Like angels' footsteps, which imprint
Where'er they glide a glowing tint,
Reflecting back the light from heaven
Weaker, yet pure as when first given :
So from a world, e'en dark as this,
Ascend to the bright gates of bliss
Those prayer-notes far beyond the sky,
In one sweet heavenly melody!
THE LAST SABBATH.
(Scene.-Heaven.)
"And I saw a new heaven and new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no
"And I saw the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,
"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and He will dwell with them ... And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Apoc. xxi. 1-4).
'Tis done!-and Earth, with all its hopes and fears,
Its joys and sorrows, all it holds most dear
And precious, all its pomps and pageantries
Have passed away like threads of gossamer.
All human passions, such as we feel them now,
Are dead :-ambition, wealth, and earthly love,
Which filled the world with tumult, is no more,
Save in remembrance, which, like a dream
Of long-forgotten things, scarce leaves a trace
On Memory's purified and polished shield.
And if at intervals a glance is cast
Across the yawning gulf which separates
Past from Present, Time from Eternity,
We then, sublimated and spiritualised,
With all our faculties transfused with light,
Shall view the pursuits of the present time
As we do now the playthings of childhood,
Which once absorbed our feelings and our thoughts,
Our very being, just the same as those
We deem of so much consequence at present.
The whole wide earth shall then God's temple be,
One vast expanse of many-coloured gems
Shining in rich, transparent brilliancy :
The jasper, sapphire, and the emerald,
The chrysolite, beril, and topaz blaze
With light, and melt and mingle all their hues
In ever-varying beauty. There no cloud
Nor vapour e'er shall float between our gaze
And heaven, whose bright and blissful regions
Shall then be filled with countless multitudes
Of glorious spirits, rising tier on tier,
And rank o'er rank in shining circles,
Up to the throne of the Omnipotent.
And first the Angels in celestial robes,
The least of whom is greater, more perfect,
And powerful than all the sons of men,
From Adam to the last of all his race.
The next above them the Archangels stand,
With glorious Michael shining at their head,
And Gabriel, like a cluster of bright stars,
Supports the other. Then the gorgeous Thrones,
The Dominations, and the mighty Powers;
Through whom God's high omnipotence is felt
By all created things, fill the mid heavens.
Next, and higher still, the Principalities,
Who rule and govern in the courts above,
Extend through deep and long arcades of light
To blissful regions of immensity.
Above these shining hosts the Virtues next,
And nearer to God's high eternal throne
Are marshalled. There, in seven-fold rainbow tints,
They gush forth, like the fragrance of the rose,
The seven glorious gifts of the Most High
On all his creatures: Wisdom, Understanding,
Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety,
And, greatest of them all, the Fear of God!
Then, through sweet regions of those alpine heights
Of glory the lov'd Cherubim, in troops
Of countless legions tune their golden harps
To perfumed notes of love through all eternity;
While over all the blazing Seraphim,
Who know the most of all the sons of light,
Fill the empyrean courts around the throne;
But purest, greatest, highest of them all
The Queen of heaven sits enthroned in light,
Whose subtle beams extend through farthest space
Of those celestial mansions, and transfuse
Themselves in torrents of ecstatic bliss
O'er all creation and created things.
And then, along those endless, blooming vales,
And bowers of bliss a grand procession moves
Of countless multitudes in long array-
The sons of earth, the lov'd ones, the elect-
Chanting forth sweet hosannas, peal on peal,
In concert with the whole full choir of heaven,
Each moment adding torrents of delight
And new ecstatic raptures, till the soul
Can bear no more, no further weight of glory!
Then our more subtle senses, sight, and smell,
And hearing, pure, enlarged, intensified,
And in their light taking the other two
More carnal ones, are ever enlarging
Their capacity for increased delight!-
The eye is feasted with that glory
Which mortal vision ne'er could look upon
And live, nor 66 could the heart of man conceive;"
The ear is ever drinking in sweet notes
Of heavenly harmony, which flood the soul
With rapture; and, the sense of smell, so pure
And exquisite on earth, is here regaled
From flowers immortal in the blooming vales
Of paradise, which sigh their souls away
In adoration to the throne of light!
Thus all the senses, every faculty,
Such as we can conceive and feel them now
In all their strength as giving most delight,
Are ever filled with rapture, joy, and bliss,
Which never cloys, nor will admit of more
Enjoyment. And thus, in heaven is kept,
Through endless ages, the last great Sabbath-Day!
TO MY GUARDIAN ANGEL.
Он, come, my angel-guard!-too long
I've wandered far from God and thee;
And, guarded by the thoughtless throng,
The smile, the music, and the song,
I strayed, nor cared not right nor wrong—
Alas! 'twas all alike to me!
When first young love in radiance came,
He was so very well like thee,
I could not believe but 'twas the same
Bright form that hovered in a dream,
With smiles of bliss and soul of flame
That dazzled and delighted me.
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