L1J3RAKY 
 
 OF Tin-: 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 O 
 
 Mrs. SARAH P. WALS WORTH. 
 
 Received October, 1894. 
 Class No. 
 

 0? TH1 
 
 TJIX71HSI.TY 
 
 
- BEFORE THE. DAWN : 
 
 A POEM; 
 
 WITH 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES 
 
 ON PROPHETIC SYMBOLS: 
 
 PORTRAYING THE LAST GREAT CONFLICTS WHICH RESULT IN THE 
 
 DOWNFALL OF PAPAL DOMINATION 
 
 THE DESTRUCTION OF POLITICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL DESPOTISM, AND THE 
 
 REMOVAL OF OTHER HINDRANCES TO CHRISTIANITY IN THE 
 
 NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. C. R. BURDICK, M. A. 
 
 
 TJHIVBRSXTY 
 
 BUFFALO: 
 BREED, LENT AND COMPANY. 
 
 1872. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 
 
 REV. C. R. BURDICK, 
 in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 
 
 WARREN, JOHNSON & Co. 
 
 Stercotypcrs, Printers and Binders^ 
 
 BUFFALO, N. Y. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PREFACE, 5 
 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES : 
 
 I. The Great War in Europe in 1870, 7 
 
 II. The French Revolution in Prophecy, IS 
 
 III. England and Italy in Propliecy, 27 
 
 IV. Napoleon Bonaparte in Prophecy, 33 
 
 V. The City of Rome, the Seat of the Beast, in Prophecy ; 
 
 or, Despotism as a hindrance to Christianity, .... 43 
 
 VI. The same, continued, 51 
 
 VII. America in Prophecy, 61 
 
 VIII. The same, continued, 75 
 
 IX. Paris, under the Fifth Vial, . 84 
 
 X. The Sick Man of Constantinople in Prophecy, 94 
 
 XI. The Seventh Vial, 104 
 
 XII. The Darkness and Tempest before the Dawn, 114 
 
 POEM : 
 
 Canto I. Night and Storm, 125 
 
 Canto II. The False Prophet, 203 
 
 Canto III. The last Premillennial Conflict, 263 
 
OF 
 
 TJHITBRSITT 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE object of the author in presenting the following 
 volume to the public, is to call increased attention to 
 the wonderful book from which the theme of the poem 
 is drawn, and, if possible, to awaken interest in the 
 great subjects there shadowed forth, in the minds 
 of those who have hitherto rejected the claims of 
 Christianity as a divine revelation. He is well aware 
 that the book of Revelation has been quite generally 
 regarded as a sealed book, whose mysteries might not 
 be pierced by the inquiring or the curious ; but if " all 
 scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
 correction, for instruction in righteousness," surely it 
 cannot have been the Divine plan that this book 
 should remain unstudied. Its sublime symbols, finding 
 their fulfillment in the passing events of history, were 
 designed to rebuke skepticism and strengthen the 
 Christian s faith. 
 
 The author has made no attempt to be critical in his 
 exposition. Neither does he claim that his views are, 
 in the main, original. His chief object has been to 
 
vi PREFACE. 
 
 enforce the views taken by our recent standard expos 
 itors, and, by vivid pictures, to impress them perma 
 nently upon the mind and heart of the reader, while, 
 at the same time, he has felt at liberty to depart 
 from the authorities in some particulars. 
 
 The lectures were presented, in course, to his congre 
 gation in the city of Joliet, 111., in the fall of 1870 and 
 spring of 1871. 
 
 The poem has occupied all the time he could devote 
 to it, without interfering with his pastoral duties, for 
 more than two years past. He wrote it because he 
 loves to sing, in his humble way, of those great struggles 
 and glorious triumphs of his Master s Kingdom, which 
 precede the blessed Millennium. 
 
 He feels sure that he cherishes no unworthy ambi 
 tion, if he would attempt to consecrate the noble 
 Spenserian stanza to the uses of Christianity. 
 
 He offers his first book to an intelligent public, 
 humbly wishing, hardly daring to hope, that he may 
 thus be instrumental in hastening the final triumph 
 of the Messiah s Kingdom in the world. If the Church 
 wants it and it helps her in any degree, he will be more 
 than rewarded for all his toil. 
 
fUNIVBESITYB 
 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 I. 
 
 THE GREAT WAR IN EUROPE, 1870. 
 
 And oh ! this night brings tempests in its train. CANTO I, STANZA n. 
 
 And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat 
 like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his 
 hand a sharp sickle. 
 
 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to 
 him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap : for the time is 
 come for thee to reap ; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. 
 
 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth ; and the 
 earth was reaped. 
 
 And another angel came out of the temple .which is in heaven, he also 
 having a sharp sickle. 
 
 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire ; 
 and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust 
 in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth ; for 
 her grapes are fully ripe. 
 
 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine 
 of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. 
 
 And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out 
 of the wine-press, even unto the horse-bridles, by the space of a thousand 
 and six hundred furlongs. REV. xiv. 14-20. 
 
 THIS is an epitome of what follows, until Satan is bound 
 for a thousand years, as represented in the twentieth chapter. 
 Under the startling and awful symbols of our text, the 
 apostle makes a general statement, and then goes on, in the 
 following chapters, to particularize. It is a synopsis of what 
 is contained under the symbolism of the seven vials. I do 
 not, therefore, pretend to find a specific fulfillment of these 
 awful prophecies in the events of the present time. Yet I 
 do believe that a general history, in its relation to Chris 
 tianity, of the latter part of the eighteenth and of the nine 
 teenth centuries, up to the present time, is shadowed forth in 
 
8 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 the symbols of this part of the Word of God. I have given 
 the subject a great deal of thought, and my conclusions are 
 not founded on mere fancies. The resemblance of these 
 symbols to what I believe to be their substance, is too 
 striking to pass unnoticed by the careful student of the 
 Bible. 
 
 After much study I have adopted, so far as I dare, what 
 seems to me to be the most rational interpretation of the 
 symbols of the beast and of the woman who sat upon his 
 back, clothed in scarlet, as described in the seventeenth 
 chapter ; though, of course, I do not pretend that the events, 
 when they transpire, may not furnish a better, and, perhaps, 
 an essentially different, interpretation. As it seems to me, 
 the beast with seven heads and ten horns symbolizes Polit 
 ical Despotism Monarchism, Imperialism, Absolutism as 
 found in the seven principal countries of Europe England, 
 France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Russia, and Prussia. I will 
 not strenuously contend that those seven kingdoms are the 
 specific ones shadowed forth by the heads of this monster, 
 nor that the ten horns are the kings increased by the subor 
 dinate kings of Germany. Yet all will agree that there is 
 some resemblance. But I am convinced that the woman 
 symbolizes Ecclesiastical Despotism, seated on the back 01 
 political power, without which she could not, in our day, 
 execute her decrees. You will find Ecclesiastical Despotism 
 chiefly among the Papal powers, but not exclusively. The 
 English and Greek churches have had some share in eccle 
 siastical domination, and their garments are not entirely free 
 from the blood of persecution. So even the Presbyterians 
 and Puritans have had some share in persecution. But as 
 religious despotism has been chiefly confined to Rome, John 
 locates its throne upon the seven hills. 
 
 When the student of history sees that all the great wars 
 that have shaken the world for a hundred years, have 
 resulted in weakening these two powers, sweeping away one 
 after another of their supports, even when the thunders have 
 not been directly launched upon either of them, he must be 
 skeptical, indeed, if he cannot see Eternal Providence riding 
 on the storm, and directing the winds where to blow, and the 
 bolts where to fall. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 9 
 
 We find in prophecy that the woman fell first. Babylon 
 is first proclaimed fallen, then " the beast which was and is 
 not, and yet is," goes down in the last great battle, when the 
 angel standing in the sun calls to the fowls of heaven to 
 " Come and gather themselves together to the supper of the 
 great God, to eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of cap 
 tains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses 
 and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both 
 free and bond, both small and great." 
 
 Ecclesiastical Despotism to-day trembles when she sees 
 her defenders march away to a distant land to be swallowed 
 up in the maelstrom which ambition has stirred up on the 
 stormy waters of strife, and turns pale when she hears the 
 murmur of rising peoples and the tramp of armies hastening 
 to hurl her down from her seat on the seven hills. I say 
 ecclesiastical despotism ; I do not say the Roman Catholic 
 Church, for it would be a great calamity if that should be 
 destroyed ; but the power that dominates her shall be cast 
 down, and she, like the nations, shall be enfranchised. 
 
 You remember how the revolution of 1789 rolled its surges, 
 not only against the throne of kings, but also that of reli 
 gious despotism, and bore away some of their strongest 
 supports. Then the wars of Napoleon Bonaparte, though in 
 the service of the most absolute despotism, launched their 
 thunders upon the head of this power, and under their 
 shocks it almost went down. True, it raised its head again 
 above the waves, but it was shorn of much of its prestige. 
 Then during the revolutions in Italy, where the fifth vial was 
 poured out upon the throne of the beast, and especially in 
 Italian unity, so hopefully initiated by the battles of Magenta 
 and Solferino, and thus far perfected by the battle of Sadowa 
 the same event liberalizing Austria, its chief bulwark eccle 
 siastical despotism received most stunning blows. The abo 
 lition of serfdom in Russia, and the destruction of slavery 
 in this country, after one of the most tremendous struggles 
 of history, are great events bearing directly on political des 
 potism, and more remotely on religious. I refer the reader 
 to my poem further on, which embodies my thoughts on this 
 subject, rendering it unnecessary to repeat them here. 
 
10 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 It is not for me to say that Louis Napoleon stands forth in 
 the foreground of history to-day, as the fulfillment of any 
 distinct prophetic symbol. I do not see him in any symbol, 
 nor anything, as it seems to me, that would suggest him to 
 any unprejudiced mind; yet, doubtless, his form was seen 
 by the prophet, blended with other forms which crowd the 
 great canvas of Eternal Providence, as objects are blended by 
 distance on a landscape, and I do not doubt but he has had 
 an important part in the fulfillment of prophecy, and I have 
 never doubted what the termination of his reign would be. 
 In prosecuting my work on the poem which follows these lec 
 tures, about a year ago, (October, 1869,) I sketched the 
 campaigns of the first Napoleon, in northern Italy, as the 
 highly probable fulfillment of the symbolism of the third 
 vial. At the close of the sketch I introduced what seemed 
 to me to be a still further fulfillment of this terrible sym 
 bolism, a short sketch of the Franco-Italian campaign 
 against the power of Austria, in that same country of rivers 
 and fountains. I quote a few lines, as they will not appear, 
 in this form, in the poem : 
 
 But all that vial was not spent, 
 Though many streams with blood were blent, 
 Till fifty years, when in that land, 
 Another scourge of God should stand. 
 Exalted to his uncle s throne 
 
 By revolution s shifting tide, 
 He grasped a scepter not his own. 
 
 But for a season to abide, 
 To beat the nations, as a rod, 
 In hand of an avenging God ; 
 
 Then to be vilely cast aside, 
 
 All shorn of power and crushed in pride. 
 That fate is thine, Napoleon, 
 Of Rome, self-styled, the eldest son. 
 
 Of course I make no claim to prophetic vision, nor, indeed, 
 to any extraordinary sagacity ; but I wrote the above when 
 there was no political cloud in the heavens to portend the 
 fearful storm that is now sweeping over France ; because I 
 believed in God, in his revelation, in eternal right and in 
 the final triumph of civil liberty along with a pure religion ; 
 both of which are grandly shadowed forth in the prophetic 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. II 
 
 symbols we are considering of both of which Louis 
 Napoleorj, with all his large professions, has shown himself 
 a most unscrupulous enemy. It is true that none of us 
 are yet certain as to what. his ultimate fate may be; yet it 
 now looks very much as if he had been " vilely cast aside, 
 all shorn of power and crushed in pride," by the swirls of 
 the whirlwind which he himself has evoked from the stormy 
 elements. 
 
 Contemplate the fearful campaign whose thunders have 
 startled the world for the last two months, and tell me if 
 ever the hand of God was more distinctly visible in human 
 affairs. Everything about it has disappointed ordinary 
 human calculation. The world was astonished and indig 
 nant when Napoleon, on the most flimsy pretext possible, 
 declared war and hurried his army away to invade Prussian 
 territory. All have been astonished at the amazing rapidity 
 of the mobilization of the Prussian army, so rapid that 
 William was ready to strike the first blow. Who ever heard 
 of three-quarters of a million of men drawn so quickly from 
 every part of the kingdom, and hurled so furiously against 
 the would-be invaders ? We were astonished to see the 
 tables turned, and a great host invading France, instead of 
 Germany. We have been filled with admiration at the won 
 drous, unity of the German people ; and the sagacity of 
 statesmen has been put to fault by the course which the 
 South German States have taken in the conflict. The world 
 has been filled with amazement at the unbroken series of 
 brilliant victories that have crowned the German arms, and 
 at the rapidity with which the magnificent army of France 
 has melted away under the steady but terrific assaults of her 
 invincible foes. And we are bewildered at the unparalleled 
 spectacle of a hundred thousand Frenchmen surrendering in 
 Sedan at discretion, with the emperor himself, and his gen 
 erals, arms, munitions and standards. We instinctively 
 exclaim : Where are the valor and generalship of Austerlitz, 
 of Jena and Auerstadt? And so, when the veil of the con 
 flict lifts and displays more perfectly the gory wrecks of the 
 battle-field, no doubt the world will be astonished and 
 appalled at the fearful slaughter of victims by the terrible 
 engines of destruction which civilization, or barbarism, has 
 
12 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 introduced into the warfare of the nineteenth century. To 
 cap the climax, the world is amazed at the rapidity and 
 apparent hopelessness of the downfall of the most formid 
 able despotism of the age. 
 
 I have read with wonder and awe about the rapid advance 
 of Alexander into the East, when, before his invincible pha 
 lanxes, the Persian legions went down on the fearful fields of 
 the Granicus, of Isus, of Arbela, and other fields, which in 
 twelve years erected the great Macedonian Empire, with 
 Babylon for its capital. With wonder I have followed Han 
 nibal, the Carthaginian general, across Gibraltar, through 
 Spain, over the Pyrenees, through Gaul, and over the Alps 
 into Italy, his wonderful campaign culminating in the terrific 
 battle of Lake Thrasymene, in whose roar an earthquake 
 which shook the continent and overthrew cities, passed 
 unheeded by the opponents. I know something of the cam 
 paigns of Julius Cresar, who spread the Roman Empire over 
 Switzerland, Gaul, Germany, and a large part of Britain. I 
 have studied quite carefully the campaigns of Napoleon. 
 But I find nothing in all these that can equal this campaign, 
 not even in Napoleon s masterpiece, as it has been called, 
 the campaign of Austerlitz. Results which formerly would 
 have required years to accomplish, have been achieved in 
 two short months. What but the hand of God is hurrying 
 up affairs to make room for the grand coming events whose 
 greatness casts their shadows before ? He hath said of the 
 world, "I will overturn, overturn, overturn it," to prepare the 
 way for the reign of his Son. 
 
 Of course it is too early to speak with certainty in refer 
 ence to the ultimate results of this fearful campaign. But 
 one thing seems to be taken for granted by all : the Empire 
 of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is at an end. There are none 
 among the nations, and few even in France, so poor as to do 
 him reverence. Held as a prisoner in a German fortress, 
 which at the same time affords an asylum to him from the 
 fury of his quondam subjects, he is to-day an object of com 
 miseration, rather than of fear. 
 
 But one of the impending results of the fall of the French 
 Empire is the destruction of the temporal power of the Pope, 
 and the end of ecclesiastical despotism in Italy. Imperial 
 
NTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 13 
 
 France was its last powerful supporter. When her armies 
 embarked from Rome, the city was left at the mercy of 
 Italian troops, which, beyond all doubt, will soon occupy it, 
 and make it the capital of United Italy. The Papacy has 
 nothing to hope from a French Republic ; and should that 
 fail, as many of its friends fear it will, years must elapse, if 
 the time ever comes, when France will have gained anything 
 like the position she has lately occupied among the nations. 
 Ere that time the last vestige of ecclesiastical despotism 
 may have been swept from the earth forever; or other 
 nations may so far outstrip France that she cannot afford 
 protection to the Papal power, should she have any incli 
 nation that way. So this great war has knocked another 
 strong pillar from beneath that colossal power which, at one 
 time, dominated the world, and even now, in its dotage, shows 
 immense vitality. True, it is not destroyed, but it hastens 
 to its downfall. 
 
 And so there can be no doubt that this dreadful war will 
 strike an equally strong blow upon political despotism. We 
 know that Sadowa liberalized Austria, whatever may have 
 been the intentions of Prussia. We see that this war has 
 overthrown imperialism in France and erected a French 
 Republic, whatever may be its future fate. It cannot be 
 that such expense of blood and treasure, solely in the inter 
 ests of despotism, will fail to open the eyes of nations, and to 
 hasten the time when it shall be an established maxim that 
 government is for the people, and not for those who hold 
 its reins. 
 
 However this may be, we may rest in the conclusion that 
 the destinies of Europe, and, so far as it goes, of the world, 
 will be safer under German, than under French leadership. 
 We may hope for a more liberal international policy, so far 
 as German influence can establish it. German ideas are 
 more nearly abreast of the age than French ; and, in all good 
 conscience, we hope and believe that the tone of public 
 morality is much higher in Germany. If she stands at 
 the head of the nations of Europe, these things must have 
 their influence, and they will help to shape its international 
 policy. 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 The greatness of Prussia is not so much in the diplomacy 
 of her statesmen, nor in the strategy, generalship and 
 bravery of her armies, as in the universal education of her 
 masses. When the predecessor of William nobly resolved, 
 at the risk of his throne, to instruct the masses by a system 
 of free schools, he laid the foundation of the greatness of 
 Prussia. Her people thus have an immense advantage over 
 the uneducated masses of France. While the French sol 
 dier, only inspired to battle by the vision of glory, little 
 capable of realizing the moral aspects of the struggle he 
 may be engaged in, is demoralized when his bubble is 
 pierced by the bayonets of defeat, the German, having 
 decided that he is fighting for a principle, and capable of 
 reasoning on the subject, esteems temporary defeat an honor, 
 and, with more unyielding determination, nerves himself 
 anew for the conflict whose success with him is a moral cer 
 tainty, because it is right. Had the armies of Napoleon the 
 First met the soldiers of William on the tremendous fields 
 of Jena and Auerstadt, the result of that awful day of bat 
 tles would, undoubtedly, have been different. That the 
 Germans believe that they have been repelling unprovoked 
 aggression in this conflict, no one doubts ; and all thinking 
 men will admit that this is one great secret of their success. 
 So one great lesson of this war, to rulers and statesmen, is, 
 to educate the masses. It is time to dismiss the idea that 
 ignorance in the common soldier promotes obedience that 
 the thinking bayonet is not the ready instrument of thorough 
 military discipline. It ts, doubtless, true that the soldier 
 must be ignorant to be the ready tool of an unmitigated des 
 potism. But if he is to fight for humanity, and not to 
 decide the quarrels of kings, in which he really has very 
 little interest, he must be educated. Religious, moral and 
 intellectual instruction for the masses, is the great want of 
 France to-day. Without it, we have little hope of her main 
 taining a republican form of government. If the Republic 
 can retain its power until the light of science and of a pure 
 religion beams upon the darkened masses, we may hope that 
 ii will become permanent, but not without. 
 
 The sympathizers with France and it is a little curious 
 that these are nearly all Catholics claim that this struggle 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 15 
 
 has none of the features of a religious war. They refer, by 
 way of proof of the correctness of their claim, to the exam 
 ple of the Catholic States of Germany. If Catholicism, 
 they ask, were arrayed against Protestant Prussia, why 
 should not these States be against her? But this is no proof. 
 The Emperor calculated upon their siding with him, and all 
 thinking men will see that Catholicism was the chief ground 
 of this expectation. But he reckoned without his host. The 
 Ecumenical Council had been in session at Rome ; the dogma 
 of Papal Infallibility had been proclaimed, against the pro 
 tests of German bishops. Estranged, to a great extent, by 
 this, from Rome, these States would naturally follow their 
 national sympathies. So, the folly of the Pope has aided in 
 the downfall of Napoleon, and hastened his own. And it 
 does not appear that Jesuitism did not connive with 
 Napoleon s ambition to cripple the strongest Protestant 
 power on the continent, thus to forward its own schemes of 
 ambition. The result appears in a dethroned and captive. 
 Emperor, the great army of France defeated, demoralized, 
 almost annihilated, and a victorious Prussian army, swarm 
 ing like grasshoppers around doomed and trembling Paris, 
 and thundering at her gates. Future historians will place 
 William among the champions of Protestantism, along with 
 Frederick the Great. Thus, in our day, Providence has 
 raised up the German power, a granite mountain, against 
 which Latinism. has been dashed to pieces in the behalf of 
 human liberty. 
 
 The moral lessons of these great events cannot be enumer 
 ated here. We can only glance at some of them. One is 
 Providential retribution in the affairs of nations. Jesus 
 Christ said, long ago, " All they that take the sword shall 
 perish by the sword." We have seen this verified in history 
 too often to be skeptical. The first Napoleon carved his 
 way to the Empire of France, and to the dictatorship of 
 Rome and of Europe, with his merciless sword. The star 
 of his destiny began to wane on the frozen steppes of 
 Russia; it was shaken from its hight on the tremendous 
 field of Leipsic, to rise again, to blaze for a hundred days in 
 the eyes of an astonished world, but it set in blood on the 
 awful fiejid of Waterloo. The third Napoleon followed in 
 
16 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 his uncb s steps, so far as his genius and the spirit of the 
 age would permit wading through the blood of revolution 
 to an imperial throne. The sword of execution raised him 
 to his throne ; the sword of Jehovah, in the hand of Ger 
 many, has laid him low. And the last act in this drama is 
 the most striking illustration of all. He took the sword, on 
 .he most shallow pretext, to humble an envied rival; it is 
 turned against his own bosom, and he is smitten from his 
 throne. 
 
 Here is another astonishing lesson of Providence. The 
 Pope had just arrived at the summit of his earthly ambition ; 
 he had just procured the pompous proclamation of his own 
 infallibility, when lo ! the shifting scene ! The bayonets 
 which have upheld his waning power are withdrawn from his 
 support; his last imperial defender is crushed under the 
 avalanche which his own hand had loosened, and His Holi 
 ness is left drifting on the sea of revolution, with Italian 
 nationality and unity knocking at the gates of Rome. Will 
 his infallibility save him ? We shall see. 
 
 Here, too, is another lesson on the vanity of human great 
 ness. It was but yesterday that the third Napoleon sat upon 
 the throne of the greatest nation in Europe, wielding the 
 destiny of millions, dictating the policy of nations the 
 dread of the civilized world. To-day, where is the pride of 
 his greatness ! Where is the glittering crown which begirt 
 his ambitious temples ! Where the pomp and splendor of 
 his imperial court ! Where are the purple robes of state ! 
 Where the adulation of millions whose thundering "Vive 
 1 Empereurs " were wont to tingle in his ears ! Where is that 
 magnificent martial array which poured through the gates of 
 Paris, with waving banners, and dancing plumes, and gleam 
 ing armor, the tramp of whose splendid cavalry shook the 
 earth around ? They went gaily, boastfully forth, joyful with 
 life and vigor, as if to a summer pic-nic on the fair banks of 
 the Rhine. Where are they now? Their mangled carcases 
 lie weltering in gore upon the battle-fields of the frontier ; 
 horse and rider have gone down in the shock of battle ; the 
 fowls of heaven swarm to their feasts upon the unburied 
 slain, and the wail of the widows of France goes up from 
 the length and breadth of that unhappy land. Napoleon a 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. I/ 
 
 prisoner in a German fortress ! His Empress flying for her 
 life from the multitudes which once fawned upon her foot 
 steps ! His child an exile in a foreign land ! He himself 
 proscribed by his own countrymen, and covered with their 
 curses ! His palaces invaded by the mob ! His royal tables 
 feasting the palates of the sans-culottes \ The symbols of 
 his imperial sway indignantly torn down and trampled in the 
 dust ! How have the mighty fallen ! " Sic transit gloria 
 mundi!" Will ambitious men learn a lesson? Will the 
 worldly learn to " set their affections on things above, and 
 not on things on the earth " ? 
 
18 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 II. 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION IN PROPHECY. 
 
 Wide o er the astonished world an angel soars. CANTO I, STANZA 35. 
 
 And the first [angel] went and poured out his vial upon the earth ; and 
 there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark 
 of the beast and upon them which worshiped his image. REV. XVI. 2. 
 
 THIS is the beginning of one of the most solemn and 
 awful delineations of the Word of God. Such startling sym 
 bols must be portentous of great calamities upon the class of 
 men here designated, whoever they may be. Of course, no 
 wise man will be very positive that he has found their true 
 meaning. Yet they are in the Word of God, in the Revelation 
 of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him, to show unto his ser 
 vants. They must have been designed to be understood at 
 some time, or they could not be called revelations, for that 
 is no revelation which conveys no meaning with it. It must 
 have been designed for study and meditation; and if we 
 engage in it with a humble and teachable spirit, there can be 
 no doubt but it will be profitable for us. 
 
 It was, undoubtedly, the intention of this symbolism to 
 shadow forth something falling upon a large class of men 
 which might be called a plague or sore. Any thing which 
 would produce such an effect would answer the conditions 
 of the symbols. Whatever the contents of the vial migM 
 symbolize, whether something in itself good or evil, if it pro 
 duced such an effect upon them, they would certainly call it 
 evil ; to them it would be a plague, a sore. The beast is, 
 beyond all question, a symbol for the same things which the 
 woman and the monster on which she rode symbolize, to 
 which I alluded last Sabbath evening, viz. : civil and reli 
 gious despotism. Mr. Barnes calls them the civil and eccle 
 siastical powers of Rome; but as Rome has not been the 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 19 
 
 only power which has wielded a despotic sway over the 
 bodies and souls of men, it must appear that his exposition 
 is not broad enough. Yet if we could take from the pages 
 of history the record of Roman political and ecclesiastical 
 despotism, especially the latter, we should take away the 
 greater part of history for fifteen hundred years. These two 
 powers are so nearly allied that they have usually gone in 
 company. Ecclesiastical despotism could never have done 
 much hurt in the world, if she had not been supported by 
 political despotism if she had not been able to catch and 
 ride that beast into power. Hence, what affects one must 
 directly or indirectly affect the other. We have concluded 
 that the whole seven vials symbolize those influences of one 
 kind and another which are crippling, and finally destined 
 to destroy, these forms of despotism which we find shadowed 
 forth under the symbols of the dragon, the first and second 
 beasts, the abandoned woman, the false prophet, the Great 
 River Euphrates, and the three unclean spirits which pro 
 ceeded out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of 
 the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. All 
 these disclose forms of evil at war with human advancement, 
 spiritual and temporal, and hence, despotism, in its various 
 forms and modes, seeking to destroy both political and reli 
 gious freedom. Hence, whatever goes to cripple despotism, 
 of any form, and especially ecclesiastical, may be fitly sym 
 bolized by a vial of wrath poured out upon the supporters 
 of oppression by a God who " created all men free and 
 equal, and endowed them with certain inalienable rights, 
 among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." 
 So any thing which may be called a plague or sore upon the 
 supporters of despotism, may be fittingly symbolized by the 
 effects of this vial of wrath. It was poured out upon the 
 earth, and it produced " a noisome and grievous sore upon 
 the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them 
 which worshiped his image." This describes two classes 
 of adherents to these forms of despotism. Those who bore 
 the mark of the beast are, undoubtedly, those who gave him 
 their external support for mere personal ends, without any 
 particular regard for him, only as he could promote their 
 own selfish purposes. Among this class must be ranked 
 
20 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 many of the Roman Catholic sovereigns of the past century. 
 Those who worship his image are those who, body and soul, 
 believe in, and worship the monster. But it should be 
 observed that both classes are involved in consequences 
 which follow the outpouring of the vial. 
 
 At the risk of being considered, perhaps, a fanciful inno 
 vator, I shall make the suggestion that modern Republi 
 canism may be fittingly symbolized by the contents of this 
 vial. Poured out upon the earth, it operates as a healthful 
 medicine often does upon a patient whose blood has long 
 been corrupted, by bringing the corruption to the surface in 
 the form of grievous sores. The rude shocks which polit 
 ical despotism experienced from the American Revolution 
 whose successful issue was followed, in less than seven 
 years, by that of France showed its insecure tenure of 
 existence in modern civilization. The scenes that followed 
 are the sores which broke out upon its upholders. France* 
 thought to improve the medicine by mingling that with it 
 which proved to be a fatal poison, and that was French 
 atheism. But the compound acted with special potency 
 upon ecclesiastical despotism. This was the offspring of 
 long years of tyranny and abuse. God and heavenly things 
 were so wretchedly represented by their accredited earthly 
 exponents, that a natural, though most disastrous result, was, 
 that many, in throwing off the abuses, repudiated all reli 
 gion. And however terrible French atheism proved to be, 
 however impious its upholders, though they cannot be held 
 at all excusable, yet political and ecclesiastical despotism 
 are mainly responsible for it. It is little wonder, then, that 
 so unseemly an offspring should turn and rend its equally 
 unseemly parents. The French Revolution was a tremendous 
 upheaval of human society, resulting largely from the repub 
 lican leaven which had long been working there. While it 
 did incalculable service to the cause of human progress, like 
 the whirlwind and thunder-gust which are often necessary 
 to purify the stagnant air, shaking from it its poisonous mala 
 rias it did a great deal of harm. While it struck most 
 staggering blows upon kingly and priestly prerogative, it 
 
 * Note 3, Canto I, stanza 36. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 21 
 
 swept away much of the beneficent fruits of a pure Chris 
 tianity not yet entirely dead in France, which, if preserved 
 and nurtured, might have rendered their republican insti 
 tutions enduring. 
 
 The nation has not yet recovered from that storm of good 
 and evil, so strangely blended. All authorities admit that 
 she had been the victim of shameful abuses, under monarch 
 ical rule. The people had groaned, for a long time, under 
 them. They had loudly and justly clamored for redress. 
 The imbecile Louis obstinately persisted in refusing it, until 
 he drove them into open revolt. Then, when they had 
 taken redress into their own hands, he offered to make con 
 cessions, but it was too late. In 1789 the Revolution tri 
 umphed, and he was virtually stripped of power, though he 
 nominally held the reins until some time after. But he was 
 finally de-posed, amid great indignities, and ultimately guil 
 lotined, with several of his family, including his Queen. A 
 French Republic was thus established. It was sustained for 
 a number of years. Napoleon the First subverted it, while 
 uttering the most enthusiastic protestations of attachment to 
 liberty. Yea, in the name of civil liberty, his usurpations 
 were accomplished, liberty strangled, and an unlimited des 
 potism enthroned. But while the Republic lasted, it was the 
 plague the sore of despotism. It proclaimed universal war 
 on kings of every degree, and too generously offered the 
 right hand, to help all who would hoist the flag of rebellion 
 against kingcraft and priestcraft. French emissaries were 
 in all parts of Europe, secretly, if not openly, stirring up 
 the people to rebellion. They had numerous sympathizers 
 everywhere, and kings, feeling the heavings of the earth 
 quake, trembled for their crowns, sceptres and royal prerog 
 atives. French influence established republics in Belgium, 
 Holland and Italy. Republican armies hung like thunder 
 clouds in the passes of the Pyrenees, and even rolled the 
 tide of invasion into Spain. Republican cannon thundered 
 across the Rhine, at the gates of Germany ; and their echoes 
 were heard across the Straits of Dover. Republican armies 
 defied the world, and, for a time, faced the combined powers 
 of Europe. Had the Republic been less inclined to pros 
 elyte other nations, by intrigue and by arms, and, content 
 
22 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 with achieving the liberties of France, acted purely on the 
 defensive, she might have remained unto this day, in spite of 
 the opposition of kings. It is conceded that republicanism 
 gave to the nation that tremendous military prowess which, 
 under Napoleon, carried the eagles of France to Berlin, 
 Vienna, Moscow, Madrid, and the Eternal City. Could it 
 have been directed by such pure and patriotic men as 
 our own dear Washington, the history of France, and of 
 Europe, would have been different. But her leaders were 
 either wrong-headed or corrupt men, and they led her to 
 destruction. 
 
