before;
Who seek for mercy, when their fearful doom
Shall echo in their ear, "Too late! too late!"
Then all the earth shall be engrossed in flame
From sea to sea, and high the lurid glare
Shall rise in streams amid the gloomy clouds;
And the great waters, laving on the flame
Their boiling waves, shall feed its power ten times,
And lend their vapors to the burning air.
All things shall be consumed excepting man;
And through the flames the righteous shall be led
Unhurt, as though there were no flame; whereas
The wicked shall of tortures be conceived
More deep in power than ever known before.
Then on His throne, mid glories so immense,
The Judge in dreadful majesty appears,
And looks in thrilling calm on all around.
And on His brow sits equity enthroned,
And truth and love united with it there;
So radiant is His presence that, unveiled,
The eye is dazzled which upon it dwells.
He calls before Him all the people, and
Discerns between the evil and the good
Of all the deeds which they have done, and weighs
Together in a balance, one in one,
The evil and the good of all their thoughts,
And all their words and mingled purposes.
Then they to whom the balance falls to ill
Their judgment thus receive: "Depart, depart
Unto the burning lake, for ever fed.
Ye would not hearken to the warning words,
And now it is too late. Depart! depart!"
Then to the hell eternal they and all
The tortures of the world, and fears, and pains,
And lust and anger, malice and disdain,
And pride, and pomp, and every evil thought,
Shall roll together, in a burning mass,
Down deeper, deeper to the yawning gulphs.
Thus all the mountains and great hills shall fly;
And seas, and lakes, and rivers of the earth
Shall vanish as a cloud before the wind;
And He who was the Judge shall now ascend,
Together with His chosen people, high
Unto the heavenly gates, and, entering in,
Shall have abode through day that knows no end
In an Elysium of unmeasured joy.

THE SABBATH DAY.

Sweetest and fairest of the days that dawn
Upon Elysian hill, and over lawn,
And field, and city spread a roseate light!
The morning of the Sabbath day--in dight
Of many a hallowed strain it comes. The bell
Of every village o'er the plain doth tell,
From its high seat, within the sacred tower
Above the house of God, from hour to hour,
A joyous song; and in cathedral town
The gladsome peals break forth and warble down;
While through the city every belfrey g