeless Spouse,
Gently I shook it, from her trance to rouse;
She gave no answer; motionless and cold,
It fell like clay from my relaxing hold;
Alarm'd, I lifted up the locks of grey
That hid her cheek; her soul had passed away:
A beauteous corse, she graced her partner's side;
Love bound their lives, and Death could not divide.

"Trembling astonishment of grief we felt,
Till Nature's sympathies began to melt;
We wept in stillness through the long dark night;
-And O how welcome was the morning light!"

1 Paradise Lost, Book XI, v. 238.

CANTO V.

The Burying-Place of the Patriarchs.-The sacrifice on the Anniversary of the Fall of Adam.-Enoch's Prophecy.

" AND here," said Enoch, with dejected eye, "Behold the grave, in which our Parents lie," They stopt, and o'er the turf inclosure wept, Where, side by side, the First-Created slept : It seem'd as if a voice, with still small sound, Heard in their bosoms, issued from that mound:

From earth we came, and we return'd to earth; Descendants! spare the dust that gave you birth; Though Death, the pain for my transgression due, By sad inheritance we left to you,

O let our children bless us in our grave,
And man forgive the wrong that God forgave!"

Thence to the altar Enoch turn'd his face;
But Javan linger'd in that burying-place,
A scene sequester'd from the haunts of men,
The loveliest nook of all that lovely glen,
Where weary pilgrims found their last repose:
The little heaps were ranged in comely rows,
With walks between, by friends and kindred trod,
Who dress'd with duteous hands each hallow'd sod:
No sculptured monument was taught to breathe
His praises whom the worm devour'd beneath;
The high, the low, the mighty, and the fair,
Equal in death, were undistinguish'd there :
Yet not a hillock moulder'd near that spot,
By one dishonor'd, or by all forgot;

To some warm heart the poorest dust was dear,
From some kind eye the meanest claim'd a tear;
And oft the living, by affection led,

Were wont to walk in spirit with their dead,
Where no dark cypress cast a doleful gloom,
No blighting yew shed poison o'er the tomb,
But, white and red with intermingling flowers,
The graves look'd beautiful in sun and showers.
Green myrtles fenced it, and beyond their bound
Ran the clear rill with ever-murmuring sound;
'Twas not a scene for Grief to nourish care-
It breathed of Hope, and moved the heart to prayer.

Why linger'd Javan in that lone retreat?
The shrine of her that bare him drew his feet;
Trembling he sought it, fearing to behold
A bed of thistles, or unsightly mould;

But lo! the turf, which his own hands had piled,
With choicest flowers and richest verdure smiled:
By all the glen, his mother's couch of rest,
In his default, was visited and blest.
He kneel'd, he kiss'd it, full of love and woe;
His heart was where his treasure lay, below;
And long he tarried, ere, with heav'nward eyes,
He rose, and hasten'd to the sacrifice.

Already on a neighboring mount, that stood
Apart amidst the valley, girt with wood,
Whose open summit, rising o'er the trees,
Caught the cool fragrance of the evening breeze,
The Patriarchal worshippers were met;
The Lamb was brought, the wood in order set

On Adam's rustic altar, moss-o'ergrown.
An unwrought mass of earth-imbedded stone,
Long known and hallow'd, where, for man's offence,
The earth first drank the blood of innocence,
When God himself ordain'd the typic rite
To Eden's Exiles, resting on their flight.
Foremost, amidst the group, was Enoch seen,
Known by his humble port, and heavenly mien:
On him the Priest's mysterious office lay,
For 't was the eve of Man's transgression-day
And him had Adam, with expiring breath,
Ordain'd to offer yearly, from his death,
A victim on that mountain, whence the skies
Had first inhaled the fumes of sacrifice.
In Adam's coat of skins array'd he stands,
Spreading to Heaven his supplicating hands,
Ere from his robe the deadly steel he drew
To smite the victim sporting in his view.
Behind him Seth, in majesty confest,
The World's great Elder, tower'd above the rest.
Serenely shone his sweet and solemn eye,
Like the sun reigning in the western sky;
Though nine slow centuries by stealth had shed
Grey hairs, the crown of glory, on his head,
In hardy health he rear'd his front sublime,
Like the green aloe, in perennial prime,
When full of years it shoots forth all its bloom,
And glads the forest through the inmost gloom;
So, in the blossom of a good old age,
Flourish'd amidst his sons that peerless sage.