 The Roman Catholic Church,* the instinctive enemy of 
 republican institutions, so recognized and so treated by the 
 French Republic, felt the heaviest blows. All church prop 
 erty was confiscated, priests were banished under the 
 severest penalties, and the Roman Catholic religion pub 
 licly abjured. f But the terrible misfortune and fatal mistake 
 was, that, with this, she abjured all religion. J Her chamber 
 of deputies published the awful blasphemy : " Resolved, that 
 there is no God, and death is an eternal sleep." The 
 Republic then became a more bitter persecutor than Rome 
 had been in France for centuries. The Reign of Terror, 
 the most terrible outbreak of human passion on the records 
 of civilized nations, began soon after this. The Girondists 
 first held the power, and ruled the nation with high-handed 
 tyranny ; but they were soon hurled by violence from their 
 seats in the national assembly by the Jacobins, and hurried 
 away to the guillotine, under the leadership of Marat, 
 Danton, Robespierre and others. The rule of the Giron 
 dists was mildness and mercy, compared with that of the 
 Jacobins. Political murders became the order of the day. 
 Tens of thousands, on the merest suspicion of being inimical 
 to the Republic, as was claimed, but really to the reigning 
 faction, became the victims of midnight arrest by gens 
 d anncs, and, with scarcely a form of trial, were sentenced to 
 death, and, without a decent delay, were hurried away to the 
 guillotine. The streets of Paris swam with the blood of her 
 citizens. Whole hecatombs of victims, men, women, and 
 
 * Note 4, Canto I, stanza 38. t T^ote 5, stanza 39. % Note 6, stanza 40. 
 
 Note 7, ibid. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 23 
 
 even children, were slaughtered by the executioner, under 
 the very shadow of the statue of Liberty, which Frenchmen 
 boasted to worship. The most high-handed and bloody 
 deeds of tyranny were enacted in the name of Liberty. 
 Excesses of the most horrid kind were perpetrated. An 
 unchaste woman, of rare beauty and symmetry of form, was 
 brought naked before the assembly, and proclaimed the 
 Goddess of Reason, and thence carried on the shoulders of 
 some Jacobins to the Church of Notre Dame, she was placed 
 in the same condition upon the altar, where she was wor 
 shiped by the crowd which filled the cathedral. The cor 
 ruption of morals- was general and deplorable. It spread 
 over the whole nation. All the cities and large towns were 
 scenes of civil murder, enacted in ways which fill the mind 
 with horror to think of them. No man was safe, especially 
 if he had any wealth w r hich could be confiscated for the use 
 of the fiends that ruled France. Thus events continued to 
 grow worse, until Marat fell by the dagger of Charlotte 
 Corday, for which she was sent to the guillotine. The jeal 
 ousy of Robespierre sent Danton the same way, a few 
 months after. The former recreant fell soon after, before a 
 counter revolution, and the Reign of Terror ended. All 
 these terrible calamities, and especially the infatuation which 
 seemed to fill the whole nation, are justly symbolized by a 
 noisome and grievous sore falling upon the men who had 
 upheld political and religious despotism, and no one can for 
 a moment doubt the effect they had upon these powers. 
 Under the supposition that the contents of this vial were 
 meant to symbolize republicanism, the plague of despotism, 
 poured out upon the earth, it will be admitted that these 
 events meet the conditions. The symbols of the text are 
 strikingly satisfied, if not actually fulfilled. 
 
 I do not claim to be supported by authority in this expo 
 sition, precisely as I have given it. More generally, the 
 noisome and grievous sore is supposed to symbolize French 
 atheism, with no endeavor to find a meaning for the contents 
 of the vial. Mr. Barnes adopts the latter exposition. My 
 own view differs from this only that it makes the contents of 
 the vial symbolize republicanism, while French atheism is 
 only one among the plagues which fell upon the nations, as 
 
24 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 a consequence of pouring out the first vial. But it may 
 justly be considered a chief one, as it was not confined to 
 France. It broke out, with more or less malignancy, over 
 the whole world ; and it has been one of the great hin 
 drances to the progress and triumph of republican insti 
 tutions ; for it must be admitted that infidelity and 
 republicanism have gone in company too much for the 
 good of the latter. But it will not be so when men have 
 learned to distinguish between true and false religion when 
 the church becomes entirely divorced from her paramour, 
 the political power. 
 
 I have been studying the prophetic symbols in this part of 
 the Word of God for some months past ; and, should the 
 unfolding of the great schemes of Providence prove that the 
 above exposition is correct, I should not be disappointed, for 
 I have much faith in its correctness. While, on the other 
 hand, should the true exposition be found in something 
 entirely different, it would equally confirm my faith in the 
 prophecy as from God, for I am not so presumptious as to 
 suppose that it must be this or nothing. 
 
 Admitting the reasonableness of the supposition that we 
 have found the fulfillment of the symbols of the text, you 
 will, I trust, allow me a single reflection. The thought, that 
 these old prophecies are being fulfilled in our day, is 
 intensely interesting and startling. More than eighteen 
 hundred years ago, an old exile sat among the rocks of 
 Patmos, a barren island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. 
 He had been driven there, in his old age, by persecution ; 
 but, in the scheme of Providence, he was to receive, amid 
 those solitudes, the most interesting book of the whole Bible, 
 if we except the history of Jesus. Then the book of the 
 future history of the Church was opened by the Lamb, and 
 disclosed to the old prophet, by symbols always striking, 
 sometimes sweet and beautiful, sometimes terrific in their 
 significance, and sometimes sublime and awful in their por 
 trayal. With his spiritual vision sharpened, he gazes down 
 the shadowy vista of the future. These striking and thrill 
 ing symbols rise upon his view. Seal after seal of the great 
 book is opened, and the wondrous events are passed before 
 him. When the seventh seal is opened, the seven trumpeters 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 25 
 
 prepare to sound. Under their successive blasts, he sees 
 innumerable men and horses rushing to battle ; the bottom 
 less pit opened, evil powers, like locusts, swarming over the 
 world, and desolating it; hears earthquakes shaking conti 
 nents , sees the terrified mountains and islands flying away ; 
 heaven opened angelic contending with evil powers, sym 
 bolized by fearful monsters and hears the loud heavenly 
 anthems of triumph rolling up, like the voice of many 
 waters, from that vast multitude whose number is ten thou 
 sand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. Then, 
 when the seventh angel sounds, the seven angels having the 
 seven last plagues come forth from the temple, prepared for 
 their fearful tasks. Seventeen hundred years have passed. 
 The darkness is deep, but the dawn approaches. The first 
 angel goes and pours out his vial upon the earth. A plague 
 and sore follows. The subtle influence shakes the thrones of 
 kings and ecclesiastical hierarchies, and they totter to their 
 fall. We look on with awe and wonder as we see these events 
 transpiring almost in our own day and before our eyes. We 
 see God in history. He has taught us to expect these terri 
 ble wars and commotions, and their coming meets our expec 
 tation, and assures our faith in His Word. 
 
 It is the conviction of your speaker, that in the millen 
 nium, for which the events of this period are preparing the 
 way, republican institutions will prevail. Hence, any ques- 
 t on affecting the possibility of such institutions, is properly 
 discussed here. It is sometimes charged upon republics 
 that they are inherently aggressive, and that they can only 
 flourish by nurturing and giving activity to the military spirit, 
 as if it must necessarily co-exist with them. Hence, no such 
 form of government can exist when " wars shall cease to 
 the ends of the earth." Such, it is contended, was the his 
 tory of the Roman Republic ; such, the democracies of 
 Greece ; such, the French Republic. The fallacy consists in 
 assuming that the aggressive spirit which confessedly distin 
 guished the peoples alluded to, is an offspring of their form 
 of government, and not of something else. We could make 
 a stronger argument against monarchism, in the same way, 
 but we do not propose to do it, as both arguments would be 
 fallacious. There is no such connection. The Roman 
 
26 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 Republic and Grecian democracies existed in ages when the 
 aggressive spirit was universal among all nations, and a 
 pacific spirit, in connection with power to make aggression, 
 was scarcely known. That republican Rome, or democratic 
 Greece, should partake of the same spirit, is nothing strange. 
 Indeed, the Empire of Rome was even more aggressive 
 than the Republic. It can be shown that so far from a 
 military spirit being necessary to their existence, it is that 
 which usually destroys republics. It was that which sub 
 verted the Roman Republic. It was that which destroyed 
 the French Republic.* The great mistake of France was 
 her emulation of those old, warlike nations, leading her to 
 suppose that her mission was to conquer the world by arms. 
 Her danger would have been great enough if she had only 
 used her military power to repel aggression. But in throw 
 ing down the gauntlet to the nations of Europe, to meet her 
 on the field of Mars, she assured her own destruction. We 
 may be safe in saying that as long as our own nation adheres 
 to the pacific policy recommended by her founders, she will 
 be safe. Existing thus for almost a hundred years, she fur 
 nishes an unanswerable refutation of the charge thus made 
 against republican institutions. 
 
 * Note 8, Canto I, stanza 41. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 ENGLAND AND ITALY IN PROPHECY. 
 
 Ere the first woe is spent, another comes. CANTO I, STANZA 44. 
 
 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became 
 as the blood of dead men ; and every living thing died in the sea. 
 
 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of 
 waters : and they became blood. 
 
 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, 
 which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. 
 
 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast 
 given them blood to drink ; for they are worthy. 
 
 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, 
 true and righteous are thy judgments. REV. xvi. 3-7. 
 
 IF our interpretation of the symbolism of the first vial be 
 received, of course, we must look for the fulfillment of the 
 second and third in events closely connected and nearly 
 contemporaneous. 
 
 We should look for that of the second in events mainly 
 transpiring upon the sea some terrible naval war, which 
 would result disastrously to the supporters of political and 
 ecclesiastical despotism. And as France and Spain had been 
 the chief naval powers which had, hitherto, supported the 
 despotism of Rome, we should naturally expect that the dis 
 asters would fall mainly on them. While, on the other hand, 
 we should expect that success, in any such struggle, would 
 strengthen the hands of them who fought most in the interest 
 of liberty. In studying the history of those times, we find, 
 such were the complications of affairs, that England though 
 a .monarchy, and much of the time fighting against the 
 French Republic, and a declared enemy of republican insti 
 tutions was contending mainly for the rights of man. The 
 sympathies of a disinterested lover of his race, therefore, 
 naturally incline toward her. The naval war which she 
 
28 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 waged, about this time, was one of the most fearful, if not 
 the most fearful, of history. It lasted twenty years. Her 
 chief opponents were France and Spain, though Holland, 
 Denmark, Prussia, Russia and Sweden were, at different 
 times, arrayed against her. 
 
 We purpose to show that, supposing it was the design 
 of revelation to foretell, by a fitting symbolism, the events 
 of this terrible period, a vial of wrath poured oufe upon 
 the ocean, by an angel of vengeance, taken in connection 
 with other fearful symbols disclosing contemporaneous 
 events, would be a most striking and appropriate method 
 of doing it. If John s prophetic vision should catch, 
 through the vista of distant ages, the gloom, the fires, the 
 thundergust and the flowing blood of naval warfare,* such 
 as this period discloses, a mighty angel rushing over the 
 sea on the wings of the storm, throwing into it some potent 
 substance, which raises the winds, the waves, and the thun 
 ders, and tinges its waters with the blood of living crea 
 tures, slain in the commotion would, best of anything, carry 
 to the mind an adequate image. Seeing scores of great 
 naval battles, as it were, condensed into one view, in the 
 glass of prophecy, what better conclusion could be formed of 
 it than that it was the result of some tremendous outpouring 
 of wrath upon an offending world ? 
 
 We may observe that it is not necessary to suppose that 
 John meant to say that all the sea became as the blood of 
 dead men. If that portion of it which was affected by the 
 vial, assumed such an appearance, it would justify his lan 
 guage. The expression, " Every living soul died in the sea," 
 is designed to convey to the mind an image of the dreadful 
 destruction of life in this war. It commenced between Eng 
 land and France, at Toulon, where a large French fleet was 
 destroyed by the English, soon after the French Republic 
 had risen to power. Then followed the great battle of 
 Ushant, under Admiral Howe, in which the French were 
 completely routed. The West Indies were, one by one, 
 wrenched from the hands of France, by successful naval 
 expeditions. The capture of the Cape of Good Hope from 
 the Dutch, added South Africa to the British Empire, and 
 
 * Note 10, Canto I, stanza 45. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 29 
 
 increased her resources for the further struggle that awaited 
 her, really, as the event has proved, for the destruction of 
 Papal domination, ostensibly, in part, for self-defense, and for 
 the promotion of liberty, but largely it must be admitted 
 for self-aggrandizement. The French and Dutch fleet sent 
 to retake the Cape, soon after this, were also entirely routed. 
 The tremendous battle off Cape St. Vincent, was a disastrous 
 and crushing defeat of the naval powers of France and 
 Spain. Then, soon after this, the great battle of Camper- 
 down added its blaze and rack to the smoke and conflagra 
 tion which had but just lifted from the sea; all adding nerve 
 and sinew to the already gigantic power of England, whom 
 invisible hands were preparing for still mightier struggles. 
 Napoleon had now begun his career, as one of the generals 
 of the Republic. His known ambition and increasing pop 
 ularity with the armies of the Republic made the chamber 
 of deputies afraid of him, and they were glad to assent to 
 his desire to go on an expedition to Egypt, that they might 
 be rid of his influence at home. He went, revolving vast 
 schemes of ambition in his mind. The career of Alexander 
 was before him. Perhaps he might pursue the same victo 
 rious path to the Indies, erect another great oriental empire, 
 and thwart the English there. With vast naval and land 
 forces, he landed at Aboukir, in Egypt. But scarcely were 
 the latter disembarked and well under way, inland, when the 
 British fleet, under Nelson, hove in sight. The cloud burst 
 in thunder and hail upon the fated French,* and in the 
 awful battle which followed the battle of the Nile their 
 noble fleet became a complete wreck, or captive to the Eng 
 lish the tricolor of the Republic torn down, and the flag of 
 England floating at the mast-head of the men-of-war that 
 had escaped the wreck of battle. Thousands went down 
 in the terrible battle, and the water " became as the blood of 
 dead men," for miles around.f It was a fatal blow to Napo 
 leon s career in the East, crippling his resources, and inter 
 fering with all his future plans. So, after a brilliant, but, on 
 the whole, unsuccessful campaign, he returned home to fig 
 ure still more largely in those terrible events foreshown by 
 
 * Note n, Canto I, stanza 45. t Note 12, Canto I, stanza 46. 
 
30 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 other prophetic symbols. But the naval wars continued. 
 The northern nations, Russia, Prussia, Denmark and Swe 
 den, became jealous of England s increasing power. They 
 leagued against her to cripple it. The awful battle of 
 Copenhagen soon after followed, again a great success to 
 English arms. This gave her power and prestige for striking 
 a last terrible and crushing blow upon the Papal powers of 
 France and Spain. This occurred soon after, at the terrific 
 naval battle off Cape Trafalgar, when their great navies 
 (embracing all their marine forces) were wrecked, and Eng 
 land stood the acknowledged mistress of the world, on the 
 sea, though at the price of the death of her gallant Nelson.* 
 Elliott, as quoted by Barnes, remarks, with regard to these 
 battles: "Altogether, in this naval war, from its begin 
 ning in 1793, to its end in 1815, there were destroyed near 
 two hundred ships of the line, three hundred to four hun 
 dred frigates, and an almost incalculable number of smaller 
 vessels of war and ships of commerce. The whole history 
 of the world does not present such a period of naval war, 
 destruction, and blood-shed." The reader can readily 
 see the bearing they had upon the Papacy. f No Papal 
 power has ever since had any commanding influence 
 upon the ocean ; a circumstance which has proved fatal to 
 the ambitious designs of Rome, as without the supremacy of 
 the sea she can never gain what she has evidently hoped to 
 do the supremacy of the world. As things now look, the 
 prospect of any maritime power ever coming to the succor 
 of the fallen Pope is exceedingly dubious. 
 
 Thus the events foreshadowed in the symbolism of the 
 second vial put a. decisive and irrevocable check upon the 
 progress of Rome ; yea, I may say, with other things, made 
 her downfall, as a political power, inevitable. 
 
 But almost contemporaneous with the outpouring of the 
 second vial, using John s language,^ " The third angel 
 poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains and 
 they became blood." Then comes the response of the two 
 angels. This evidently foreshadows great calamities upon the 
 power in question, in a country where her crimes against the 
 
 * Note 13, Canto I, stanza 47. t Note 14, Canto I, stanza 47. 
 
 % Note 15, Canto I, stanza 48. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 3! 
 
 world had been more especially atrocious. Do we find a 
 country meeting the demands of this symbolism? Northern 
 Italy* is composed chiefly of the basin of the Po and its 
 tributaries. If you look at the map, you will not fail to note 
 how numerous are the rivers and small streams which rise in 
 the Appenines, on the south, and the Alps, on the west and 
 north, forming the Po, the Adige, and other smaller streams 
 which empty into the Adriatic sea. You cannot find a 
 country which could be more properly called a land of rivers 
 and fountains. Lakes Garda, Como, Maggiore, and other 
 smaller bodies of water in the mountains, supplied by the 
 melting of snows which rest perpetually upon those lofty 
 peaks, give rise to beautiful streams which flow, clear and 
 perennial, through the vales of Piedmont and Lombardy, 
 and make them the most delightful places on earth. It must 
 be remembered that it was along the banks of the Po where 
 Pagan Rome heaped up some of her greatest holocausts of 
 the martyrs of Jesus, on the .shrines of her Pagan deities. It 
 was upon these same rivers and fountains that the burning 
 star, called Wormwood, fell, when the third angel sounded, 
 where the Pagan oppressors of the Church sunk beneath the 
 tempest which Jehovah of hosts rolled down upon them from 
 the northern wilds. It was here where, during the long, 
 dark night of Papal supremacy, the faithful churches of the 
 Albigenses and the Waldenses lived and suffered. The cru 
 elties which Papal Rome inflicted upon these people have 
 scarcely a parallel in all the long, dark history of martyr- 
 ology. Even Smithfield pales before the horrors of the 
 sunny vales of Piedmont. Rome was determined to have 
 these regions to herself, even at the price of extermination 
 of their population. Those rivers and fountains had been 
 repeatedly stained with their blood. But the time of reck 
 oning came, when those valleys became the theatre of some 
 of Napoleon s fiercest campaigns. They are described as 
 having been unnecessarily cruel and bloody, and his exac 
 tions of the conquered people unwarrantably harsh, under 
 the sternest codes of military law. But the march of the 
 great conqueror over that land was the pouring out of the 
 
 * Note 16, Canto I, stanza 50. 
 
32 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 wrath of God upon the supporters of Rome, and the calami 
 ties must have been severe, to justify the symbolism of the 
 third vial. (See Poem, Canto I, stanzas 49-62.) 
 
 It must go for something to the student of prophecy, that 
 all these fearful campaigns in Piedmont and Lombardy, 
 hastened the fall of the declining political power of the 
 Pope. Nopoleon s rude assaults destroyed his prestige 
 among the nations, and crippled his government, and that of 
 Austria, one of his chief supporters. You will also remem 
 ber that the battles of Magenta and Solferino tinged these 
 same rivers and fountains with blood, and hastened still fur 
 ther the downfall of ecclesiastical despotism. This last war 
 wrested a large part of the States of the Church from Rome, 
 established the Kingdom of Sardinia, and laid the founda 
 tions of that United Italy which we behold to-day. Could 
 any power, short of the ALMIGHTY S, have caused that these 
 awful retributions should fall on Rome, in the very land 
 where she had shed so much martyr blood ? Look at the 
 awful record of those Italian campaigns, and see how appro 
 priate is the symbolism. Monte Notte, Milessimo, Diego, 
 Lodi, Milan, Mantua, Castigleone, Caldero, Arcole, a second 
 Mantua, the fall of Venice, the Senio, Faenza, Ancona, 
 Loretto, Rome, Trebbia, Marengo, Magenta, and Solferino. 
 Think of all these battles on a territory not larger than the 
 State of Illinois, and most of them in the short space of five 
 years, and tell me if you can find a more fitting prophetic 
 symbol than a vial of wrath poured out upon the rivers and 
 fountains, and changing them to blood. See how the mili 
 tary powers which supported Rome were crippled, and mark 
 how the leaven of republicanism, scattered in Italy by the 
 armies of the French Republic, has spread and borne fruit, 
 until Italy is united in a constitutional monarchy, with Rome 
 for its capital, and religious liberty for its motto, while the 
 temporal power of the Pope is hopelessly gone, and see if 
 you are able to doubt that this third vial foreshadows these 
 events, and was destined to aid in the destruction of the 
 Papal domination. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 33 
 
 IV. 
 
 NAPOLEON BONAPARTE IN PROPHECY. 
 
 Yet over the sun a dread angel arises. NOTE 17, CANTO I, STANZA 64. 
 
 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun ; and power was 
 given him to scorch men with fire. 
 
 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of 
 God, which hath power over these plagues : and they repented not to give 
 him glory. REV. xvi. 8-9. 
 
 THE use of this symbolism would seem to be suggested by 
 a quite popular belief, in the days of John, that the sun, 
 moon and stars had a great influence upon the destiny of 
 nations. Particular conjunctions and occultations of the 
 planets, eclipses of the sun and moon, and especially the 
 appearance of comets, were supposed to foreshadow some 
 great national event generally some calamity. Some dread 
 angel of wrath, in the form of a blazing comet, casting its 
 shadow across the sun, and eclipsing its splendors, while, at 
 the same time, it might impart some of its substance to the 
 sun, to increase its power of combustion, would well lead 
 men to forebode some awful calamity. 
 
 As to the meaning of the passage, of course, we are not to 
 suppose that a literal vial was poured into the sun. It is but 
 a symbol, forewarning of fearful calamities. We remark, 
 
 1. There must be something in the calamities when they 
 come, to justify the use of such a startling symbolism in 
 other words, the effect must be somewhat like what might be 
 supposed if a great angel should pour some combustible into 
 the sun, and by the increased combustion, so intensify its 
 heat that it would scorch men. 
 
 2. These calamities must be more widespread and gen 
 eral than those foreshadowed by the former vials. There is 
 no inconsistency in limiting the application of the third vial 
 
34 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 to Northern Italy. But, as the influence of the sun is uni 
 versal, we should expect this symbolism would have a much 
 broader application, and that the calamities would be much 
 more widespread. 
 
 3. Scorching men with fire is one of the strongest sym 
 bols of suffering which we can find in the Word of God. 
 We should therefore, expect that these calamities, whether 
 similar, or not, to anything which had already occurred, 
 would be far severer. 
 
 4. We should not expect that the principal actors and 
 sufferers would be made any better by them. John says, 
 " they blasphemed the name of God which hath the power 
 of these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory." 
 
 5. Comparing this with the third vial, we should con 
 clude that, while the main object of these calamities was to 
 weaken despotism, they would not fall so directly upon the 
 supporters of ecclesiastical prerogative. Blood was given 
 them to drink who had slain God s saints and prophets, by 
 having their rivers and fountains filled with the blood of the 
 slain. But in these calamities, men are scorched. The more 
 general term is used to indicate a more general application. 
 
 I now invite your attention to the question, " Have we 
 anything in history which will answer the conditions of the 
 above symbolism ? " To show that we have, will be my next 
 object. I do not say, however, that I cannot be mistaken. 
 I follow the suggestions of our ablest commentators, having 
 t>een confirmed in them by examinations of my own. I will 
 seek to enforce them, also, with arguments of my own. I 
 will say, also, that I have very great confidence that we have 
 found here the fulfillment of this prophetic symbolism. 
 
 We may make the preliminary remark, that in searching 
 for events that meet the demands of this symbolism, we 
 should expect to find them in close connection with the 
 events predicted in the third vial. Indeed, we need not be 
 surprised if we find the fourth vial was poured out before 
 tl\e third, and even the second and first had spent themselves 
 upon the earth. That the events predicted in former vials 
 may, as it were, flow into, and be contemporaneous with, the 
 events of this. For instance, if we find the sore of the first 
 still upon men, and some of the battles on the sea and in Italy 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 35 
 
 occurring after the train of events here predicted, has opened, 
 we need not consider it as causing any confusion, or any 
 objection to our interpretation. The object of the seven vials 
 was not so much to trace distinctively marked consecutive 
 events in the order here introduced, as to show how differ 
 ent opposing powers, and the same powers in different locali 
 ties and under different circumstances, are to be put out of 
 the way. Even if the vials should not follow each other 
 exactly as they are named chronologically, it would not par 
 ticularly interfere with a clearly marked fulfillment in other 
 respects ; though we must expect that the general chronolog 
 ical order must be the same. 
 
 On the supposition, then, that our interpretation of the 
 third vial is correct, we shall, as a fulfillment of this, look for 
 wars more widespread, more destructive, more terrible, than 
 any we have yet contemplated. We find them in the wars 
 of Napoleon Bonaparte,* in other portions of the world. 
 There is no more terrible period in the whole history of the 
 civilized world, than that marked by Napoleon s accession to 
 the Chief Consulship, in 1799, beginning with the battles of 
 Marengo and Hohenlinden, in 1800, and ending on the field 
 of Waterloo, in June, 1815. Though the most Titanic 
 powers were not unchained, its fiercest blaze did not scorch 
 men, until, after the coup d etat, the Emperor met the com 
 bined powers of Europe, first at Ulm, and then at Auster- 
 litz, in 1804. 
 
 i. Let us then see if we can find anything in these wars 
 which meets the first demand of this symbolism. Is there 
 any resemblance between scorching men in the intensified 
 blaze of the sun,f and, in the blaze of battle, as presented to 
 the world during the existence of the French Empire ? We 
 are to remember that John knew nothing about the use of 
 gunpowder in modern warfare. God did not see fit to 
 reveal, beforehand, any of the great discoveries and inven 
 tions of science and art. His sole purpose seems to have 
 been to disclose to men his great scheme of redemption, 
 leaving it for the progress of human genius to discover and 
 utilize the great and wondrous secrets of nature. But he 
 
 * Note 18, Canto I, stanza 65. t See Poem, Canto I, stanzas 65-80. 
 
36 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 might disclose to his prophets, by appropriate symbols, some 
 of the effects of great scientific inventions, long before they 
 were brought to light. Such, we contend, he has done in 
 this case. For, supposing John, without the knowledge in 
 question, should have had his prophetic vision so sharpened 
 that he could have looked down through the vista of coming 
 ages, and have seen such a battle, for instance, as Marengo 
 or Hohenlinden, seeing the blaze of cannon and the flash of 
 musketry, 
 
 " Where the red fires of battle glowed," 
 
 with men fighting and falling amid the glare, what better 
 idea could he have formed of it, than that the fire-demon 
 had been let loose among men, and was slaying them by the 
 thousand ? What if his ear could have caught the dreadful 
 clamor of battle, and the blasphemies of the infuriated sol 
 diery rising above the groans of the dying, would it not have 
 added force to the impression thus made ? Supposing a 
 hundred battles, on as many different fields, some of them 
 five times as destructive as either of these, all occurring 
 within the short space of eleven or twelve years, could have 
 been condensed into a single view, and to it should be added 
 the glare of the conflagration of towns and cities, which so 
 frightfully attended some of Napoleon s wars, what a fear 
 fully thrilling picture would have been in his mind ! Would 
 it not have been the most natural thing in the world for him 
 to compare the terrible commotion, glare, blaze, rack and 
 destruction, to some supermundane agent even to some 
 potent influence flowing down from the sun, the source of 
 heat, and scorching the world in its blaze ? Would not the 
 resemblance be sufficiently striking to warrant the use of the 
 symbolism of our text ? We are sure that it would be, and it 
 will appear even more obvious as we proceed with our dis 
 cussion. 
 
 2. Our second remark was, that the calamities should be 
 general, not limited, as in the third vial, to a comparatively 
 small territory. As the sun affects the whole world, they 
 ought to, or, at least, a very large proportion of it. So the 
 work and influence of Napoleon did affect the whole civil- 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 37 
 
 ized world, and even further than this. Many half civilized 
 nations were scorched in the blaze of his genius. There 
 was not a nation in Europe that did not feel the weight of 
 his arms, and but one whose plains and mountains were not 
 shaken by the tramp of his invading hosts. His genius dis 
 played the imperial standards from the ramparts of Lisbon 
 and Madrid, from the grim heights of Smolensko, and from 
 the magnificent Kremlin of Moscow, from the towers of 
 Vienna and Berlin, on the defenses of Copenhagen and 
 Stockholm, and amid the Alp-bound vales of Switzerland. 
 And he did not scorn to flesh the blades of the imperial 
 legions on the half-naked barbarians of San Domingo. 
 England, at one time, dreaded the flash of his merciless 
 sword over her territory, leading on his invading hosts, more 
 than any other conceivable calamity. Even our own country 
 was not wholly exempt from fear, lest, having broken down 
 all the barriers to his ambition in the old world, the greedy 
 conqueror should attempt to plant the imperial standards 
 in the new. A wider influence was never attained by one 
 man, nor a wider waste and desolation under one leader. 
 So this demand of the symbolism of the fourth vial is sat 
 isfied by the events we are considering. 
 
 3. Our third remark was to the effect that scorching men 
 in the fire would indicate unusual severity in the calamities 
 predicted. We should expect that the suffering and destruc 
 tion of life and property would be unusually severe. This 
 was the case. To get an adequate conception of this terri 
 ble drama in the world s history, you must become familiar 
 with all the awful battles of that period. You must witness 
 the fearful onslaught of Moreau, in the woods of Hohen- 
 linden, when, before the battle, 
 
 " All bloodless lay the untrodden snow," 
 
 and see, amid the gloom of a winter s storm, the smoke of 
 battle, and the blaze of firearms, 
 
 " Where furious Frank and fiery Hun 
 Shout in their sulphurous canopy ; " 
 
 and the legions of Austria shattered in the fray, amid fear 
 ful slaughter, and the power of the chief consul extended. 
 
38 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 You must see the imperial armies of Austria surrounded and 
 captured at Ulm, and, soon after, behold the victorious Cor- 
 sican on the heights of Austerlitz,* directing the most bril 
 liant battle of his extraordinary career. There three of the 
 greatest armies of Europe, each led by an emperor, (viz. : of 
 France, Russia and Austria,) contended for the supremacy 
 of Europe. See how the " Sun of Austerlitz," as Napoleon 
 always afterwards designated that day, lighted up the fires of 
 a conflict hitherto unparalleled. Napoleon won the day, 
 but twenty thousand men went down in the conflict. As 
 one instance of terrible destruction of life, in these wars, 
 during this battle, the eagle eye of the Emporor discovered 
 two thousand fugitives flying across a frozen lake, to join 
 their friends ; he ordered his gunners to elevate their pieces 
 and pour a plunging fire of shot and shell on the ice; it was 
 broken both by the falling missies and the explosion of shells 
 beneath it, and the whole flying multitude perished. 
 
 " Amidst the shriek and gurgling groan, 
 The water claims them as its own." 
 
 You must see the two stupendous battles which crushed 
 Prussia, and ground her monarchy in the dust ; see 
 
 Jena and Auerstadt blaze next on the sight, 
 Twin furies of the same tremendous day.f 
 
 Then, soon after this, you must see the French eagle face the 
 Russian bear at Pultusk, Golymin, Hielsberg, Lansberg and 
 Liebstadt, where, in all, the Russian armies retired before the 
 victorious French. Then, as the awful climax of this winter 
 campaign of 1806-7, vou must see these two gigantic powers 
 grapple with each other, on the thunder-scarred and light 
 ning-scorched field of Eylau,J where a drawn battle left the 
 field in the possession of fifty thousand dead and wounded 
 soldiers. Then a few months after, you should see the army 
 of Napoleon, reinforced by a vast array of two hundred thou 
 sand men, and, in June, 1807, see the two great powers again 
 in a death struggle on the terrific field of Friedland, where 
 twenty-five thousand men went down in the shock of arms, 
 
 * Note 19, Canto I, stanza 65. t See Poem, Canto I, stanza 66. 
 
