A Collection of Miscellanies Consisting of Poems, Essays, Discourses & Letters, Occasionally Written. By John Norris ... The Second Edition Corrected |
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The Consummation.
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 | A Collection of Miscellanies |  |
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The Consummation.
A Pindarick Ode.
I.
The rise of Monarchies, and their long, weighty fallMy Muse outsoars; she proudly leaves behind
The Pomps of Courts, she leaves our little All,
To be the humble Song of a less reaching Mind.
In vain I curb her tow'ring flight;
All I can here present's too small.
She presses on, and now has lost their sight,
She flies, and hastens to relate
The last and dreadful Scene of Fate,
Nature's great solemn Funeral.
I see the mighty Angel stand
Cloath'd with a Cloud, and Rain-bow round his head,
His right foot on the Sea, his other on the Land,
He lifted up his dreadful arm, and thus he said;
By the mysterious great Three-one
Whose Power we fear, and Truth adore
I swear the Fatal Thred is spun,
Nature shall breath her last, and Time shall be no more.
The Antient Stager of the Day
Has run his Minutes out, and number'd all his way.
The parting Isthmus is thrown down
And all shall now be overflown.
Time shall no more her under-current know
But one with great Eternity shall grow,
Their streams shall mix, and in one Circling Chanel flow.
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II.
He spake. Fate writ the Sentence with her Iron Pen,And mighty Thunderings said, Amen.
What dreadful sound's this strikes my ear?
'Tis sure th' Arch-angel's Trump I hear,
Nature's great Passing-bell, the only Call
Of Gods that will be heard by all.
The Universe takes the Alarm, the Sea
Trembles at the great Angel's sound,
And roars almost as loud as he,
Seeks a new channel, and would fain run under-ground.
The Earth it self does no less quake,
And all throughout, down to the Center shake,
The Graves unclose, and the deep Sleepers there awake.
The Sun's arrested in his way,
He dares not forward go,
But wondring stands at the great hurry here below.
The Stars forget their Laws, and like loose Planets stray.
See how the Elements resign
Their numerous charge, the scatter'd Atoms home repair,
Some from the Earth, some from the Sea, some from the Air:
They know the great Alarm,
And in confus'd mixt numbers swarm,
Till rang'd, and sever'd by the Chymistry divine.
The Father of Mankind's amaz'd to see
The Globe too narrow for his Progeny.
But 'tis the closing of the Age,
And all the Actors now at once must grace the Stage.
III.
Now Muse exalt thy wing, be bold and dare,Fate does a wondrous Scene prepare;
The Central fire which hitherto did burn
Dull like a Lamp in a moist clammy Urn,
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The Fiends are all amaz'd below.
But that will no confinement know
Breaks through its Sacred Fence, and plays more free
Than thou with all thy vast Pindarick Liberty.
Nature does sick of a strong Fever lye:
The fire the subterraneous Vaults does spoil;
The Mountains sweat, the Sea does boil;
The Sea, her mighty Pulse, beats high;
The waves of fire more proudly rowl;
The Fiends in their deep Caverns howl,
And with the frightful Trumpet mix their hideous cry.
Now is the Tragic Scene begun;
The Fire in Triumph marches on;
The Earth's girt round with flames, and seems another Sun.
IV.
But whither does this lawless Judgment roam?Must all promiscuously expire
A Sacrifice in Sodom's fire?
Read thy Commission, Fate; sure all are not thy due,
No, thou must save the vertuous Few.
But where's the Angel guardian to avert the doom?
Lo, with a mighty Host he's come:
I see the parted Clouds give way;
I see the Banner of the Cross display.
Death's Conquerour in Pomp appears,
In his right hand a Palm he bears,
And in his looks he wears:
Th' illustrious glory of this Scene
Does the despairing Saints inspire
With Joy, with Rapture and desire;
Kindles the higher life that dormant lay within.
Th' awaken'd vertue does its strength display
Melts and refines their drossy Clay;
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They fly and mount aloft in vehicles of flame.
Slack here my Muse thy roving wing,
And now the World's untun'd, let down thy high-set string.
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