Around him, in august succession, stood
The fathers of the World before the Flood:
-Enos, who taught mankind, on solemn days,
In sacred groves, to meet for prayer and praise,
And warn'd idolaters to lift their eye,

From sun and stars, to Him who made the sky:
-Canaan and Malaliel, of whom alone,
Their age, of all that once they were, is known:
-Jared, who, full of hope beyond the tomb,
Hallow'd his offspring from the Mother's womb,'
And Heaven received the Son that Parent gave,
He walk'd with God, and overstept the grave;
-A mighty pilgrim in the vale of tears,
Born to the troubles of a thousand years,
Methuselah, whose feet unhalting ran
To the last circle of the life of man:
-Lamech, from infancy inured to toil,
To wring slow blessings from the accursed soil,
Ere yet to dress his vineyards, reap his corn,
And comfort him in care, was Noah born,2
Who in a later age, by signal grace,
Survived to renovate the human race;
Both worlds, by sad reversion, were his due,
The Orphan of the old, the Father of the new

These, with their families on either hand,
Aliens and exiles in their native land,
The few who loved their Maker from their youth,
And worshipp'd God in spirit and in truth;
These stood with Enoch :-All had fix'd their eyes
On him, and on the Lamb of sacrifice,

1 The name of Enoch, the son of Jared, is derived from chanac, to dedicate.

2 And he called his name Noah, saying, This name shall comfort us concerning our work, and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed.-Gen. v. v. 29.

For now with trembling hand he shed the blood,
And placed the slaughter'd victim on the wood;
Then kneeling, as the sun went down, he laid
His hand upon the hallow'd pyre, and pray'd:-
"Maker of heaven and earth! supreme o'er all
That live, and move, and breathe, on Thee we call:
Our father sinn'd and suffer'd;-we, who bear
Our father's image, his transgression share;
Humbled for his offences, and our own,
Thou, who art holy, wise, and just alone,
Accept, with free confession of our guilt,
This victim slain, this blood devoutly spilt,
While through the veil of sacrifice we see
Thy mercy smiling, and look up to Thee;

O grant forgiveness; power and grace are thine;
God of salvation! cause thy face to shine;
Hear us in Heaven! fulfil our soul's desire,
God of our father! answer now with fire."

He rose; no light from Heaven around him shone, No fire descended from the eternal throne; Cold on the pile the offer'd victim lay, Amidst the stillness of expiring day: The eyes of all that watch'd in vain to view The wonted sign, distractedly withdrew; Fear clipt their breath, their doubling pulses raised, And each by stealth upon his neighbor gazed; From heart to heart a strange contagion ran, A shuddering instinct crowded man to man; Even Seth with secret consternation shook, And cast on Enoch an imploring look. Enoch, in whose sublime, unearthly mien, No change of hue, no cloud of care, was seen, Full on the mute assembly turn'd his face, Clear as the sun prepared to run his race. He spoke; his words, with awful warning fraught, Rallied and fix'd the scatter'd powers of thought: "Men, brethren, fathers! wherefore do ye fear? Hath God departed from us?-God is here; Present in every heart, with sovereign power, He tries, he proves his people in this hour; Naked as light to his all-searching eye,

The thoughts that wrong, the doubts that tempt Him

lie;

Yet slow to anger, merciful as just,

He knows our frame, remembers we are dust,
And spares our weakness:-In this truth believe,
Hope against hope, and ask till ye receive.
What, though no flame on Adam's altar burn,
No signal of acceptance yet return?
God is not man, who to our father sware,
All times, in every place, to answer prayer.
He cannot change; though heaven and earth decay,
The word of God shall never pass away.