 % Note 20, Canto I, stanza 67. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 39 
 
 and the Czar was forced to the terms of the peace of Tilsit. 
 Then you must see the blaze of Napoleon s wars beyond 
 the Pyrenees,* in the long and bloody campaigns of the Penin 
 sula. See the fires of battle at the two sieges of Saragossa,f 
 in which sixty thousand men are said to have perished^ 
 Baylen, Reynosa, Burgos, Tuedela, and Corunna where Sir 
 John Moore fell, mortally wounded Talevera, Albuera, 
 Badajos, Salamanca, and red Vittoria, and other battles, 
 which set the whole peninsula ablaze with the fires of war. 
 These latter battles resulted disastrously to the arms of 
 France, because Napoleon was called to face more formid 
 able foes in the North, in 1809. Austria! had sent forward 
 large bodies of troops into the Tyrol and into Italy, and 
 Napoleon must meet her again. So, in harmony with his 
 usual tactics, instead of meeting them on the old fields of 
 his glory, where his young laurels had blossomed at Lodi and 
 Arcole, he aims at the heart of his foe, by pushing his 
 mighty armies, like an inundation of flood and flame, down 
 the valley of the Danube. The armies of Austria go down 
 before him at Abensberg, Landshut, Echmuhl,! and other 
 minor points. As a consequence of this series of brilliant 
 victories, the great conqueror enters Vienna in triumph, a 
 second time. But the Austrians rally nobly, to crush the 
 invaders, and, at Aspern and Essling,** towns on the flanks 
 of the battle-field, he lost the first great battle of his life. 
 He retreated, by his bridges, back to an island in the Dan 
 ube, where he fortified himself, and, though in the extremest 
 peril, recuperated and concentrated his armies, from the 
 other side of the river and from Vienna, which still remained 
 in his possession, and prepared for the awful battle of 
 Wagram,f f where he annihilated the Austrian Empire, and put 
 fifty thousand men hors du combat. From this point you must 
 see the horrors of war increasing. You must follow Napoleon 
 in his fearful campaign to Moscow,JJ in which, during both 
 the advance and retreat, by battle, cold and hunger, he lost 
 over four hundred and fifty thousand men, besides destroy 
 ing many thousands of his foes. Ninety thousand fell in the 
 awful battle of Borodino alone. Follow that vast inun- 
 
 * Note 21, Canto I, stanza 68. t Note 22, Canto I, stanza 68. 
 
 \ See Canto I, stanzas 68-70. Stanzas 70-72. || Note 23, stanza 73. 
 
 If Note 24, ibid. ** Note 25, ibid. ft Note 26, Canto I, stanza 74. 
 
 *t Note 27, Canto I, st anza 75. 
 
40 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 dation, its van wrapped in the flames of battle and of burn 
 ing towns set on fire by the Russians themselves, to prevent 
 them from giving aid to the enemy, see its climax capped 
 with the wide glare of the flames of burning Moscow, and 
 tell me, if some malign power had not been commissioned 
 to scorch the world. Napoleon returned, humbled, to 
 France. The sun of his glory was waning. But it had not 
 yet lost its power to scorch men.* He repented not of his 
 great ambition. He levied another army in France, vast in 
 numbers, though he had to " rob the cradle and the grave " 
 to do it. The powers of Europe combined to crush him. 
 Yet he won brilliant battles at Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden, 
 and others of less importance. At length, at Leipsic, more 
 than half a million men met in the awful shock of battle. 
 For three terrific days the conflict raged, and one hundred 
 and ten thousand soldiers fell in the strife. Napoleon was 
 defeated. His retreat was fearfully destructive, as he, 
 having been so universally successful, took little precaution 
 to guard against disasters on a retreat. But many more 
 battles were fought, and he still dazzled the world with his 
 victories. Nevertheless, the allies closed in on Paris, and 
 March 31, 1814, Alexander entered the city. The little 
 island of Elba,f in the Mediterranean Sea, was given him 
 in exchange for the Empire of Europe. He staid there but 
 eleven months, when an uprising in France recalled him.\ 
 The nation rallied around him again. Louis XVIII. left 
 his throne, without a blow struck in its defense. Napoleon 
 took possession, and the famous hundred days of the restored 
 Empire astonished the world. He soon after met and 
 defeated Blucher on the field of Ligny. But, in a few days 
 after,|| his sun, which had scorched men so fearfully, went 
 down in the cloud and flame and tempest of Waterloo.*!" 
 His retreat was a worse defeat than the battle, and, in a few 
 days more, the allies were again in possession of Paris. The 
 greatest military genius the world ever saw, was now ban 
 ished for life to that desert island in middle of the Southern 
 Atlantic.** Look at the foregoing picture, and tell me, if the 
 
 * Note 28, Canto I, stanza 77. t Note 29, Canto I, stanza 78. 
 
 % Note 30, Canto I, stanza 78. Note 31, Canto I, stanza 79. 
 
 II Note 32, Canto I, stanza 80. ^ Note 33, Canto I, stanza 81. 
 ** See Poem, Canto I, stanzas 81-83 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 4! 
 
 demand of the symbolism of our text is not fully met if 
 scorching men with a great heat be any too strong a figure. 
 
 4. Our fourth point : Were the nations on whom these 
 calamities fell, made any better by them ? They blasphemed 
 the name of God, which had Jjie power over these plagues, 
 and repented not, to give him glory. It is a well known fact 
 of history, that impiety, blasphemy and atheism were never 
 more prevalent than in the republican, and afterwards impe 
 rial, armies of France. It was France that " Resolved, that 
 there is no God, and that death is an eternal sleep." Has she 
 repented of her sins ? Has Paris, the great Sodom of modern 
 times, repented of her sins ? Behold her infatuated people 
 abandoning themselves to the furies of a popular insurrec 
 tion ! Before the thunder-cloud has rolled away, which has 
 desolated her provinces, dismembered her territory, and laid 
 a quarter of a million of Frenchmen in bloody graves, or 
 left their unburied bones to bleach on the field, those infatu 
 ated multitudes are tearing each other. Read the history of 
 Paris during the last half century. Have her people brought 
 forth fruits meet for repentance ? Ah ! gay and licentious 
 city, the curse of God is upon thee. Has the nation 
 repented of its mad ambition to dominate the world ? Have 
 Germany and Switzerland repented of their atheism, infi 
 delity and profanity? Does a nation of Sabbath breakers 
 afford good and satisfactory evidence that they have hum 
 bled themselves under the mighty hand of God ? Has 
 Russia repented of her grasping ambition ? She affords 
 little evidence. Have supporters of ecclesiastical despotism 
 repented of their pretensions and purposes ? Let the his 
 tory of their recent councils and decrees answer. When the 
 Pope is exalting himself into the place of God, and pro 
 claiming his own infallibility, it looks very little like repent 
 ance. When many are revolving another crusade to enforce 
 papal rule upon the unwilling necks of the people of the 
 Papal States, it shows that the supporters of ecclesiastical 
 despotism have not yet relinquished their insane idea of 
 propagating the religion of Jesus with the sword. They 
 repented not, to give him glory. Ah ! no, ye despots of the 
 world, your tottering thrones and upheaving kingdoms must 
 receive other vials of wrath, before ye repent. Your tiaras 
 
42 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 and scarlet robes must be scorched by other fires, before ye 
 relinquish your insane ambition. I shall speak further on 
 this topic under the next vial. 
 
 5. My last remark on the symbolism of the fourth vial 
 was, that, while these calamities would tend toward the 
 destruction of religious despotism, they would not tend to 
 that exclusively. They have affected other interests, and 
 avenged other sins. The campaigns in Italy were mainly 
 battles between Roman Catholic powers, so that, whichever 
 side was beaten, the defeat fell on such a power. But these 
 wider campaigns smote Protestant as well as Catholic coun 
 tries, while all tended, at the same time, to the destruction 
 of despotism. But we shall study this point, also, more on 
 a future occasion, so we will leave it here. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 43 
 
 V. 
 
 ROME, THE SEAT OF THE BEAST, IN PROPH 
 ECY; OR, DESPOTISM AS A HINDRANCE TO 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 Now turn, my muse, to that old throne of power. NOTE 33, CANTO I, STANZA Si. 
 
 And the fifth angel* poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast ;f 
 and his kingdqm was full of darkness : and they gnawed their tongues 
 for pain, 
 
 And blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their pains and their 
 sores. REV. xvi. 10-11. 
 
 THIS passage will furnish us with a wide range of topics 
 that are of great interest to us now, as, if our former inter 
 pretations are correct, we are now seeing the effects of the 
 outpouring of the fifth vial. To present the subject as its 
 .nterest demands, I shall have to spend several evenings 
 upon it. 
 
 As this vial, being poured out upon the throne of the 
 beast, was to affect despotism, directly, we will now speak of 
 that, and some of its prophetic symbols, as used in other 
 parts of the book of Revelation. We will ascertain the 
 meaning of the phrase, STT rov -frpovov rov dypiov. We shall 
 show that rov tinpiov symbolizes despotism. 
 
 i. We remark, then, in the first place, if we were looking 
 for a symbol to shadow forth despotism, in all its forms, 
 modes and extent, we could not find anything in nature, 
 that would meet the demand. We must resort to some mon 
 ster of the imagination, to find an adequate symbol. What 
 principle has been more influential and varied ? We speak 
 of it as a principle, and not as a form of government. It is 
 the disposition to tyrannize over others to hold their lives, 
 property and conscience in the power of another. It is the 
 
 * Note 35, Canto I, stanza 88. t Note 36, Canto I, stanza 89. 
 
44 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 same principle, whether we find it in the heart of the abso 
 lute monarch, or in that of the king, whose power is limited 
 by the forms of a constitutional government. It is the same, 
 whether it exist in the heart of a single man, or of a class of 
 men ; the same, when it assumes control of the conscience, 
 as when it restrains the body; the same in church as in 
 state ; and the same in a republic as in a monarchy ; so far as 
 it enters into and controls these various forms of polity. We 
 find it sometimes, in its most odious forms, in social life, and 
 in the family. The history of the world is one, almost unin 
 terrupted story of one man, or class of men, or one nation, 
 striving to conquer and enslave another. The greed of 
 power lies at the bottom. It adopts the code of the wild 
 beast, viz. : that might makes right. Three-quarters of all 
 the wars in history have been undertaken at its instigation. 
 It was that which launched so many mighty armies from the 
 gates of old Babylon, and bound the chain around so many 
 nations, to form the old Assyrian Empire. The greed of 
 power stimulated the frightful wars of Alexander the Great, 
 so called. This was the animus of Antiochus, who figured 
 so largely in the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old 
 Testament. It fired the zeal, falsely called patriotism, of 
 the Carthaginians, in their wars of conquest. It spread the 
 Roman power over nearly the entire known world. It exer 
 cised the vast genius of Julius Caesar. The love of power 
 propagated the religion of Mahomet. Fourteen millions 
 perished at the shrine of the ambition of a Jenghiz Khan. 
 
 So we may conclude that it must be a potent influence for 
 dreaded evil, that will spur men to do such deeds as have 
 been done against it. Look at little Greece, rolling back, 
 before the spears of her valor, the vast tides of Xerxes army, 
 numbering three millions of souls. Stand among the Alps 
 and witness the brave Switzers unending struggle for the 
 maintenance of civil liberty. Go down into Piedmont, and 
 see what the Albigenses and Waldenses suffered. See what 
 battles the Dutch fought, for liberty, with the armies of 
 Philip II. of Spain. On the other hand, when despotism is 
 aroused to crush out liberty and true religion, and clothes 
 herself with a false religion, what nameless deeds of horror 
 has she not perpetrated ! The rise of the Dutch Republic 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 45 
 
 tells you a story, which fills every generous heart with indig 
 nation against the despot, and with admiration for the 
 brave Netherlanders. See the Huguenots of France crushed 
 down under the heel of political and religious despotism ; 
 witness the horrors ol St. Bartholomew s day, and then, if 
 you will, turn and see France suffering the frightful penalty 
 of those crimes against humanity and religion to-day. Hear 
 the pibroch of Scotland, sounding among her valleys, and 
 calling her sons, from age to age, to repel her invaders from 
 the south. Follow the armies of Cromwell through their 
 desperate struggles with the despotism of Charles I., while 
 the nation was suffering the throes of the birth of constitu 
 tional government. Condense three-quarters of all the wars 
 of the world, with all their tears, and groans, and blood, and 
 death, with their desolation of provinces and their flam 
 ing cities, towns and hamlets, into one horrid picture, con 
 ceive of despotism as being the presiding genius of such a 
 picture, and see if you can think of a symbol horrid enough 
 to represent it. Think what a hell it has created in this 
 world, and you will have to ransack the infernal regions, and 
 study its nameless shapes of horror to find a fitting symbol 
 for it. Do you wonder, if John says this monster ascended 
 from perdition ? Do you wonder when he says it shall go 
 into perdition ? To see it, along with death and hell, 
 plunged into the lake of fire, was the culmination of John s 
 mysterious vision. Millions are now looking for the mil 
 lennium. Shall despotism cease during that happy period ? 
 Yes, and before it can commence ; for it must be taken out 
 of the way of the progress of the world toward that happy 
 day. With this impression of despotism as a hindrance to 
 the progress of Christian civilization in your minds, look at 
 John s symbolism, and see if it is adequate. He first intro 
 duces it to our notice, in the twelfth chapter, as the great red 
 dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, standing ready to 
 devour the woman s offspring as soon as it should be born. 
 He had seven crowns upon his heads, and his tail drew after 
 him a third of the stars of heaven, and cast them down. I 
 have no doubt but this monster represents political despotism, 
 with that of Pagan Rome for its prototype, in its attempt to 
 subvert Christianity with the sword. When the Empire 
 
46 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 became nominally Christian, the form of despotism changed, 
 and another symbol is employed. This you find in the thir 
 teenth chapter. A beast rose up out of the sea, having 
 seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, 
 and upon his heads the names of blasphemy. He was like 
 a leopard, and his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his 
 mouth as the mouth of a lion ; and the dragon gave him power 
 and his seat, and great authority. This symbolizes some power 
 taking the place of the dragon, as the possessive pronoun avm^ 
 referring to power and seat, belongs to the dragon, /. ^., it was 
 the dragon s power and seat that were given to the beast. 
 Thus, Pagan despotism resigned its power and throne to 
 another form. No doubt, this symbolizes the despotism of 
 the Empire, after it abandoned Paganism, and professed 
 Christianity, but perverted it to the purposes of despotism, 
 to crushing down, with an iron heel, all that did not subscribe 
 to the creed of the Empire Pagan Rome surrendering the 
 sword of persecution into the hands of Christian Rome. 
 Nearly the same symbols are used, the seven heads in both 
 monsters denoting the seven mountains on which Rome 
 stands ; the ten horns denoting the ten tributary kingdoms, 
 or, as some have it, ten forms of administration ; the seven 
 crowns denoting seven kings, in the one instance, and the 
 ten crowns denoting ten kings in the other. Thus it was 
 through the Empire that ecclesiastical despotism controlled 
 the consciences of men. But, again, when the Empire was 
 subverted, it is plain that some other symbol should be used 
 to designate the persecuting power principally at Rome ; 
 for this power gained in influence as the secular power 
 of the Empire waned. So, further on in the chapter, we 
 have a symbol of this power, in the second beast, which 
 came up out of the earth, "And it had two horns, like a 
 lamb, and he spake like a dragon. And he exercised all the 
 power of the first beast before him." But you will observe 
 that he must do it in a different manner. Before the 
 destruction of the Empire, the political and ecclesiastical 
 powers were one, in both Pagan and Christian Rome, but, 
 afterwards, when it was divided into a number of smaller 
 empires and kingdoms, the despotism of Rome must exer 
 cise its political jurisdiction, through different channels, and 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 47 
 
 by different appliances, though none the less effectually. It 
 is now the one beast, but the ecclesiastical idea seems to 
 predominate. Its mode of administration is suggested in the 
 symbolism, the two horns of a lamb. The lamb signifies the 
 appearance of gentleness and meekness, which the Papacy 
 has always put on, in the exercise of its tyrannical and san 
 guinary powers ; while the two horns symbolize the political 
 and ecclesiastical prerogatives exercised by Rome. The 
 ecclesiastical administration was nearly the same as under 
 the Empire, while the civil must be wielded through the 
 many kings which owned the supremacy of the Pope. Its 
 hold, however, was upon the people, rather than upon their 
 rulers, as it always has been. The second beast spake just 
 as the dragon had spoken, decreed extermination upon all 
 that questioned its exorbitant pretensions. The one beast 
 is all-sufficient to symbolize that terrible power. What it 
 decreed, was inexorable law, and must be unrelentingly 
 executed, alike under the Empire and under the administra 
 tion of the second beast. The kings of the earth were its 
 servile ministers. Yea, they were compelled to it, for the 
 Papacy had more influence over the superstitious masses of 
 Europe, than the most popular kings ever could have. An 
 interdict laid upon a kingdom, outlawed the king, and made 
 it, not only the privilege, but the duty, of his subjects to kill 
 him. Instances of such licensed regicide are not wanting in 
 the annals of the Papacy. 
 
 But in the lapse of time, the assaults of the Reformers, 
 and the progress of the age, very much modified the prerog 
 atives of this power, so that it could not be symbolized by 
 one beast, wielding two administrations. The hierarchy has 
 lost much of its influence over kings, so that, instead of 
 their being subject to its dictation, it has become a creature 
 of their sufferance. Now, a different symbol is required. 
 That is furnished in the seventeenth chapter, in the summary 
 of the history of ecclesiastical despotism, there furnished. 
 The Prophet is carried away, in the spirit, into the wilderness, 
 and he sees a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored beast, 
 full of the names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten 
 horns; and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet 
 color, decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, 
 
48 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and 
 filthiness of her fornication, and upon her forehead was a 
 name written, " MYSTERY, BABYLON, THE GREAT, THE 
 MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." 
 The prophet also sees the woman drunken with the blood of 
 the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. 
 This woman represents ecclesiastical despotism, intoler 
 ance, the same power which had its principal seat upon the 
 seven mountains of Rome. Yet, how changed in its form ! 
 From a furious beast, with the paws of a bear, and the jaws 
 of a lion, with which, in its own power, it could grapple with 
 the nations, and rend and devour them, to a beautiful, aban 
 doned woman, dependent, for her influence, upon her charms 
 and wiles, her lures, traps, and intrigues, by which she 
 ensnares and holds her victims, sitting upon the back of 
 political despotism, supported by it, dependent upon it, 
 bolstered up by its bayonets. This describes religious des 
 potism for two or three hundred years past. It has been 
 dependent upon the will of various sovereigns, for the exe 
 cution of its decrees. Let me ask if there could be a better 
 symbol of the Papacy, as it now exists, than is afforded by 
 this abandoned woman, dependent, for her influence, upon 
 the display of her ornaments, and borne on the back of civil 
 power. But this figure, taken in connection with others, 
 shows that the ecclesiastical power is being separated from 
 the civil. There was no way of separating the two in the sym 
 bol of the beast. But there is a very obvious way in which 
 it can be done in this symbolism. The monster may fling 
 the rider from his back. He has done this several times, 
 already, and the Pope has been compelled to fly from Rome. 
 And the time will come when the rider will be forever cast 
 down, for the ten kings shall finally hate the woman, and 
 make war upon her.* Then shall the strong angel cry, amid 
 the jubilation of disenthralled millions, and the hosannahs 
 of those souls, upon whose blood the woman had made herself 
 drunken, " Babylon, the Great, is fallen, is fallen ! " and this 
 shall be the end of religious despotism. No religious body 
 shall ever thereafter persecute. The followers of Christ will 
 then have learned better learned that the peaceful religion of 
 
 * Rev. xvii. 16. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 49 
 
 Jesus is not to be, and cannot be, propagated with the sword. 
 But it will not be the end of civil despotism, as a hindrance 
 to the progress of Christianity. We find a beast alluded to 
 in this chapter, as " the beast that was, and is not, and yet 
 is." As the old red dragon of Pagan Rome, it was, and is 
 not ; but, as the same power, under different administrations, 
 it yet is. Mortally wounded on a thousand fields, its deadly 
 wounds are healed. Cast down to hell, it rises again from 
 the Stygian waves, and curses men with its presence. This 
 old dragon appears again in the nineteenth chapter, as Satan 
 himself rallying the kings of the earth to his bloody standard, 
 armed with hell s furies, fires, and thunders, burning with 
 wrath, that the empire of the world is slipping from his 
 grasp. The man upon the white horse appears in heaven, 
 with "vesture dipped in blood." Then comes the cry of the 
 angel standing in the sun, to the fowls of heaven, " Come 
 and gather yourselves together to the supper of the Great 
 God." The man on the white horse descends; the armies of 
 heaven follow him, on white horses. They rally all the armies 
 of the church militant to the war. Angels, men and devils 
 are arrayed, w r ith hostile front, against each other. They stake 
 the supremacy of the world on one great battle. The last tem 
 pest before the dawn breaks over the world the beast and 
 false prophet are taken and cast, alive, into the lake of fire, 
 burning with brimstone myriad myriads of their followers 
 are slain with the sword ; the fowls of heaven are filled with 
 their flesh ; the devil is bound and cast into hell a thousand 
 years, and earth salutes her descending Lord and King. 
 This is a brief synopsis of the history of despotism, as fore 
 shown in the symbols of this prophecy. There are points in 
 it, which I shall call up and discuss more fully, as I proceed. 
 But I desired to bring before your minds, the one power, des 
 potism, running through the whole history of the Church, 
 until the commencement of the millennium. 
 
 To trace some of the effects of the outpouring of the fifth 
 vial, in history, shall be my next business. 
 
 Let us then remark on this vial : 
 
 i. The calamities foreshadowed by it must come in 
 immediate connection with those already noticed, and be a 
 part in the chain of events tending to the same general 
 result. 
 
50 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 2. We should expect that they would fall directly upon 
 the source, common center, or seat of influence of the evil 
 powers at which all these vials are aimed. Therefore, as 
 Rome has been, and is, the chief center of despotism as the 
 most disastrous forms of it in modern times have been stim 
 ulated by the example of old Rome, in the desire of ambi 
 tious men to restore the old Empire and as it is now the 
 seat of the most formidable ecclesiastical despotism the 
 world ever saw, we should expect that the disasters would 
 first fall upon that city or more directly, upon the powers 
 having their seat there. 
 
 3. That, as the Pope is the head of despotic influence 
 there, they must affect him very disastrously. 
 
 4. That there must be something in them to suggest the 
 propriety of the symbolism something which, in some sense, 
 resembles darkness. 
 
 5. That revolution and war would constitute important 
 features of the calamities. 
 
 6. But that, while this is so, they must consist, widely and 
 deeply, in something else, and proceed, not only from the 
 influence of the fifth vial, but from all the rest combined, as 
 allusion is made, even back to the first, as a cause for them. 
 
 7. That they must be very severe, as they gnawed their 
 tongues for pain. 
 
 8. That, as the two forms of despotism political and 
 ecclesiastical have everywhere been closely united, and, as 
 the vial was poured out upon the source of vitality, they 
 v/ould affect despotism, more or less, in all parts of the 
 Christian world. 
 
 9. But that they would not work the destruction of 
 either, only tend to that result by greatly weakening both, 
 reserving this grand result until after the outpouring of the 
 seventh vial. 
 
 10. We are not led to expect that they would make the 
 chief parties, and, especially, those at Rome, where the vial 
 was poured out, any better, for " they blasphemed the God 
 of heaven, for their pains and their sores, and repented not 
 of their deeds." 
 
 We will reserve the consideration of these remarks to our 
 next lecture. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 51 
 
 VI. 
 
 WE have pursued this subject far enough to note several 
 very important observations before proceeding directly to 
 the subject in hand. 
 
 1. That the outpouring of the vials* or, perhaps, we 
 should better understand ourselves, if we should say, the 
 bringing into active operation the causes symbolized by 
 their outpouring, as historic forces, while they may, though 
 possibly not necessarily, succeed each other, in the order in 
 which they are named need not be at regular intervals of 
 time. The symbolism, w r hile it does not forbid, does not 
 require it. One may succeed another so quickly the two 
 may seem to be so nearly contemporaneous that it may be 
 difficult to determine their chronological order. This may 
 be observed of the first and second vials ; and, if we notice 
 the first and the fifth, as associated together in our text, by 
 the allusion in the fifth to the sores, we shall be almost at a 
 loss where to put the fifth, after the first. But this may 
 come from the fact, that we have scarcely passed the epoch 
 of history marked by the fifth. 
 
 So, again, between others, there may be a marked interval 
 of years, as, beyond doubt, there is between the sixth and 
 seventh. 
 
 2. We may observe that the causes symbolized, which 
 are to produce the fearful calamities, need not, necessarily, 
 be instantaneous in their preparation. Some may be 
 gradual, like the rise of a river, swollen by rains, which 
 sweeps away cities on its banks, and inundates large tracts 
 of country. Others may require years, yea, centuries, of 
 preparation, as the long attrition of the waters of Niagara 
 finally undermined Table Rock, and it fell, with a crash, into 
 the chasm below.. The cause and the effect must not be 
 confounded. The outpouring of the vials are causes ; the 
 
 * Note 37, stanza 91. 
 
52 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 calamities which follow, are the effects both adequately 
 symbolizing historic forces and events. Thus, the falling 
 rains and the attrition of waters are causes ; the destruction 
 of cities and the falling of the rock are effects. 
 
 3. Again, the effects of the outpouring need not imme 
 diately appear, nor at the same intervals of time, in each 
 case. The taking effect of various causes, in history, may 
 be similar to their preparation. To illustrate : some poisons 
 introduced into the animal system, take effect almost instan 
 taneously, while others may be months and years in pro 
 ducing death. Thus, if seven different poisons, varying in 
 their rapidity of operation, be given to seven different indi 
 viduals, successively, the seventh may be first to die, because 
 the poison given to him, might be the most active. So, if 
 the effects of these vials should appear, in their fulfillment, 
 to be somewhat mingled, one event coming before, which, 
 according to the chronological order of the vials, should 
 have come after another, this need not cast discredit upon 
 the fulfillment of the symbols. 
 
 4. We may observe, again, that the time when the effects 
 of each vial shall cease to be traceable in history, need not, 
 necessarily, follow the order of the vials. Thus, if we find 
 the sore of French atheistic republicanism still afflicting the 
 bodies politic of the nations, long after the waves of the sea 
 have lost their bloody tinge, the rivers and fountains have 
 run clear, and the sun has ceased to scorch the nations, we 
 need not feel that the symbolisms are at all impaired. 
 
 5. Neither need we be surprised, if the effects of one 
 vial become the causes of another. This is the order of 
 sequence in the natural world. Every cause is the effect of 
 some other cause, running back, until we reach the great 
 First Cause. 
 
 Feeling the force of the foregoing observations, we shall 
 not wonder, if we find the events, which are the fulfillment 
 of these prophetic symbols, somewhat involved, nor need it 
 shake our faith, if we do. 
 
 We will now discuss the points named in our last lecture, 
 as meeting the demands of this symbolism. 
 
 i. Our first remark was that the calamities foreshadowed 
 should come, clearly in connection with the events of the fore- 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 53 
 
 going vials, and be a part of the chain of events tending to 
 the same general result, /. e., to the destruction of civil and 
 ecclesiastical despotism.* The vials plainly foreshadowed a 
 series of connected events, interdependent upon each other, 
 all, undoubtedly, aimed at the destruction and removal of 
 obstacles in the way of the progress of pure Christianity over 
 the world. We have found that political and ecclesiastical 
 despotism have been, pre-eminently, the two great hindering 
 causes, and we shall expect that the events foreshadowed 
 here must fall heavily upon them. This was the case, as we 
 shall see, in the progress of our discussion. 
 
 2. Our second remark was, that these calamities must 
 fall directly upon the source, common center, or seat of 
 influence, of these powers. f On the hypothesis, that the 
 beast, in its various forms and modes of administration, as 
 seen by John, symbolized political and ecclesiastical des 
 potism, in their bearing upon the progress of Christianity, 
 can we find anything in the events which occurred in con 
 nection with those already mentioned, which will answer the 
 demand ? We think we can, and those clear enough to sat 
 isfy any reasonably candid inquirer, whose theories do not 
 compel him to an opposite opinion, regardless of evidence. 
 We have no hesitancy in endorsing the theory, that Rome, 
 the city of the seven hills, is the place where this vial was 
 poured out, as being in harmony with, and demanded by, 
 our previous expositions. Here were the causes generated 
 which have resulted in the solemn, interesting, and, to the 
 enemies of God, the fearful events foreshadowed by the 
 symbolism of the fifth vial. And a point that I have not 
 seen noticed by any writer, is well worth mentioning here, 
 and that is, that there must have been a nearer connection 
 between the first and fifth vials, than between any of the 
 others and the fifth. This is demonstrated by an allusion, in 
 our text, to the sore which was the effect of the outpouring 
 of the first vial. The wars of Napoleon, upon the Papal 
 power, were, no doubt, largely assisted by the atheistic 
 republicanism of France the sore of the first vial. This 
 had been working upon the masses of Europe, particularly 
 
 - * Note 38, Canto I, stanza 92. t Note 37, Canto I, stanza 92. 
 
54 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 in Italy. We should, hence, expect, and we shall find, that 
 French influence was largely instrumental in bringing about 
 the calamities of this vial of wrath. 
 
 Before proceeding further, I cannot do better than to give 
 place here to an interesting prediction of an old commen 
 tator, Mr. Fleming, in an exposition of these chapters, pub 
 lished about 1700, quoted by Barnes. I cannot quote it in 
 full. He entered upon his calculation, that the fifth vial 
 would be poured out in 1794, and last till 1848, when the 
 Pope would be banished, and the Papacy greatly weakened, 
 but not destroyed, as other vials were yet to be outpoured. 
 It is worthy of remark, that this covers the period from the 
 first Italian Republic to that which succeeded the French 
 Revolution, in 1848, both of which were affected by the 
 leaven of French republicanism. Also, that, in 1851, the 
 Pope was restored by France, though greatly shorn of power. 
 
 For an extended account of the events which followed 
 the outpouring of this vial, I refer you to Alison s History 
 of Europe, Volume I, pp. 542-547 a passage which, a? 
 remarked by Albert Barnes, could hardly have been more 
 fittingly worded, if it had been written out on purpose for 
 the history of the fulfillment of this vial. No one, who has 
 read Alison, will, I think, accuse him of writing in the inter 
 est of this interpretation, as his sympathies were, decidedly, 
 with the Papal powers, though not a Papist himself. It is an 
 entirely unconscious witness to the foresight of prophecy. I 
 can only give a synopsis of the passage here. It was under 
 the instigation, and by the help of the French Directory, 
 that Rome was revolutionized.* It had long been its object 
 of ambition, to plant the tricolor in the city of Brutus. 
 The situation of the Pope, since the wars in Italy, had been 
 extremely precarious, as the northern provinces were under 
 the dictation of the French Republic, thus cutting him off 
 from the active sympathy of Austria, which was then his chief 
 supporter. I pointed out the effects of these Italian cam 
 paigns upon the Papacy, in my exposition of the third vial. 
 It was now a favorable time for the outpouring of the vial of 
 wrath upon the seat of the beast. The Papacy, deprived of 
 its military support, impoverished in its treasuries by pre- 
 
 * Note 40, Canto I, stanza 92. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 55 
 
 vious conflicts, would be an easy victim to the plague of 
 French republicanism, which had been working and spread 
 ing among the people of the Papal States, until the Papal 
 throne was like a city on the heaving sides of Vesuvius, just 
 before an eruption which breaks forth and sweeps all to 
 destruction. The explosion came on the seventeenth of 
 December, 1798. A great crowd was assembled at the 
 French consulate. A collision occurred between the Papal 
 troops and some of the insurgents, who, on that occasion, 
 openly wore the provoking tricolored cockade, and several 
 were killed, among whom was Duphot, a member of the 
 French Legation. This aroused the insurgents to open hos 
 tilities. Being technically a violation of the law of nations, 
 it called the armies of the French Republic to the gates of 
 Rome. On the fifteenth of February, 1799, a great crowd 
 was assembled in the Campo Vaccino the ancient forum 
 and, amid the cries and tumultuous cheers of the populace, 
 the venerable ensigns of ancient Rome S. P. Q. R. after 
 a lapse of fourteen hundred years, were again displayed and 
 floated to the winds. In the language of Alison: "The 
 multitude tumultuously demanded the overthrow of the 
 Papal authority ; the French troops were invited to enter ; 
 the conquerors of Italy, with a haughty air, passed the gates 
 of Aurelian, defiled through the Piazza del Popolo, gazed on 
 the indestructible monuments of Roman grandeur, and, 
 amid the shouts of the inhabitants, the tricolor flag was 
 displayed from the summit of the Capitol." Thus the Papal 
 government was subverted,* and the ftoman Republic, as it 
 was styled, was inaugurated as the first direct effects of the 
 outpouring of the fifth vial. The revolution spread, and 
 Papal authority was speedily extinguished in all the Papal 
 States. 
 
