Dies Novissima: OR, THE LAST EPIPHANY. A Pindarick Ode, on Christ's Second Appearance to Judge the World. I. Adieu, ye toyish Reeds, that once could please My softer Lips, and lull my Cares to Ease; Be gone; I'll waste no more vain Hours with you, And smiling Sylvia too, Adieu, A brighter Pow'r invokes my Muse, And loftier Thoughts, and Raptures, does infuse, See! beck'ning from yon Cloud, He stands, And promises Assistance with his Hands, I feel the heavy rolling God, Incumbent, revel in his frail Abode, How my Breast heaves, and Pulses beat! I sink, I sink, beneath the furious Heat, The weighty Bliss o'erwhelms my Breast, And over-flowing Joys profusely waste; Some nobler Bard, O Sacred Pow'r, inspire, Or Soul more large, th' Elapses to receive, And, brighter yet, to catch the Fire, And each gay following Charm, from Death, to save, — In vain the Suit — the God inflames my Breast, I rave, with Extasies opprest, I rise, the Mountains lessen, and retire, And now I mix, unsing'd, with Elemental Fire, The leading Deity, I have in view, Nor Mortal knows as yet, what Wonders will ensue; II. We pass'd thro' Regions of unsully'd Light, I gaz'd, and sicken'd at the blissful Sight, A shudd'ring Paleness seiz'd my Look, At last the Pest Flew off, and thus I spoke; "Say, Sacred Guide, shall this bright Clime "Survive the fatal Test of Time, "Or perish, with our Mortal Globe below, "When yon Sun no longer shines? Straight I finisht, — veiling low; The Visionary Pow'r rejoins, "'Tis not for you, to ask, nor mine, to say, "The Niceties of that tremendous Day, "Know, when o'erjaded time his Rounds has run, "And finish'd are the radiant Journeys of the Sun, "The great Decisive Morn shall rise, "And Heaven's Bright Judge appear in opening Skies, "Eternal Grace, and Justice, He'll bestow "On all the trembling World below; III. He said; I mus'd, and thus return'd, What Ensigns, courteous Stranger, tell, Shall the brooding Day reveal? He answer'd mild — "Already, stupid with their Crimes, "Blind Mortals, prostrate to their Idols, lie, "Such were the boding times, "E'er Ruin blasted from the Sluicy Sky, "Dissolv'd they lay, in fulsom Ease, "And revell'd in luxuriant Peace, "In Bacchanals, they did their Hours consume, "And Bacchanals led on, their swift, advancing Doom; IV. Adult'rate Christs already rise, And dare to 'swage the angry Skies, Erratick throngs, their Saviour's Blood deny, And from the Cross, alas! He does neglected sigh, The Anti-Christian Pow'r has rais'd his Hydra-Head, And Ruin, only less than Jesus, Health, does spread, So long the Gore thro' poison'd Veins has Flow'd, That scarcely ranker is a Fury's Blood, Yet specious Artifice, and fair Disguise, The Monster's Shape, and curst Designs, belies, A Fiend's black Venom, in an Angel's Mien, He quaffs, and scatters the contagious Spleen, Straight, when He finishes his lawless Reign, Nature shall paint the shining Scene, Quick, as the Light'ning, which inspires the Train; V. Forward Confusion shall provoke the Fray. And Nature, from her antient Order, stray, Black tempests, gath'ring from the Seas around, In horrid Ranges shall advance, And as they march, in thickest Sables drown'd, The Rival Thunder from the Clouds shall sound, And Light'nings join the fearful Dance, The blust'ring Armies o'er the Skies shall spread, And universal terror shed, Loud issuing Peals, and rising Sheets of Smoke. Th' encumber'd Region of the Air shall choke, The noisy Main shall lave the suff'ring Shore, And from the Rocks the breaking Billows roar, Black Thunder bursts, blue Light'ning burns, And melting Worlds to Heaps of Ashes turns, The Forests shall beneath the Tempest bend, And rugged Winds the nodding Cedars rend; VI. Reverse, all Nature's Webb shall run, And spotless Misrule all around, Order, its flying Foe, confound, Whilst backward all the threads shall haste to be unspun, Triumphant Chaos, with his oblique Wand, (The Wand, with which, e'er time begun, His wand'ring Slaves he did command, And made 'em scamper right, and in rude Ranges run.) The hostile Harmony, shall chace, And as the Nymph resigns her place, And panting to the neighb'ring Refuge, flies, The formless Russian slaughters with his Eyes, And following, storms the perching Dame's Retreat, Adding the terror of his threat; The Globe shall faintly tremble round, And backward jolt, distorted with the wound; VII. Swath'd in substantial Shrowds of Night, The sick'ning Sun, shall from the World retire, Stript of his dazling Robes of Fire, Which dangling once shed round a lavish Flood of Light No frail Eclipse, but all Essential Shade, Not yielding to Primæval Gloom, Whilst Day was yet an Embryo in the Womb, Nor glimmering in it's Source, with Silver Streamers play'd. A Jetty Mixture of the Darkness, spread O'er murmuring Ægypt's Head, And that, which Angels drew O'er Nature's Face, when Jesus dy'd, Which sleeping Ghosts for this mistook, And rising, off their hanging Funerals, shook, And fleeting pass'd, expos'd their bloodless Breasts to View, Yet find it not so dark, and to their Dormitories glide. VIII. Now bolder Fires appear, And o'er the palpable Obscurement sport, Glaring and gay as falling Lucifer, Yet mark'd with Fate as when he Fled th' Etherial Court; And plung'd into the op'ning Gulph of Night; A Sabre of Immortal Flame I bore, And, with this Arm, his Flour'shing Plume I tore, And straight the Fiend retreated from the Fight. IX. Mean time the lambent Prodigies on high, Take gamesome Measures in the Sky, Joy'd with his future Feast, the Thunder roars In Chorus to th' enormous Harmony; And hollows to his Off-spring from sulphurious Stores, Applauding how they tilt, and how they fly, And their each nimble Turn, and radiant Embassy. X. The Moon turns paler at the sight, And all the blazing Orbs deny their Light; The Light'ning, with its livid Tail, A Train of glitt'ring Terrors, draws behind, Which o'er the trembling World prevail, Wing'd, and blown on, by Storms of Wind, They shew the hideous Leaps on either Hand Of Night, that spreads her Ebon Curtains round, And there erects her royal Stand, In seven-fold winding Jett, her conscious temples bound. XI. The Stars, next, starting from their Sphere, In giddy Revolutions leap and bound, Whilst This with double Fury glares, And meditates new Wars, And wheels in sportive Gyres around, It's Neighbour shall advance to fight, And while each offers to enlarge its Right, The general Ruin shall increase, And banish all the Votaries of Peace; No more the Stars, with paler Beams, Shall tremble o'er the Midnight Streams, But travel downward to behold, What mimicks 'em, so twink'ling There, And, like Narcissus, as they gain more near, For the lov'd Image, straight expire, And agonize in warm Desire, Or slake their Lust, as in the Stream they roll; XII. Whilst the World burns, and all the Orbs below, In their viperous Ruins glow, They sink, and unsupported leave the Skies, Which fall abrupt, and tell their torment in the Noise, Then see th' Almighty Judge, sedate, and bright, Cloath'd in Imperial Robes of Light, His Wings the Winds, rough Storms the Chariot bear, And nimbler Harbingers before him Fly, And with officious Rudeness brush the Air, Halt as he halts, then doubling in their Flight, In horrid Sport, with one another vie, And leave behind quick-winding tracts of Light; Then urging, to their Ranks they close, And shiv'ring lest they start, a Sailing Caravan compose. XIII. The mighty Judge rides in tempestuous State, Whilst menial Guards of Flame his Orders wait, His waving Vestments shine, Bright as the Sun, which lately did its Beams resign, And burnish'd Wreaths of Light shall make his Form Divine, Strong Beams of Majesty around his temples play, And the transcendent Gaity of his Face allay, His Father's reverend Characters he'll wear, And both o'erwhelm with Light, and over awe with Fear; Myriads of Angels shall be there, And I, perhaps, close the tremendous Rear; Angels, the first and fairest Sons of Day, Clad with eternal Youth, and, as their Vestments, gay; XIV. Nor, for Magnificence alone, To brighten and enlarge the Pageant Scene, Shall we encircle his more dazling throne, And swell the Lustre of his pompous train, The nimble Ministers of Bliss or Woe, We shall attend, and save, or deal the Blow, As He admits to Joy, or bids to Pain. XV. The welcome News, Thro' ev'ry Angel's Breast, fresh Raptures shall diffuse, The Day is come, When Satan, with his Pow'rs, shall sink to endless Doom, No more shall we his hostile troops pursue, From Cloud to Cloud, nor the long Fight renew; XVI. Then Raphael, big with Life, the Trump shall sound; From falling Spheres, the joyful Musick shall rebound, And Seas and Shores shall catch, and propagate it round, Louder he'll blow, and it shall speak more shrill, Than when, from Sinai's Hill, In Thunder, thro' the horrid redd'ning Smoke, Th' Almighty spoke; We'll shout around with Martial Joy And thrice the vaulted Skies shall rend, and thrice our Shouts reply, Then first th' Arch-Angel's Voice, aloud, Shall chearfully salute the Day, and Throng, And Hallelujahs fill the Crowd, And I, perhaps, shall close the Song. XVII. From it's long Sleep, all Human Race shall rise, And see the Morn, and Judge advancing in the Skies, To their Old Tenements, the Souls return, Whilst down the Steep of Heav'n, as swift, the Judge descends, These look illustrious bright, no more to mourn, Whilst, see! distracted Looks yon stalking Shade attend, The Saints no more shall conflict on the Deep, Nor rugged Waves insult the lab'ring Ship, But from the Wreck in Triumph they arise, And borne to Bliss, shall tread Empyreal Skies.