Under the sable covering of the night.
And hopes in vain; for lo, before him stands,
A Judge, more awful than the one he fears;
The laws of justice written on his hands,
Laws that shall stand unchanged to endless years,
Not as a Saviour to the abandoned wretch
Who sinks in terror to the speaking sod,
Not with the angel Mercy's wings outstretched;
But as the just, unchanged, avenging God.
"Jehovah," sing the stars, the hills repeat,
The rocks and forest trees the chorus share,
Jehovah is the awfulness complete;
"Jehovah," trembles on the burdened air.
Memory awakes, can Memory ever die?
Long she has slept, but now her life revives,
And terrified, afraid to reason: "Why?"
Vainly to hush her voice the villain strives.
Vainly? Ah! What a book of wasted years she holds,
What records to defile the peaceful sod,
What scenes, what deeds of darkness she unfolds!
O man! and thou, the noblest work of God!
Fallen, lost, ruined, by thine own consent,
A demon crowd, thy fit companions, they,
On thy destruction all their arts intent.
Well mayst thou flee by night and hide by day.
Alone! fain would the villain be alone,
His Maker, no more trouble his abode,
His memory, like the vanished moments flown,
His conscience, buried with its fearful load.
Ah! vain his wish, though ocean wastes be crossed,
Or lie concealed within the forest's gloom,
The crimes that marked the years, now worse than lost,
Will haunt him too, ah! far beyond the tomb.
Who would escape the presence of his God,
Flee to the desert? Lo, His throne is there
Whithersoever human feet have trod
The Lord, Jehovah, reigneth everywhere.
And hopes in vain; for lo, before him stands,
A Judge, more awful than the one he fears;
The laws of justice written on his hands,
Laws that shall stand unchanged to endless years,
Not as a Saviour to the abandoned wretch
Who sinks in terror to the speaking sod,
Not with the angel Mercy's wings outstretched;
But as the just, unchanged, avenging God.
"Jehovah," sing the stars, the hills repeat,
The rocks and forest trees the chorus share,
Jehovah is the awfulness complete;
"Jehovah," trembles on the burdened air.
Memory awakes, can Memory ever die?
Long she has slept, but now her life revives,
And terrified, afraid to reason: "Why?"
Vainly to hush her voice the villain strives.
Vainly? Ah! What a book of wasted years she holds,
What records to defile the peaceful sod,
What scenes, what deeds of darkness she unfolds!
O man! and thou, the noblest work of God!
Fallen, lost, ruined, by thine own consent,
A demon crowd, thy fit companions, they,
On thy destruction all their arts intent.
Well mayst thou flee by night and hide by day.
Alone! fain would the villain be alone,
His Maker, no more trouble his abode,
His memory, like the vanished moments flown,
His conscience, buried with its fearful load.
Ah! vain his wish, though ocean wastes be crossed,
Or lie concealed within the forest's gloom,
The crimes that marked the years, now worse than lost,
Will haunt him too, ah! far beyond the tomb.
Who would escape the presence of his God,
Flee to the desert? Lo, His throne is there
Whithersoever human feet have trod
The Lord, Jehovah, reigneth everywhere.
[ 105 ]