 3. In the light of the above, it is easy to see the truth of 
 our third remark, viz. : That, as the Pope is the head of 
 despotic influences at Rome, he must, of necessity, be the 
 chief victim of these calamities.! Whatever revolutionizes 
 a kingdom, must, necessarily, involve its sovereign. He was 
 ordered to retire into Tuscany, under French, instead of his 
 
 * Note 41 Canto I, stanza 92. t Note 42, ibid. 
 
56 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 Swiss, guards, and to dispossess himself of all temporal 
 authority. He refused to comply. Force was soon called 
 in ; he was dragged from the altar in his palace ; his reposi 
 tories were ransacked even his rings were taken from his 
 fingers the whole effects in the Vatican and Quirinal were 
 seized and inventoried, and he was conducted, in great igno 
 miny, with only a few domestics, into Tuscany. Thence he 
 was dragged about in exile, until in the month of August. 
 Then, from the hardships of travel in the mountainous 
 regions of the Appenines and of the Alps, the old man 
 expired. Thus ended the Pontificate of Pius VI. His lamp 
 went out in darkness, amidst the tempests of civil and eccle 
 siastical revolution. 
 
 4. This brings us to our fourth remark : That the dark 
 ness which followed the outpouring of this vial, must sym 
 bolize something in these calamities, which, in some sense, 
 resembles, or would suggest, natural darkness. That the 
 friends of the Papacy must have been in great doubt and 
 perplexity in the midst of such unpropitious events, is the 
 most rational expectation in the world. The plague now 
 invades the very sanctum sanctorum of the Papacy, already 
 stunned and weakened by the effects of the former vials of 
 wrath, and drives out the sovereign Pontiff. What greater 
 and more humiliating disasters could fall upon the head of 
 the Papacy ? If there were no power to turn aside the fiery 
 inundation from France, what power could now roll it back, 
 repair its damages, and restore the treasures which French 
 soldiers had taken from the world s repository ? Surely, his 
 kingdom was full of darkness. Even the people of Rome, 
 after the Pope was driven from the chair of the Papacy, were 
 in a state of the utmost confusion and foreboding. Berthier, 
 who commanded the French troops when they took posses 
 sion of Rome, writes to Napoleon : " I have been in Rome 
 since this morning, and I have found nothing but the utmost 
 consternation among its inhabitants." As events progressed, 
 they did not realize what they hoped from a Roman Repub 
 lic : for the greed of France soon absorbed the Papal States 
 and Southern Italy, as it had already absorbed the Northern 
 States, under the illusory professions of establishing freedom 
 for the people, where blood had so stained the rivers and 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 57 
 
 the fountains, and the condition of the people, under French 
 dictation and domination, was scarcely less tolerable than 
 under that of the Pope. And what can better describe the 
 condition of the Papal States under Napoleon, after he had 
 become Chief Consul and Emperor, than to say that they 
 were full of darkness ? All efforts to stay his aggressions, 
 abortive ; every barrier they had erected, sinking under the 
 weight of his iron hand, where was the visible hope of that 
 power from what point in the political heavens, now dark 
 as hades, could they look for light to break forth ? 
 
 5. We are prepared by the above, to consider our fifth 
 remark, viz. : That revolution and war would constitute an 
 important part of these calamities. 
 
 It is, however, worthy of remark, that the great battles 
 which have involved the fate of the Papacy, have not been 
 fought in the hearing of the seven hills. Thus, the first 
 Italian revolution was a logical consequence of the battles 
 of Northern Italy of Lodi, Arcole, Rivoli, and many others. 
 And that which kept the Papacy in a state of servile depend 
 ence upon the will of the Emperor Napoleon, and its 
 kingdom full of darkness and doubt, was his astounding 
 successes in the awful battles of the period when men were 
 scorched, as it were, by the heat of the sun. Thus, during 
 the seventy-five years of its subsequent history, up to the 
 present time, which are supposed to be covered by the sym 
 bols of this vial, so far as they relate to the seat of the 
 Papal domination, all the great battles which have weakened 
 that power, and brought it where it is to-day, have been out 
 of hearing of Rome, with few exceptions. Great upheavals 
 in mid-ocean have sent their waves, thundering and crash 
 ing, against the walls of the Eternal City, until, at length, 
 they have broken them down, and overflowed the seven hills. 
 The disasters of 1848 were effects of the great tidal wave of 
 revolution, heaved up in France and rolled over the city of 
 the Caesars. The battles under the leadership of Garibaldi, 
 which shred away from the Pope a number of the States of 
 the Church, were fought, principally, in Sicily and Southern 
 Italy. The battles of Magenta and Solferino, which con 
 firmed the Italian crown, including several more of the 
 States of the Church, to Victor Emmanuel, were foudit under 
 3* 
 
58 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 the Alps, out of hearing of Rome. The collision of great 
 powers, compared to which the troops of the Papal States 
 were but a small handful, brought about these results. One 
 of the most terrible blows which the Papacy has received in 
 modern times, was struck at Sadowa, where one of the two 
 strongest, and almost its only, supporters, was struck down 
 by Protestant Prussia. This fearful campaign separated 
 Lombardy from the Austrian crown, and gave it to Victor 
 Emmanuel an excommunicated son of the Church. And 
 the last great blow, which culminated at Sedan, has stricken 
 down the other power, whose bayonets held the Pope in his 
 place, viz., the French Empire ; and to-day his capital and 
 kingdom are both in the hands of his rebellious son, Victor. 
 The leniency of the Italian Parliament toward the Holy 
 Father, which some deplore, will, doubtless, tend more to 
 disarm reactionists, and secure to the Italian crown a perma 
 nent possession of Rome, than that severity which would 
 again drive him into the hardships of exile. Thus, while 
 revolutions and wars have clamored around Rome, they, as 
 from the nature of the symbolism we should not expect they 
 would, have not proved as severe as those foreshadowed 
 under other symbols. Yet, it must not be forgotten that 
 the Papal Government has repeatedly become so odious to 
 its subjects, that it has been revolutionized by the sword, 
 and driven* from its capital at the point of insurgent bay 
 onets. That no great battles have been fought around the 
 walls of Rome, to accomplish this, only shows how low that 
 power had sunk under the repeated shocks of former 
 reverses. He who once could have called the armies of all 
 Europe around the seven hills, if that had been necessary, 
 to defend his prerogative, could now call to his support but 
 a contemptibly small army, a mere squad, in comparison 
 with the mighty armies which won or lost the great battles of 
 Europe, during that unprecedentedly stormy period. Poor, 
 sickly Spain gave Napoleon more trouble than all the power 
 which the Pope could call to his especial aid, though he was 
 the so-styled Sovereign Pontiff of Christendom. Yet, his 
 overthrow, under Garibaldi, was still more humiliating. In 
 the revolution of 98, and for some time after, Spain and 
 Austria were taxing all their powers for existence against 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 59 
 
 the aggressions of France and Napoleon. If they did not 
 send him many troops, it was because they could not. But 
 now, France, Austria and Spain, and other minor powers, all 
 professed friends of the Pope, were at liberty, and nothing 
 but the will was wanting, to send more than enough troops 
 to crush both the armies of Garibaldi, and of Victor 
 Emmanuel, too, if he should oppose them in helping the 
 Pope. The fact that they did not do this, shows how little 
 influence the Papal power had. France afforded her tardy 
 aid, just enough to keep the army of Garibaldi from entering 
 the Eternal City; that was all; while she consented to see 
 the Pope robbed of nearly all his kingdom, for the benefit of 
 Victor Emmanuel. 
 
 6. This prepares the way for our sixth remark, viz.: That 
 while revolution and war must be expected to result from 
 this outpouring, the calamities must consist, widely and 
 deeply, in something else, and that this must proceed, not 
 only from the fifth vial, but also from all the previous vials, 
 especially from the first, as allusion is made to it in our text. 
 We can allude to but one among many of these effects, and 
 that is, to the progress of liberal ideas not so immediately 
 dependent upon great civil convulsions, which is surely rob 
 bing the Papacy of its power and prestige in the world. 
 Men are learning that this polity belongs to a former period 
 of the world s history. They might submit to it during the 
 dark ages, but now they are rising above those superstitious 
 fears with which the Papal power has held such unlimited 
 sway over the World for fifteen hundred years. Men begin 
 to see that countries under Papal and Jesuitical influence do 
 not keep abreast of the age. In this view, then, every new 
 railroad built, every steamboat that plows waters where such 
 crafts have been comparative strangers, every printing press 
 put in operation, every free school house built the dread 
 and abhorrence of Jesuits, every advance of Protestant 
 churches, every step towards liberalizing the constitutions of 
 kingdoms, every limit set to kingly prerogative, is a loud 
 tocsin in the ears of ecclesiastical prerogative. 
 
 And here, I may as well say, that whatever is symbolized 
 by the contents of the vials, it need not be intrinsically evil. 
 If its effects prove disastrous to the powers on which it is 
 
63 I X T R O D U C T O R Y LECTURES. 
 
 poured, the conditions of the symbolism will be satisfied. 
 If we suppose, then, that the contents of the fifth vial sym 
 bolize the spirit of inquiry and independence of thought 
 which distinguishes the present age, and, although subject to 
 many abuses, as all good things are, in this world, is the 
 impelling power of the age, we should not do violence to the 
 symbol. It is surely a vial of wrath, a sore, a mortal enemy 
 to all forms of despotism, poured right on its very throne of 
 power, and will surely work its destruction. As men learn 
 to think and act for themselves, they will cast off the tram 
 mels which despots of every class and grade would throw 
 around them. The open Bible, which this spirit is giving to 
 the world, which teaches the law of equality and love, is 
 the greatest enemy, yea, I may say, the principles drawn 
 from its inspired pages are the only enemies, of despotism. 
 For, while it teaches submission to the powers that be, as 
 ordained or permitted of God, it lays its most crushing 
 interdicts upon political or spiritual lording it over God s 
 people. The Jesuits are plotting, and they will continue to 
 plot as long as they have an existence, and they will, no 
 doubt, instigate reactions in favor of despotic prerogative, as 
 they seem likely to succeed in doing in Austria, with the 
 imbecile Francis Joseph, but the spirit of free inquiry, amid 
 the increasing light of the age, will, in the end, prove more 
 than a match for them, and they will go down before the 
 armies of heaven, which come on the white steeds of liberty 
 and virtue. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 6l 
 
 VII. 
 
 AMERICA IN PROPHECY. 
 
 REV. xvi., 10, ii. 
 
 MY seventh remark, regarding the fulfillment of this pas 
 sage, was that the calamities following this outpouring, must 
 be very severe, as the men having the mark of the beast 
 "gnawed their tongues for pain." This indicates extreme 
 suffering.* The Greek word, rendered gnawed here, is 
 found nowhere else in the New Testament, and but once in 
 the Greek version of the Old Testament by the Seventy. 
 There can scarcely be any stronger symbolism of pain, 
 than is found in this. Several special remarks regarding 
 it may, perhaps, quicken our apprehensions of its force in 
 the application. 
 
 i. We may regard this suffering, in an important sense, 
 as the culminating result of all the previous vials. We have 
 already alluded to this feature. This symbol is, probably, 
 an allusion to extreme thirst so extreme as to force men to 
 gnaw their tongues for pain. Take all the symbols, thus far 
 presented, in their bearing upon this anguish, and see if the 
 prophet has not made out a strong case. Men are smitten 
 with a noisome, grievous sore or plague. Such a disease 
 must, of course, be cutaneous. All cutaneous diseases are 
 more or less inflammatory, and will produce fever and thirst. 
 With burning bodies, we may suppose they go to the sea 
 side for the cool breezes which fan its coasts, to cool the 
 smarting sore. But the angel s wings have been over the 
 sea ; its waters are red with blood, and its basin a vast, hid 
 eous sepulchre of the dead. They fly, in horror, from the 
 great, surging hades, to escape further contagion. Their 
 thirst impels them. They hasten to the cool, mountain 
 
 * Note 43, Canto I, stanza 43. 
 
62 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 valleys, to assuage their thirst in those sweet rivers and 
 fountains which flow perennial from their unfailing sources. 
 But alas! the footsteps of the angel of death have been 
 there, and changed their waters into blood, while the land 
 reeks with the stench of the slain. Horrors ! Blood to 
 slake their burning, maddening thirst ! While they are look 
 ing here and there for relief, and, it may be, are meditating 
 flight to the mountain tops to find it amid their eternal 
 snows, the angel smites the sun, and his flaming rays scorch 
 their already smarting bodies, and intensify their horrible 
 thirst. 
 
 O where is there covert in this hour of trial ? 
 
 What glen, or what cavern, can shelter afford? 
 O how can they flee from the flames of that vial ? 
 
 Say, how can they scape the fierce wrath of the Lord ? 
 
 Will they fly to the ocean, and hide in its billows ? 
 
 Ah, no ! for its waters are reeking with blood. 
 Will they seek the cool streams, neath the sheltering willows? 
 
 No ! no ! for contagion fills fountain and flood. 
 
 Yet men, in their madness, repent not, but blaspheme the 
 name of God, which hath power over these plagues. While 
 cursing and casting about for relief in vain, the fifth vial is 
 poured out, the sun, as if his rays had been consumed by the 
 previous burning, is veiled in sackcloth, and a horrible 
 darkness covers them with its pall. Is there wonder that by 
 this time we find men gnawing their tongues in the mad 
 agony of their pains ? 
 
 2. Remark a little further on the actual seventy of the 
 calamities indicated by this symbolism. If we note that 
 the rapacity and ico^oclasm* of the revolutionists, assisted 
 by the French soldiers, far outstripped the Goths, Vandals 
 and Huns, which of old had subverted the Western Empire, 
 and even the Saracens and Turks, who subverted the East 
 ern, we may increase the vividness of our impressions. They 
 out-vandaled the Vandals. The clergy, and the nobles who 
 were also generally supporters of the Papacy, were stripped 
 of everything; and those who were not put to death, were 
 driven into exile. Many of the venerable monuments of 
 
 * Note 44, Canto I, stanza 94. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 63 
 
 antiquity, which the northern barbarians had spared, were 
 ruthlessly torn down. The iconoclasts re-enacted the scenes 
 of Antwerp in the seventeenth century ; and even that won 
 drous structure, the Church of St. Peter, narrowly escaped 
 destruction. Alison says : " The spoliation exceeded all that 
 the Goths and Vandals had effected. Not only the palaces 
 of the Vatican and the Monte Cavillo, and of the chief 
 nobility of Rome, but those of Castel Gondolfo, on the 
 margin of the Alban Lake, of Terracina, the Villa Albani, 
 and others in the environs of Rome, were plundered of every 
 article of value. The whole sacerdotal habits of the Pope 
 and Cardinals were burned, to collect from the flames the 
 gold with which they were adorned. The Vatican was 
 stripped to its naked walls ; the immortal frescoes of 
 Raphael and Michael Angelo remained, in solitary beauty, 
 p.mid the general desolation. A contribution of four mill 
 ions [pounds] of money, two millions of provisions, and of 
 three thousand horses, was imposed on a city already 
 exhausted by the enormous exactions it had previously 
 undergone. Under the direction of the infamous commis 
 sary, Haller, the domestic library, museum, furniture, jewels, 
 and even the private clothes of the Pope, were sold." Amid 
 this accumulation of disasters, the symbolism of gnawing 
 their tongues for pain, does not appear too strong. Of 
 course, we shall understand that this anguish was mental, 
 and not, of necessity, wholly, or largely, physical. 
 
 3. Still more, if we cannot see enough in these calamities, 
 to justify this strong symbolism, we may remember, that we 
 have, probably, not seen all that is foreshadowed. All was 
 not realized in the revolution of 98. Other revolutions have 
 since succeeded. Thrice has the Pope been compelled to 
 leave his capital ; and all know his condition to-day. What 
 may yet be in store for him, of course, we do not know ; but 
 of this we may be well assured, from what has already 
 passed, that the full cup of this anguish must be drained by 
 those men who have written the names of blasphemy so 
 thickly upon the seven hills. 
 
 I will call attention now to my eighth remark on this sym 
 bolism, viz. : That, inasmuch as these two forms of despotism 
 have been closely united during their joint existence, if this 
 
64 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 vial be poured upon their seat or source of life, it must affect 
 both forms throughout the world. This is self-evident, and 
 needs no argument to prove it. If the heart be touched, the 
 whole body must, of course, suffer. It remains for us to 
 trace the subject further in history, and see if such has 
 been the case. Have great calamities fallen upon political 
 and ecclesiastical despotism, since 1798, in other parts of the 
 world ? I must remind you, again, that we do not trace all 
 the calamities which we shall name, to the fifth vial, but to 
 others, in connection. It will be remembered, that some of 
 the battles foreshadowed under the third vial, occurred after 
 the above named year; and all the wars of Napoleon, as 
 foreshadowed by the fourth vial, after that date. I have 
 alluded to, and shall speak again of, their fate in France, 
 Italy and Austria, in the course of current events. I call 
 attention to Spain, where despotic government and religious 
 intolerance have lately been overthrown ; also, to England, 
 where there has been a steady, and, for. staid Englishmen, a 
 rapid advance towards the full recognition of the rights of 
 the masses. There have, also, been encouraging signs of 
 progress in other and minor nations of Europe. But one 
 of the most cheering indications is the manumission of the 
 serfs in Russia, without bloodshed. When we heard of that 
 great Exodus from Slavery, we felt like shouting across 
 the seas : 
 
 Imperial Russia, hail to thy great Czar, 
 Who spake the word, and serfdom ceased to be, 
 Without arousing the dread fiends of war ; 
 My native land extends the hand to thee. 
 Thy forty million serfs, at once made free, 
 With our enfranchised sons of toil, may raise 
 Their psalms of Freedom, borne above the sea, 
 To our predestinating God, and praise 
 The goodness that foreshows his wondrous works and ways. 
 
 This was a great advance. But a great work must yet 
 be done in that extensive Empire before its Emperor shall 
 become only the executive of the will of the people ; and we 
 will hope that all her advances may be as peaceful as this. It 
 would be interesting to trace, more minutely, this advance 
 in Europe ; but I must leave the subject here. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 65 
 
 During the course of my preparation of the poem, to 
 which these lectures are designed to be, mainly, introduc 
 tory, a. friend asked me : " Do you find America* in Proph 
 ecy ? " I told him I had what seemed to me a plausible 
 theory on that point. I purpose to present it here.f I have 
 a good deal of confidence that it is true. But let me say, 
 that I do not profess to be sustained by authority. My 
 hypothesis must stand or fall on its own merits, as it is not 
 bolstered up by any great names. 
 
 Let me refer the reader back to the twelfth chapter of 
 Revelation : J 
 
 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven ; a woman clothed with 
 the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 
 twelve stars : 
 
 And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be 
 delivered. 
 
 And there appeared another wonder in heaven ; and behold, a great 
 red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his 
 heads. 
 
 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast 
 them to the earth ; and the dragon stood before the woman which was 
 ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. 
 
 And she brought forth a man-child, who was to rule all nations with a 
 rod of iron : and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. 
 
 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place pre 
 pared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred 
 and three score days. 
 
 And there was war in heaven : Michael and his angels fought against 
 the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his angels, 
 
 And prevailed not ; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 
 
 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, 
 and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world : he was cast out into the 
 earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 
 
 And I heafd a loud voice, saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and 
 strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ : for 
 the accusers of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our 
 God, day and night. 
 
 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of 
 their testimony : and they loved not their lives unto the death. 
 
 Therefore, rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the 
 inhabitants of the earth, and of the sea ! for the devil is come down unto 
 you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short 
 time. 
 
 * Note 45, Canto I, stanza 100. t Note 46, Canto T, stanza 100. 
 
 $ Note 47, Canto I, stanza 102. 
 
65 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he perse 
 cuted the woman which brought forth the man-child. 
 
 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she 
 might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a 
 time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 
 
 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, after the 
 woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 
 
 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and 
 swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 
 
 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war 
 with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, 
 and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 
 
 I have already called your attention to the dragon, as a 
 symbol of civil despotism, as exercised in the persecutions 
 of Pagan Rome, such an awfully malicious and bloody 
 power, that John further designates it as the Devil and 
 Satan. I showed that it was the same power, under modified 
 administrations, which is designated in the seventeenth 
 chapter, as "the beast that was and is not, and yet is." I 
 hinted at the fact that this beast, political despotism, as a 
 hindrance to the progress of a pure Christianity, would be 
 the last to go down under the shock of the armies of heaven, 
 on white horses. We may call this dragon the symbol of 
 that which has another name, and that is " KINGLY preroga 
 tive," as interpreted by absolutists. It means the same as 
 that to which we have already called attention. In such a 
 connection, a few notes on the symbolism will be interesting 
 and profitable, though not coming directly under my subject. 
 The prophet says, "there was war in heaven." Satan had, 
 as of old, come up to present himself before God. Kingly 
 prerogative claims that kings reign by divine right. Why 
 not? God says in His Word, "By me kings reign." But 
 if we had His own interpretation of this expression, we 
 should, beyond a doubt, find it destructive of the claims of 
 absolutism. The first king which the Bible tells us of being 
 chosen by divine direction, was given to His people as a 
 mark of His wrath. It would be pretty hard work to estab 
 lish the divine right of kings from such examples, surely. 
 This claim was contested in heaven.* Michael and his 
 angels warring with the dragon, cast him down to earth, 
 
 * Note 49. Canto I, stanza 105. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 6/ 
 
 though he had drawn after himself one-third of the stars, 
 who became the fallen angels, always on the side of wrong 
 and oppression. Heaven repudiated the claim, and earth 
 must become the theatre of the contest. " They overcame 
 him by the blood of the Lamb ; " /. e., by the power of a 
 Christianity embodying the great work of atonement, des 
 potism is to fall. A woe* is uttered against the inhabitants 
 of the earth, because the devil is come down among them, 
 filled with great wrath, because he knoweth his time is short ; 
 / . e., heaven having solemnly repudiated the claim that one 
 man may be born with the right to rule over the body and 
 soul of another, and that being proclaimed to the inhabitants 
 of the earth, they will soon repudiate it too. 
 
 Let us refer, here, to the woman, f clothed in the sun, with 
 the moon under her feet, having upon her head a crown of 
 twelve stars. All agree that this woman symbolizes the 
 Church, or that body of men that receives and practices the 
 doctrines of Christ and his Apostles, a glorious woman, 
 clear as the sun, fair as the moon, and terrible as an army 
 with banners. " She was persecuted by the dragon." Des 
 potism has instinctively recoiled from the pure religion of 
 J esus ; and in the Roman Empire it was a matter of State 
 policy with her most politic Emperors, to suppress it, if pos 
 sible, and they sought to do it by bloody persecutions. 
 They foresaw what it would do to the Empire. It was this 
 instinct which led that power, when it found that Christianity 
 could not be crushed, to corrupt it, and make it a Ganymede 
 to pander to the lusts of kingly prerogative. So the great 
 significancy of the conversion of the Roman Empire from 
 Paganism to Christianity, consisted in the acknowledgment 
 that it had become too strong to admit of a hope of its ever 
 being crushed by violence. The symbols of the sun, moon 
 and stars, must not be pressed too far. They simply show 
 the great glory with which the Church is yet to be sur 
 rounded and crowned. 
 
 When the dragon began to persecute the woman, after he 
 was cast down, she made her firstt flight to the wilderness, 
 
 * Note 50, Canto I, stanza 106. f Note 51, ibid. 
 
 + Note 52, Canto I, stanza 106. 
 
63 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 where she should be nourished a thousand two hundred and 
 three score days. Go with the Church of Christ, after the 
 Papacy was fully installed on the seven hills ; follow her into 
 the vales of Piedmont, tracking her by the blood of her 
 martyrs ; listen to her solemn prayers and praises among the 
 fastnesses of the Alps, whither she was driven by persecu 
 tion ; hear her groans in the dismal dungeons of the Inquisi 
 tion of Spain ; see her flying to the glens of Scotland ; 
 behold the smoke of her torture rising from the blood 
 stained fields of Bohemia, where the martyr, Huss, was 
 burned at the stake as a witness for Jesus; see her contend 
 ing, with unparalleled bravery, for existence on the dykes of 
 Holland; follow her, in later times, in her second flight 
 across the stormy Atlantic, in the cabin of the Mayflower, 
 to this then vast wilderness, and tell me if you could find a 
 happier symbol of her than John has here furnished us. 
 
 I call your attention, before proceeding further in this 
 line, to the period of the woman s exile.* The days are 
 symbolic of years twelve hundred and sixty years at 
 the expiration of which she and her offspring should cease 
 to be exiles, and become the aggressors upon the persecut 
 ing powers of despotism. Of course, the only difficulty in 
 knowing when this event shall come, consists in determining 
 when the period began. The task of fixing the exact date 
 of the full installation of the Papal power as a politico- 
 religious despotism, as symbolized by the second beast, is 
 difficult, if not impossible. Authorities differ by a number 
 of years. But all Protestant expositors, so far as I know, 
 place this event near the beginning of the seventh century, 
 when ecclesiastical prerogative made exceedingly rapid 
 advances. Some of the dates at which various authorities 
 have fixed this, are as follows: 538, 588, 606, 610 and 629. 
 Adding the 1260 years to each of these numbers, gives us 
 the following remarkable dates: 1798, 1848, 1866, 1870 and 
 1889. It may be remarked that the dates for the begin 
 ning of this power, were fixed by the different authorities in 
 years when, according to the same authorities, the Papacy 
 had made some large advance. I cannot stop to point them 
 
 * Note 53, Canto I, stanza 106. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 69 
 
 out here. The destruction of the Papacy has been pre 
 dicted for all these years. It is worthy of profound atten 
 tion, that the year 1798 saw the first Italian revolution, 1848 
 saw the second, 1866 saw Sadowa, 1870 saw Sedan, all of 
 which were tremendous blows upon the Papacy. What may 
 occur in 1889, just one hundred years after the outpouring 
 of the first vial, remains for the future to disclose. All see 
 what has been accomplished. Political and ecclesiastical 
 liberty have been installed in the Eternal City, and the Bible 
 is freely circulated under the shadow of the Vatican, from 
 which so many bulls of suppression have been thundered 
 forth in the name of religion. Has the Church yet fully 
 returned from her exile in the wilderness? Or have civil 
 and religious liberty yet to receive and repel other shocks ? 
 I think they have. I do not pretend to predict, but I expect 
 that whoever of us may live twenty years, will see a des 
 perate effort made to restore the Papacy, undoubtedly by 
 arms, as that is their usual resort. The Jesuits are preach 
 ing another crusade. The battle of Armageddon is yet to 
 be fought, and they may be the leaders on the side of the 
 Papacy. When, or how, this must occur, we may not know. 
 Perhaps a vast army of loyal Roman Catholics will be gath 
 ered together from all parts of the world, into Italy, around 
 the walls of Rome. "Where the carcass is, there will the 
 ravens be gathered together." Victor Emmanuel, or his 
 successor, would not stand alone in opposition to such a 
 gathering. Millions would be arrayed against each other. 
 The seventh vial will be outpoured, and the powers of des 
 potism will go down in the shock, never to rise again in the 
 Christian world; and Rome, or that which answers to the 
 symbol, will be destroyed in the great earthquake, either of 
 nature, or civil strife. Then shall the Church come up from 
 the wilderness, leaning on the arm of her Beloved, Religious 
 Liberty leaning on the arm of Civil Liberty, her first born 
 child. 
 
 I ask the reader to contemplate, one moment longer, this 
 remarkable prophetic period. Think of these calculations 
 of men who lived years before these great events occurred. 
 Look over the whole civilized world, and see how it conforms 
 to their expectations. Witness the great revolutions that 
 
70 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 are occurring. See ancient prerogatives destroyed, sceptres 
 broken, crowns torn from kingly brows, and robbed of their 
 jewels, the royal purple of kings stained, dishonored, covered 
 with ignominy ; hear the crash, as tottering thrones are fall 
 ing, one by one ; hear the thunder, as the political heavens 
 of great and proud empires pass away ; hear the roar of the 
 waves, as they dash against the ancient bulwarks of des 
 potism ; see those bulwarks falling ; see religious liberty 
 unfurling her banners over the ruins of the fallen thrones of 
 her despotic persecutors ; see the Church hastening from her 
 long exile, and where is the stark-mad scepticism that shakes 
 the head, in doubt that those lightnings, and thunders, and 
 voices are the same which John saw and heard on Patmos, 
 almost two thousand years ago. Great God, we reverently 
 bow before the march of Thine Omnipotence, and acknowl 
 edge the voice of Him 
 
 " Who plants his footsteps on the sea, 
 And rides upon the storm." 
 
 Thus far I have been sustained in my exposition, on the 
 chief points, by our standard authorities. The hypothesis 
 I now advance, is quite a wide departure from all, so far as 
 I know. It is with reference to the application of the man- 
 child,* born of the woman. Some say that it foreshows the 
 increase of the Church. Some say that this child was a 
 symbol of Christ himself. The true hypothesis, probably, is, 
 that it foreshows constitutional liberty, as embodied more 
 perfectly in the government of the United States. Perhaps 
 it will be allowable to call it constitutional government. I 
 wish it clearly understood that I propose to prove, merely, 
 that if it was the design of the prophet to foreshow this 
 form of government, the symbolism is well adapted to that 
 purpose. 
 
 It does not appear, to my satisfaction, that the birth of 
 one child could be interpreted as symbolical of a great 
 increase of the family of God in the world. While, if it 
 should be made to symbolize the evolution of some potent 
 principle in human affairs, the symbolism would seem more 
 
 * Note 54, Canto I, stanza 109. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 71 
 
 appropriate. Besides, if this symbolize the mere increase 
 of numbers, it will be difficult to explain the meaning of the 
 child being caught up unto God and unto His throne. If it 
 denote increase of the Church, then it is a part of the 
 woman herself that was thus caught up, as the woman sym 
 bolizes the Church, which would be an incongruity hardly to 
 be admitted. 
 
 Let us, then, briefly examine the symbols in connection 
 with this, and see whether they will sustain the hypothesis, 
 that the man-child represents a government of free insti 
 tutions, as it finds its nearest embodiment in our own. 
 We will take them in their order, as mentioned in their 
 connection. 
 
 1. This would most satisfactorily explain why the dragon 
 stood ready to devour the child as soon as ever it was born. 
 Despotism, symbolized by the dragon, and such a govern 
 ment, where all the citizens are equal before the law, are 
 mortal enemies. They cannot co-exist. One must destroy 
 the other. All know that the instincts of despotism have 
 ever been to destroy republicanism as soon as ever it has 
 been born. 
 
 2. All know that our republican government, so far as it 
 is purely republican, was mainly the offspring of the Church 
 which came to these shores in the cabin of the Mayflower. 
 And, as^ yet, no other government, so nearly answering 
 to the ideal of a model republic, has been given to the 
 world. 
 
 3. The child should rule the nations with a rod of iron, 
 that is, his influence was finally to become strong and con 
 trolling over the world. This does not necessarily demand 
 that this, or any other republic, or form of civil government, 
 should extend its empire over the world by intrigue or 
 arms. The symbol will be entirely fulfilled, if its influence 
 should mould the destiny of other nations. What are the 
 facts with reference to this point ? Does not every school 
 boy know that the influence of the United States is revolu 
 tionizing the world ? It is true that there have always been 
 aspirations in the human heart after liberty, but not until the 
 blessed doctrines of Jesus began to permeate the masses, 
 were they after an equal liberty for all. The reoublics cf 
 
 TJHIVBESITY 
 
72 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 Greece were sustained upon a system of the abject slavery 
 of large masses of the population. The republics of Car 
 thage and of Rome had similar defects in their internal 
 constitution, and only became powerful by ceaseless success 
 ful aggressions upon their neighbors. The Dutch Republic, 
 so admirably set forth by Motley, came very much nearer a 
 realization of the ideal, because it was so strongly leavened 
 ivith the Christianity of the Bible. But it did not approxi 
 mate the ideal so nearly, nor attain so commanding an influ 
 ence, as our own republic. 
 
