Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-13
LINES ON HE'LL AND THE DEVIL.
An Ex- Presbyterian Preacher Reads His
Verses to the Nineteenth Century
Cluh

Froa, the Ve1o York Sun, Nor. 10.
The Rev. S. Miller Hageman, Of Brook
lyn, read a piece of verse on ''The Divine
Malignity' at the house OF Mr.. Courtlandt
| Palmer, III East Twenty-first street, last
night to about a hundred invited gentle
men, nearly all members Of the Nine
teenth Century Club. The poem was
! dedicated to Calvin burning Seryetus.
Mr.. Palmer introduced the poet as one
VINO had, in his opinion, written re-
| markable poem, whose conception was
! that God of he'll must be a God Of hate.
| Mr. Hageman began with a story OF a
! citlzen who sought u cheaper and pur-
chase in wholesale store, and, after be-
/ ing kicked by YariOns employees from
floor to floor, finally reached the street
/ and exclaimed: "Melu GOtt, yOt a sys-
tenn they have got in that stOrew He said
he had himself been metaphorically
kicked out Of the Presbyterian church
three times, so that he had come to know
what systematic theology means
He pretaced the poem with statement
OF his own belief in a personal GOd in
Jesus Christ and his devine humanity;
in the power Of the Holy Spirit; in the re-
spOnsibiity OF God for creating man, and
in the idea that hell is the conception Of
infernality ITSELF "the most embit-
dressed to man." Mr.. Hageman de-
claimed his verses with vim and gusto,
particularly the lines descriptive OF Cal
WINS he'll. Here are some samples:
Swart amid them sits the devil, on a throne.
i'm CHASTITY revel,
Rafting in his monstrous shackles all the
prison house Of hell,
One hand pointing light super'nal, and the
other gloom internal,
As he cries For God a handful, but for me
these myriads tell.
All these peopled planets tell,
sun and sky and space enshrOudng,
Threatening, gathering, blackening, cloud
ing,
Rumb,ing, laundering, piling, crowding,
CrOWdlng. croWdiug on.
swift from out the crimson furry ClutChing
griilons hiss aud hurry,
Beaked and talon hooked together, iends of
every sort and size;
For share OF her damnation, piece-meallng
One byone each shape that enters in her train
with fiery eyes
Ghoul watched gate Of Paradise.
Nermlnous with gritfons craning at each
shadow as il fles
Satyr, gorgOn, dragon, goggling,
scorpion, vampire, bogle. boggling,
Iiafpy, piXy, ogre, oggling,
GloatiIng, gloating on.
swrlng down that headlong stair,
SWirlng, bottomlessly swirling, down, down,
INV u thdl uiLLy STAIR.
In each drop ! seem discerning
Countenances dazzled turning,
cracking, blisterng, burning,
Burning: burning on.
Nearly all Gods throne forsaken,
Nearly all Gods crown outshaken,
And It's craftan Jewels taken,
Satan has iton.
Through the glare Of dazzling darkness dia-
bolically eyed,
COuntenances knotted, staring,
Leering, hooking, tauntng, glaring
Sowing, covering, wild, despairing, dead, /
but living on.
Two worlds turned toward one another.
Two souls in them-chd and mother,
One IN heayen--ln hell the other,
Smiling, sObDing on.
Mr.. Hageman described a monster cold
TO pity, impressively sublime. but care
less OF human woes and aspirations, as
the Calyinistic God:
$50 stands God whom man hath fashioned.
stony eyed and unimpassioned
taxing down for His own glory
On the woes Of endless years.
All that love Of glory stronger,
thdt agony grows longer,
And The lapse of time is flowing
Through the fountain of its years.
liil AZ last times disappears
Down the dimly lighted valley,
Down the valley Of our tears"
Here is part OF movement that is re-
leated with striking similarity every lit
lie while, and which suggests Mr.. Hage-
mans inspirations:
'Oozng, trucking, bubbhng. cleaning.
7tsulhk, weeping, sObbiug. streaming,
4. N dlliug murmurlng, signing, dreaming,
flowing, flowing on"