The Works of the Late Aaron Hill ... In Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, And of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With An Essay on the Art of Acting |
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The Judgement-Day: A Poem.
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 | The Works of the Late Aaron Hill |  |
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The Judgement-Day: A Poem.
I.
Hover no more, my muse! o'er idle themes,Sliding shadows! slipp'ry dreams!
By heaven's high call, from humane byas freed,
Imagination climbs with dreadful speed!
Unfetter'd, from earth's humble heights, I rise,
And stretch sublime, a dang'rous flight, which none, untrembling, tries.
Tremendous maker! arm my aking eyes;
Aid and support, O God! my failing power,
Teach my bold thought to wing the blazing skies!
Fearless, to stem destruction's driving shower!
And safe, 'twixt burning worlds, ambitious, tower.
O! let my hot, my struggling bosom glow,
Swol'n by a bursting flood of bright desire:
'Till the astonish'd soul is taught, with starting dread to know,
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And tumbling orbs, with orbs involv'd, flow loose, in seas' of fire.
How this blue void's immense, and concave frame;
Spangled with starry worlds, to pieces broke,
Shall feel heaven, round it, shrivel from the flame,
And melted suns, from distant spheres, pour, liquid, through the smoke.
II.
Now, now, on fancy's saily wings, I rise,Aw'd, and confounded! thro' deep wilds of air:
Millions of opening wonders strike my eyes,
And reason's finite view is dazled here!
Globes behind globes, unnumber'd, hence appear!
The twinkling stars, that, from yon earth remote,
Seem heaven-set gems, and scatter'd seeds of day,
Here, wid'ning into flaming worlds, 'midst seas of Æther flote,
And, o'er blue kingdoms, hold a fiery sway!
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Huge earths and moons, their circly homage pay:
Millions of countless miles are lost between,
And sick'ning thought grows tir'd to stretch so far!
How vast the concave spheres, which, hence, are seen!
Th' enormous vaults, with wheeling worlds glow round!
Rolling, sublime, they slide oblique, yet none their paths confound!
A thousand bright cross-currents cause no jarrs,
Nor one the others progress barrs;
Wide, round their central worlds of fire, their various tours they make;
Yet no proud planet dares his line forsake,
Partial, an intercepted ray to break:
They take, and lend, by turns, the streaming light,
And, silent, form, in solemn round, alternate day and night!
Yet, beauteous, as this heavenly fabrick shines,
An hour shall come, when it must all decay;
When starting man, from midnight sleep, shall see th' incumbent signs,
That time is sick, and nature melts away.
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III.
Hark! the dissolving trumpet roars! thunders o'er thunders roll!A trembling angel sounds th' eternal call!
The unbounded notes whirl higher and higher, and rend my shiv'ring soul!
Echoing from world to world, they burst o'er all:
And gathering horrors, cold as death, in show'ry shadows fall;
The conscious planets start to hear the sound,
And, from their orbits, bound;
Now, void of motion, and depriv'd of force,
Th' arrested systems stop, at once, their course!
The languid orbs, grown dim, their shine with-hold,
And night creeps o'er them, in a deadly cold:
The guardian angels hear the alarming blast,
And, from their several stations, wing their way;
Upward, in glittering crouds, they tower, in haste,
And, looking back, sigh sad, and feel the day!
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That, wand'ring 'twixt the spheres, admiring gaz'd,
Start, in loose shoals, and glide, like mists, away;
Gathering above, expecting and amaz'd!
Again, th' intolerable sound I hear!
The dreadful summons tears my deafen'd ear.
The trembling air, unbracing, lets me fall;
O! save me, heaven! I sink apace, to yon benighted ball?
IV.
Hail! doom'd dominions! hail! my native clay!O! what a blessing, here, were vanish'd day!
Again! what rumbling horror bursts its way!
Save me, my God!—a flood of flashing light
Gleams its red lustre, thro' the depth of night!
The poles start sudden, from the frightful burst,
And earth's snap'd axis, groaning, quits its trust!
No more th' ungravitated globe goes round,
Inward convulsions power, and form, confound;
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And active life creeps thro' the quick'ning dust!
Vales aw'd beneath me, at th'impending doom,
In billowy heavings, roll, upright, along th' incumbent gloom!
Torn from their roots, the groaning forests lie,
And hills leap headlong, and invade the sky.
Mankind, now, first united, join in prayer!
Shrieks, from a thousand kingdoms, rend the air,
And ghastly horror stalks o'er all, and leads on pale despair!
V.
See! how destructive flashes wind their way!And point the following thunder, where to rend!
Mark! how the spouted rivers, upward, stray,
And hiss against the light'nings, which descend!
Heav'n! how the falling cities, buried lie!