 We may see, from the above, that the symbolism of ruling 
 the nations with a rod of iron (or with a wide and control 
 ling influence) is fully satisfied by the Republic of North 
 America. This subject might be indefinitely extended, but 
 I must hasten. 
 
 4. This also better explains the child s being caught up 
 to God and to His throne. The Church gave birth to the 
 principle, but wandered in the wilderness a thousand years 
 before any extensive attempt was made to form a Christian 
 Republic. But the principle was preserved by the especial 
 oversight of God, as if it had been protected by the shadow 
 of His eternal throne, until the time of the exile of the 
 Church should cease, when it should assert its sway in the 
 world. I have already noticed the flight of the woman into 
 the wilderness, and her stay. In due time her son should be 
 restored to her, and she and he religious liberty, as "enjoyed 
 in the true Church of Christ, and constitutional government, 
 the offspring of Christianity Mother and Son shall go forth, 
 hand in hand, to rule the world, casting their sunlight over 
 its shadows, or cheering its night with the mild radiance 
 which shines from the stars which glitter in her crown. Is 
 not the day coming ? Is it not almost here ? 
 
 5. We find that the dragon, after the conflict described 
 in this chapter, which probably foreshadows the times of 
 Luther, filled with wrath, renewed his aggressions in fearful 
 persecutions of the woman. It was after this that the awful 
 persecution of the Huguenots, in France, assumed its most 
 atrocious form, terminating in the infamy and horror of St. 
 Bartholomew s Day, enacting one of the most stupendous 
 crimes in history. After this, too, Spain, in the meridian oi 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 73 
 
 her glory and power, waged her atrocious wars against the 
 Dutch Republic. And let it be remembered that it was from 
 Holland that the Church, in the Mayflower, first started in 
 her flight to this country, and from France that the Huguenots 
 came, who settled in various parts of the Carolinas, and 
 planted Christian institutions there, flying from the persecu 
 tion of the dragon of despotism. 
 
 6. I ask attention to a still more striking symbolism. 
 After the dragon had renewed his persecutions upon the 
 woman, to her were given two wings of a great eagle,* that 
 she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where " she 
 is nourished a time and times and a half time from the face 
 of the serpent." This is the same period, under a different 
 symbol, that is mentioned in the sixth verse. As interpreted, 
 a year, two years, and a half year, which would be the forty 
 and two months of Daniel. Thirty days to the month would 
 give us the 1260 days already mentioned. This is called her 
 second flight because it is different from anything heretofore 
 recorded of her. We contend that this symbolizes her flight 
 to this country. I find that I am sustained here by Andrew 
 Fuller, who remarks on this passage, " If one place was more 
 distinguished than another as affording shelter for the woman 
 during this, her second flight, I suspect it was North America, 
 where the Church of Christ has been nourished, and may con 
 tinue to be nourished, during the remainder of the 1260 years." 
 But the most striking feature of the symbolism seemed to 
 escape him the two wings of a great eagle. I demand of 
 any who may be skeptical, if it can be rationally called a mere 
 coincidence that the Church, thus flying into the wilderness, 
 has given birth to a great Republic, whose national symbol is 
 the king of the air. Not as it was perched upon the stand 
 ards of old Rome and of some modern nations, but with his 
 wide pinions spread in grand and rapid flight. / dare not 
 call it a coincidence. And when I look at the device which 
 I have often seen, of a great strong eagle, bearing on his 
 back, between his wide-spread wings, the Goddess of Liberty, 
 personated by a beautiful woman, wrapped in the starry 
 splendors of our national banner, and wearing upon her sweet 
 
 * Note 55, Canto I, stanza in. 
 
74 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 brow the escutcheon of the nation, on which appear the stars 
 and stripes which glitter on the flag, I think of that beautiful 
 woman of prophecy, " clothed with the sun, and the moon 
 under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars," 
 flying to the wilderness on " the two wings of a great eagle, 
 where she is nourished for a time and times and a half time 
 from the face of the serpent." 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 75 
 
 VIII. 
 
 AMERICA IN PROPHECY. Continued. 
 REV. xvi. 10, n. 
 
 I MAY as well ask here, if it was the design of Revelation 
 to disclose, by appropriate symbols, the future history of the 
 world, as it relates to the progress of Christianity and its 
 final triumph, is it not highly probable, that a nation, that 
 has had such an influence as ours, in breaking down the bar 
 riers to such progress, would be set forth by some important 
 and striking symbolism ? I answer, unhesitatingly, it is, and 
 I will give my reason. 
 
 I affirm, what must seem reasonable to all, that a country 
 of such vast extent, such unbounded resources, such great 
 population, as this is likely to sustain which has already 
 done more for the spread of a pure Christianity, and weak 
 ened the powers of despotism more than any other nation 
 could not have been overlooked by the All-seeing Eye, when 
 he wrote that book which John saw in the hand of Him 
 which sat upon the throne. It, therefore, seems to me nearly 
 certain that the symbolism we have been considering, has 
 reference to this country. 
 
 It will appear still more plainly, as we proceed. 
 
 We find that, after the woman s second flight, "the serpent* 
 cast out of his mouth water as a flood, after her, that he 
 might cause her to be carried away of the flood." This is a 
 very interesting and important passage. It contains a pecu 
 liar symbolism, and requires something unusual in the 
 conduct of the powers of despotism, to explain it. Barnes 
 says : " The figure here would well represent the malice of 
 the Papal body against the Church, in those dark ages when 
 
 * Note 56, Canto I, stanza 115. 
 
76 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 it was sunk in obscurity, and, as it were, driven out into the 
 desert. That malice never slumbered, but was continually 
 manifested in some new form, as if it were the purpose of 
 Papal Rome to sweep it entirely away." This exposition, 
 though having great weight, is still unsatisfactory. I find 
 nothing in the history of the Church, during the dark ages, 
 which might not have been repeated a half score of times, at 
 all calculated to satisfy the demand of the symbolism. There 
 was no great movement of floods sent out from the bosom 
 of despotism, to drown the Church, which would seem to me 
 to justify this figure. 
 
 This chapter is a synopsis of all that comes after it ; and 
 the events shadowed in this symbolism, should not occur in 
 the dark ages, but much later. In order to substantiate my 
 views, I call attention to the general structure of the whole 
 book. After five introductory chapters, containing epistles 
 to the seven Churches of Asia, and other important matters, 
 three ets of symbols, of seven each, run through the rest of 
 the book: ist. The opening of the seven seals, with which 
 the book in the hand of Him who sat upon the throne, was 
 sealed. 2d. The seven trumpets. 3d. The seven vials of 
 the wrath of God. Each set of symbols ends with the final 
 consummation of all things. For instance : the opening of 
 six seals of the book, occupies the sixth and seventh chapters, 
 and, together with the opening of the seventh seal, gives us 
 a general glance of the whole history of the Church. In the 
 eighth chapter, the prophet enlarges upon the events of the 
 seventh seal, by the introduction of the seven trumpets. He 
 does not repeat anything back of the seventh seal, but speci 
 fies, more particularly, what he has already, in a general 
 manner, hinted at. The next three chapters are filled with 
 a description of the sounding of these trumpets. The 
 account of the sounding of the seventh, is found in the 
 last part of the eleventh chapter, in the following language : 
 " And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great 
 voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are 
 become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ, and He 
 shall reign forever and ever." This brings us, also, to the 
 close of the contest, which must, consequently, carry us for 
 ward over the events covered by the seven vials. Com- 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 77 
 
 mencing with the twelfth chapter, a more minute delineation 
 of events already hinted at, is given, and the fuller history 
 of the Church disclosed in the seven vials. Thus, the open 
 ing of the seventh seal includes all that is comprehended in 
 the sounding of the trumpets and the outpouring of the 
 vials. The sounding of the seventh trumpet includes all 
 that is comprehended in the seven vials. 
 
 You will observe that the twelfth chapter introduces a new 
 series of visions, and, as Barnes says, is properly introduc 
 tory to all that comes after, as we have called it a synopsis 
 of the whole. There is, therefore, no necessity of looking 
 for the fulfillment of the passage we are considering, in the 
 dark ages of the Church. I think it comes more naturally 
 towards the close of the period, largely, as I am contending, 
 during the period covered by the fifth vial. After coming to 
 this conclusion, I was very happy to find the following in the 
 writings of Andrew Fuller : " The flood of waters cast after 
 the woman by the dragon, and the war upon the remnant of 
 her seed, referring, as it appears, to the latter end of the 
 twelve hundred and sixty years, may be something yet to 
 come." 
 
 With reference to the flood of waters, you find that the 
 abandoned woman of the seventeenth chapter is represented 
 as seated upon many waters. The angel himself, in that 
 chapter, interprets this symbolism to John : " The waters 
 which thou sawest are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, 
 and tongues." If the floods of waters there means multi 
 tudes of peoples, it must mean the same here. The power 
 which persecuted the woman, sent after her a multitude of 
 men, of nations, and peoples, and tongues, to overbear her, 
 live her down, sweep her away as with a flood. Note, 
 narrowly : 
 
 i. That these waters were cast out of the dragon s mouth, 
 or from the midst of the power which overspread so large a 
 portion of Europe. The multitudes went, at the instigation 
 or command from his mouth. They were separated from 
 the place where he had his seat, as if the woman having 
 fled beyond where he could go after her in person he 
 should send his emissaries after her, in great multitudes, to 
 destroy her. 
 
78 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 2. That there was no country in Europe into which this 
 power had sent its emissaries to suppress the true Church, in 
 sufficient numbers to justify this figure. Hence, it does not 
 relate to anything that has yet occurred there. 
 
 Let the hypothesis be kept in mind, that the dragon repre 
 sents the persecuting powers of despotism, which see in the 
 true Church a mortal enemy, and are striving to destroy 
 both her and her offspring, and we will see if there is any 
 thing in the history of our own country which justifies such 
 a symbolism. 
 
 1. The vanguard of the floods, which came to this 
 country at the behest of despotism,* were the negroes the 
 victims of American slavery. It was the minions of des 
 potism from over the sea that planted slavery here. No 
 matter if it was Protestant England. She was under the 
 curse of the dragon s power, and had not yet been emanci 
 pated from ecclesiastical despotism, for she persecuted. 
 Besides, let us remember that it was not so much ecclesi 
 astical as political despotism, which was active against the 
 liberties of mankind in those days, here, which will justify 
 the use of the dragon as a symbol, instead of the beast 
 which is afterwards introduced. So despotism sent here its 
 multitudes of blacks, as essential to the system of slavery 
 that was to blight our name, blacken our annals, and 
 threaten our existence. That this came from the heart of 
 the dragon, no one can doubt. 
 
 2. Then, after the Church had been nourished here in 
 this wilderness for one hundred and fifty years, and God was 
 about to restore her offspring, constitutional liberty, to her, 
 English and Hessian armies, sent here in the service of des 
 potism, swarmed our lands and darkened our waters, to 
 swallow up the man-child that was about to commence his 
 career in the world. It was England s purpose to sweep 
 away the woman s offspring as with a flood. 
 
 No one can fail to see that these events very plausibly 
 satisfy the demands of this symbolism, yet not in full. We 
 ought to find something which has a more direct aim at the 
 destruction of the woman than either of these. England s 
 
 * Note 57, Canto I, stanza 121. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 79 
 
 aim was not at the Church, but to the end of keeping the 
 colonies in a state of vassalage, under the foot of the 
 dragon. The devil saw that political despotism would serve 
 his end here, and he used it. But to meet the demands of 
 the case more fully, we should expect that he would bring 
 some other agencies into operation. 
 
 3. We find these in what is transpiring among us in the 
 multitudes of Papists which pour a ceaseless flood upon our 
 shores every year, and in the wily designs* and far-seeing 
 policy of the Papacy, with reference to our country. Their 
 designs will be futile and their policy will be balked, I fully 
 believe ; but who does not know that Jesuitism aims at the 
 control of this country, through the waters which the dragon 
 has thus cast forth, to cause the woman to be carried away 
 of the flood? Who does not know that they are making 
 their boasts that it is only a question of time when their 
 minions shall be installed in the high places of trust in our 
 land? Who does not know that they look to the swelling 
 of these waters by more rapid multiplication among us, for 
 the flood which shall sweep our Protestant religion from the 
 high vantage ground it has hitherto occupied ? Who does 
 not know that the physical deterioration of American 
 women, from following the wretched fashions and modes 
 of life adopted here, and from the unnatural aversion to 
 the burdens of maternity, inducing, in some cases, a crime 
 at which the unperverted heart revolts with horror, and 
 should make every true mother turn pale at the thought of 
 it prevailing among those who lead society enters as a 
 large element into their calculation of this result? And 
 what man, with his eyes open, does not see that there is 
 danger in this direction ? 
 
 This subject is of such vital importance to Americans, f 
 that I feel constrained to enlarge somewhat more upon it. 
 But first I must be allowed to say that I do not claim that 
 these symbols have an entire reference to our country. The 
 utmost I would claim is that they have a more striking 
 resemblance to the events of our history than to any others 
 that have occurred. There is no other nation on the pages 
 
 * Note 58, Canto I, stanza 150. t Note 59, Canto I, stanza 150. 
 
SO INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 of history, since the flight of Israel from Egypt, which 
 originated from a body of men flying from religious persecu 
 tion. The resemblance is too striking to pass unnoticed. 
 But the Church belongs to the whole world. As the theatre 
 of her conflicts, foreshadowed in the first part of this chapter, 
 was the whole Christian world, so I believe that the theatre 
 of the war waged by the dragon upon the woman and her 
 seed, mentioned in the last part of the chapter, will be the 
 whole Christian world greatly enlarged. My principal aim 
 has been to show that America was one of the chief objects 
 which passed before the prophet s vision in these peculiar 
 symbols. 
 
 Let us look a little more closely at the designs of Rome* 
 upon our Protestant religion. The intelligent student need 
 not be reminded that the Papal hierarchy are, and have 
 always been, enemies of republican institutions. The con 
 trolling power of a great Church, which acknowledges a 
 head who claims infallibility, cannot be otherwise than an 
 unmitigated despotism in itself. No subject has a right to 
 think, or speak, or act for himself, if he thinks, speaks, or 
 acts contrary to the will of the Pope. All must bend in 
 abject obeisance to him. They are bound by their oath to 
 the Church to believe whatever he tells them is the will of 
 Heaven. Now, the very essence of republican institutions 
 is the right to think, speak, and act for one s self, upon 
 individual responsibility, only restrained from actions which 
 would come in conflict with some of the natural rights of 
 others. This is the pre-eminent distinction of such institu 
 tions. This right opens the Bible to all, secures to all a 
 right to read and interpret it for themselves, secures free 
 speech to all, eventuates in free schools for the masses, and 
 of course covers the whole, and makes them all available to 
 each citizen by guaranteeing to him his own personal liberty, 
 when not forfeited by crime. To be sure, the Jesuits, who 
 so largely control the Papacy, being cutters and trimmers, 
 can manage to live under all forms of human government, 
 and yield an external obedience to the powers that be. So 
 they live, and profess to be loyal under our form of govern- 
 
 * Note. 60, Canto I, stanza 150. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. Si 
 
 ment. But who cannot see that they are enemies to free 
 institutions.* Their aversion to an open Bible is unmis 
 takably declared by their efforts to banish it from our public 
 schools. Their plea that our version is a sectarian book is 
 glaringly insincere, since they refuse to allow their own ver 
 sion a place there. That they are the declared enemies of 
 our free schools is also notorious. That they would destroy 
 them if they could, needs no better proof than we have 
 already. They know very well that an educated constitu 
 ency are not always going to be held in their leading strings. 
 They know as well that if the educated classes of Catholic 
 countries are attached to the Papacy, it is because, being 
 privileged classes, they would use that Church to keep their 
 vassals ignorant of their rights to secure a continuance of 
 their vassalage. That they deny the right of free discussion 
 is notorious, and that they would rob men of it if they could 
 needs no argument to show. 
 
 Now every schoolboy must know that if an open Bible,f 
 free schools and free speech be taken from our people, 
 republican institutions will be impossible. Let it be under 
 stood that every attempt upon these things in this country 
 is made by the enemies of the Republic, whatever their 
 professions may be. Put it down as one of the swellings 
 and ebullitions of the waters with which the dragon would 
 carry away the woman. I have very little doubt of the 
 significancy of these symbols in this direction. 
 
 These symbols properly suggest the methods with which 
 they hope to accomplish their work. A flood symbolizes a 
 vast number of people. If they hope to carry away our 
 Protestant religion, it is by vastly preponderating numbers. 
 In a country where all have a right to the ballot-box, this 
 can be done as soon as they have a majority, unless the 
 minority resist by force, which would be revolutionary. 
 They already have that majority in some of our largest 
 cities, which are as much under Papal rule as Madrid or 
 Paris ever was. If the dragon could flood our ballot-boxes, 
 he would undoubtedly accomplish his purposes in this direc 
 tion. That he is pouring his floods upon our shores for this 
 
 * Note 61, Canto I, stanza 151. t Note 62, Canto I. stanza 152. 
 
 j Note 63, Caton I. stanza 155. 
 
82 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 purpose no sensible man, Roman Catholic or Protestant, 
 doubts for a moment. 
 
 The propriety of this interpretation is also suggested by 
 the vigor of the institutions and the persistency of the 
 appliances with which the Papacy seeks to outweigh us. To 
 see the churches,* monasteries, colleges, and other public 
 buildings they are erecting all over the land, and especially 
 in our Western States, a stranger would almost conclude 
 that he had sat down in a Roman Catholic country. The 
 manner of their building and the permanency of their 
 structures show conclusively that they hope to possess the 
 land. But I predict from these prophecies that these very 
 structures will be used by the children of these zealous 
 Papists for the promotion of a purer and better religion, 
 the religion of Jesus purged from the abuses with which 
 the Papacy has loaded it. 
 
 I invite attention for a moment to the next verse : " And 
 the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her 
 mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast 
 out of his mouth." Earthquakes, as symbols in the Word 
 of God, mean civil commotions, convulsions, revolutions and 
 wars. These things should help the Church, though not 
 made in her behalf, but for ambitious purposes. W T e have 
 seen that the revolutions and wars foreshadowed by the 
 outpouring of the vials, thus far, though for the most part 
 not undertaken in behalf of civil and religious liberty, have 
 invariably resulted in disaster to despotism. 
 
 How has it been in the crises of our own history ? How 
 was it in the Revolutionary War? Much as we revere and 
 praise the valor and glory of our revolutionary fathers, if we 
 are good students of history, we shall have to admit that our 
 cause must have failed, if the earth, in the sense of this pas 
 sage, had not helped the cause of religion and liberty. It 
 was the rivalry of England and France which, under God, 
 delivered us. If it had not been for French aid and sym 
 pathy, after the successful battle of Saratoga which afforded 
 them an excuse for interfering in our behalf the cloud of 
 despotism, humanly speaking, would net have lifted off our 
 land. 
 
 * Note 64, Canto I, stanza 155. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 83 
 
 So in our second struggle with England, she had Napoleon 
 Bonaparte on her hands, or the result might have been 
 different then. 
 
 So also the earth helped the cause of Freedom in our 
 great Rebellion. Neither party was fighting directly for 
 Emancipation. Doubtless, if the few friends of such a 
 measure had taken the sword to promote it, they would all 
 have perished by the sword. It was the rivalry of great 
 political parties, which precipitated the fearful war. Defend 
 ing the institution of Slavery, was, for the most part, only a 
 pretext with Southern leaders, their real object being per 
 sonal ambition, while the armies of the Union were mainly 
 fighting for its integrity. Every one knows that there were 
 thousands among the latter, who would not have struck a 
 blow, if that had been the distinct issue in the beginning, 
 unless it had- been on the other side enough, doubtless, to 
 have turned the scale against us. But the earth helped the 
 seed of the woman, and Slavery sunk under the fifth vial of 
 Almighty wrath. So, doubtless, it will be in all future con 
 flicts with the Papacy. 
 
84 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE S. 
 
 IX. 
 
 PARIS UNDER THE FIFTH VIAL. 
 REV. xvi. 10, ii. 
 
 BEFORE proceeding with this subject, we will remark a little 
 further with reference to the earth s helping the woman. We 
 reverted to several particular instances of this, in our last, 
 and hinted that, by some such interpretation, it might be 
 expected that the cause of truth would be helped in all the 
 future conflicts with the Papacy. We have a remarkable 
 record of the kind now to make. The same political earth 
 quake which swallowed up those who defended domestic 
 Slavery among us, threw into our body politic a counter 
 acting flood, to balance at the polls the floods with which 
 the Papacy would seek to carry our Protestant religion away. 
 I allude to the four million blacks, whose volume before, in 
 point of numbers, was cast by their masters into the flood 
 which was seeking to engulf Freedom, in the increased suf 
 frage their slaves gave to them. And as in the case of 
 Emancipation, no one thought of protecting the Protestant 
 religion by this movement. It was still the rivalry of parties 
 seeking to gain, or hold, the seats of power. Yet such 
 has, undoubtedly, been the result. The Irish and African 
 elements (I speak without disrespect to either) will not for 
 many years, if ever, be ranged under the same party ban 
 ners such is the antagonism between them. Pat " niver a 
 bit of it " is going to the polls to vote on the same side with 
 Sambo. The political party which would have one, must 
 inevitably do that which will cut it off from sympathy with 
 the other. And this state of things must continue until Pat 
 rises above the narrow prejudices which persuade him that he 
 has a right to monopolize all the labor in the country, and 
 he is taught that other races have a right to our broad land 
 as well as the Celtic. Until then, Protestant Sambo, who 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 85 
 
 can now count about as many fingers in the political pie as 
 Papistical Pat, will serve as a strong check upon any designs 
 which Jesuits have upon this country, through Pat s help 
 at the polls. Then we may confidently expect that Pat 
 will pass his minority and conclude to set up for himself 
 /. <?., think, act and vote for himself, and not as designing 
 Jesuitism secretly points out. 
 
 Mark how the malice of Satan overreached itself in this 
 instance how Satan cast out Satan. We have seen how 
 political and ecclesiastical despotism have been twin sisters 
 during their joint existence ; how they have supported each 
 other; how that which has helped one has always helped the 
 other, and how that which has hurt one has hurt the other. 
 Satan instigated greedy despotism to plant Slavery here, so 
 as to doom this country to the most odious form of tyranny 
 that ever existed, and, to human view, he came near suc 
 ceeding, for it dominated this country for more than a half 
 century. But this political earthquake which swallowed up 
 Slavery, by enfranchising its victims, struck the first great 
 and stunning blow upon the Papacy in this country, /. e., pro 
 vided Protestants take care of these forming elements of 
 political power. 
 
 This same blind prejudice may be preparing another stun 
 ning blow upon this intriguing power, in the case of John 
 Chinaman, who may yet become a lad of some importance, 
 toward whom Pat is showing the same hostility which he has 
 manifested toward the negro. At any rate, if our interpre 
 tation of this symbolism be correct, we may rest entirely 
 assured that the earth will help the woman and her seed, and 
 open her mouth and swallow up the flood which the dragon 
 cast out of his mouth, so that neither she nor her offspring 
 will be carried away of the flood. 
 
 We now return to notice more directly the symbolism of 
 the fifth vial. 
 
 I call attention to my ninth remark on this, viz. : That we 
 should not expect that it would work the entire destruction of 
 the anti-Christian powers, those hindrances which have been 
 in the way of Christianity. It would only greatly weaken 
 them. They were still alive amid the darkness they gnawed 
 their tongues for pain, they could still blaspheme the 
 
86 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 name of God, because of their pains and their sores, and 
 they repented not of their deeds. The beast which has 
 lived so long must die a hard death. Even when the spear 
 of Saint George (to use one of their own legends as an 
 illustration) has transfixed the heart of the dragon, his dying 
 agonies will shake the world, cast down the stars of heaven, 
 (thrones and empires,) and cause the earth to open her mouth 
 and swallow up the city of the seven hills, whereon he has had 
 his seat. He may now have received his mortal wound, and 
 the future great struggles foreshadowed in the next vials 
 may be his dying agonies. What they may be we cannot 
 predict. But we may judge of their general character from 
 what has already occurred. If former symbols foreshadow 
 civil convulsions, we must, of course, look for something 
 similar in the future. Neither can we tell when they will 
 occur. But one thing we know certainly, and that is, they 
 will work the utter destruction of all anti-Christian powers. 
 
 I now call attention to my tenth, and last, remark upon 
 the symbolism of the fifth vial, viz. : That the calamities 
 would not make the persons affected by them any better. 
 In their agony they blasphemed the God of hftaven, and 
 repented not of their deeds. 
 
 I call attention to the fact that the Papacy is still blas 
 pheming the name of God writing its names of blasphemy 
 upon the seven heads of the monster on which the scarlet 
 woman is seated. Take the decree of the Ecumenical 
 Council, at Rome, in the year of grace, 1870 a year not 
 to be forgotten by the Church, through eternity. THE 
 INFALLIBILITY OF THE POPE ! * much as its supporters and 
 apologists may endeavor to gloss it over to cover its glaring 
 impiety from Protestant eyes, much as they may endeavor 
 to sugar-coat the pill, to make it go down smoothly into 
 stomachs which already begin to nauseate with their absurd 
 doses, that decree is a glaring blasphemy, hurled into the 
 face of Deity, to support the consciously sinking cause of the 
 Papacy. If they can make their adherents believe that the 
 so-called Holy Father is infallible, they can easily make 
 them do whatever, in their opinion, mav restore or strengthen 
 
 * See Poem, Canto I, stanzas 142-148. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 8/ 
 
 the cause of the hierarchy. Provided the two hundred 
 millions of Roman Catholics should endorse the monstrous 
 assumption, it would place a still frightful power in the 
 hands of the Pope. It might restore again his pristine 
 control over the nations, and make kings again obedient 
 to his nod. In the desperation of his circumstances, the 
 experiment is worth trying. If it succeed, he can preach 
 another crusade to restore the States of the Church to his 
 kingdom, and millions of Roman Catholics will rush to his 
 standards. He can lay aside his Shepherd s crook, take the 
 sword, and lead his own armies to great achievement. 
 
 So the great lights of the hierarchy swarm to Rome, bow 
 at the feet of the Pope, perform the highly dignified opera 
 tion of kissing his toe, and, in solemn mockery, ascribe to 
 him an attribute belonging only to Deity. Perhaps two hun 
 dred million Roman Catholics will follow the example of 
 these great lights in what they have done. But it surpasses 
 my own belief. Many will do it, no doubt, and, it may be, 
 make it possible for the Papacy to preach another crusade. 
 But it will be its expiring struggle. The mass of the 
 Roman Catholic world, I do believe, are too sensible, long 
 to follow such leaders. Germany, under the leadership of 
 Dr. Dollinger, refuses to endorse it, and seems swinging 
 away from her moorings to the Eternal City. Other peoples 
 will follow. When the idea of an infallible Church and an 
 infallible Pope is exploded, the power of the Papacy is 
 hopelessly gone. The Catholic Churches will thenceforward 
 begin to fall into line with the Protestant, and they will vie 
 with each other in spreading the knowledge of Jesus. That 
 the powers which have controlled that Church will foment 
 wars, is morally certain. That many will perish in them, 
 will be a necessary consequence, but it will be a compara 
 tively small proportion of the two hundred millions, no 
 doubt. The rest will join the parties of progress, when the 
 beast is overthrown. 
 
 That the Papacy has not repented of its deeds is equally 
 clear. None of its edicts in former times, justifying persecu 
 tion, have been revoked. None of its claims to the right of 
 penal inflictions have been abated. Not even the slaughter 
 of St. Bartholomew s Day has ever been publicly repudiated. 
 
88 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 That these leaders will not repent, until they are overthrown 
 in the civil convulsions they themselves foment, is a point 
 about which there can be no doubt. 
 
 To close up our remarks upon the symbolism of the fifth 
 vial, let us now revert to France,* and especially to Paris. 
 There can be no doubt that the capital of the most influ 
 ential kingdom that has for ages upheld the pretensions of 
 the Papacy, and, at its bidding, bathed the secular sword in 
 the blood of millions to exterminate heretics, is compre 
 hended, if not expressly pointed out, in the symbols which 
 foreshadow the present period of history. I call attention 
 to a hypothesis which I do not pretend to defend, because 
 we do not yet know what the fate of Paris will be, viz., that 
 she is the Babylonf mentioned in the i8th chapter. That 
 she is feeling the effect of this vial of wrath, in the midst of 
 her darkness and madness, cannot be doubted by any who 
 receive the interpretation of these symbols as endorsed by 
 our best expositors. 
 
 We may remark, regarding the iyth, i8th and iQth chap 
 ters, that they are a more detailed account of what is 
 described in the i6th, under the seven vials. They also 
 contain the sequel of the outpouring of the seventh vial, the 
 final destruction of all anti-Christian powers before the rider 
 on the white horse. The iyth chapter introduces a variation 
 of the symbols used to designate the Papal power in its 
 different stages of development. It is an abandoned woman, 
 seated upon a scarlet-colored beast, having seven heads and 
 ten horns. This symbolism must certainly cover things, 
 persons and events already noticed to some extent, but for 
 the purpose of bringing out to a more striking view the 
 Papal power in its last development. It would not, there 
 fore, be straining the prophecy to suppose that the i8th 
 chapter covers in part the identical ground which is occupied 
 by the fifth vial. I will introduce it here : 
 
 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, 
 having great power ; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 
 
 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is 
 fallen, is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of 
 every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
 
 * Note 65, Canto I, stanza 102. t See Poem, Canto II. stanza 116. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 89 
 
 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, 
 and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the 
 merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her 
 delicacies. 
 
 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my 
 people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of 
 her plagues. 
 
 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her 
 iniquities. 
 
 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double 
 according to her works : in the cup which she hath filled, fill to her 
 double. 
 
 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much 
 torment and sorrow give her : for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and 
 am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 
 
 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and 
 famine ; and she shall be utterly burned with fire : for strong is the Lord 
 God who judgeth her. 
 
 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived 
 deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall 
 see the smoke of her burning, 
 
 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas ! that 
 great city Babylon, that mighty city ! for in one hour is thy judgment 
 come. 
 
 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her ; for no 
 man buyeth their merchandise any more : 
 
 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of 
 pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine- 
 wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of 
 most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, 
 
 And cinnamon, and odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, 
 and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and 
 chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. 
 
 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all 
 things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou 
 shalt find them no more at all. 
 
 The merchants of these things which were made rich by her, shall 
 stand afar off, for the fear of her torment, weaping and wailing. 
 
 And saying, Alas, alas ! that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, 
 and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and 
 pearls ! 
 
 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every ship 
 master, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade 
 by sea, stood afar off, 
 
 And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city 
 is like unto this great city ! 
 
 And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, say 
 ing, Alas, alas ! that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships 
 in the sea by reason of her costliness ! for in one hour is she made desolate. 
 
QO INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets ; for 
 God hath avenged you on her. 
 
 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great mill-stone, and cast it 
 into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be 
 thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 
 
 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpet 
 ers, shall be heard no more at all in thee ; and no craftsmen, of whatso 
 ever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee ; and the sound of a 
 mill-stone shall be heard no more at all in thee ; 
 
 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee ; and the 
 voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in 
 thee : for thy merchants were the great men of the earth ; for by thy 
 sorceries were all nations deceived. 
 
 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all 
 that were slain upon the earth. 
 
 We may say that if this means a literal city, none has 
 ever existed that answers the description better than Paris ; 
 and if that city should be destroyed, wholly or largely, in the 
 revolution which is now deluging its streets with blood, it 
 would lend plausibility to the theory which some minds could 
 scarcely resist. Paris is a gay, gaudy, godless and licen 
 tious city. That is most emphatically true of her, which 
 John says of the symbolic Babylon : " All nations have 
 drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the 
 kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, 
 and the merchants of the earth have waxed rich through the 
 abundance of her delicacies." We have seen what millions 
 have been slain, what rivers of blood have deluged the world 
 in wars fomented or decreed in this licentious city. Not a 
 city on the globe furnishes a parallel to it in this respect. 
 
