Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1829-05-06

The shades grew pale, and dissolved, as while
vapor tina, the frost has given birth 10 is meit>
I'D by breath Of warmth; and the whole churc"
became empty. Then-oh, il was terrible 10
the bear,.-,he dead children, who had awaken
ed in the church-yard, ran into the ehprch,
and threw themselves before the lofty form up
on the altar, and said: Jesus! have we no la
,her?" And he answered, with tears streaming
down: ave are all orphans, and you; we are
without father"
Here the screeching Of the diseords became
more violent; the walls OF the church to"etea
and burst asunder; and the church and the ehil~
dren sank down; and the whole earth ana the
sun sank after; and the whole of the immeasur-
able universe sank before US; and Christ re-
manned standing upon the highes, pinnacle oil
nature, and gazed into the globe Of tie, universe,
pierced through by thousand suns, as It were
into cavern, burrowed into the heart OF eier'
nal night, wherein tic suns were running like
miners lights and the galaxies like veins oil
silver.
And when Christ saw the crashing throng Of
worlds, The torch,dance OF the heavenly tgnes
fatui, and the coral bands Of 5ealing hearts, and
when he saw how one globe after another pour
ed out its glimmering souls upon the dead sea,
as water balloon screws its floating lights up
on the waves-then, with grand. ur that be-
,okened the hughes, of Infinite beings. he lifted
up his rye toward the nothingness and toward
the infnite void above him, and said: Move
less and voiceless nothing! cold eternal neces'
sity! frantic chance! can we, or any one OF you,
tell me? when do you dash 20 pieces the build
ing and me' Dost thou know II, . chance!
even thou, when thou stridest with thy hurri
canes aihwart the snow-dust OF The Stars, and
oufftst out one sun after another, while the
sparkling dew Of the consultations is parched
up as thou passest along! How desolate IS
every one in the vast caiaoomb OF the universe!
There is none besides me save myself q Fa'
Their! Father! where is thy world sustaining
breast, that NAV rest on il! Alas! if every
being is its own falhe: and creator, why may 1t
not also become its own destroying angel!
us that a man still beside me? Poor wretch!
your li'tle life Is one Of na,ure's signs, or the
mere echo Of it; mirror filings its rays on the
clouds Of dust from the ashes Of The dead on
your earth, and forthwith, yr spring up, ye
beclouded, Ace ling images Look down into
The abvss, over which clouds OF ashes are
f1oa ting mists full Of worlds. are rising out
Of the dead sea the future is that rising mist,
and tina, which is FILLING is the present. Dos
thou know thy own ear h -
Here Christ look down, and his eye filled
with tears, and he said: ">las, was once up
on il; then was still hsppy, hen had still an
Father and still looked with glad
ness from the mountains to the unia homable
heavens; and, when my breast was pierced
through, pressed it to his soothing image, and
said even in the bitterness Of death--Fa'her
draw forth thy son from his bleeding taberna-
Gle, and raise HIM to thy heart. All. We ever
81 II; e ba ctiI hell
IN Him Perchance a, this moment, your sun Is
setting, and ye are falling on your knees in thu |
mids, Of blossoms and radiance and dew, and
are lifting up your blessed hands, and, while
THOUSAND tears Of Joy, are crying to
the open heavens. Me, toe, even ms, dos, thou
know, thou Almighty One, and al my wounds.
and after my death hon wilt receive me and
close them all. Miserable creatures, sf er ceath |
they will never be closed. The woe bt gone |
mortal who lays his bic ding back in he earth |
to sleep till he coming Of the fairer morning, |
full of truth, full of goodness and JOY, will awake
amid the storms Of chaos in the eternity Of
midnight, and no morning CONES, and no heal
ing baud, and no Almighty Father. Thou
mortsl beside me, il thou still Invest pray 10
him now, else thou hast los him forever"
And, as fell down and beheld the shining
world saw the uplifted s~a'es OF the giant
snake, Eternity, that had spread itself around
the universe; and the scales dropped down, and
il wreatbed itself twice round the universe; then
it twined thousand folds around Nature, an6
sue zed word agan>tworld; and, with crush
ing force, compressed the temple OF io6niLy in
to village church; and every thing grew dense
and murkey, aud dismal, and the clapper Of a
a bell stretched out is measureiess lngth, a.
bout 20 strike the last hour Of time, and split
the fabric of The world to atoms when awoke.
My soul wept with JOY ,ha, was again able
to worship God; and my joy, and my tears, and
my faith in him, were my PRAYER. And as
stood up, the sun was glowing low down De-
hind the full purple ears of corn, and was quiet
ly throwing the reflection Of its evening glory
to the little moon tina, was rising without a
dawn in the east; and between heaven ano earth
a Joyous short.lived world was spreading out
its Tiny wings, and living as was, in the pr .
sence Of an Almighty Father, ana from the
whole Of nature around me came sou DIS of
peace like tine voices Of evening bells from afar.
Mn. CAMPBELL AND MIR. OWEN The public |
Il ri.