Entomb'd, in their proud palaces, earth's humbled monarchs die!
See! thro' the flash'd distinction, fires can give,
Naked crowds, who wish to live,
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Mountains, which, more afraid than they, have their own flight begun,
And, rolling, o'er the swallow'd tribe, bring on the fate, they shun!
On every side, from every part,
Disjointed realms asunder start;
Wide gaping clefts earth's inmost entrails show,
And, from th' uprooted mountain's chasms, below,
Unprison'd seas, in roaring torrents, flow.
Commission'd ocean, breaking loose, disdains his crumbling bounds,
And, hoarsely climbing, o'er the rocky mounds,
Swallows Pyrene's snowy top, and Alpine barriers drowns.
VI.
Now all is ocean! and a dreadful blast,Bursts, from beneath, and swells it to the sky!
Torn, from their seats, the sea-toss'd hills are 'gainst each other dash'd,
And, bulging, on the foaming surface, lie;
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And clings, majestick, to th' unstable seat!
The Elephant bears up his buoyant sides,
And paws the groaning waves, with his broad feet!
Th' assembled birds, in clouds, skim, low, in air,
Wind-shaken, scorch'd, and wash'd by driving rains;
In circly flight, shrill skreams their woe declare,
To find no remnant of their sheltry plains!
Deep-swallow'd earth, mean while, still loos'ning more,
Lets in old ocean, to her central fires;
Th' astonish'd deluge, ne'er so check'd before,
Shrinks from the pain, and in loud roar, retires!
Close in pursuit, the bursting flame breaks thro' th' unusual vent,
O'ertakes the rolling floods slow flight, and climbs th' immense extent!
On all sides, now, the fire-assaulted waves,
Feel themselves boil; and curl to shun the heat;
A night of steam climbs, dark and broad, from their voracious graves,
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Spout the hot flood to heaven, in rage, and the froth'd billows beat.
VII.
Melting within, earth's sulph'ry solids flow,Pierc'd by the force of her expanding flame;
Metals, dissolv'd, in blazing lakes, below,
With liquid burnings, dash her concave frame!
Victor, at length, out bursts the flooding fire,
And rolls, triumphant, o'er the bellow'ing sea!
Rivers of flaming gold, in spouts, aspire,
And struggling thro' repugnant storms, a lab'ring passage free!
As when from furnaces, thick smoke expires,
And towers, in inky volumes, to the sky,
The warring wind beats down th' unyielding spires,
And spreads the sable eddies, broad, and high:
So, rising hills of liquid flame, by cov'ring waves oppress'd,
In glowing whirlpools, driving round, torment the ocean's breast,
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And twisting hostile, hiss, with mutual rage,
Coated with fire, in strong and rampant tides,
Reluctant ocean, less'ning fast, subsides;
Mix'd with the melted world, it flames all round,
And seas, that drown'd the earth, themselves are drown'd.
VIII.
How low, proud earth, are all thy honours laid!Where are thy late-contested empires found?
Where the big boasts of arts and arms display'd!
Where are the dreadful pomps, which hemm'd thee round!
What difference, now, 'twixt rich and poor, remains?
The ruler's sceptre, and the captive's chains?
Where lie the properties of boastful wealth?
Distinction, and degrees, now clash no more!
Pale sickness here, flows, mix'd with ruddy health,
And scorn and pity, now, unite, which never join'd, before!
Melting, like wax, thy kindled rocks in tow'ry flames aspire;
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From the sad sight, tir'd fancy! turn thy eye;
See! what amazing changes blot the Sky!
Longer, and louder, the last trumpet's sound
Rolls its encreasing clangor to the sun;
The starting fires convolve, and, backward, run,
Struck to the heart, he darkens and decays,
And strongly trembles, thro' his breadth of blaze;
As when, in living man, some swift surprize,
Chills the warm region of his beating breast:
The failing members feel th' oppression rise,
And hang, of force, and motion, dispossest:
So, when the sov'reign sun forgets his care,
Dependant worlds, in sympathetic woe,
Halt in their course, and sick'ning, with despair,
Their vast, ætherial rounds forgoe,
And roll, in devious mischief, down the air!
Yon wat'ry Moon, dissolving broad, now, seems a dusky flood,
And now, at once, O, horrid change! she reddens into blood!
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IX.
Wide from its center, see! th' escaping sun,With random dread, revolves his loos'ning spires;
Cold orbs, which plac'd remote, his influence shun,
Now feel th' attraction of his bordering fires.
Suck'd to his burning breast, averse they flow,
And icy regions roar, to meet his glow!
Plung'd in embracing frost, unquench'd, he lies!
And the thaw'd clime, round his hot convex fries!