"But mark the season:-from the rising sun, Westward, the race of Cain the world o'errun; Their monarch, mightiest of the sons of men, Hath sworn destruction to the Patriarchs' glen; Hither he hastens; carnage strews his path: -Who will await the giant in his wrath? Or who will take the wings of silent night, And seek deliverance from his sword by flight? Thus saith the Lord :-Ye weak of faith and heart! Who dare not trust the living God, depart; The Angel of his presence leads your way, Your lives are safe, and given you as a prey:

But ye who, unappall'd at earthly harm,
Lean on the strength of his Almighty arm,
Prepared for life or death, with firm accord,
-Stand still, and see the glory of the Lord."

A pause, a dreary pause, ensued:-then cried
The holy man,-"On either hand divide;
The feeble fly; with me the valiant stay:
Choose now your portion; whom will ye obey,
God, or your fears? His counsel, or your own?"
"The LORD, the LORD, for He is GOD ALONE!"
Exclaim'd at once, with consentaneous choice,
The whole assembly, heart, and soul, and voice.
Then light from Heaven with sudden beauty came,
Pure on the altar blazed the unkindled flame,
And upwards to their glorious source return'd
The sacred fires in which the victim burn'd:
While through the evening gloom, to distant eyes,
Morn o'er the Patriarchs' mountain seem'd to rise.

Awe-struck, the congregation kneel'd around, And worshipp'd with their faces to the ground; The peace of God. beyond expression sweet, Fill'd every spirit humbled at his feet, And love, joy, wonder, deeply mingling there, Drew from the heart unutterable prayer.

They rose as if his soul had pass'd away,
Prostrate before the altar Enoch lay,
Entranced so deeply, all believed him dead:

At length he breathed, he moved, he raised his head;
To Heaven in ecstacy he turn'd his eyes;
-With such a look the dead in Christ shall rise,
When the last trumpet calls them from the dust,
To join the resurrection of the just:
Yea, and from earthly grossness so refined,
(As if the soul had left the flesh behind,
Yet wore a mortal semblance), upright stood
The great Evangelist before the Flood;
On him the vision of the Almighty broke,
And future times were present while he spoke.'

"The Saints shall suffer; righteousness shall fail; O'er all the world iniquity prevail;

Giants, in fierce contempt of man and God,
Shall rule the nations with an iron rod;

On every mountain idol-groves shall rise,
And darken Heaven with human sacrifice.
But God the Avenger comes,-a judgment-day,
A flood shall sweep his enemies away.
How few, whose eyes shall then have seen the sun,
-One righteous family, and only one,-
Saved from that wreck of Nature, shall behold
The new Creation rising from the old!

"O, that the world of wickedness, destroy'd, Might lie for ever without form and void! Or, that the earth, to innocence restored, Might flourish as the garden of the Lord! It will not be among the sons of men, The Giant-Spirit shall go forth again, From clime to clime shall kindle murderous rage, And spread the plagues of sin from age to age; Yet shall the God of mercy, from above, Extend the golden sceptre of his love,

1 Numbers, xxiv, v. 4.

And win the rebels to his righteous sway,
Till every mouth confess, and heart obey.

"Amidst the visions of ascending years,
What mighty Chief, what Conqueror appears !!
His garments roll'd in blood, his eyes of flame,
And on his thigh the unutterable name?"

"T is I, that bring deliverance: strong to save,
I pluck'd the prey from death, and spoil'd the grave.'
-Wherefore, O Warrior! are thy garments red,
Like those whose feet amidst the vintage tread?
-I trod the wine-press of the field alone;
I look'd around for succor; there was none;
Therefore my wrath sustain'd me while I fought,
And mine own arm my Saints' salvation wrought.'
-Thus may thine arm for evermore prevail;
Thus may thy foes, O Lord! for ever fail;
Captive by thee captivity be led;
Seed of the woman! bruise the serpent's head;
Redeemer! promised since the world began,
Bow the high heavens, and condescend to man.

"Hail to the Day-spring! dawning from afar,
Bright in the east I see his natal star:
Prisoners of hope! lift up your joyful eyes;
Welcome the King of Glory from the skies:
Who is the King of Glory ?-Mark his birth:
In deep humility he stoops to earth,
Assumes a Servant's form, a Pilgrim's lot,
Comes to his own, his own receive him not,
Though angel-choirs his peaceful advent greet,
And Gentile-sages worship at his feet.