 What nations have not thronged her gay boulevards and 
 her brilliant haunts of licentious pleasure ? Into what parts 
 of the known world have not the delicacies of the French 
 capital been carried for merchandise ? What article of 
 man s wear, from the hat on his head to the boots on his 
 feet, is not considered better for having the epithet French 
 prefixed to it ? even if it has never seen France, which is 
 often true. What article of woman s wear, what style of 
 dress, what habit of etiquette, must not first receive its 
 sanction in Paris ? Look at the articles of merchandise of 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 9 1 
 
 symbolic Babylon, and compare them with the articles found 
 principally in Appleton s list for modern Paris : 
 
 OF BABYLON. 
 
 OF PARIS. 
 
 OF BABYLON. 
 
 Gold, 
 Silver, 
 Precious stones, 
 
 (Gold in bars and 
 leaf ; gold and 
 silver ware; jew 
 elry. 
 
 Wine, 
 Oil, 
 Fine flour, 
 Wheat, 
 
 Pearls, 
 
 P.uttons. 
 
 ,-, 
 
 Fine linen, 
 Purple, 
 
 (Haberdashery. 
 Clothing ; linen 
 drapery ; silks ; 
 
 Sheep, 
 Horses, 
 
 Silk, 
 
 woolens ; cotton 
 
 
 
 fabrics. 
 
 Chariots, 
 
 Scarlet, 
 
 j Cudbear and car- 
 ) mine. 
 
 Slaves, 
 
 Thyine-wood, 
 
 ( Wood for building 
 < and for musical 
 
 Souls of men. 
 
 
 ( instruments. 
 
 
 Vessels of ivory, "| 
 
 
 
 Vessels of wood, 
 
 Goldsmiths and 
 
 
 Vessels of brass, f 
 
 jewelers work ; 
 
 
 Vessels of iron, 
 
 clocks ; watches. 
 
 
 Vessels of marble, J 
 
 
 
 Cinnamon, 1 
 
 
 
 Odors, 
 
 Ointments, 
 
 Perfumery. 
 
 
 Frankincense, J 
 
 
 
 OF PARIS. 
 
 Wine ; cider ; beer; 
 alcohol. 
 
 Solid food. 
 
 f Butchers meat ; 
 
 J prepared skins, 
 
 I and articles fab- 
 
 [ ricated of them. 
 
 Mitrailleuses ; 
 
 steam engines : 
 
 cars. 
 
 Votaries of vice. 
 j Sold for her deli- 
 | cacies. 
 Fancy articles ; 
 pasteboard ; pa 
 per ; books ; en 
 gravings. 
 
 That she traffics in the souls of men, who does not know 
 that thousands are yearly immolated upon her shrines of 
 pleasure? But it is in her gay and voluptuous character, 
 and in her crimes, that she answers this description best. 
 How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously ! 
 How proudly has she sat like a queen at the head of the 
 nations ! How have her streets and public places of execu 
 tion streamed with the blood of martyrs, and of her citizens, 
 slain in civil strife and in her reigns of terror! How have 
 her sins reached up to heaven! Now how are her sober, 
 law-abiding citizens, she has a few, coming out of her, 
 flying before the scowling face of mad sedition, that they 
 may not be partakers of her sins nor receive of her plagues? 
 What may yet come the future must be left to disclose But 
 in view of the awful state of the French capital, the words 
 of the prophet may almost be literally applied to her, 
 "Babylon the greit is fallen,* is fallen, and become the 
 habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and 
 
 Nrte 66. Canto I, stanza 171. 
 
92 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." How do the 
 devils of sedition, robbery and murder rage in her streets ! 
 Behold her petroleuses, like incarnate fiends, spreading 
 conflagration over the devoted city ! How do her dens and 
 gilded haunts of vice reek with the foul spirits of the pit ! 
 How do the unclean and hateful birds of communism, 
 socialism, infidelity and stark atheism, throng in her public 
 gatherings, and haunt her secret conclaves ! 
 
 Smarting under the vial of wrath, they blaspheme the 
 name of God and repent not of their deeds. It has been 
 thought, by historians and moralists, that the awful experi 
 ment of France in 1793, that of conducting the affairs of a 
 nation without a God, would be sufficient for all time; 
 that no nation, with the horror and crime that were enacted 
 during the Reign of Terror before them, would ever dare 
 repeat the experiment. But scarcely three-quarters of a 
 century have passed before France would try it again. The 
 Commune, which have been elevated by the mob to misrule 
 Paris, have again, it is said, enacted the blasphemy. Truly 
 they do not repent of their deeds. That all these things are 
 the legitimate consequences of long ages of political and 
 ecclesiastical maladministration is plain enough, and clearly 
 enough demonstrates their relationship to the dragon and the 
 beast. Their own legitimate offspring, like that of Milton s 
 personation of Sin, have turned upon the parents to rend 
 and devour them. And the earth is opening to swallow them 
 all up ; and thus will religion and liberty be helped. 
 
 I know of no sadder picture in the history of modern 
 nations than France presents to-day. Scourged by a more 
 powerful foe, whom her ambition had raised against her, 
 until the blood has flown in streams from her lacerated 
 body, and reddened half the kingdom, with a half million 
 new-made graves covering her fallen sons, with her frightful 
 battle-fields still reeking with myriads of unburied dead, her 
 homes draped in sackcloth of mourning, darkened by the 
 presence of death s angel, whole provinces desolated, many 
 cities, towns and villages in ruins, her unhappy children, in 
 the madness of their agony and amid the thick darkness 
 which broods over her, are tearing and destroying each 
 other. Over the black cloud which covers her, we see 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 93 
 
 naught but the flaming sword of the cherubim, proclaiming 
 that God and his angels are at war with a wicked nation. 
 Amid the storm a solemn voice peals above the turmoil, 
 coming down from the distant past, uttered in awful warning 
 and verified by fallen empires and ruined cities, " The 
 wicked shall be turned into hell with all the nations that 
 forget God." Is there no hope for prostrate France? None 
 whatever in any course she has heretofore pursued. None, 
 unless on that dark tempest-cloud the falling tears of repent 
 ance shall light up the splendors of the rainbow of hope 
 from light reflected from the sun of righteousness, which 
 then would rise in her sky and scatter the uneasy spirits of 
 the storm. She is rapidly going down to the hades of 
 nations. Soon the abyss will engulf her, and over the spot 
 will belong the epitaph which the traveler reads on the ruins 
 of fallen Nineveh, Babylon, Thebes and Carthage, and 
 among the mouldering archives of dead empires, " PERISHED 
 
 AMONG THE NATIONS THAT HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD." Will 
 
 not France take warning from these solemn monitions? 
 Will not the nations which stand afar off for fear of her 
 plagues, and lament her sad fall, take warning? Will not 
 America take warning? I appeal to all who would erect 
 temples to strange gods among us, to science, philosophy, or 
 reason, or offer unholy incense upon the altars of Bacchus 
 and the pleasures of sense, take warning. Seek not to banish 
 or destroy the influence of the Bible among us. Do not 
 secularize our Sabbath. France has done these, and you see 
 whither she is tending. Dissolution and death will surely 
 follow if you succeed. 
 
94 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 X. 
 
 THE SICK MAN OF CONSTANTINOPLE. 
 
 From Araby, the land of rocks and sands, 
 There flowed a wondrous river long ago. CANTO II, STANZA i. 
 
 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates ; 
 and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east 
 might be prepared. 
 
 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of 
 the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of 
 the false prophet. 
 
 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth 
 unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them to 
 the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 
 
 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth 
 his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 
 
 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew 
 tongue Armageddon. REV. xvi. 12-16. 
 
 WE now proceed upon ground on which we must tread 
 softly. We are undoubtedly somewhere near the line which 
 divides the past from the future. We may feel tolerably 
 sure as to the application of those symbols which plainly 
 refer to past events, but as to those which zefer to the future 
 we cannot be certain, except, perhaps, as to their general 
 character. The peculiar character of specific events can 
 only be determined by the events themselves. Yet there is 
 much that is instructive in those symbols which plainly refer 
 to future events, and they invite our attention and scrutiny. 
 All the expositors to whom I have access express the opinion 
 that the events indicated by this symbolism are yet in the 
 future. Barnes, the most recent, who wrote his exposition, 
 twenty years ago, hints that the outpouring might have 
 already passed, and the events following it might have been 
 passing in his day. 
 
 From careful study of the subject, I am inclined to the 
 opinion that the outpouring followed not long after the fifth 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 95 
 
 vial, that events indicated in the twelfth verse are nearly 
 passed, and those indicated by the rest of trie passage are in 
 the near coming future. 
 
 I will first call attention to several observations on the 
 demands of these symbols, and then see if we can find any 
 thing in recent and passing history that will meet the 
 demands. 
 
 1. The great river Euphrates must, of course, symbolize 
 some great anti-Christian power which has been arrayed 
 against Christianity, and has stood in the way of the kings 
 of the East in some movement which must have a bearing 
 upon it, perhaps embracing it. Moreover, as it was a great 
 river, and consequently made up from the gathering together 
 of many waters, we should expect that this power would be 
 composed of many peoples or nationalities. 
 
 2. The outpouring of the vial must symbolize letting 
 loose upon this power some influence that would cause it to 
 decay like the gradual drying up of a river after its sources 
 are cut off by the failure of rains upon the hills and moun-. 
 tains which supply them. It would require not a sudden 
 and violent, but a gradual decay. 
 
 3. The power must be associated in some manner with 
 the dragon and the beast in their opposition to civil and 
 religious liberty. 
 
 4. The three unclean spirits must be .an outgrowth of 
 these anti-Christian and anti-progressive powers, or at least 
 must proceed from the same source. 
 
 5. The unclean spirits must do, or make men believe that 
 they do, some great and wondrous things in order to gain an 
 influence over the kings which they are said to gather to 
 gether to the "great day of God Almighty." 
 
 6. This great day must symbolize some great conflict in 
 which these malign spirits will be engaged, that will result 
 in their overthrow. It may be a conflict among themselves, 
 in which they will mutually destroy each other. Christianity 
 has been helped by such conflicts, as we have already seen, 
 more than in those where their adherents have been directly 
 assailed and driven to take the sword in self-defense. 
 
 7. The Lord s coming as a thief, may symbolize his hand 
 in the conflict, his enemies, and possibly his friends, not 
 knowing it. 
 
96 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 8. Their gathering the kings together into a place called 
 Armageddon, must be regarded as only preparatory to the 
 awful events of the seventh vial. 
 
 We may remark generally, before proceeding to a con 
 sideration of the application of these symbols, that, as the 
 fifth and sixth trumpets, relating to the same powers, occu 
 pied a very long time, even centuries in their fulfillment, it 
 would not be unreasonable to expect that the fifth and sixth 
 vials would require a much longer time for their fulfillment 
 than the preceding. 
 
 Do we find anything in current history answering the 
 demands of these symbols ? 
 
 i. As to the power indicated by the great river Euphrates, 
 we may have little doubt as to its referring to the Moham 
 medan power, as now more particularly embodied in the 
 Turkish Empire. The same symbol is used in the sixth 
 trumpet, which is believed to refer to the rise of that power. 
 The Mohammedan religion, as is well known, was first pro 
 claimed by Mohammed, in the early part of the seventh cen 
 tury.* Its rise and progress are set forth in the fifth and sixth 
 trumpets, showing God s method of visiting the corrupt 
 Churches which had overspread Northern Africa, Southern 
 Europe, and Asia Minor. The signs of corruption had begun 
 to manifest themselves in the Seven Churches, as recorded by 
 John. Five centuries after this, these portions of the earth 
 were ripe for the inundation of God s wrath. This began to 
 be revealed to John under the symbol of locusts released in 
 vast numbers from the bottomless pit, at the sounding of the 
 fifth trumpet. Mohammed began his career in Arabia ; with 
 the Saracen armies which he called around his standard, 
 he spread his religion and power with amazing rapidity. 
 Nearly the whole of Arabia soon submitted to his sway. 
 Two centuries had not passed, before his successors had 
 overrun Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, twice besieged Constanti 
 nople, overrun all of Northern Africa, broke over the bar 
 riers of the straits of Gibraltar, subdued Spain, crossed the 
 Pyrenees, and carried the triumphant crescent up to the 
 walls of Potiers, when the tide of conquest was checked at 
 
 * Note 2, Canto II, stanza i. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 97 
 
 Tours, by Charles Martel, at the head of a great army, 
 chiefly from France and Germany. A vast number some 
 say as many as two hundred and fifty thousand were slain, 
 and they were driven back beyond the Pyrenees, never to 
 return. But the Moors remained in Spain for several 
 centuries. 
 
 The Mohammedan power thus almost completely blotted 
 out the nominal religion of Jesus, over more than half the 
 Christian world. The ruin was sweeping; thousands of 
 magnificent churches were transformed into mosques many 
 of them remaining unto this day. This power, after an 
 existence of almost a thousand years, culminated in the 
 siege and capture of Constantinople, and the establishment 
 of the Turkish Empire, with that city for its capital. The 
 Turks had been known as a people in the North of Asia, for 
 fifteen hundred years. They had embraced the religion of 
 Mohammed but a short time previous to this event. This 
 completed the overthrow of the Eastern Empire, in judgment 
 upon the corruptions of an idolatrous Church. In the appli 
 cation \vhich our expositors make of the prophetic symbols of 
 Revelation, it is regarded as the culmination of the second 
 woe, or sixth trumpet, which ended in placing the sun of the 
 Turkish Empire at its meridian, where it is called the great 
 river Euphrates.* (See Barnes, in loco.) The propriety of 
 choosing that riverf as a symbol of this power is seen, when 
 we remember that it is a great river, and on its banks, on the 
 fertile plain of Shinar, stood the renowned city of Babylon, 
 the capital of one of earth s greatest and oldest empires. 
 
 The allusion to the kings of the East would seem to 
 strengthen the position that the Turkish Empire is here 
 intended. Kings must, of course, be taken here as repre 
 sentative of nationalities or races. We may, perhaps, under 
 stand the meaning of this to be, that the way of Eastern 
 races may be prepared opened to the reception of Chris 
 tianity ; i. <?., some hindrance removed that has hitherto been 
 in the way. Appleton s Cyclopedia says : " Perhaps no 
 country in the world is inhabited by so great a variety of 
 races as the Turkish Empire. The Turks are divided into 
 
 * See Poem, Canto II, stanzas 1-27. t Note 3, Canto II, stanza 28. 
 
 5 
 
 WVBRSIT7 
 
98 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 two races : The Osmanlis, or Turks proper, whose numbers 
 are estimated at about three millions in European, and ten 
 million five hundred thousand in Asiatic Turkey ; and the 
 Turkomans, who are principally found in Northern Meso 
 potamia and adjoining districts, and do not, probably, exceed 
 an hundred thousand. The Greeks are about equally divided 
 between the European and Asiatic divisions, and number 
 somewhat more than two millions. The Armenians are 
 about five hundred thousand in European, and two millions 
 in Asiatic Turkey. The Sclavic nations, under which term 
 are principally included Bulgarians. Servians, Bosnians, 
 Herzegovinians, and Montenegrins, number about six mill 
 ions, and are all in European Turkey. The Roumans, or 
 Wallachs, a Daco-Roman race, inhabiting, chiefly, the Dan- 
 ubian Principalities, number about four hundred thousand. 
 Besides these, there are upwards of one million Arnauts, or 
 Albanians proper, inhabiting a province called after them ; 
 not far from one million Arabs in Asiatic Turkey, and four 
 millions in the African Turkish possessions; about two hun 
 dred and forty thousand Syrians, all in Asiatic Turkey ; 
 about two hundred thousand Jews, ninety thousand Franks, 
 or Western Christians, one million or more Koords, twenty 
 thousand Gypsies, thirty to fifty thousand Druses, about the 
 same number of Tartars, and a large number of Circassians 
 and other Caucasians, and in Africa, Copts, Nubians, Ber 
 bers, &c." The whole population, according to the larger 
 estimate, is somewhat over forty millions. All these are 
 held in subjection to the Turks, numbering, as we have 
 seen, only thirteen millions less than one-third of the en 
 tire population. That Turkish rule has been unfriendly to 
 Christianity, every student of history knows. It has certainly 
 been in the way of these races ; and when taken away, there 
 will be no political hindrances to the spread of Christianity. 
 And through them, doubtless, will be prepared a way for still 
 other kindred races of the East, not under Turkish rule. 
 
 2. Our second remark was to the effect that the outpour- 
 i.ig of the vial upon that power must symbolize letting 
 loose upon it some influences that would cause it to decay, 
 like the gradual drying up of a great river. The gradual 
 decay of the Turkish Empire during the present century, 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 99 
 
 satisfies the demand of this symbolism, and at the same 
 time furnishes one of the strongest proofs that it is the 
 power foreshadowed in the symbol. We ought not, of 
 course, to be very positive until we see more of the ways of 
 God in current events. There are those who suppose that 
 the sixth vial has not yet been poured out, and they look for 
 some great war on the Eastern question. I have followed such 
 a line of thought in my Poem. But if this gradual decay has 
 any significance, it shows that the vial has already been 
 poured out, and is at work upon it. At the same time this 
 does not render future wars of great magnitude improbable. 
 We do not know what form of power that Empire may yet put 
 on, nor what attitude it may assume towards its subjects who 
 do or may profess Christianity. The labors of Christian mis 
 sionaries are spreading a purer Christianity very rapidly there, 
 and from such results it would seem that the Empire, as a 
 hindrance, has almost ceased from the way already. But 
 this increase of Christians may yet be the very cause of 
 another outbreak of Moslem fanaticism, and persecution 
 may again rage against them, until its atrocities shall pro 
 voke other nations to interfere, as they did when Greece was 
 delivered at Navarino, when this vial may reach its grandest 
 consummation, and the river be dried up. The history of 
 Turkey during this century favors my second remark in the 
 main. I refer the reader to the sketch of Turkish history in 
 Appleton s Cyclopedia, too long to insert here. Near the 
 beginning of this century, we find Egypt conquered by 
 Bonaparte. This led to a war with France on a more 
 extended scale, which weakened the Empire considerably. 
 Then wars with Russia and England, together with the rebel 
 lion of Janizaries, made the condition of the Empire exceed 
 ingly perilous. They involved the Sultan in considerable 
 loss of territory, and resulted in a great slaughter of the Jan 
 izaries. He had scarcely concluded peace with England and 
 Russia, when Greece revolted, and Mehemet Ali raised the 
 standard of insurrection in Egypt, which involved him in 
 still graver difficulties. Greece achieved her independence 
 in 1821, at an almost fatal cost to Turkey. Egypt, too, 
 would have been utterly lost, and the Empire itself would, 
 doubtless, have sunk under the accumulated weight of its 
 
100 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 disasters, but for the interposition of France and other 
 powers, who deemed the adherence of Egypt to the Empire, 
 and the existence of the Empire itself, necessary to preserve 
 the balance of power. These and other minor causes, super- 
 added to the effects of internal decay, have so weakened 
 the Sultan, that he has been designated the "Sick man of 
 Constantinople."" The Crimean war resulted in strengthening 
 Turkey somewhat, by enlarging her territory; but recent 
 troubles in Europe have nearly neutralized all she gained 
 then. 
 
 But even this war, apparently to the advantage of Turkey, 
 went far towards removing the Empire as a hindrance out of 
 the way of Christianity, and thus contributed to the general 
 result contemplated in the outpouring of the sixth vial. 
 Doctor Dwight, a missionary of Constantinople, under the 
 appointment of the American Board, with whom I conversed 
 on this subject but a short time before the fearful accident on 
 the Rutland Railroad, which caused his death, informed me 
 that this war had a powerful effect in breaking down the 
 barriers to Christianity there. The intercourse of Turks 
 with other nations sharing common dangers, being engaged 
 in a common cause against the designs of Russia, made 
 great inroads upon Moslem exclusiveness, and greatly soft 
 ened fanaticism. The confirmation of the Hatti-sheriff, 
 revoking the death penalty upon Mohammedans for forsaking 
 their religion, was a very important public act resulting from 
 this war, and bears in the same direction. We therefore 
 conclude that, if our exposition be correct, the results of the 
 outpouring, so far as they relate to the Turkish Empire, are, 
 doubtless, nearly all realized ; for the removal of civil and 
 political hindrances to the spread of Christianity, is all, I 
 suppose, that is contemplated in any of these symbols. 
 
 But there are other things indicated in our text, which fol 
 low the outpouring of the sixth vial chronologically, and, 
 doubtless, as the logical consequence, fraught with startling 
 interest, which may extend over the world, and quite far into 
 the future, before the seventh vial is outpoured. They are 
 indicated in what the unclean spirits* shall do. We remark 
 on this passage : 
 
 * Note 4, Canto II, stanza 61. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. IOI 
 
 The dragon must here be still considered the spirit of 
 Paganism, in its opposition to the pure religion of Jesus ; 
 the beast, the Papacy, and the false prophet as the Moham 
 medan religion, in its wider existence, embracing, as it does 
 now, nearly one hundred and sixty million adherents. 
 
 With reference to the special meaning and application of 
 this passage, we cannot speak positively, but we may be 
 permitted to make the following suggestions : 
 
 The Pagan power, as a metaphysical hindrance to Chris 
 tianity, was a religion of rationalism* in its more refined 
 culture, or at least a religion in which the rationalistic 
 element largely predominated. You find this among the 
 old philosophers. You find marked traces of it in the 
 system of Julian, the Apostate. It has always attracted 
 minds of a philosophical turn. The unclean spirit which 
 proceeded out of the mouth of the dragon, may symbolize 
 modern rationalism embodied in the various schools of infi 
 delity, prominent among which, for numbers, is spiritism, 
 which has received an immense impulse during the present 
 century. I have been struck more than once with the 
 Paganistic elements which largely pervade the systems of 
 modern free-thinkers. They have attempted, in philosophy, 
 what it is said a Roman Emperor attempted in the Pantheon 
 at Rome ; /. e., to put the God of the Bible into a niche by 
 the side of Jupiter, Zeus, and other deities of the ancients, 
 and of Vishnu, Brahma, and Jos, of more modern times. 
 We may say that if this was the design of this symbol, 
 it was well chosen. There are more of the spirits of old 
 Paganism among us, croaking like unclean frogs, than we are 
 aware of. A great portion of our secular press seem to lean 
 that way. 
 
 The religion symbolized by the beast has ever been one 
 of blind, groping ignorance and superstition that of a 
 Church which has, to no small extent, cherished and taught 
 the idea that " ignorance is the mother of devotion," and 
 countenances a superstition that can believe anything which 
 a designing Jesuitism may promulgate, as calculated tj 
 strengthen the Church in its hold, upon its illegitimate 
 
 * Note 5, Canto II, stanza 63. 
 
102 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 powers. The spirit which came out of the mouth of the 
 beast may symbolize that recent exhibition of credulity 
 which blindly subscribes to the infallibility of the Pope, the 
 immaculate conception of the Virgin, and other absurdities 
 ad fine m. 
 
 It is well known that the religion of the false prophet is 
 one of grossest sensualism.* The spiritual element is almost 
 entirely wanting in it. Materialism composes it almost 
 exclusively. For instance, the ideal summit of heavenly 
 bliss, to a mussulman, is a farm, in heaven, of seventy 
 thousand square miles extent, with proper appurtenances ; 
 a vast diamond palace, with the moderate allowance of 
 seventy thousand of the blue-eyed nymphs of heaven as 
 his wives. This reward has been actually promised to the 
 most faithful. 
 
 Would not the spirit which proceeded out of the mouth 
 of the false prophet properly symbolize the sensualism which 
 begins to be so prevalent in the world, the indulgence of 
 which has, even now, been claimed as a religious right ? It 
 comes from the same source as when proclaimed by the 
 prophet to his followers a corrupt human heart. It seems 
 to me that there has been no time, for many years, when 
 sensualism interposed stronger barriers to religion than it 
 does to-day, and in our own country. The motto with vast 
 numbers is, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 
 How is it with a vast mass of foreign immigrants ? How is it 
 with the vast influence wielded by strong drink among us ? 
 How few of our popular elections are not carried by lager 
 or whisky ? They begin to be prescriptive, and it needs no 
 great stretch of the imagination to suppose that they may, 
 by and by, resort to general and open violence. 
 
 Let me say in reference to this whole subject, that ration 
 alism, superstition (especially in our own country), and 
 sensualism, are the three great powers arrayed against the 
 Church and opposing the progress of Christianity, Satan s 
 last great triumvirate with which he would suppress the 
 religion of Jesus in all Christian lands. They talk great 
 things, and profess l> do great things, to lead men to 
 embrace their tenets. 
 
 * Note 6, Canto II, stanza 69. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 103 
 
 With regard to these powers being closely associated, the 
 dragon, the beast and the false prophet have their votaries 
 everywhere. But in a remarkable degree have these differ 
 ent hindrances to Christianity prevailed in Turkey. There 
 you find Roman Catholics, Mohammedans and Pagans, 
 elements ready to assume some new form, like the three 
 unclean spirits, as soon as the symbolical Euphrates is dried 
 up. In this country we find Papist, skeptic and sensualist 
 combining to thrust the Bible out of our public schools, and 
 manifesting a close affinity for all forms of opposition to the 
 religion of an open Bible. 
 
 It would not conflict with the record of past history, nor 
 do violence to these symbols, nor be in disharmony with the 
 spirit of hatred manifested by these opposing powers, to 
 anticipate their coalescing for more extensive aggressions.* 
 Indeed, there may be a general league among them, as there 
 is now ramified all over this country a liquor league, for the 
 purpose of getting possession of the places of power, by fail- 
 means or foul. To suppose that proscription and persecu 
 tion would be foreign to their spirit or policy under such 
 circumstances, would be ignoring all their precedents and 
 instincts. For some such purposes of aggression, such as 
 reinstating the Pope as a temporal power over his unwilling 
 subjects and suppressing free speech, or it may be to revolu 
 tionize everything in the present order of things, these 
 unclean spirits will gather their adherents together to the 
 battle of the great day of God Almighty, f Then let the 
 warning be sounded in every ear, " Behold I come as a thief. 
 Blessed is he that walketh and keepeth his garments, lest he 
 walk naked and they see his shame." Thus the world is 
 prepared for the last dread outpouring of wrath before the 
 glorious dawn of the millennial Sabbath. (See Poem, Canto 
 II, stanzas 82-95.) 
 
 * Note 7, Canto II, stanza 82. t Note 8, Canto II, stanza 83. 
 
104 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 XL 
 
 THE SEVENTH VIAL. 
 
 The angel commissioned the vial to bear. 
 
 Pours out its contents into the air. CANTO II, STANZA 96 
 
 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air ; and there came 
 a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is 
 done. 
 
 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings ; and there was a 
 great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so 
 mighty an earthquake, and so great. 
 
 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the 
 nations fell : and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give 
 unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 
 
 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 
 
 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone 
 about the weight of a talent : and men blasphemed God because of 
 the plague of the hail : for the plague thereof was exceeding great. 
 REV. xvi. 17-21. 
 
 THIS passage describes the results of the outpouring of the 
 seventh vial. The seventeenth and eighteenth chapters 
 seem" to be a more detailed history of the same great events 
 that are here foreshadowed. That these chapters foretell 
 the destruction of ecclesiastical despotism in other words, 
 the utter overthrow of Papal Rome, as well as every ecclesi 
 astical power to oppress the masses by a resort to the civil 
 arm has, to my own mind, the force of absolute conviction: 
 though I would by no means presume to show just how it is 
 to be .done. We read in the sixth vial, at the close of its 
 fearful delineations, that there was a gathering together for 
 "the great day of God Almighty." The kings of the earth 
 and of the whole world were gathered together into a place 
 called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. This was but a 
 preparation for a great battle. The hosts stand opposed to 
 each other, ready for the strife, when the vial is poured out 
 into the air as a signal for the conflict to commence. Barnes 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 10$ 
 
 says, with reference to this: "Why the vial was poured into 
 the air is not stated. The most probable supposition as to 
 the idea intended to be represented is, that as storms and 
 tempests seem to be engendered in the air, so this destruction 
 would come from some supernatural cause, as if the whole 
 atmosphere should be filled with wind and storm, and a 
 furious and desolating whirlwind should be aroused by some 
 invisible power."* I do not know that it is necessary to 
 expect any supernatural power, but merely that this indicates 
 an exceedingly stormy period in human affairs. The sym 
 bolism would seem to describe great political and ecclesi 
 astical revolutions and commotions. The description is 
 awfully sublime. The angel hovers in the clouds, with 
 pinions far outstretched, and as the warring nations stand 
 expectant on the brink of a most tremendous battle, he lets 
 loose from his vial their prison the giants of the storm, as 
 the winds were wont to be loosed from the cave of yEolus. 
 Just as the whirlwind and thundergust are about to dash 
 their ruin over the world, " a great voicef is heard out of the 
 temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, IT IS DONE." 
 The pending conflict shall be decided in favor of the powers 
 of righteousness. Political and ecclesiastical tyranny shall 
 go down in the crash of battle, and civil and religious liberty, 
 twin daughters of a pure Christianity, shall be enthroned, 
 henceforth to rule the Christian world. And now the battle 
 begins. Earth and sky join in the tumult of arms. There 
 are voices,! and thunders, and lightnings, first as the distant 
 murmurs of the corning storm which is gathering over the 
 world, its pealings and mutterings growing louder, the winds 
 hissing and roaring more fearfully, the clouds increasing in 
 volume and gathering blackness as they approach, until the 
 earthquake and the thundergust shake and cleave the solid 
 earth, the mountains sink in the convulsions, the islands are 
 swallowed up by the greedy ocean, and terrified nature 
 trembles and turns pale lest her doom should be utter 
 destruction. The account says : " There was a great earth 
 quake, such as was not since men were upon earth, so mighty 
 an earthquake, and so great." This may portend a literal 
 
 * See his Notes, in loco. t Note 10, Canto II, stanza 97. 
 
 $ Note n, Canto II, stanza 99. Note 12. Canto II, stan^aioo, 
 
 5* 
 
106 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 earthquake, along with the conflicts which distinguish this 
 stormy period, for the earth seems to sympathize with 
 her children in their struggles, which may result in great 
 physical changes, though the symbolism does not absolutely 
 require it. 
 
 Appleton s Cyclopedia says: "The approach of earth 
 quakes is heralded by premonitory symptoms of unmis 
 takable character. The air seems to be affected in some 
 respect, perhaps in its electric condition, and the brute ani 
 mals show a sensitiveness to this, by uttering cries of distress 
 and running wildly about. Men are sometimes affected by 
 dizziness and a sensation like sea-sickness. The atmosphere 
 is often hazy for months, and the sun, seen through it, is 
 often red and fiery. The weather suddenly changes from 
 fierce gusts of wind to dead calms, and rains pour down in 
 torrents, at times or in places where they are of rare occur 
 rence. Immediately before the shocks occur, the air is gen 
 erally very still, while the^ surface of the ocean or lake is 
 usually disturbed. A sound* then breaks from the stillness, 
 like distant thunder, or like a carriage rumbling afar upon a 
 rough pavement ; or it may break at once with an awful 
 explosion, as when the peal and the flash come together from 
 every part of a cloud in which one is enveloped ; at the same 
 time the ground is shaken, or lifted upward, or thrown for 
 ward, as by the passage of an irresistible wave beneath it. 
 The shocks may be repeated several times in quick succes 
 sion, or recur after long intervals; the movements may be so 
 great as to rend the surface into chasms, and these may open 
 and shut again, or remain in fissures the width of a few feet 
 or yards, and extending to unknown depths smoke and 
 flames are occasionally sent forth from them during the 
 continuance of the earthquake, even if the region be not 
 volcanic. Torrents of water are ejected from these chasms, 
 and springs of water are often forced by the convulsions into 
 new directions. Objects on the surface, as dwellings, trees, 
 and animals, are engulfed in the chasms, and by subsidence 
 of the surface, large trees, mountains even, and whole cities 
 are swallowed up." 
 
