THE
MILLENNIUM,
AND OTHER
POEMS:
TO WHICH IS ANNEXED,
A TREATISE
ON THE
REGENERATION AND ETERNAL DURATION
OF
MATTER.
BY P. P. PRATT,
MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL.
NEW YORK:
PRINTED BY W. MOLINEUX, COR. of ANN and NASSAU STREETS.
MDCCCXL.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year One Thousand Eight
Hundred and Thirty-nine, by P. P. PRATT, in the Clerk's Office for the
Southern District of New-York.
PREFACE.
When these Poems were first written, the Author had no intention of
compiling them in one volume: they sprang into existence one after
another as occasion called them forth, at times and in places, and
under circumstances widely varying. Some came forth upon the bank of
the far-famed Niagara, and some were the plaintive strains poured from
a full heart in the lonely dungeons of Missouri where the Author was
confined upwards of eight months during the late persecution; some were
poured from the top of the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and others
were uttered while wandering over the flowery plains and wide-extended
prairies of the west; some were written in crowded halls and thronged
cities, and some in the lonely forest; some were the melting strains
of joy and admiration in contemplating the approaching dawn of that
glorious day which shall crown the earth and its inhabitants with
universal peace and rest; and others were produced on the occasion of
taking leave of my family, friends, or the great congregation, on a
mission to other and distant parts; and some were wrung from a bosom
overflowing with grief at the loss of those who were nearest and
dearest to my heart, "The Regeneration and Eternal Duration of Matter,"
in particular was a production in prison, which was more calculated
to comfort and console myself and friends when death stared me in the
face, than as an argumentative or philosophical production for the
instruction of others. At length, the Author was induced to embody the
whole in one volume in the hope that perhaps others might find them a
source of instruction, edification, and comfort.
CONTENTS.
THE MILLENNIUM
HISTORICAL SKETCH
TRUE PATRIOTISM
DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES
MINISTRY TO THE NEPHITES
NEPHITES, LAMANITES, &c.
HARMONY OF NATURE
INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS
REDEMPTION OF ZION
EVENING REFLECTIONS
MISSION OF THE TWELVE
FAREWELL
REFLECTIONS IN PRISON
FALLS OF NIAGARA
SPRING
SIGNS OF THE TIMES
BIRTH-DAY IN PRISON
ZION IN CAPTIVITY
OUR COUNTRY
O, MISSOURI, HOW ART THOU FALLEN
NEW YEAR'S SONG
LAMENTATION
LAMENTATION, &c.
FUNERAL HYMN
FAREWELL MEMORIAL
THE PILGRIM
GENERAL CONFERENCE, FAREWELL
THE DOWNFALL OF BABYLON
PRATT'S DEFENCE
PRATT'S DELIVERANCE
VISIT TO THE WHITE MOUNTAINS
REGENERATION AND ETERNAL DURATION OF MATTER
JUST PUBLISHED,
_And for Sale by P. P. PRATT,_
A HISTORY OF THE LATE PERSECUTION
IN
MISSOURI
ALSO, THE VOICE OF WARNING;
OR,
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE DOCTRINE OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
Our Books are to be obtained at our meetings, and of our travelling
Preachers, and also at such Book Stores as we shall advertize hereafter.
THE MILLENNIUM.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction--Location of the Ten Tribes--The way prepared--Their
return to their own lands--The waters divided--Their return contrasted
with their going out of Egypt.
A glorious theme the sacred muse inspires,
Cheers up the soul, and tunes the sounding lyre:
Lights the dark vale of sorrow, pain and wo,
And gives to man a paradise below.
The joyful time, by prophets long foretold,
At length comes rolling on the astonished world:
When God, the second time, should set his hand,
To gather Israel to their promised land.
An ensign to the nations now is reared,
The standard waving, and the way prepared;
Let kings and empires tremble at his word,
The gentle nations all their aid afford.
What though Assyria's captives long and lone,[A]
Have wandered outcasts to the world unknown,
In some far region to the frozen north,
Where pale Borealis sends his meteors forth!!
Where fields of ice unbounded block the road,
To keep intruders from their drear abode;
Where no sweet flowers the dreary landscape cheer,
Nor plenteous harvests crown the passing year?
What though the land where milk and honey flowed,
And peace and plenty crowned their blest abode,
Has by the Gentiles long been trodden down,
And desolation reigned o'er all the ground?
Yet soon the icy mountains down shall flow,
The parched ground in springs of water flow,
The barren desert yield delicious fruit,
Their souls to cheer, their spirits to recruit;
Mountains before them levelled to a plain,
The valleys rise, the ocean cleave in twain,
The crooked straightened, and the rough made plain,
The way prepared, lo, Israel comes again!
The seven streams of Egypt's rolling flood
Shall feel the power and might of Israel's God,
Their waves on heaps, like towering mountains rise,
They cross dry shod, with wonder and surprise.
And thus with joy Assyria's captives come,
In grand procession to their ancient home;
A scene of joy and wonder more sublime
Than all that passed in hardened Pharaoh's time.
When captive Israel raised to heaven their cry,
And Moses came, commissioned from on high,
Poured the ten plagues on Egypt with his rod,
The monarch trembling, owned the power of God,
And filled with envy, rage, and wild dismay,
Thrust Israel forth, and bade them haste away;
Then moved with wild despair that all was lost,
He straight pursued them with his numerous host;
Before them stretched the vast expanded sea,
And mountains, on each side, hedged up the way,
The roar of chariots armed, pressed on their rear
In dread array, and filled their souls with fear:
Till Moses o'er the sea stretched forth his rod,
And cleared a passage through the mighty flood,
And soon, with safety, led his armies through,
But Pharaoh, close behind, did still pursue;
The floods returning with majestic roar,
His armies sunk, o'erwhelmed, to rise no more;
While Israel still pursued their joyous way,
Their God, in fire by night, in cloud by day
Before them moved, majestic to behold!
Until on Sinai's mount the thunder rolled,
And lightnings flaming in one general glare,
While clouds of smoke hung on the darkened air.
Jehovah spake! the trumpet, long and loud,
Earth's whole foundation to the centre bowed.
Israel and Moses quaking stood around,
A sudden trembling seized the solid ground.
Moses, at length, drew near; the law was given,
Of justice, equal weights, and measure even:
And angels' food became their constant bread,
A month on quails their numerous hosts were fed,
The rock was smitten, and a fountain burst,--
Poured forth its cooling stream to quench their thirst.
His angel led them all their journey through;
The nations trembling, fainted at the view;
Their mighty walls fell tumbling to the ground,
Destruction swept the nations, all around.
But lo! a scene more glorious strikes my view
Than Israel ever saw or Egypt knew:
Ten thousand times ten thousand I behold,
Returning home, as prophets long foretold:
Sing, O ye heavens! let earth rejoice again,
And all prepare for king Messiah's reign.
[Footnote A: The Ten Tribes.]