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Again shall perish from their Father ' s sig ^ bt Safe in the endless mercy of tbeir Lord . " The annexed passage describes this perdition which is to be perpetuated for ever , but not repeated ; ii Long did the light of giory , from the throne Of God ' s Messiah , on the race condemned To the dark world of woe its radiance
spread ; v Nor died away till deeper down th * abyss They fell , thro' Armageddon ' s dreary plains . Now were they wrapt in gloom impenetrable , Save by the lurid rays that darkling gleam * d From each malig-nant and demoniac form , That taunted with severe reproach their
prey ; And as the last faint light of heav ' n expir'd , Immortal hope fled on the golden beam Up to her native home ; then loudest cries Of agony , ' mid the heart-racking pangs
Were beard , wide-echoing thro' the groaning waste ; And fierce despair look'd horror as they plunge Thro' many a flood of mingling fire and 'sea . "
" The first faint lightnings of the abyss of death Smote horribly on the recoiling" view ; And in the shadowy distance by its rays Unnumber'd legions of the demon lords , Confus'dly roving on nY o ' eihangingverge . Are seen ^ surveying all the hopeless tribes
That still descend , till the wild waves appear Of woe ' s eternal ocean ! Hel ) itself , Jtous'd from its fiery gnlph to meet the
sons Of earth , high rearM its lasting flames to grasp The spoils of sin ; and as the eddying surge Burst from its yielding confines , ev ' ry fiend That on his spreading pinions bore the raoe
Condemn , in fear the swelling fire avoid ; And raging-in iheir hatred of mankind , Down to the rising blaze the wretched tribes They hurl . Man falls . Hell roars aloud with joy , And ev ' ry demon rais'd a dreadful note Of gladness , as the madly-circling- flame Drown'd their faint cries , and bore them from the view
Whelm'd in the stormy ^ ul phs of rolling fire . ' But enough of these horrors , though
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more and greater remain behind for those whose pleasures of imagination resemble the author ' s—this we should say , did we not recollect that these horrors , dire as they are , ure be'ievea to frown over all the regions of truth that the issue which he paints is the catastrophe of t ! * e scheme of redemption , which is expected bv most Christians , and that none are so well
prepared to pronounce it just as those who maintain that Justice has received an infinite satisfaction . The poet has said no more than what the priest subscribes and the peopl e believe . We are glad , however , that by giving to the subjects of popular belief ' a local habitation aiid a name , he
has brought them before the imagination of those whose imagination ig too slow for their faith . Men'do not" ) always know what they profess to be-Keve , and least of all i n religion . But J the poet has looked his creed in the
face , be has made it sit to his pencil ; he has traced with a steady eye every lineament of horror there ; and he ljas pourtra \ ed it and presented it to the shuddering contemplation of his reader in words that burn . Ijutjs / this Christianity > Are these glaa \ 1
tidings of great joy to jgj ^ people fIs it thus that where sin has abounded * grace does rqucfa vcvqrg _ a bound ? Then nusried be the angelic song , " Peace » on earth , and good-will towards men . " * Silent be the voice of gratitude unless from those who cannot feel for others' '
woe . Better were it that this world » had never been created . The dark- ness of eternal night were less gloomy i than the light of life . What ! Christians , the infidel tribes may say , did your God forsake the skies , did he
pay the debt of guilt , though that guilt was infinite , and does so much yet remain unpaid as can perpetuate the thraldom of sin , and the torments of hell for ever to countless myriads of mankind ? This work cannot be
of God ; it shews not the impression of the finger of God ; it is thus that man purposes and is disappointed , projects and is defeated ; but the arm of the Lord , as your scriptures declare , is not shortened that be cannot save ,
and his goodness is not bounded that he will not save . In the perusal of this Poem the consolatory recollection of the good Bishop ( Burgess ) that the act against blasphemy is still in existence , was often forced upon us j
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655 k jRevitw . —TownsencTs Armageddon .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 652, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/52/
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