"What scene is this?—Amidst involving gloom,
The moonlight lingers on a lonely tomb;
No noise disturbs the garden's hallow'd bound,
But the watch walking on their midnight round:
Ah! who lies here, with marr'd and bloodless mien,
In whom no form or comeliness is seen;
His livid limbs with nails and scourges torn,
His side transpierced, his temples wreathed with
thorn?

"Tis He, the Man of Sorrows! he who bore
Our sins and chastisement:His toils are o'er.
On earth erewhile a suffering life he led,
Here hath he found a place to lay his head;
Rank'd with transgressors, he resign'd his breath,
But with the rich he made his bed in death.
Sweet is the grave where Angels watch and weep,
Sweet is the grave, and sanctified his sleep;
Rest, O my spirit! by this martyr'd form,

This wreck, that sunk beneath the Almighty storm,
When floods of wrath, that weigh'd the world to hell,
On him alone, in righteous vengeance, fell;
While men derided, demons urged his woes,
And God forsook him,-till the awful close;
Then, in triumphant agony, he cried,

"Tis finish'd!'-bow'd his sacred head, and died.
Death, as he struck that noblest victim, found
His sting was lost for ever in the wound;
The Grave, that holds his corse, her richest prize,
Shall yield him back, victorious, to the skies.
He lives:-ye bars of steel! ye gates of brass!
Give way, and let the King of Glory pass;
He lives;-ye golden portals of the spheres!

But, ah! my Spirit faints beneath the blaze,
That breaks, and brightens o'er the latter days,
When every tongue his trophies shall proclaim,
And every knee shall worship at his name;
For He shall reign with undivided power,
To Earth's last bounds, to Nature's final hour.

"Fair as that sovereign Plant, whose scions shoot Open, the Sun of Righteousness appears.
With healing verdure, and immortal fruit,
The Tree of Life, beside the stream that laves
The fields of Paradise with gladdening waves;
Behold him rise from infancy to youth,
The Father's image, full of grace and truth;
Tried, tempted, proved in secret, till the hour,
When, girt with meekness, but array'd with power,
Forth in the spirit of the Lord, at length,
Like the sun shining in meridian strength,
He goes:-to preach good tidings to the poor;
To heal the wounds that nature cannot cure;
To bind the broken-hearted; to control
Disease and death; to raise the sinking soul;
Unbar the dungeon, set the captive free,
Proclaim the joyous year of liberty,

And from the depth of undiscover'd night,
Bring life and immortality to light.

""Tis done:—again the conquering Chief appears
In the dread vision of dissolving years;
His vesture dipt in blood, his eyes of flame,
The WORD OF GOD his everlasting name:'
Throned in mid-heaven, with clouds of glory spread,
He sits in judgment on the quick and dead;
Strong to deliver; Saints! your songs prepare;
Rush from your tombs to meet him in the air:
But terrible in vengeance; Sinners! bow 2
Your haughty heads, the grave protects not now.
He who alone in mortal conflict trod

"How beauteous on the mountains are thy feet,The mighty wine-press of the wrath of God,

Thy form how comely, and thy voice how sweet,
Son of the Highest!-Who can tell thy fame?
The Deaf shall hear it, while the Dumb proclaim;
Now bid the Blind behold their Savior's light,
The Lame go forth rejoicing in thy might;
Cleanse with a touch yon kneeling Leper's skin;
Cheer this pale Penitent, forgive her sin;
O, for that Mother's faith, her Daughter spare;
Restore the Maniac to a Father's prayer;
Pity the tears those mournful Sisters shed,
And be the RESURRECTION of the DEAD!

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Shall fill the cup of trembling to his foes,
The unmingled cup of inexhausted woes;
The proud shall drink it in that dreadful day,
While Earth dissolves, and Heaven is roll'd away."

Here ceased the Prophet:-From the altar broke
The last dim wreaths of fire-illumined smoke;
Darkness had fall'n around; but o'er the streams
The Moon, new-ris'n, diffused her brightening beams;
Homeward, with tears, the worshippers return'd,
Yet while they wept, their hearts within them burn'd.

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