Within the precincts of the charnel house;
Where bones on bones, in heaps unnumber'd, lie,
And fetid exhalations taint the air!
There, on the mould'ring relics of mankind,
The all-subduing Monarch of the Tomb
His station takes-as if to make frail man
With man's inevitable fate familiar.-
Mark ye his outstretch'd arm and withering look!
While tones sepulchral from his lipless jaws
Resound, like thunder in a troubled sky
When nature is convuls'd, and man and beast
Quail at the crash, and dread the fiery bolt!
And see-the hollow sockets of the eyes
Gleam with a lurid light, which fearless none
Can view! O how terrific is the scene!
Now all is hush'd; for e'en the last faint sound
Of murm'ring echo dies away. The pause
How drear!-Now, now again, his deep-toned voice
Is heard, in accents superhuman, loud,
And awfully sublime!
Though truth may sound Ungracious to the ear, where flattery pours Its honied poison-still the truth I'll speak ; · And though my form appalling to the sight
Be deem'd-still shall that form be view'd.
MERCY and MIGHT with Death go hand in hand!
And Mercy bids me throw aside the veil
That screens mortality from outward ken,
And keeps mankind in ignorance of self!
"The great Deliverer of Man am I,
Although of mortal Life the Conqueror ;
For though at human pride my shafts I hurl,
And into atoms crush the vaunting fools
Who, with prosperity intoxicate, affect
To heed me not-yet from the direst woes
I rescue the oppress'd, and with a wreath
Of never-fading glory bind their brows.
And shall my wondrous attributes remain
Unnotic'd or contemn'd-my pow'r forgot,
Which earth, and air, and sea encompasseth?
Shall I not use that glorious privilege,
Which both to mercy and to might belong-
Now striking terror in obdurate hearts,
And punishing men's crimes-now turning from
The error of their ways the penitent,
And leading them in paths of righteousness?—
"When hydra-headed Vice o'er all the earth Triumphant stalks-and man is sunk in crime;
When mad Ambition, Av'rice, lust of Power,
Hate, Rapine, Envy, and fierce Discord reign;
And when the child of Merit droops his head,
And pines in want, while bloated Ignorance
Luxurious revels in his splendid halls;
In vain shall MAN exhort his fellow man:
A worm, alas, remonstrates with a worm!
In vain shall Preachers, whatsoe'er their creed,
Anathemas denounce, or woo their flocks
With promises of pardon and of peace:
Though gifted with persuasive eloquence,
Though every precept spoke a truth divine,
Without My aid would Preachers preach in vain,-
Their words-as evanescent as the wind
That whispers in the grove at eventide,
And then is heard no more.
my dominion over all extends,
And naught can circumscribe my sov'reign will.
TO ME, though not in homage, all men bow!
Yea, e'en the mighty puppets of the earth,
Surrounded by the minions of their will,
And deck'd in all the mockery of state,
Crouch, like the veriest slaves, at my approach,
And try, by pray'rs, and vows, and floods of tears,
To crastinate their sure impending doom.
Yet such is oft their arrogance and pride,
And such the madness of the vassal crew,
Who blindly follow in the vain pursuit
Of glittering glory and of noisy fame;
That were not I to check their vile career,
Ills, far more grievous than Egyptian plagues,
The world would so infest, that Honour, Truth,
Love, Friendship, Hope, and heav'n-born Charity,
To other spheres would flee, and leave this orb
To man's unbridled violence a pray.
"Yet, though none dare dispute my boundless sway,
My actions none will bear in memory.—
When foam-crown'd billows sweep across the deck,
The awe-struck seaman, clinging to the mast,
Sees me with terrors arm'd, and dreads the surge
That soon may overwhelm him in the deep:
But when the storm subsides, forgotten quite
The waves which,tempest-toss'd,dash'd o'erhis head,
And but an hour before had fill'd his mind
With all the horrors of a wat❜ry grave!
'Tis thus with all mankind. When near I'm view'd,
Appall'd by guilty fears, they dread my dart ;-
But seen afar, or veil'd in some disguise,
They act as though my power they despised,
Or treat me as a bugbear, fit for naught
But keeping fools and children in subjection.
“'Tis strange-'tis wonderful—that MAN, endow'd With reasoning pow'rs-with faculty of speechWith clear perceptions, knowing right from wrong;That Man, who bears the impress of his God;That Man, to whom the sacred truth's reveal'd That mortal life is but probationary ;
And that his essence, purged from fleshly sin,
Shall at the LAST GREAT DAY e'en Death and Time
O'ercome, and take its flight to realms of bliss,
Surrounded by the spirits of the Just,
And angels, hymning great JEHOVAH's praise ;-
'Tis wonderful, that Man, of this assur'd,
And the dread certainty before his eyes
That everlasting woe the wretch awaits
Who scorns high heaven's reward—should plunge in crime,
And rush, regardless, tow'rds a precipice,
Beneath whose frightful brink perdition yawns!
"What! will you risk your soul's eternal
To gain some perishable gewgaw here?
Or, what more likely is,-to lose the substance
And the shadow too,-to earn men's curses first,
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