What now no hope to understand remained;
That they had often counted evil good,
And good for ill; laughed when they should have wept,
And wept forlorn when God intended mirth.
But what, of all their follies past, surprised
Them most, and seemed most totally insane
And unaccountable, was value set
On objects of a day; was serious grief,
Or joy, for loss or gain of mortal things;
So utterly impossible it seemed,
When men their proper interests saw, that aught
Of terminable kind-that aught which e'er
Could die, or cease to be, however named-
Should make a human soul, a legal heir
Of everlasting years, rejoice or weep
In earnest mood; for nothing now seemed worth
A thought but had eternal bearing in 't."
"Much truth had been assented to in Time,
Which never, till this day, had made a due
Impression on the heart. Take one example:
Early from heaven it was revealed, and oft
Repeated in the world, from pulpits preached,
And penned and read in holy books, that God
Respected not the persons of mankind.
Had this been truly credited and felt,
The king, in purple robe, had owned, indeed,
The beggar for his brother; pride of rank
And office, thawed into paternal love;
Oppression feared the day of equal rights,
Predicted; covetous extortion kept
In mind the hour of reckoning, soon to come;
And bribed injustice thought of being judged,
When he should stand on equal foot beside
The man he wronged. And surely-nay, 't is true,
Most true, beyond all whispering of doubt-
That he who lifted up the reeking scourge,
Dripping with gore from the slave's back, before
He struck again, had paused, and seriously
Of that tribunal thought, where God himself
Should look him in the face, and ask, in wrath,
"Why didst thou this? Man! was he not thy
Bone of thy bone, and flesh and blood of thine?' But, ah! this truth, by Heaven and reason taught, Was never fully credited on earth.
The titled, flattered, lofty men of power,
Whose wealth bought verdicts of applause for deeds
Of wickedness, could ne'er believe the time
Should truly come, when judgment should proceed
Impartially against them; and they, too,
Have no good speaker at the Judge's ear,
No witnesses to bring them off for gold,
No power to turn the sentence from its course:
And they of low estate, who saw themselves,
Day after day, despised, and wronged, and mocked,
Without redress, could scarcely think the day
Should e'er arrive, when they in truth should stand
On perfect level with the potentates
And princes of the earth, and have their cause
Examined fairly, and their rights allowed.
But now this truth was felt, believed and felt,
That men were really of a common stock;
That no man ever had been more than man."
REALIZATION OF PROPHECY.
"Much prophecy-revealed by holy bards, Who sung the will of Heaven by Judah's streamsMuch prophecy that waited long, the scoff Of lips uncircumcised, was then fulfilled; To the last tittle scrupulously fulfilled. It was foretold, by those of ancient days, A time should come when wickedness should weep Abased; when every lofty look of man
Should be bowed down, and all his haughtiness
Made low; when righteousness alone should lift
The head in glory, and rejoice at heart;.
When many, first in splendor and renown,
Should be most vile; and many, lowest once,
And last in Poverty's obscurest nook,
Highest and first in honor should be seen
Exalted; and when some, when all the good,
Should rise to glory and eternal life;
And all the bad, lamenting, wake, condemned
To shame, contempt, and everlasting grief.
"These prophecies had tarried long; so long, That many wagged the head, and, taunting, asked, 'When shall they come?' But asked no more, nor mocked:
For the reproach of prophecy was wiped
Away, and every word of God found true."
"And, oh! what change of state, what change of rank,
In that assembly every where was seen!
The humble-hearted laughed, the lofty mourned,
And every man, according to his works
Wrought in the body, there took character."
"Thus stood they mixed: all generations stood Of all mankind. Innumerable throng! Great harvest of the grave! waiting the will Of Heaven, attentively and silent all, As forest spreading out beneath the calm Of evening skies, when even the single leaf Is heard distinctly rustle down, and fall; So silent they: when, from above, the sound Of rapid wheels approached; and suddenly In heaven appeared a host of angels strong, With chariots and with steeds of burning fire: Cherub, and Seraph, Thrones, Dominions, Powers, Bright in celestial armor, dazzling, rode: And, leading in the front, illustrious shone, Michael and Gabriel-servants long approved In high commission-girt that day with power, Which naught created, man or devil, might Resist: nor waited gazing long; but quick Descending, silently and without song, As servants bent to do their master's work, To middle air they raised the human race, Above the path long traveled by the sun;
And, as a shepherd from the sheep divides
The goats; or husbandman, with reaping bands,
In harvest separates the precious wheat,
Selected from the tares; so did they part
Mankind-the good and bad, to right and left-
To meet no more: these ne'er again to smile,
Nor those to weep; these never more to share
Society of mercy with the saints,
Nor henceforth those to suffer with the vile.
Strange parting! not for hours, nor days, nor months,
Nor for ten thousand times ten thousand years;
But for a whole eternity! though fit,
And pleasant to the righteous, yet to all
Strange, and most strangely felt! The sire, to right
Retiring, saw the son, sprung from his loins—
Beloved, how dearly once! but who forgot
Too soon, in sin's intoxicating cup,
The father's warnings and the mother's tears--
Fall to the left, among the reprobate;
And sons redeemed, beheld the fathers, whom
They loved and honored once, gathered among
The wicked: brothers, sisters, kinsmen, friends-
Husband and wife, who ate at the same board,
And under the same roof, united, dwelt,
From youth to hoary age, bearing the chance
And change of time together-parted then
For evermore. But none whose friendship grew
From virtue's pure and everlasting root,
Took different roads; these, knit in stricter bonds
Of amity, embracing, saw no more
Death with his scythe stand by, nor heard the word,
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