ARRIVAL OF A STRANGER SPIRIT.

And now, on wing of holy ardor strong,
Hither ascends the stranger, borne upright;
For stranger he did seem, with curious eye
Of nice inspection round surveying all;
And at the feet alights of those that stood
His coming, who the hand of welcome gave,
And the embrace sincere of holy love;
And thus, with comely greeting kind, began:

THE HEAVENLY WELCOME.

"Hail, brother! hail, thou son of happiness!
Thou son beloved of God! welcome to heaven!
To bliss that never fades! thy day is past
Of trial, and of fear to fall. Well done,
Thou good and faithful servant; enter now
Into the joy eternal of thy Lord.

Come with us, and behold far higher sight
Than e'en thy heart desired, or hope conceived.
See, yonder is the glorious hill of God,

'Bove angel's gaze in brightness rising high.
Come, join our wing, and we will guide thy flight
To mysteries of everlasting bliss;

The tree, and fount of life, the eternal throne,
And presence-chamber of the King of kings.
But what concern hangs on thy countenance,
Unwont within this place? Perhaps thou deem'st
Thyself unworthy to be brought before

The always Ancient One? So are we too
Unworthy; but our God is all in all,

And gives us boldness to approach his throne."

"Sons of the Highest! citizens of heaven!" Began the new arrived, "right have ye judged: Unworthy, most unworthy is your servant, To stand in presence of the King, or hold Most distant and most humble place in this Abode of excellent glory unrevealed. But God Almighty be for ever praised, Who, of his fullness, fills me with all grace And ornament, to make me in his sight Well pleasing, and accepted in his court. But, if your leisure waits, short narrative Will tell, why strange concern thus overhangs My face, ill-seeming here; and haply, too, Your elder knowledge can instruct my youth Of what seems dark and doubtful unexplained." "Our leisure waits thee: speak; and what we

can

Delighted most to give delight—we will;
Though much of mystery yet to us remains."

THE HORRORS OF HELL.

"Virtue, I need not tell-when proved, and full
Matured-inclines us up to God and heaven,
By law of sweet compulsion, strong and sure;
As gravitation to the larger orb

The less attracts, through matter's whole domain.
Virtue in me was ripe. I speak not this
In boast; for what I am, to God I owe,
Entirely owe, and of myself am naught.

Equipped, and bent for heaven, I left yon world,
My native seat, which scarce your eye can reach,

Rolling around her central sun, far out,

On utmost verge of light. But first to see
What lay beyond the visible creation,

Strong curiosity my flight impelled.

Long was my way, and strange. I passed the

bounds

Which God doth set to light, and life, and love; Where darkness meets with day, where order

.meets

Disorder dreadful, waste and wild; and down
The dark, eternal, uncreated night,

Ventured alone. Long, long, on rapid wing,
I sailed through empty, nameless regions vast,
Where utter Nothing dwells, unformed and void.
There neither eye, nor ear, nor any sense
Of being most acute, finds object; there
For aught external still you search in vain.
Try touch, or sight, or smell; try what you will,
You strangely find naught but yourself alone.
But why should I in words attempt to tell
What that is like which is-and yet-is not?
This past, my path, descending, still me led
O'er unclaimed continents of desert gloom
Immense, where gravitation, shifting, turns
The other way; and to some dread, unknown,
Infernal centre downward weighs: and now,
Far traveled from the edge of darkness—far
As from that glorious mount of God to light's
Remotest limb-dire sights I saw, dire sounds
I heard; and suddenly before my eye
A wall of fiery adamant sprung up→

Wall mountainous, tremendous, flaming high
Above all flight of hope. I paused, and looked;
And saw, where'er I looked upon that mound,
Sad figures traced in fire-not motionless,
But imitating life. One I remarked
Attentively; but how shall I describe

What naught resembles else my eye hath seen?
Of worm or serpent kind it something looked,
Bút monstrous, with a thousand snaky heads,
Eyed each with double orbs of glaring wrath;
And with as many tails, that twisted out
In horrid revolution, tipped with stings;
And all its mouths, that wide and darkly gaped,
And breathed most poisonous breath, had each a
sting,

Forked, and long, and venomous, and sharp;
And, in its writhings infinite, it grasped

Malignantly what seemed a heart, swollen, black,
And quivering with torture most intense;
And still the heart, with anguish throbbing high,
Made effort to escape, but could not; for
Howe'er it turned, and oft it vainly turned,
These complicated foldings held it fast.

And still the monstrous beast with sting of head
Or tail transpierced it, bleeding evermore.
What this could image, much I searched to know:
And while I stood, and gazed, and wondered long,
A voice, from whence I knew not, for no one
I saw, distinctly whispered in my ear

These words: This is the Worm that never dies.' "Fast by the side of this unsightly thing

Another was portrayed, more hideous still
Who sees it once, shall wish to see't no more.
For ever undescribed let it remain!

Only this much I may or can unfold :

Far out it thrust a dart that might have made The knees of terror quake, and on it hung, Within the triple barbs, a being, pierced Through soul and body both: of heavenly make Original the being seemed, but fallen,

And worn and wasted with enormous wo.

And still around the everlasting lance

It writhed convulsed, and uttered mimic groans;
And tried and wished, and ever tried and wished
To die; but could not die.-Oh, horrid sight!
I trembling gazed, and listened, and heard this
voice

Approach my ear: This is Eternal Death.'

"Nor these alone: upon that burning wall, In horrible emblazonry, were limned

All shapes, all forms, all modes of wretchedness,
And agony, and grief, and desperate wo.
And prominent, in characters of fire,

Where'er the eye could light, these words you read
'Who comes this way-behold, and fear to sin!'
Amazed I stood; and thought such imagery
Foretokened, within, a dangerous abode.

But yet to see the worst a wish arose:
For Virtue, by the holy seal of God
Accredited and stamped, immortal all,
And all invulnerable, fears no hurt.
As easy as my wish, as rapidly