Worlds, by his absence, from dependance freed,
Scud, in loose liberty, along the sky;
Wild, and licencious, drive, with headlong speed,
Till 'gainst some shoaly comet, bulg'd, they lie;
So, rebel kingdoms struggling to be free,
Shun regal power, and split on anarchy!
See, see! where blazing orbs, in spheres remote,
Wrecks of lost worlds! thro' storms of Æther flote!
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In dreadful cones, to sweep each other try;
While skies; between, shrink up, and warp their frame,
As crackling Bay-leaves curl, in circling flame.
X.
Involv'd, at length, th' attracted planets throng,And burn, confounded, with their central suns;
Tumbling, from every part, they strike, and, thund'ring rend along!
Th' unhinging shock the list'ning angels stuns.
Worlds against worlds, with clashing horror driv'n,
Dash their broad ruins to the throne of heav'n!
Thro' flaming regions of the burning air,
Down rain distilling suns, in liquid rills,
Mix'd with red mountains of unmelted fire!
Hissing perplex'd, with showers of icy hills,
And cat'ract seas, that roar, from worlds still higher;
Mingled, like driving hail, they pour along,
And, thund'ring, on our ruin'd system fall!
Flames, grappling flames, combine, to grow more strong,
And, in wild blaze, sweep, boundless, over all;
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And crumbled worlds, in liquid millions, flow.
XI.
Th' accomplish'd ruin sleeps, creation dies!And untask'd angels rove o'er empty skies!
The soft'ning trumpet breathes harsh strains no more;
But, in sunk sounds, grows sweet, and falls its roar!
Celestial voices swell, 'twixt warbling notes,
And thrilling joy, on circly rapture, floats!
O'er the vast void, melodious praises flow,
And list'ning fiends, from the red lake, below,
Hush, for a while, the creeping flames, and half suspend their woe!
But, while in deep, and fix'd attention, charm'd,
Their hungry souls devour the blissful sound,
By sudden silence struck, they start, alarm'd,
And mark a sad! an awful! stillness, round!
Conscious of coming judgment, down they sink,
Diving, by thousands, thro' the burning lake;
Calm with incumbent dread, from brink to brink,
Th' unheaving ocean scarce is seen to quake,
Nor swells one daring billow up, in firey foam, to break!
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XII.
From shore to shore, wide, round the laky flame,High-arching heav'n contracts its springy frame!
Broad, as the ruin spreads, th' unmeasur'd dome
Tow'rs, in full compass, o'er the waste below!
Assembling angels, now, no longer roam,
But, in throng'd radiance, gild the roofy bow;
A solemn black does the vast concave line,
Where streaky waves of rubied redness glow;
'Twixt their loose curls, white beams, of silv'ry shine,
Involv'd with rolling tides of azure, flow!
Currents of mingled black, red, gold, and blue,
In glitt'ring chaces, sport, perplex'd and wind, unceasing, through!
Stream'd thro' the whole, a quiv'ring lustre darts,
Which, as bright groups of angels interpose,
A twinkling change of coloury rays imparts,
And, from their wings, a show'ry light'ning throws!
Far, above all, thro' the dome's op'ning crown,
Broad, as a world, th' almighty's EYE looks down;
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And dazled angels turn their eyes aside!
XIII.
Hark! what transporting majesty of sound,In solemn sweetness rolls its force along?
Soft, and yet loud, it leads its thunder, round,
And strikes chill rev'rence, thro' th' angelic throng!
'Tis the eternal's pow'rful voice! that calls, to waken death!
And resurrection waits th' omnific breath!
The lake groans deep! the labour will begin!
O'er its broad face, life-heaving billows curl;
The burning bowels sep'rate, slow, within,
And smoaky clouds expire in pitchy whirl!
Bodies of men, in ages, long since past,
Whose wand'ring dust has chang'd a thousand forms,
Purg'd, by the boiling fires, evaporate fast,
And, steaming upward, rise, in misty swarms?
Sexes, conjoin'd in shoaly atoms, swim,
And, sallying loose, the firey surface skim!
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And mount, entangled, from the gulph, below!
In the mid-air, dispers'd, unnumber'd ways,
Each in his fellow's search, instinctive, strays!
Circling, like flaky show'rs of driving snow,
Which whirlwinds, into mazy wav'rings, blow;
In endless intricacies, winding thro',
Atoms join atoms, and lost forms renew!
With sympathetic cling, together fly,
And limb'd, for life, in cumb'rous millions lie!
XIV.
Once more, sublime, th' enliv'ning voice I hear!“Souls, descend! your bodies join.
Sudden, thin clouds of hov'ring lives appear,
And leaning anxious, in soft squadrons, shine!
