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| | Mr Knapp, in his Biographical Sketches, says that Adams’s Paraphrase of the Revelations was a failure. We are of a different opinion, and are inclined to think that his best poetry will be found in this version of the Apocalypse. There is certainly an agreeable harmony, and a faithful observance of the original in the following extracts.—S. K. |
THE SARDIAN angel, Jesus bids attend, | |
| Before whose throne the radiant spirits stand | |
| And seven celestial lights adorn his hand. | |
| “Through the thin veil of thine hypocrisy | |
| I cast the flames of mine omniscient eye; | 5 |
| The form that lives, and dazzles all around, | |
| Conceals a heart corrupt, a bleeding wound; | |
| Through which your dying grace shall soon be spent, | |
| Unless your care and penitence prevent. | |
| Few are your deeds, nor will those pious acts | 10 |
| Atone the greater sum of your neglects. | |
| Past admonitions present to your fear, | |
| The lightnings seem to see, the thunders hear; | |
| Nor let the less’ning sounds die on your ear. | |
| Retain your former faith and former life, | 15 |
| Or else expect my judgments like a thief, | |
| Shall steal in wrath on your unguarded hours, | |
| The bolts descending while the tempest pours: | |
| Too much like Sodom, Sardis has her lots, | |
| Whose shining garments are distain’d with spots. | 20 |
| Their fairer vesture, whiten’d into snow, | |
| Shall o’er the flowery walks of Eden flow. | |
| The worthy victor shall be cloth’d in white; | |
| At once the garb of innocence and light; | |
| In heaven’s fair books, in golden figures wrote, | 25 |
| His name shall shine, nor endless ages blot. | |
| When heaven shall pour its angels all around, | |
| And all the dead shall live before the sound, | |
| And tribes unnumber’d circle round the king, | |
| His name shall glitter in the shining ring: | 30 |
| The godlike man my Father, too, shall own, | |
| My lips acquit him, and my hand shall crown: | |
| Th’ applauded saint, proclaim’d by every tongue, | |
| The saints shall shout, while angels give their song. | |
| Whose ears these counsels in attention bind, | 35 |
| The same or greater happiness shall find. | |
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| The Saviour holy, and the witness true, | |
| O Philadelphia’s Guardian, writes to you. | |
| The scenes of joy and wo are in his hand | |
| Who doth the keys of life and death command; | 40 |
| The gates of heaven, and hell’s tremendous flame, | |
| These none can open, nor can shut but him. | |
| Thy power, in fiery persecutions show’d, | |
| Though small thy strength, the rage of hell withstood: | |
| Since in the storm thy growing courage rose, | 45 |
| The opening hours shall smiling scenes disclose; | |
| Nor more shall shut by clouds of rising foes. | |
| The boasted Jews, who Satan’s army meet, | |
| Shall own my love, and own it at your feet. | |
| On nations round, discharg’d from throne to throne, | 50 |
| The storm shall fall, but fly from thee alone. | |
| When all the driving tempest roars around, | |
| The heavens serene and spotless will be found. | |
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| Behold I come, with speedy vengeance come, | |
| Big with the joys of nations, or their doom: | 55 |
| Then let thy faith and constancy prepare | |
| The golden crown and regal robes to wear. | |
| A victor then, the palm shall grace thy hand, | |
| And thou a pillar in the temple stand; | |
| Secure, sublime, and beauteous thou shalt rise | 60 |
| To prop and grace the church within the skies. | |
| Thy vesture, too, the name of God shall wear, | |
| And that fair city, pendent in the air; | |
| The offspring of the skies, and modell’d there; | |
| And thy new title glitt’ring on thy vest, | 65 |
| Shall join a dazzling lustre to the rest. | |
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| Ye churches hear, and ponder what is said, | |
| For depths are here, and boundless fields are spread | |
| Laodicea, hear the great amen, | |
| For ever true his witness will remain; | 70 |
| And rising at his word the world began: | |
| I know your works; in vain you would conceal | |
| Your dull indifference, and your languid zeal; | |
| Or throw aside the form, and show the cheat, | |
| Or let devotion raise a vital heat. | 75 |
| As water which is free from each excess | |
| Breaks from the bosom which it did oppress; | |
| My vengeance shall your lifeless forms explore, | |
| And from my mouth the nauseous draught shall pour. | |
| As, when distraction seizes on the brain, | 80 |
| The beggar with imagin’d wealth is vain; | |
| His treasures flow, and plenty crowns his board, | |
| He sees his servants, and he seems a lord; | |
| Naked, the purple vestments seem to wear, | |
| And every want is fled, and every fear; | 85 |
| So, in the garments of affected pride, | |
| The poor and naked hypocrite is hid: | |
| Blind to himself, his fancy gilds the stains | |
| Which strike with horror, when his reason reigns. | |
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| To me thy poverty and wants impart, | 90 |
| My golden furniture shall grace thy heart: | |
| Nor snow can rival the celestial vest | |
| In which thy naked spirit shall be dress’d; | |
| Where every virtue shall attract the eye, | |
| And all the sister graces of the sky. | 95 |
| Blind as thou art, my salve can give thee light, | |
| And pour the heavenly object on thy sight. | |
| Repent, and kindle up a vigorous zeal, | |
| Believe my mercy when my rod you feel. | |
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| See where I stand, and wait your open breast, | 100 |
| Not once invited, but a pleading guest! | |
| Happy the man who hears the welcome sound, | |
| The king shall enter; and, the table crown’d, | |
| Celestial dainties shall regale his mind; | |
| The food ambrosia, and the wine refin’d. | 105 |
| Though vile the man, with freedom I will sup, | |
| The broken bread bestow, and purple cup. | |
| Soft on his ear my milky speech shall flow, | |
| As gentle showers, or drops of heavenly dew. | |
| Who gives his lord a kind reception here | 110 |
| Shall, rapt to paradise, the bridal supper share. | |
| The christian hero, seated on a throne, | |
| Shall reign with me, and triumph in a crown. | |
| My sufferings gave the empire of the skies, | |
| And such as die like me, like me shall rise: | 115 |
| Happy, whose pensive mind shall make him wise.” * * * * * * * | |
| Now kindled, on the vacant fields of space, | |
| New shining worlds, and heaven renew’d its face; | |
| Earth, circling smooth, without an ocean rose, | |
| With hills unwrinkled and unclouded brows. | 120 |
| The sacred city, modell’d in the sky, | |
| Shot in a trail of glory from on high; | |
| Till resting on the floating fields of air, | |
| Dress’d like a bride, it shone divinely fair. | |
| Then a loud voice a sacred seraph sent, | 125 |
| Which rang through all th’ extended firmament. | |
| “A God, a God! to dwell with men descends, | |
| See where his sparkling tent sublimely stands! | |
| His nation shall th’ imperial city hold, | |
| And God shall lead them through the streets of gold; | 130 |
| Wipe every tear from every flowing eye, | |
| And death shall from his courts for ever fly: | |
| And pensive moans, and silent grief and pain, | |
| And toilsome labor, sin’s detested train; | |
| For every former shady scene is fled, | 135 |
| And light, eternal, lifts its cheerful head.” | |
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| Then spoke th’ almighty Sire of endless days, | |
| Who sits enthron’d in light’s severest blaze; | |
| “My forming word shall every thing renew, | |
| And let thy pen proclaim my sayings true. | 140 |
| All things to a conclusion swiftly tend, | |
| But ne’er begun, my years can never end; | |
| The Alpha I, who spoke the birth of things, | |
| And the Omega who their period brings.” | |
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