The gates of heaven are opened, and, behold,
The herald comes upon the wings of night,
When men in slumber lie, and when abroad
The robber goes to plunder what he can;
And when the lusty have gone forth to cull
A night's defilement in an evil way;
The gambler sitteth at his dizzy game,
The sotted drunkard feeds his bestial thirst,
And revel dancers are aloud in mirth.
Alike the heedless and the godly sleep,
When from the herald's waking trumpet comes
The awful and sonorous cadence, which
Shall roll around the earth from pole to pole--
More grand, more great, and more tremendous than
The voice of terror in the stormy sky,
As when a thousand thunders war therein
An angry war among the heavy clouds.
And at the sound the wicked tremble sore,
For now they know an awful doom at hand,
And quail to find no rescue from its power.
The robber drops the plunder from his hand;
The lusty startle at the mighty sound,
And from their beds of sin turn wildly forth;
And from his game the gambler leaps amazed
And terror-struck; whereas the drunkard wakes--
The sotted drunkard--from his stupid sleep,
And feels the awful terrors of the hour.
But by the righteous is the sound received
As the glad tidings which they long have sought;
For well they know the glory of the sign,
When He, their true Deliverer, shall come.
The earth shall tremble and rebound, and all
The graves shall ope their darkened mouths, until
The long-forgotten dead shall come therefrom.
Then He who is the Judge appears forth from
The heavenly gates; upon the lurid flame
His chariot shall roll, and on the clouds
Of sable smoke, down through the stormy sky,
Where roar tremendous thunders, mid the cries
Of agony and fear, which rise anon,
Heartrending, from the lost, in anguish sore,
Who call for shelter, but have no reply,
Save terrors still more awful than 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.