Loos'd, at th'Almighty's word, distinct they fly,
Swift, as the sight-beams of a human eye!
Ardent, with longing shoot, each strikes his own,
And smiles, to fill his long-lost home again;
Bodies supine, by ent'ring breath new blown,
Flash sudden, into life, and start up men!
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Lost, in short horror, and severe amaze!
XV.
Armies, unnumber'd, throng th' ætherial space,Paternal Adam views, at once, his whole collected race,
And, with big tears, for conscious woe, bedews his reverend face:
Parents meet children, and, transported, cling,
Long-parted friends, in mutual rapture, greet,
Th' obliger and th' oblig'd, together spring,
And trembling traitors injur'd sovereigns meet!
Cæsar on Brutus looks, serenely, down,
And cloudy Cato stalks, with sullen will,
Glares on him, envious, with inferior frown,
And wonders, that in spite of death, he feels him conqu'ror still!
Majestic, in the solemn front, of Stuart's injur'd race,
The kingly martyr rears his awful brow!
Pierc'd by the force of his forgiving face,
A gloomy host of back'ning rebels bow!
And fear, too late, that sovereign pow'r, they never own'd till now!
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And pining sickness, freed from aking pain,
Exert the vigour, their new limbs afford,
And move, transported, at th' apparent gain!
Pale murd'rers meet, alive, whom, once, they kill'd,
And rush thro' crowds th' alarming sight to shun;
Usurpers fly from kings, whose thrones they fill'd,
And loaded with their guilt, unwieldy, run.
XVI.
Fancy, thou fail'st me, here! I feel thee weak!I feel thee sink, beneath th' o'erpowring weight;
Aid me, O Saviour! teach my soul to speak;
Thron'd, on thy father's red right hand, in all thy dreadful state!
Thou see'st the humbl'd pride of nature wait,
Mankind, collected into life! the lowly, and the great:
And thus, th' eternal doom thou speak'st; the sentence of their fate!
‘Come, my blest remnant, ye selected few!
‘Who practis'd, but, the obvious good, ye knew;
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‘Struggled to virtue, and resisted sin;
‘Who, or, by prophets, or, by conscience, taught
‘Have, or discover'd truth, or, humbly, sought;
‘Who, from the guilt of choice have still liv'd free,
‘Or done, or suffer'd, for my name, and me!
‘Who, by no conscious weight depress'd, of unrepented sin,
‘Feel yourselves light, and uncondemn'd, within,
‘Rais'd, from yon dark, and sinking crowd! to heaven's high thrones aspire!
‘Enter, with me, to joys, which drown desire;
‘And leave th'accurs'd, to prove by pain, eternity in fire!
XVII.
'Tis spoke: and, lo! th' unroofing arch rends wide;Swift, descends a radiant tide!
An opening breadth rolls down, of sparkling day;
And, like a scroll, unfolds huge length, of more than milky way!
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They mount, with more than human eyes, and stem the streamy glare!
Bright, as they move, th' encircling angels throng;
Heard Halleluja's shake th' inferior sky!
In distant thrills, expiring notes prolong,
And with transporting fall of sound, in gradual soft'nings, die!
See! thro' the Portal! how attracted day,
Like a swift current's spiral ebb, glides, after 'em away!
Now, all is dark, and dismal, as yon scene;
Ah! why does closing heaven, so soon, th' entrancing prospect skreen?
What does beyond those glitt'ring confines lie?
And why no room, 'till death makes way, for such a wretch as I?
XVIII.
But murmur not, proud thought! if, here, delay'd,A wand'ring pilgrim, through this life's cold shade,
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O! be the will of God, not mine, obey'd!
Wait, my impatient soul! his wiser choice!
Trust the strong hand, by which those worlds were made,
And to his pleasure tune thy willing voice!
If I, not yet, shake off this earthy load,
Sure, there is bus'ness, worth my life's best aim;
He, who submits to tire upon the road,
Is faintly soul'd, or travels not for fame;
For me, suffice it, to have taught my muse,
The tuneful triflings of our tribe to shun,
And rais'd her warmth, such heav'nly themes to chuse,
As, in past ages, her best garlands won!
He, who beyond the pow'r of man could write,
Wou'd still fall short of him, who acted well;
To flow in sound, or turn a period right,
Is, but in fairy tow'rs of praise, to dwell!
To pardon wrongs, and benefits requite,
Is, in substantial meaning, to excel!
Why are my wishes bent beyond my power,
But to provoke my speed, to reach that goal,
Whence on the afflicted, I may comforts show'r,
And, with eas'd pity, feast my hungry soul!
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A thousand glorious things I wish to do;
All has been said, that's worth a wise man's ear,
But much may be perform'd, that's greatly new.
| The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | |