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210

John Calvin's Dream

The books had been closed and the Judgment was done;
The stars had fallen, and black was the sun;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And heaven and earth had been swept away
In the blood-red storm of the Judgment-day;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And behold! in the heaven and earth made new
The Tree of Life by the water grew;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
211

And under its branches was sorrow unknown;
And all the Angels stood round the Throne;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And clothed in white raiment a countless throng
Waved shining palms and sang a new song;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And shawm and timbrel and psaltery and fife
Shook the golden boughs of the Tree of Life;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And lo!—though heaven and earth were glad—
The great human heart of Christ was sad;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And He looked at the Blest: “Of all that were dear—
Of all that I died for—how few are here!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And piercing the silence, 'twixt psalm and psalm,
Vague murmurs He heard in the heavenly calm;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
212

And faint far echoes of wailing came
From the outer dark and the deathless flame;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
Save Christ's human heart, there was none that heard
The faint cry of anguish, the bitter word;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
But ever some voice between psalm and psalm
Sent a throb of pain through the blissful calm:
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
“It was not for us that He died,” one said;
“Or ever He came we were doomed and dead!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
“He died such long ages before,” one cried,
“Men knew not for certain that ever He died!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
“He died for us—truly. I saw it!” one said;
“But only God knew that a God was dead!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
213

“Yea, truly, a God!—not a man to know
Man in his weakness, man in his woe!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
“Lord Christ, I would pity and spare Thee,” one said,
“Wert Thou, the Lord, man, and I Lord in Thy stead!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
“Remember me, Christ, for I stood at Thy knee
When the children were suffered to come unto Thee!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
“He forgets how we played,” said a low sobbing breath,
“In the street by the fountain at Nazareth!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And Christ's heart ached; He felt the tears rise
And darken out heaven from His human eyes;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
214

But ever the shawm and timbrel and fife
Shook the golden boughs of the Tree of Life;
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And He said, “Do the men made perfect hear
No sounds of the Lost who were once so dear?”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And the Thousands Signed: “We hear no word;
For these which are dead praise not the Lord.”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
Then the Lord Himself said, “Son, let be;
Even as it falleth, so lieth the tree.”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
But Christ said, “Once yet again will I die
For these which in utter anguish lie!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
“It may not be, Son,” the Lord God said,
“For sin is cast out and death is dead.”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
215

Christ rose: “If I cannot die again,
I will go to my Lost in their endless pain!”
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And an awful shuddering silence fell
As Christ went forth to the gates of hell.
The Lord is a just and terrible God!
And with a cry of terror Calvin woke,
Spread aguish hands, and raised to heaven a face
Haggard and wet with agony of soul.
“Pity me, God!” he moaned; “nor judge the sin
Corrupted nature blindly sins in sleep!
Deal clemently, nor visit with Thy wrath,
O Lord, Thou God most terrible and just,
The raving blasphemy of evil dreams!”
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