 There was an awfui exhibition of this power in the earth- 
 
 * Note 13. Canto II, stanza 101. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. IO? 
 
 quake at Lisbon. The city was shaking and falling. Fifteen 
 thousand people rushed out upon the quay which had just 
 been built, to get away from the falling houses; an awful 
 crash of the earthquake, and the quay, harbor, ships, people, 
 all sank into the tremendous chasm, and caught fast in the 
 adamant jaws of the earth, not a spar, not a shred came 
 back to the surface to tell what had been there. This terri 
 ble power was also fearfully illustrated by the earthquake in 
 Peru in 1868, in which whole provinces were devastated, and 
 cities and mountains sunk. " Occurring also, as they most 
 frequently do, along the seaboard,* the water is observed 
 commonly to retire for some distance, leaving the harbors 
 dry, and then to return in a great wave of many feet in 
 height, which sweeps everything before it." This was pecu 
 liarly the case in the last named earthquake. The tidal 
 wave was frightfully destructive. " Of all calamities f to 
 which men are exposed, there is none of so fearful a char 
 acter as earthquakes ; none involve such terrible and devas 
 tating destruction to life and property. There is none of the 
 approach of which he is less forewarned, and none against 
 which he can take as few precautions. The very myste- 
 riousness of the danger oppresses him with terror. He is 
 ignorant in what form it is most imminent, or in what direc 
 tion to seek a way of escape." 
 
 There can be little reasonable doubt J that the earthquake 
 and hailstorm of our text symbolize the commotions of the 
 great battle of Armageddon. Yet, if this war is to occur 
 in Italy, around Rome, the possibility of which has already 
 been hinted, it being a country subject to terrible volcanic 
 influences, an awful earthquake, with some frightful eruption 
 of Vesuvius, or of some other volcano, scattering volcanic 
 stones for miles around, may not be among the impossible 
 incidents of those stormy days ; though the symbolism will be 
 satisfied by the fearful civil commotions which are undoubt 
 edly here intended. A coincidence of the kind is furnished 
 by the battle of Lake Trasymenus, during which there was 
 a severe earthquake, which destroyed one city and many 
 smaller towns. 
 
 * Note 14, Canto II, stanza 102. t Note 15, Canto II, stanza 102. 
 
 $ Note 16, Canto II, stanza 103. 
 
IOS INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 The farther effects of this great earthquake are noted : 
 "And the great city was divided into three parts,* and the 
 cities of the nations fell." This effect may be accomplished 
 on Rome by a literal earthquake, as some believe. Scientific 
 men tell us that there is a subterranean current or vein 
 of volcanic material or influence whatever is the cause 
 of volcanoes and earthquakes running from Vesuvius out 
 under the sea along the coast, and again under the land, 
 directly beneath the city. So, when Jehovah sees fit to light 
 the train, Rome may be overthrown without a miracle. Or, 
 this may describe the divided state of the city, when the war 
 of Armageddon is thundering around its walls, as Jerusalem 
 was divided into three hostile factions during the siege which 
 resulted in its destruction. Or, again, it may describe the 
 Roman power ; the Roman Catholic world may be divided 
 into three discordant factions, by these political and eccle 
 siastical convulsions, and thus Papal domination will be 
 destroyed. And those cities of the nations which have 
 upheld it shall fall in the same convulsions as Paris has 
 fallen; or they may fall away from supporting the Papacy, as 
 Munich has under the lead of Doctor Dollinger. Barnes 
 remarks upon this : " All that it seems to me can be said on 
 the point now is, (a) that it refers to Papal Rome, or the 
 Papal power ; (b) that it relates to something yet future, and 
 that it may not be possible to determine, with precise accu 
 racy, what will occur ; (c) that it probably means that, in the 
 time of the final ruin of that power, there will be a three-fold 
 judgment; either a different judgment in regard to some 
 three-fold manifestation of that power, or a succession of 
 judgments, as if one part were smitten at a time. The 
 certain and entire ruin of the power is predicted by this, 
 but still it is not improbable that it will be by such divisions, 
 or successions of judgments, that it is proper to represent 
 the city as divided into three parts." 
 
 We read, further on, that " Great Babylon came in remem 
 brance before God."f As this is a common symbol of the 
 Papal power, the mention of it in connection with the ore- 
 going, would seem to preclude the idea that the city tl ere 
 
 * Note 17, Canto II, stanza io5. t Note 18, Canto II, stanza 117. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 1 09 
 
 symbolizes that power. It would rather favor the idea that 
 some literal city is there meant. But, however this may be, 
 we may be sure of one thing, and that is, the ultimate end 
 of these calamities is " to give unto " Papal Rome " the cup 
 of the wine of the fierceness of God s wrath." 
 
 The next clause in our text seems still further to favor the 
 idea that these convulsions may be in part physical, as well 
 as political. It informs us that " every island fled away,* 
 and the mountains were not found." Islands are often tem 
 porarily covered by the tidal wave during the continuance 
 of earthquakes, and sometimes permanently sunk under the 
 waves. And, as we have seen, mountains are sometimes 
 sunk out of sight. This may be the case in Italy and along 
 the coast. The great earthquake may cause her beautiful 
 islands to disappear, and even Vesuvius itself, with other 
 mountains around, may be sunk into the bowels of the 
 earth, in the awful convulsion. Some look for some such 
 events. Thus the hailstormf would be explained. Amid 
 the wrack of continents, and the terrific eruptions of vol 
 canic fires from the convulsed earth, such a hailstorm as 
 never before was known might be a natural accompaniment 
 of the great earthquake. Stones might fall for miles around, 
 flang out of the bowels of the earth by the Titanic powers 
 of subterranean tempests, even larger than those mentioned 
 in the text. When we see the winds and the flames destroy 
 ing such a city as Chicago ;J the very " elements " in the 
 mighty furnace " melting with fervent heat ; " the most 
 enduring structures prostrated before the fiery blast, we 
 are, in a measure, prepared to expect the possibility of 
 these predicted convulsions. We can more easily imagine 
 how the tremendous powers of the earthquake, the flaming 
 vomit of the volcano, heaved from its burning entrails, the 
 winds carrying the devouring fires along the parched surface 
 of the earth, the heavens black with the wrathful tempest, 
 pealing their thunders in answer to the voice of the earth 
 quake, and launching their thunderbolts like hailstones 
 upon the works of men, all combined, should produce a 
 
 * Note 19, Canto IT, stanza 109. t Note 20, Canto II, stanza no. 
 
 % This lecture was rewritten after that great fire. 
 
IIO INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 scene of indescribable terror, when the very mountains, 
 having their foundacions battered away by the warring 
 Titans beneath, should sink in the limbos of the tempest, 
 the islands, overwhelmed by the waves, should disappear, and 
 the Eternal City, with its environs, its mighty walls, its lofty 
 domes, and its enduring structures, which have withstood the 
 impinging elements for more than two thousand years, should 
 sink beneath the storm, like frail reeds before the tornado. 
 At any rate, these tremendous agencies, used merely as 
 symbols, must shadow forth terrific political convulsions. 
 What they may be, or when they may occur, remains yet 
 to be seen. 
 
 Before proceeding to my final inquiry with reference to 
 this great war of Armageddon, I will notice briefly the next 
 two chapters. Mr. Barnes says of the seventeenth : " This 
 chapter properly commences a more detailed description of 
 the judgment inflicted upon the formidable anti-Christian 
 power referred to in the last chapter, though under a new 
 image. It contains an account of the sequel of the pouring 
 out of the last vial, etc." As we have remarked before, it 
 contains the symbol of the abandoned woman clothed in 
 purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious 
 stones and pearls, " seated upon the scarlet-colored beast 
 having seven heads and ten horns."* This represents the 
 Papal power as it existed some time before and during the 
 continuance of the plagues we have been contemplating. 
 (See my lecture on the symbols of Despotism. See also 
 Barnes Notes on this passage.) 
 
 The 1 8th chapter contains a lament for Babylon, portray 
 ing by its striking symbolism the condition of all despotic 
 powers after the awful battle or war of Armageddon. (See 
 Poem, Canto II, stanza 116; also, Barnes Notes on this 
 chapter.) 
 
 The i gth chapter, to the loth verse, speaks of the tri 
 umphant songsf of God s people over Papal domination 
 hopelessly overthrown in this war. Henceforth there is to 
 be no hindrance in the way of the gospel, from this power 
 
 * Note 21, Canto II, stanza 114. 
 
 t Note 22, Canto II, stanza 118. See also stanzas 119 122. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. Ill 
 
 uplifting the civil arm in the Christian world against the 
 truth. All such opposing powers go down in the shock 
 of Armageddon. Bat the work is not all done, for the 
 heathen world still remains. What shall be done in that, 
 as shadowed forth in the remaining symbols, shall be the 
 subject of my last lecture. Our next question here is 
 
 "When shall these things be?" In the light of the events 
 of the sixth vial, may we look for any of them in passing 
 events ? Has the seventh vial yet been poured out ? We 
 will not dare to affirm our conviction very positively that it 
 has. But we may say, 
 
 1. The supposition that it has been poured out does 
 not come in collision with Mr. Barnes opinion that it was, 
 when he wrote,, a future event. He wrote his Notes on 
 Revelation more than twenty years ago. That period has 
 been crowded with some of the most momentous, fearful and 
 portentous events in the history of the world, especially in 
 their bearing upon despotic power. In the rapid march of 
 events it may be considered probable that room would be 
 made for this last outpouring during that period. 
 
 2. It would not clash with my own exposition of the 
 sixth vial as symbolizing events that may yet be far in the 
 future. For we have seen that the effects of some vials have 
 not ceased even until after the outpouring of several subse 
 quent ones. Those things symbolized by the three unclean 
 spirits may yet be far in the future, and yet this vial may 
 have been poured out. There are difficulties, I know, in the 
 way, but not, I think, insuperable. The natural connection 
 of the passage would lead us to suppose that the three 
 unclean spirits of the former vial led or inspired the evil 
 powers that were marshaled against the Church in the war 
 of Armageddon. If so, according to the interpretation 
 which we have defended, the seventh vial could not have 
 been poured out until after the gathering together of these 
 powers. We cannot be certain in this matter until time 
 brings the consummation of the great impending events of 
 this momentous age; and if we find those which pretty 
 clearly point to the seventh vial as their symbol we need not 
 be stumbled in receiving them as such, fully confident that 
 all will, in the end, harmonize with each other, and with the 
 
112 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 symbols which foreshadow them. So, if the student of 
 prophecy should conclude that the seventh vial has already 
 been poured out, it may be that coming events will prove 
 that he is correct. It may be that we are hearing the voices 
 and the thunders, and seeing the lightnings of the fearful 
 war of Armageddon. Undoubtedly the seventh vial will 
 reach every influence opposing Christianity. Papal Domi 
 nation and Political Despotism are not the only forms of 
 opposition which must go down in the Christian world under 
 this outpouring. Mammon, Intemperance, Infidelity and 
 Licentiousness must be scorched and consumed in the fires 
 of wrath. I confess that my search among, the symbols of 
 prophecy for the great war in Europe and the horrors of 
 Paris; for the recent folly of the Ecumenical Council of 
 Rome and the destruction of the temporal power of the 
 Pope ; for the swinging away of Germany from Rome, under 
 the lead of Dollinger, and even for Sadowa, has not been, 
 and cannot be, entirely satisfactory, without supposing that 
 the seventh vial has been already outpoured, and that these 
 events are the voices and thunders and lightnings of the 
 stormy period foreshadowed by this aerial outpouring. The 
 earthquake, the falling cities, the fleeing islands, the sinking 
 mountains, and the great hailstorm, may yet be future events, 
 which the uneasy elements are preparing for the offending 
 powers of evil. Their outburst may be nearer than we 
 think. It may be that the fearful destruction of property by 
 recent fires, unparalleled in the history of the world, is the 
 effect of this vial upon the power of Mammon, designed to 
 rebuke his greed and prepare a better state of things for the 
 spread of a purer and nobler type of Christianity. Un 
 doubtedly such will be the effect of them. If such be the 
 case, we may look for other fearful visitations which shall 
 more directly touch the other forms of evil mentioned. 
 
 Whether the above be true or not, we may be sure that the 
 time of the seventh vial is close upon us. No doubt the 
 next twenty-five years will be crowded as thickly with great 
 events as the past. In an age of steam and lightning the 
 forces of history, evil as well as good, are generated and 
 matured with astonishing rapidity. The harvest and the 
 vintage of the earth are both rapidly ripening, and the 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 113 
 
 angels, with their sharp sickles, stand ready to reap. The 
 harvest shall be gathered into the garner of Jehovah ; the 
 clusters of the vine of the earth shall be cast into the 
 wine-press of the wrath of God. A voice in current events 
 seems to sound from the heights of Revelation : " Be ye 
 also ready " " Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his 
 garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame."* 
 
 * See Poem, Canto II, stanza 87. 
 
14 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE DARKNESS AND TEMPEST BEFORE 
 THE DAWN. 
 
 But yonder rises a Mack cloud of wrath. CANTO III, STANZA 17. 
 
 And I saw heaven* opened, and behold, a white horse ; and he that sat 
 upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth 
 judge and make war. 
 
 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns ; 
 and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 
 
 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood : and his name is 
 called The Word of God. 
 
 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, 
 clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 
 
 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should 
 smite the nations : and he shall rule them with a rod of iron : and he 
 treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 
 
 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING 
 OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. 
 
 And I saw an angel standing in the sun ; and he cried with a loud 
 voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and 
 gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God ; 
 
 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the 
 flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on 
 them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 
 
 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, 
 gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and 
 against his army. 
 
 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought 
 miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the 
 mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both 
 were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 
 
 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the 
 horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth : and all the fowls were 
 filled with their flesh. REV. xix. 11-21. 
 
 WHILE I fully believe that these prophetic symbols are 
 receiving a rapid fulfillment in our day, I am not, in any 
 proper sense, a Millerite nor a Second Adventist, as a certain 
 
 * Note i, Canto III, stanza i. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 11$ 
 
 sect of modern origin is styled. Mr. Miller, and others who 
 have followed in his steps, have undoubtedly done great 
 service in calling attention to these startling prophecies, 
 and inducing a great deal of study of prophetic symbols. 
 But there are several serious defects in their methods of 
 interpretation. 
 
 1. One is, they often assume to forecast future specific 
 events from these symbols, whereas, such is their nature that 
 nothing but of a general character can be, or, indeed, ever 
 was intended to be known of them until the events them 
 selves shall furnish the correct interpretation of them. The 
 reason for this is obvious: men are to be the unconscious 
 agents in the fulfillment of very many of the most important 
 of them. 
 
 2. They have mistaken the method of interpreting the 
 prophetic period of the " one thousand two hundred and 
 sixty days." They proceed as if the rise of the anti-Chris 
 tian powers, whose term of existence is here foreshadowed, 
 had been instantaneous, whereas it was by gradual steps. 
 We have hinted before, that if this period, added to the date 
 of any considerable advance of Papal Prerogative, should 
 mark the date of any considerable loss of the same, and the 
 process be repeated until the date of* the final destruction is 
 reached, the symbolism will be satisfied. Suppose the 
 student of history and prophecy should find that in, or 
 near, the year 529 the Papal Prerogative made considerable 
 advance, and should add the period in question to that 
 date, and find the date of the French Revolution, which was 
 a heavy blow upon the Papacy ; suppose he should find 
 another advance in the year 538, and by the same process 
 should obtain 1798, the year of the Italian Revolution, .which 
 drove the Pope from Rome. Again, suppose he should find 
 still another advance of Papal Prerogative in 588, and from 
 that should find the date of the second Italian Revolution, 
 1848, when the Pope was again driven from Rome; and 
 another advance in 606, and find the date of Sadowa, 1866, 
 by the same process; and still again another advance in 610, 
 by which he would reach the date of the great war of 1870, 
 and the destruction of the temporal power of the Pope, 
 would he not find a key to the meaning and application of 
 
Il6 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 this prophetic period ? Most of these several dates have, on 
 some such data, been fixed by different authorities for the 
 destruction of the Papal Domination. That they have all 
 marked a great loss to the Pope s prerogative is a fact 
 which must be put down as something more than a mere 
 coincidence. This may explain the mistakes that have been 
 made in calculating the time of the destruction of this 
 power. It will doubtless be seen that when the last blow is 
 struck, if from its date the period in question be deducted, 
 we shall find the date of another important advance of that 
 prerogative. It is very plain that the student could not, from 
 this data, predict the time of the utter downfall of this power, 
 only, at best, some disaster which would, it is true, tend to 
 its destruction. 
 
 3. They have made another mistake in supposing that 
 this period indicates the time of the second advent of 
 Christ; whereas, it was, evidently, only designed to mark 
 the date of the destruction of anti-Christian powers. If a 
 long period should elapse before the commencement of the 
 millennium, after these powers shall be put out of the way of 
 the progress of Christianity, it would in no degree impair 
 the truthfulness of these prophetic symbols. We shall 
 endeavor to show that the Church is only just prepared 
 by these events for her great aggressive work in subduing 
 the world to the power of Christ, preparatory to his second 
 coming. This must require time, though how long is not 
 indicated in these symbols. 
 
 I. We have already remarked that the first ten verses of 
 this chapter are descriptive of the songs* of triumph over the 
 powers of evil, sung by the people of heaven. The eleventh 
 verse introduces a new set of symbols, and, as it seems to 
 me, a new epoch in the history of the Church. The vision 
 has hitherto been confined to the Christian world. Little 
 reference has been had, if our exposition is correct, to the 
 vast portions of the earth which are covered with the dark 
 ness of heathenism. We cannot suppose that in a book of 
 the future history of the Church so many peoples would be 
 left out. The great struggles, up to this point, have been for 
 
 * See-Poem, Canto II, stanzas 118-122. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 1 1/ 
 
 the purpose of putting the obstacles which have opposed 
 themselves in Christian lands, out of the way of the spread 
 of the religion of the Bible. Now the piercing eye of 
 prophecy is directed, for a moment, to the great work of 
 evangelizing heathen countries. The grandest achievements 
 of the Church are yet to come. It was for these that she 
 endured long ages of the severest discipline. The terrible 
 scenes through which she has passed during the outpour 
 ing of the seven vials, have prepared her for abounding in 
 the work. The destruction of life and property in the wars, 
 floods, and flames, has taught her to put a proper estimate 
 upon these things. Now heaven is opened,* and the man 
 who is called " Faithful and True," and also " The Word 
 of God," as well as other significant names, comes upon 
 a white horse, and the armies of heaven follow him on 
 white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean ; and 
 out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he 
 should smite the nations. These symbols indicate some 
 triumphant demonstrations from heaven, of unusual power. 
 That one of the names of this rider is, " The Word of God," 
 and that a sword proceedeth out of his mouth, instead of being 
 held in his hand, would seem to point to the preaching of 
 the gospel with an unparalleled power and success. I have 
 no doubt but it has reference to the same event that is 
 referred to in Rev. xiv. 6, where John says : " And I saw 
 another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever 
 lasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and 
 to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." The 
 sword is to " smite the nations ; " in other words, to subju 
 gate them. The gospel is to be preached, and gain a strong 
 hold among all the nations of the earth. f We remark, with 
 reference to this : 
 
 i. The Christian world will have been so thoroughly pre 
 pared by the conflicts that are just past, that it will go to 
 work with a zeal and energy it has never before shown. 
 Skepticism will have been so rebuked and shamed by the 
 displays of God s hand in these things, that it will no more 
 interpose obstacles in the way of the aggressive work of the 
 
 * See Poem, Canto I, stanza i. t Note 2, Canto III, stanza 3. 
 
IlS INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 Church ; but will rather join hands with the people of God, 
 and help on the glorious cause. The Church will be bap 
 tized anew with the mission spirit ;* she will give her wealth 
 a hundred-fold more liberally into the treasuries of the 
 Lord; missionaries will go by thousands,! instead of by 
 twos; they will preach Christ with unwonted faith and fer 
 vor; the Holy Spirit will carry the preached word to the 
 heart and conscience with unwonted power, and " the moun 
 tain of the Lord s house shall be exalted above the tops of 
 the hills, and all nations! shall flow unto it." 
 
 2. We should expect, from the unwonted display of the 
 heavenly powers in these symbols, and from other circum 
 stances already hinted at, that the conquests of the gospel 
 would now be exceedingly rapid. 
 
 (a.) The unanimity of Christians in the work would con 
 duce to this end. If all the Church could, at any time, feel 
 the pressing importance of laboring for the salvation of the 
 heathen at all commensurate with the greatness of the work, 
 there would be such an impetus in this direction as the 
 world has never seen. But in this epoch of the Christian 
 world, men will see better the mighty meaning of redemp 
 tion, and they will labor, pray, and give with a more com 
 mensurate zeal and liberality. 
 
 (/;.) The tremendous scenes through which the men of 
 the world will have passed, will also prepare their hearts 
 for the reception of the truth. The plowshare of Jehovah 
 will have been so fearfully and thoroughly driven through 
 the soil of humanity, that the fallow ground will be broken 
 up, and the seed of the gospel will have abundant chance to 
 germinate and bear fruit. 
 
 (c.) The appliances of art, the facilities of communica 
 tion by steam and electricity, the amenities of commerce, 
 and the sympathy thus engendered and nourished between 
 the nations of the earth, will facilitate immensely the work 
 pf the Church. So rapid shall this work be, that " a nation 
 will be born in a day." Hundreds of millions will embrace 
 Christ, the world over. 
 
 
 
 * Note 4, Canto III, stanza 33. t Note 5, Canto III, stanza 34. 
 
 % Note 6, Canto III, stanza 35. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. IIQ 
 
 3. Smiting with a sword, and ruling the nations with a 
 rod of iron,* implies the great influence which Christ will 
 acquire by the successful preaching of the gospel. That it 
 will be very great, cannot, for a moment, be doubted. 
 
 II. But the rider on the white horse bears a two-fold 
 character. That which is implied by the sharp sword pro 
 ceeding out of his mouth, is his prerogative in the preached 
 gospel. But " he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness 
 of the wrath of Almighty God." This indicates something 
 more than a spiritual warfare. Again, the angel standing in 
 the sunf and calling to the fowls of heaven to gather them 
 selves together to the supper of the great God, is an unde 
 niable symbol of carnal warfare on a tremendous and 
 sanguinary scale. There can be no doubt of the meaning of 
 the symbol. 
 
 The nineteenth verse is a declaration of the same thing. 
 The beast and the kings of the earth and their armies are 
 gathered together to make war against him that sat on the 
 horse and against his army. I have no doubt but this is the 
 beast on which the woman sat, as represented in the iyth 
 chapter, which I have called the symbol of Political Des 
 potism. The woman, or the Papacy, was destroyed in the war 
 of Armageddon. But "the beast which was and is not and 
 yet is,"J still lives, and is now rallying the kings of the earth 
 and their armies against the Church. How this may be, of 
 course, we cannot speak positively, as this symbolism un 
 doubtedly points to still future events. But we may suppose 
 that the Church of Christ will have multiplied so extensively, 
 in all heathen countries, as to threaten, not only the hitherto 
 prevailing religions, but even the despotic prerogative of the 
 kings of those countries. Paganism will feel its throne 
 crumbling, as of old in the Roman Empire, before the ad 
 vance of truth and righteousness, and will be aroused to a 
 final conflict for existence. Under the symbol of the beast 
 it will call the kings of the earth to a combined effort to 
 crush the Church. This may be by a simultaneous attack 
 upon it throughout their realms, by the torch of the incen 
 diary, the dagger of the assassin, and by the sword of 
 
 * Note 7, Canto III, stanza 51. t See Poem, Canto III, stanza 7. 
 
 % Ibid, stanza 19. Note 8, Canto III, stanza 74, 
 
120 INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 
 
 persecution, now let loose again and flaming over the world. 
 The Church will prove too strong to be crushed in this 
 manner, for it will rally armies to defend its hearthstones 
 and altars. It will have millions of friends throughout the 
 now Christian world who would not stand idle and see the 
 horrors of Pagan Rome re-enacted on a more tremendous 
 scale than even under that Empire. The facilities for com 
 munication will soon send vast armies to threatened points, 
 and the same agencies may draw the kings and their armies 
 together into one or a few vast camps of Mars. We may 
 well imagine that in the populous districts of Asia, China, 
 Hindustan and Burmah, millions, and it may be tens of 
 millions, would be gathered into those camps. Perhaps 
 Europe and America may also send their millions of volun 
 teers to help the cause of right ; and such a war may be 
 waged as has never before shook the world, as the Last 
 great conflict before the Dawn.* The imagery of this 
 passage justifies such an expectation. The mighty angel 
 whose brightness eclipsed the sun, his call to the fowls of 
 heaven ; the supper of the great God, or that which he will 
 give to the fowls of heaven ; the armies of heaven on white 
 horses, and the fate of the beast and false prophet and of 
 their armies, all lead us to expect the most tremendous and 
 sanguinary struggle that has ever occurred on the globe. f 
 But the result of the battle will be a glorious triumph for the 
 Church. It prepares the way for the binding of Satan for 
 the thousand years, and for the reign of Christ on earth. 
 
 We may remark on this: 
 
 i. This view shows the mistake of those who are looking 
 for the speedy coming of Christ and the beginning of the 
 Millennium. It is, to my own mind, folly to be looking for 
 the immediate personal reign of Jesus, with the heathen 
 world in its present state, unless we are to expect that all 
 heathen nations are to be swept off by the besom of one 
 fearful destruction. My mind revolts at any such thought as 
 this. I look for the evangelization of the heathen by the 
 ordinary appliances of the gospel, extraordinarily blessed. 
 And if this be so, this expecting the immediate coming of 
 
 * Note 9, Canto 1IT, stanza 86. t Note 10, Canto III, stanza 89. 
 
INTRODUCTORY LECTURES. 121 
 
 Christ may be pernicious by tempting the Church to relax 
 her efforts for the evangelization of the world. This work 
 must require time in the ordinary methods of God s Provi 
 dence. Even though the great events of the world march 
 on with the accelerated velocity of steam and electricity, 
 still it must require time, and it may be centuries. 
 
 2. If our scripture chronology is correct, the morning of 
 the blessed Millennium may be when the great dial of time 
 indicates that the world is six thousand years old, which 
 will be some over a hundred years hence. It may be much 
 longer; it may be shorter. Children may now have been 
 born who will see that propitious day, in the flesh. But it 
 is hardly w r orth while to speculate on the subject. 
 
 3. One thing is certain : we know the day is coming. 
 These signs of its coming cannot lie, and we are almost as 
 sure that, compared with the long pilgrimage of the Church 
 thus far through the wilderness, the event is in the near 
 coming future. Then let us lift up our heads and take 
 courage, and battle valiantly for the Lord,* " forasmuch as 
 we see the day approaching." 
 
 * See Poem, Canto 3. 
 
 6 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 NIGHT AND STORM. 
 
 NIGHT, gloomy queen, upon thy dusky throne, 
 Night of the world beneath the power of sin, 
 Night, when the race the reign of death must own, 
 Midst thy deep shadows must my song begin. 
 Thy clouds and tempests, with their fearful din, 
 Must now the rapture of my muse inspire, 
 As from her stormy harp some strains she d win, 
 Tb kindle with its tones poetic fire, 
 That, roused by music, she may gain ambition s hire. 
 
 II 
 
 Night is the time when good men are asleep, 
 Seeking, from toil and tumult, balmy rest ; 
 When wicked men their secret vigils keep, 
 To watch for mischief; when, in stealthy quest, 
 The assassin creeps to pierce his victim s breast 
 With murderous knife ; when prowling thieves 
 
 abroad 
 
 Search, with unholy hands, their neighbor s chest, 
 To steal his honest gains ; when hags, outlawed, 
 Pursue their wretched trade, by nothing overawed. 
 
126 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 III. 
 
 Night is a season when tempestuous wrath 
 More metely conjures up its boisterous storms, 
 When, glancing fiercely on the thunderer s path, 
 The lightning, with its leaping fires, transforms 
 Stark midnight into noon ; when, in swift swarms, 
 The legions of the tempest rush and thunder, 
 Peal from the shaking sky their dread alarms, 
 As if to rend the heavens and earth asunder, 
 And, with their tumult, fill all hearts with fear and 
 wonder. 
 
 IV. 
 
 But night has calms, when wrangling storms are 
 
 hushed, 
 
 When, from the clouds, the torrents cease to fall, 
 When, off the sky, the murky mists are brushed 
 By blandest winds, when, sparkling over all, 
 Rears the blue, spangled dome ethereal ; 
 \Vhen moon and stars their glittering hosts array, 
 And all to one another grandly call, 
 Each emulous heaven s mandates to obey, 
 Far as their orbits run out on the milky way. 
 
 Night hath its voices, harsh, discordant, some, 
 The owl s weird cry, the howls of beasts of prey, 
 As they, for food, out from their coverts come : 
 Yet on the city s wall, in each highway, 
 Is heard the watchman s call, till coming day, 
 Assuring safety : then are trilled the songs 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 12J 
 
 Of nightingale, which sweetly die away, 
 And whip-poor-will her plaintive notes prolongs, 
 In lonely groves, retired from daylight s bustling 
 throngs. 
 
 VI. 
 
 There is a night that ne er shall have a day, 
 When ceaseless storms their fearful conflicts wage, 
 Which fill the soul with trembling and dismay, 
 When moon nor stars the darkness can assuage, 
 Nor joy the wretched, hopeless heart engage ; 
 But nature s night, though stormy, hath an end, 
 The tempest s sharpest turmoils cease to rage, 
 When, o er the sleepy hills, the sun shall send 
 His kindly rays, and all the darkened world befriend. 
 
 VII. 
 
 A night there is, of sorrow, when the soul 
 Bows low in grief, and shakes with pallid fear, 
 When waves on waves of anguish o er her roll, 
 And earthward turned, she finds no helper near ; 
 But when to heaven she looks, with listening ear, 
 Comes from the bending sky, a message sweet 
 " But for a night, shall sorrow drop the tear 
 On ruined hope, for, when day s heralds greet 
 Thine eyes, then shall return bright joy on bounding 
 feet." 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Night of the grave ! thy symbol nature s night, 
 How dark and dismal is thy rayless gloom ! 
 
128 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 When sets life s sun, or quenched its joyous light 
 Amid the darksome mists that shroud the tomb, 
 In which all men may read their final doom. 
 Yet for the Christian this dread night shall end, 
 For on his grave sweet flowers immortal bloom, 
 Assuring that the trump of God shall rend 
 Its bars, and bid the prisoned saint the skies ascend. 
 
 IX. 
 
 But likest nature s night, the night which shrouds 
 The world with sin s long, lasting, fearful gloom, 
 When heaven s sweet sky is covered thick with 
 
 clouds, 
 
 Dark as the shadows w r hich at midnight come ; 
 When desert winds have blasted Eden s bloom, 
 And night s damp shades the fruits of Eden killed ; 
 Darker the pall thrown o er Religion s tomb, 
 Than that, when souls are with deep anguish filled, 
 When warm and loving hearts, with death s cold touch, 
 
 are chilled. 
 
 x. 
 
 Ah ! what a night of revel, sin and shame, 
 When o er the earth, from hell, an enolless flood 
 Of fiends came trooping, legion is their name, 
 Whose work is robbery, violence and blood ; 
 To fill with poison what is sweet and good, 
 Kill peace and joy, and bathe the world in tears, 
 To mix with bitterness man s earthly food, 
 And chase his weary soul with gloomy fears, 
 When, last, he sinks in death to end his toilsome years. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. I2Q 
 
 XI. 
 
 And oh ! this night brings tempests in its train, 1 
 When warring, groaning giants of the storm, 
 Their long, fierce, fearful fights, with hate maintain, 
 When thunder doth unbare his mighty arm, 
 As o er the sky his fiery coursers swarm, 
 And war s tornadoes, sweeping land and sea, 
 Dash ruin o er the world ; when dread alarm 
 Of earthquake s voice, makes men in terror flee 
 From shaking cities, to avoid the dread catastrophe. 
 
 XII. 
 
 And yet this night hath calms, when conflicts cease, 
 At times, their wrathful din and fearful roar, 
 When weary earth doth hear the hymns of peace, 
 As purged, awhile, her fields from human gore, 
 While stars from the blue heavens their radiance 
 
 pour 
 
 A brightness caught from him whose face is veiled 
 Behind a world which now, from shore to shore, 
 Is filled with darkness ; men the light have hailed, 
 And wait a morn, when his bright face shall be unveiled. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Once a sweet star rose o er this darksome night, 
 And glowed in beauty o er Judea s plains, 
 On Bethlehem it cast its cheering light, 
 Where shepherds heard those high angelic strains, 
 When angels came in trailing glorious trains. 
 That star, to Eastern sages, points the way 
 6* 
 
130 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 To where the joys of birth, maternal pains 
 But lately have succeeded, where he lay, 
 The Lord and " King of glory," veiled in mortal clay. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 That star hath sweetly blent its guiding light 
 With the bright, blissful beacon, flaming forth 
 Through nature s midnight gloom, from Calvary s 
 
 height, 
 Where stands the cross, and east, west, south and 
 
 north, 
 Flings its bright, gladdening beams o er all the 
 
 earth ; 
 
 The wandering steps of pilgrim feet to guide 
 To rest and safety, and where holy mirth 
 Doth spread her feasts of joy, in arbor wide, 
 Where all, neath stormy skies, may see their storms 
 
 subside. 
 
 XV. 
 
 O, glorious cross ! upraised amid the gloom, 
 Where trembling nature feels the tempest s shock, 
 And Eden s glory molders in the tomb, 
 Which sin hath dug. Upon the eternal rock 
 Forever stand, and though the tempests mock, 
 Their Titan blasts can ne er put out thy light ; 
 Nor hell s dark powers thy waxing triumphs block : 
 Beam on the grave, and death shall take its flight, 
 And Eden s bloom revived shall make earth s deserts 
 bright. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 131 
 
 XVI. 
 
 O blessed Christ, I see thee sit beneath 
 That cross whereon in anguish thou didst die, 
 And out where tempests scatter wreck and death, 
 Where wrangling billows lift their heads on high, 
 Midst roaring rocks, direct thy pitying eye, 
 To watch for shipwrecked souls in anguished strife 
 With choking waves, to hear their piteous cry, 
 And then command a peace, where storms are rife, 
 To draw them to the rock and give them joy and life. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 That cross, dear Jesus, is my joy and song : 
 To it I ll cling mid wrecks by tempests blown ; 
 Light of the ages, beaming clear and strong, 
 It stands, though wicked men and devils frown, 
 It stands, though thrones and kingdoms topple 
 
 down ; 
 
 It stands above the wrecks of ages past, 
 It stands, though floods of wrath the world shall 
 
 drown ; 
 
 Yea, and shall stand, while earth and time shall last, 
 Till crowns and -kingdoms, all, shall at thy feet be cast. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Amidst the sounds, discordant, of this night, 
 Sweet voices, too, are heard, the gloom to cheer ; 
 Sounds from the heavens, which fill with sweet 
 
 delight 
 The soul that listens ; music full and clear, 
 
132 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Like what o er Judah s plains, to upturned ear, 
 Poured its deep rapture through the shepherds 
 
 souls, 
 
 Proclaiming peace to nations far and near ; 
 A joy that thrills in hearts which love controls, 
 While from the heavenly hosts the glorious anthem rolls. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 This night of earth, too, hath upon the walls, 
 
 And in the streets, to give the warning cry, 
 
 Its watchmen, by whose faithful, night-long calls, 
 
 Men are admonished when their foes are nigh, 
 
 And taught amid the tempest where to fly. 
 
 How oft we hear, " O watchman, what of the 
 
 night ?" 
 
 Sound mid the gloom, and then the quick reply: 
 
 " The morning comes, and soon methinks the light 
 
 Will dawn, and all the earth s dark shadows take their 
 
 flight." 
 
 XX. 
 
 Sweet are the words of invitation given 
 To men, to flee from dread impending wrath, 
 Sweet words of Jesus drop, like dews, from heaven, 
 Benighted souls to turn from danger s path, 
 To find in him relief from sin and death. 
 Heard his sweet words : " Come unto me and rest, 
 Ye weary, heavy laden, and beneath 
 Your burdens groan no more ; come and be blest, 
 For I have healing balm for all by sins distressed." 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 133 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Sweet are the songs of joy for sins forgiven, 
 X When new-born souls first sing redeeming love ; 
 / When saints bid welcome to the joys of heaven, 
 Begun on earth, for aye to thrill above. 
 And when to Zion s hill in crowds they move, 
 To throng her courts to wait, and sing, and pray, 
 All God s abundant promises to prove, 
 Through Him who died and washed their sins away, 
 This night of earth is vocal with the sounds of day. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 And so, like nature s night, this night shall end ; 
 It hath its day-star pointing to the dawn ; 
 Forth through the orient gates the Lord shall send 
 Bright heralds of the morning long foreshown, 
 That shall proclaim him coming on his throne, 
 To pour his glories from the bending skies, 
 While on the clouds, by milk-white coursers drawn, 
 His chariot rolls ; and joyous shouts shall rise 
 From the dark scenes of earth now changed to Paradise. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Of that dim night, but just before the dawn, 
 The poet tunes his harp, prepares to sing, 
 Ere its deep shades are from the earth withdrawn ; 
 And though his theme but little rapture bring, 
 And his wild harp with war s harsh notes must ring, 
 He hopes, before his stormy song shall cease, 
 
134 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 To bear his reader up, on faith s strong wing, 
 Where, coming in his power, earth to release, 
 He may behold, from mountain heights, the PRINCE OF 
 PEACE. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 The scene begins upon the heavenly hills,* 
 Where round the throne, in snow-white garments 
 
 dressed, 
 
 Those angels, by whom vengeance now fulfills 
 The wrath of God, stand waiting his behest, 
 Upon the quailing earth prepared to cast 
 The contents of those vials in their hands, 
 The seven plagues, most dreadful, and the last, 
 W 7 hich scatter burning fires o er many lands, 
 Rebellion to consume where er it Heaven withstands. 
 
 xxv. 
 
 There is in heaven a sea of beauty rare, 
 Of pure transparent glass and mingled fire, 
 Of holiness, the symbol bright and fair, 
 And justice, too, which reddens with hot ire. 
 Ye who despise the oft proclaimed desire 
 Of pardoning love as tenderly it speaks 
 
 * And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having 
 the seven last plagues ; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it 
 were a sea of glass mingled with fire : and them that had gotten the victory over the 
 beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, 
 stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of 
 Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous 
 are thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are thy ways, thou king of saints. 
 Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name ? for thou only art holy : for 
 all nations shall come and worship before thee ; for thy judgments are made mani 
 fest. REV. xv. 1-4 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 135 
 
 Of God when clad in mercy s sweet attire, 
 See ! pardon scorned, his glittering sword he shakes, 
 And on the startled ear his wrathful thunder breaks. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 On the green banks of that wide-spreading sea 
 The saints are standing, clad in robes of white ; 
 They wave their palms of blood-bought victory, 
 And trill their golden harps with sweet delight 
 To a new anthem, sung with all their might, 
 The song of Moses and the Lamb once slain, 
 Whilst God and angels listen from the height. 
 Moses, who did the law of God ordain, 
 Commissioned by high heaven, bears not the sword in 
 vain. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 But he holds back the swift descending blow, 
 While Jesus pleads, who for each sinner bled, 
 And cries, while he his wounded hands doth show, 
 Stay, stay destruction from the guilty head. 
 Nor is the sinner s cause thus vainly plead, 
 For as the storm sleeps on yon glassy sea, 
 Where waves are hushed to rest and winds have fled, 
 So sleeps the sword, dear child of God, for thee 
 Dispersed the clouds of wrath and dread calamity. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 As saints, with joy, in that unnumbered throng, 
 Stand on that sea, and wave their victor palms, 
 
136 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 As to Eternal Mercy, loud and long, 
 
 They shake the hills with their high-sounding 
 
 psalms, 
 
 So they rejoice when Justice overwhelms 
 The unrepenting enemies of God, 
 Who by disloyal deeds have marred his realms, 
 Because rebellion sinks beneath her nod, 
 Blasted and crushed for aye by the Almighty s rod. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Justice they love, she makes them safely dwell, 
 Because upheld by an unchanging power, 
 And Mercy, too, she saved their souls from hell, 
 When o er their pathway vengeance stern did lower; 
 Moses and Christ, in that triumphant hour, 
 Stand side by side, uniting heaven s poles ; 
 No wonder music waits, tis heaven s dower. 
 List to their song as up to God it rolls, 
 Triumphant paeon sung by thousand thousand souls. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 Of God s great marvels in his works and ways, 
 Of truth and stainless righteousness displayed, 
 Of love and mercy, highest psalms of praise 
 They sang. Who on his terrors undismayed 
 Can look ? Or gaze, and never be afraid 
 Of his dread sword ? Nor glorify his name ? 
 Yea, to his name be ceaseless homage paid. 
 All lands shall come and his great power proclaim, 
 Who now displays his wrath to men in flood and flame. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 137 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Now die away, amid the heavenly hills, 
 The echos of that wide-resounding song ; 
 While glory heaven s high sanctuary fills, 
 Which bursts from open portals,* clear and strong ; 
 And, where those splendors roll their floods along, 
 Those angels clad in white, begirt with gold, 
 Walk forth before that vast angelic throng : 
 Let sinful mortals quake as they behold, 
 For they the secrets of Jehovah s wrath unfold. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Behold ! before that throne of power they stand, 
 And, from the living creature s hand they take 
 The seven last plagues of God. His high com 
 mand 
 
 They wait, to bid their scorching wrath to break 
 Upon the trembling world. Now terrors shake 
 The earth and sky, and glory crowns the height ; 
 While men, at the dread vision, fear and quake : 
 No man can, living, stand before his sight, 
 Until those plagues have wrought on earth their death 
 and blight. 
 
 * And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testi 
 mony in heaven was opened : And the seven angels came out of the temple, having 
 the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded 
 with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven 
 golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. And the temple 
 was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power ; and no man was 
 able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. 
 REV. xv. 5-8. 
 
138 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 THE WARNING. 
 
 Listen, O earth, to the voice of dread warning, 
 For Justice aroused in her armor is clad, 
 
 And Mercy retires, who the sword hath been turning 
 Away from its fall on the sinner s proud head. 
 
 Thy valleys and plains, and thy hills and thy mountains, 
 Shall shake with the footsteps of God in his wrath ; 
 
 Thy seas and thy rivers, and cool, bubbling fountains, 
 Shall blush with the blood of thy sons laid in death. 
 
 The portents of heaven shall fill thee with trembling, 
 The sun s flaming rays shall proclaim his dread ire; 
 
 While, in every land, his avengers assembling, 
 
 Shall shake thee with earthquakes, and scorch thee 
 with fire. 
 
 Repent, O repent, ere the day dawns in fury, 
 Before the dread vials upon thee are poured ; 
 
 Take warning ! take warning ! kind angels adjure thee, 
 While Mercy s white hand yet may succor afford. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 A solemn voice* comes from yon temple gate, 
 And, rolling down, it shakes the sea and land. 
 Hark ! hark ! it speaks, in clamor loud and great, 
 And utters forth Jehovah s dread command, 
 As there enthrdned he shakes his red right hand : 
 " Go, go your ways, ye messengers of wrath, 
 
 * And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go 
 your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. REV. xvi. i. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 139 
 
 On land and sea your blistering footprints brand ; 
 Pour out my plagues on every rebel s path, 
 Nor stop till all the earth shall reek in gory death." 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 Wide o er the astonished world an angel soars, 2 
 His pinions shadow men with cloud and storm ; 
 Out from his vial, on the land he pours 
 Contagions dire, which o er the nations swarm, 
 And fall, in blight, and sore, and mortal harm, 
 On them who have received the beast s vile nam^, 
 And those who seek protection from his arm ; 
 His image worship, doing deeds of shame : 
 In noisome, grievous sores the visitation came. 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 If thou my muse to exposition turn, 
 To find this scene on the historic page, 
 I point thee to that impious land where burn 3 
 The fires of civil war with fiendish rage, 
 To France, the warning cry of every age. 
 She was the pillar of the despot s throne, 
 Both civil and religious ; she d engage 
 To make his odious, heaven-cursed cause her own ; 
 With bayonets pin to his brows his fading crown. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Religious Despotism yclept her king 
 Her eldest son, and she rejoiced to own 
 The flattering title ; she would gladly bring 
 Her choicest treasures, and, before the throne, 
 
140 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Would lay them down supine in service prone, 
 To prop the Holy Father s sinking cause ; 
 Though in his realms light nor religion shone ; 
 To bind unwilling hands by crushing laws, 
 To tear the brows of Liberty with eagle s claws. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 To strike from Rome this nation s strong support, * 
 The angel pours his fearful vial out ; 
 Its subtle influence shall not ceas to hurt 
 Till her supporting armies, put to rout, 
 Shall cower before fair Freedom s hosts, and shout 
 Of disenthralled nations shall arise 
 To God, who brings deliverance about ; 
 Until, from every land beneath the skies, 
 The Papal power cast down, in desperation flies. 
 
 xxxix. 
 
 Dark atheism, with all its withering blight, * 
 And liberty, to starkest license grown, 
 Veiled that fair land in anarchy s deep night, 
 And myriads in streaming blood did drown. 
 If she no earthly king nor crown might own, 
 Why should she not, into the face of God, 
 Fling her defiance ? With him overthrown 
 In hearts of men, no power above the nod 
 Of Freedom, she would spread her empire all abroad. 
 
 XL. 
 
 And so, in maddened conclave once convened 6 
 Their sages great, blasphemously resolved 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 14! 
 
 There is no God (for they on Reason leaned), 
 Declared allegiance to Heaven dissolved, 
 Death an eternal sleep, from which evolved 
 Nor life, nor light. Now nothing should restrain 
 Their votaries, thus from all law exolved, 
 From doing as they pleased, such right was plain, 
 Though by unlicensed power whole hecatombs are 
 slain. 7 
 
 XLI. 
 
 France had run mad, but, in her maddened mood, 8 
 There was a fearful method ; she arrayed 
 Her mighty armies, and, with deeds of blood, 
 She shook surrounding nations ; on them preyed ; 
 By thunder of her arms kings were dismayed ; 
 O er Alpine heights her conquering armies poured, 
 Through Piedmont s sunny vales her trumpets 
 
 brayed, 
 
 Among the Appenines her cannons roared, 
 Till, o er the seven hills, her wrathful tempests lowered. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Nor did she stay the impulse of her arms 
 Till, o er the Pyrenees, she rolled on Spain 
 Tempestuous wrath, full fraught with war s alarms ; 
 And on the Rhine her myriads she had slain 
 And, with audacious front, on many a plain, 
 The allied kingdoms she had faced in fight ; 
 And, at the end of many a dread campaign, 
 Their gathering legions she had put to flight, 
 Till kings lay at her feet in conquered, ruined plight. 
 
142 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 But every blow dealt by her frenzied hand 
 In ruin fell on despotism s foul head, 
 And superstition s chains, in many a land, 
 Were rent asunder, and its minions fled ; 
 The same when neath the guillotine she bled, 
 As when the pandoors and the fierce hussars 
 Of Austria, she trampled mong the dead ; 
 The same, when victor in her mighty wars, 
 As when o erthrown, she felt the crushing heel of Mars. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Ere this first wrath is spent another comes, 9 
 Over the sea the second angel flies, 
 And pours his vial on the waves, then looms 
 A tempest, mingling seas and cloudy skies, 
 Till in the deep each living creature dies, 
 And ocean s seething billows turn to blood 
 Amid the shrieks and wild despairing cries 
 Of victims, in the turmoil of the flood, 
 And desolation rules o er many a briny rood. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 See ! how the furies of the battle rage, 10 
 Where navies of the world arrayed in fight, 
 And earth s great kingdoms all their powers engage. 
 What is yon flash that blazes on the sight ? " 
 That thunder-peal that fills stout hearts with fright? 
 It is the dreadful broadside s blinding flash, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 143 
 
 Neath reeling rack, black as the clouds of night, 
 Whose thunderbolts to swift destruction dash 
 Great ships, whose quivering sides are shattered in the 
 crash. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 Hark ! mid that horrid din a thunder stroke I2 
 Resounds more fearful far, as if high heaven 
 Were falling, ocean vomits flame and smoke 
 Like a volcano, and the clouds are riven 
 Which veil the scene by battle s whirlwinds driven. 
 Behold the noble ship flung to the clouds, 
 In broken fragments to destruction given, 
 Masts, spars and rigging, stranded shrouds, 
 With all her crew, lie scattered on the gory floods. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Thus from the Nile, and far-famed Trafalgar, J 3 
 And, from a hundred battles on the sea 
 Are heard the thunders of a naval war, 
 Which sets the glittering stars of victory 
 On brows of fair Religious Liberty, 
 And breaks the power of Rome upon the flood, ** 
 The naval power of them that bend knee 
 To her, and tinges many a rood with blood, 
 Wherever on the sea her ships have proudly rode. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 But ere that storm has swept from ocean s main J s 
 The navies that uphold the seven hills, 
 Which sail in clouds from ports of France and Spain, 
 The sound of other woes the welkin fills, 
 
144 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 With fear the trembling hearts of nations thrills, 
 Calamity crowds on calamity. 
 God, in his anger, heaps the earth with ills, 
 Hurls his dread thunder on the land and sea, 
 Till from despotic power the nations shall be free. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE RIVERS AND FOUNTAINS. 
 
 O now, ye bubbling fountains, 
 
 Ye rivers, broad and free, 
 Now singing down the mountains, 
 
 Now surging to the sea ; 
 Where er your waters glisten, 
 
 On mount or lonely vale, 
 Unto your sentence listen, 
 
 And your sad fate bewail. 
 
 Ye brooklets, speak your sorrow 
 
 To the lilies of the field ; 
 Ye floods, the accents borrow, 
 
 In notes o er mountain pealed ; 
 Ye cataracts, sound your thunder 
 
 Adown the dizzy steep, 
 And tell the tale of wonder, 
 
 As on your waters sweep. 
 
 Behold ! now swoops from Alpine heights sub 
 lime, l6 
 On fair Italia s floods and fountains rare, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 145 
 
 The angel who avenges every crime 
 Committed by the scarlet women there. 
 Thy mountains, Piedmont, and thy valleys fair, 
 Which blushed with martyr blood, in days of yore, 
 Shall see her minions smitten with despair ; 
 Shall see thy rivers crimsoned with their gore, 
 Where God doth now on them his burning plagues 
 outpour. 
 
 LI. 
 
 Hark ! a dread voice sounds o er those streams of 
 
 blood, 
 
 Thrilling with terror hearts not cold in death. 
 The angel who presides o er stream and flood 
 Now speaks ; the saints attend, and, with hushed 
 
 breath, 
 
 Hear those dread accents of avenging wrath 
 Pealing o er mountains, piercing valleys far, 
 And casting trembling in the despot s path, 
 O er that doomed land, to feel the shock of war, 
 In fearful thunders, when Jehovah mounts his car. 
 
 LII. 
 THE ANGEL OF THE WATERS. 
 
 Righteous art thou, O Lord, Most High, 
 Which art, and wast, and art to be ; 
 
 For Thou didst hear thy people s cry, 
 And all their cruel wrongs didst see 
 
146 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 These wicked shed the blood, for naught, 
 Of prophets, saints, and martyrs, too ; 
 
 And now the gory draught is brought 
 For them to drink it is their due. 
 
 Lilt 
 
 Now hushed, o er every river, hill, and plain, 
 That dreadful sound which fills the earth with fear. 
 Hark ! hark ! a sound the stillness breaks again 
 In wilder accents, echoing far and near, 
 From heaven it comes, and men the voice may 
 
 hear ; 
 
 It comes from neath that altar, where those souls 
 Which have been slain for Jesus now appear, 
 And cry for vengeance ; each his blood condoles, 
 As from the awful height the clamorous utterance rolls. 
 
 LIV. 
 RESPONSE OF THE ANGEL OF WATERS. 
 
 Even so, God Almighty, let vengeance full sore 
 Be poured down the necks of these men stained in gore ; 
 Of thy murdered saints, who for Jesus were slain, 
 With rack and with torture, in sorrow and pain. 
 Full long their strong cries for redress have been made, 
 Full long have the footsteps of vengeance delayed ; 
 It is just thou shouldst press to their blistering lips 
 The festering cup, from which gory death drips. 
 With the fearful infection let thousands be slain, 
 Till, in heaps, their dead bodies shall cover the plain ; 
 And the death-scenting vultures shall darken the air, 
 As they swarm to their blood-reeking feasts from afar. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 147 
 
 LV. 
 
 The time has come for that prophetic voice, 
 Uttered on Patmos Isle, to be fulfilled ; 
 Among the mountains hear portentous noise 
 Of busy preparation ; hearts are thrilled, 
 And cowered blood, with curdling fear, is chilled. 
 But, while the Gallic eagles rear their brood 
 Among the crags, the sounds of war are stilled. 
 At length, on war s black cloud, to fields of blood, 
 With screech and whirlwind s swoop, they rush a mighty 
 flood. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 Fair Italy, the avalanche descends 
 From Alpine heights, a deluge red, on thee ; 
 The power that rules thee fore the tempest bends, 
 And, in -the shock, its cowering minions flee ; 
 Sardinia, conquered, bends the suppliant knee ; 
 And, after Lodi thunders far and wide, 
 Tinging the Adda s tide, fair Lombardy 
 Becomes the conqueror s prey ; yet still, in pride, 
 He presses on to conquest with a giant s stride. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 Nor stay his footsteps in his march of wrath ; 
 The fiery tempest o er Arcole breaks, 
 And on he strides upon his bloody path, 
 Till Italy lies low, and Rome bespeaks 
 Her fulminating power in vain ; she shrieks . 
 With rage and horror, as in clamor loud 
 
148 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 The cannon of Napoleon rudely shakes 
 The seven hills, and round her ramparts crowd 
 His conquering legions, soon her glory to becloud. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Peace comes. But soon the Austrian calls to arms, 
 To crush the proud Republic s spreading power ; 
 At Rivoli he meets the Gallic swarms, 
 And low in dust his numerous legions cower ; 
 Then over Rome again war s tempests lower. 
 The Senio blushes with the flowing blood ; 
 Faenza, too, falls in her fatal hour ; 
 And then Ancona sinks beneath the flood, 
 She who the peer of Venice long hath proudly stood. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 And thou Loretto, canst thou tell me why, 
 With Casa Santa in thy sacred gates, 
 Thou couldst not the great conqueror defy, 
 But wast, in the dread conflict, put to straits? 
 They say a band of angels round thee waits, 
 Who brought the house of Mary, through the air, 
 From Palestine for so the myth relates 
 And placed within thy walls the treasure, where 
 It might be safely kept, beneath thy patron s care. 
 
 LX. 
 
 Why did thy patron thus thy walls forsake 
 When, with the siege which boded thy quick fall, 
 Thy towers and ramparts did so rudely shake ? 
 Say, was she deaf, that thou shouldst vainly call ? 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 149 
 
 And when thy foes poured o er thy prostrate wall, 
 Why was that house to Paris borne away, 
 The prey of the great robber, in whose thrall 
 Were held art s treasures, for a time ? We pray, 
 Let truthful Priests the story tell us, if they may. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 Oh, Italy ! though now thy streams are red, 
 Though God hath given thy children blood to 
 
 drink, 
 
 Though in the conflict thou hast fought and bled, 
 And made thy sunny vales with slain to stink, 
 Still myriads more must in thy conflicts sink, 
 On dread Marengo s trampled field of blood, 
 Where thousands, driven o er the awful brink 
 Of battle, died ; Magenta, too, where stood, 
 In after years, another would-be scourge of God : 
 
 LXII. 
 
 And Solferino, crimson fount and stream, 
 With awful carnage, while their heavy shocks 
 Fall on the Papal power, and break its dream 
 Of long endurance ; fate its thunder mocks, 
 And with the earthquake Rome s foundation rocks. 
 O Great Avenger, just and true thou art, 
 And naught the wheels of thy dread chariot blocks. 
 Thy martyred saints are ever near thy heart, 
 And earth and hell can never thy just vengeance thwart. 
 
150 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXIII. 
 APOSTROPHE TO THE SUN. 
 
 Thou orb of day, serenely throned 
 
 Upon thy chariot high, 
 Whose flying coursers, glory crowned, 
 
 Sweep grandly through the sky : 
 We look upon thy friendly rays 
 
 Dispersing gloomy night, 
 And for thy benison we praise 
 
 The God who made the light. 
 
 Round thee, in widening circles grand, 
 
 The ponderous planets roll ; 
 And, as if held in giant s hand, 
 
 They own thy strong control. 
 No matter whether near or far, 
 
 Each thy attraction feels : 
 The comet, on its bickering car, 
 
 Round its aphelion wheels, 
 
 Bends its obedient neck to thee, 
 
 And hastens to return 
 From space s unfathomable sea 
 
 To where thy splendors burn. 
 Far, far, thy arrowy beams of light 
 
 Fly through the realms of space, 
 No comet, in most distant flight, 
 
 Has ever found a place, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Where is not seen thy radiance bright, 
 
 Sent forth by hand divine, 
 To banish chaos and old night, 
 
 Wherever thou dost shine. 
 Thy ministries are numberless, 
 
 Above, below, around, 
 Whatever realms thy beams may bless, 
 
 There life and joy abound. 
 
 By thee the stormy billows rise, 
 
 That beat on every shore, 
 To thee the evening zephyr sighs, 
 
 And wild tornadoes roar. 
 The misty waters fill the clouds 
 
 Raised by thy wondrous power, 
 And at thy beck come on, in crowds, 
 
 The legions of the shower. 
 
 The melody of singing rill, 
 
 The torrent s sturdy roar, 
 As tumbling down the steepy hill, 
 
 Sing to thee evermore. 
 And when the tempest rolls away, 
 
 Revealing the blue sky, 
 The rainbow, painted by thy ray, 
 
 Rears its bright arch on high 
 
 Thy rays omnific bring to life 
 The plants and trees of earth, 
 
 But for thee naught, in nature s strife, 
 Had ever come to birth. 
 
152 BEFORE THE. DAWN. 
 
 LXIV. 
 LAMENTATION. 
 
 Tis sad ! O tis sad ! that the sunlight so cheerful 
 
 Should be made the dread agent of death and despair, 
 That from his bright orb should throng messengers 
 fearful, 
 
 To smite suffering men with their scourges of fire. 
 Yet over the sun the dread angel arises, 1 ? 
 
 And spreads forth his pinions to shadow the world, 
 And while the eclipse trembling mortals surprises, 
 
 Into his flaming disc the dread vial is hurled. 
 
 A great conflagration springs up in commotion, 
 
 Enwrapping the heavens in its wide, fearful glare, 
 And as waters would flow were the bounds swept from 
 ocean, 
 
 There pours upon earth flaming cataracts of fire. 
 The green herb is withered, the blasted tree raises 
 
 Its bare, leafless boughs, in the hot blistering breeze. 
 The earth, made a desert, its dwellers amazes, 
 
 While torment and terror their trembling hearts seize. 
 
 O where is their covert in this hour of trial ? 
 
 What glen or what cavern can shelter afford ? 
 O how shall they flee from the flames of the vial ? 
 
 Say, how can they brave the fierce wrath of the Lord ? 
 Will they fly to the ocean and hide in its billows ? 
 
 Ah, no ! for its waters are crimsoned with blood. 
 Will they seek the cool streams neath the shadowing 
 willows ? 
 
 No, no ! for contagion fills fountain and flood. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 153 
 
 Or will they repent, to the Lord humbly turning, 
 
 Confess his just judgments and own his great power? 
 Or will they still brave his dread wrath in that burning, 
 
 And never beneath his hot thunderbolts cower ? 
 O hark ! midst that awful confusion and anguish, 
 
 What sounds of dread import now break on the ear ! 
 Although in their torment and terror they languish, 
 
 Their blasphemous curses resound through the air. 
 
 They will not repent, though they feel the fierce burning, 
 
 And glorify God, their Creator and Lord, 
 But they blaspheme his name, from obedience still 
 turning ; 
 
 O they must sink down, of high heaven abhorred. 
 O think not, vain man, that the Lord s arm is shortened., 
 
 That these dreadful plagues have exhausted his power, 
 That his vials are spent, and his counsels are straight 
 ened, 
 
 To discover new methods his wrath to outpour. 
 
 Take warning, take warning, four vials outpouring, 
 
 By the hands of avengers of his broken law ; 
 O do not, by longer his judgments ignoring, 
 
 His uttermost wrath on your helpless heads draw. 
 Is it not enough that your bodies are writhing 
 
 With sores, that the ocean is changed into gore, 
 That the rivers and fountains with slaughter is seething? 
 
 Must the sun s scorching fires on your bare bodies 
 pour? 
 
 7* 
 
154 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Behold a universal flame of war l8 
 Breaks on the plains of Europe, trampled o er, 
 As if the sun infected, from his car 
 Should scatter fires on every trembling shore. 
 At Austerlitz, midst awful din and roar, 
 The flame breaks forth, and in its fearful glare ^ 
 Myriads lie scorched and reeking in their gore, 
 While far abroad, upon the startled air, 
 Howl war s hot furies, wakened from their sulphurous 
 lair. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 Jena and Auerstadt blaze next on the sight, 
 Twin furies of the same tremendous day 
 In which the sun of Prussia sinks in night, 
 The nation crushed in the red battle s fray. 
 But from the German heart ne er pass away 
 The blistering memories of that fearful time, 
 Now France, the day of vengeance spreads dismay 
 O er thee, and thou dost expiate thy crime, 
 As German foes besoil thy robes with blood and grime. 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 O ! dreadful Eylan, midst thy din and noise, 20 
 What horrid visions do thy flames reveal ! 
 Where, in the battle s almost equal poise, 
 Two giants struggle with their frenzied zeal , 
 But Friedland comes and sets the bloody seal 
 Of victory on Bonaparte s proud head, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 155 
 
 Though four score thousands in these conflicts reel 
 And fall, the wounded, dying, and the dead, 
 While far the trampled fields and flowing streams are red. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 And Spain must feel the great invader s feet, 2I 
 As o er the Pyrenees his legions pour ; 
 She in her sunny vales the Gaul must meet, 
 And feel his heel press on her bosom sore, 
 And drink her cup of wrath long kept in store. 
 See, as his legions swarm from yonder height 
 Around old Saragossa, famed of yore, 22 
 He summons to surrender or to fight, 
 Hear her reply, hurled back with grim indignant might. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 WAR EVEN TO THE KNIFE. 
 THE SPANIARD S DEFIANCE. 
 
 Hispania, Hispania, prepare for the fight, 
 For down roll the war-clouds with darkness of night ; 
 Thy children are bleeding on fields of red strife, 
 Yet send back defiance, " War e en to the knife." 
 
 Lo ! down from the mountains the eagles of Gaul 
 Are swooping, your children as serfs to enthrall ; 
 Dishonor to sister, to daughter, to wife, 
 They bring ; then, brave boys, give them " War to the 
 knife." 
 
156 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Their bugles are sounding, prepare for the storm, 
 Round their death-shotted guns their artillery-men form, 
 The loud tocsin ring, beat the drum, blow the fife, 
 Let your war-cry forever be, " War to tlie knife" 
 
 Though their pinions for springing be poised on the air, 
 And from their hot eye-balls the red lightnings glare ; 
 Though the rush of their legions with slaughter be rife, 
 We will breast the tornado with " WAR TO THE KNIFE." 
 
 Proud birds from the mountains, your plumes shall be 
 
 soiled, 
 With the bolts of the Spaniards your flight shall be 
 
 spoiled, 
 
 Your pinions be smeared with the streams of red life, 
 And Spain shall be freed with her " War to the knife." 
 
 LXX. 
 
 But, Saragossa, valor bleeds in vain, 
 To crush thee down thy Gallic foes aspire ; 
 Fate to the invader gives thy sunny Spain, 
 And clothes her valleys with a robe of fire. 
 Long years shall pass before thy foes retire, 
 For Reynosa, Burgos, Tudela, 
 Must see the Gallic banners rising higher ; 
 Corunna, too, must have its bloody day, 
 Where gallant Moore falls wounded, dying in the fray. 
 
 LXX I. 
 
 Till Talevera sees the flying Gaul, 
 And Albnera glances back the flash 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 157 
 
 Of cannon, and Badajos hears the call 
 Of England s bugles, and in battle s crash 
 Sees, o er its prostrate walls, her squadrons dash, 
 Till Salamanca shakes his waning power, 
 Yea ! till Vittoria, with war s gory lash, 
 Drives the invader from her trampled shore, 
 And shouts her VIVA EL REY in that triumphant hour. 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 VIVA EL REY. 
 THE SPANIARD S SONG OF TRIUMPH. 
 
 Lo ! thy deliverer comes, 
 Peal thy loud Te Deums, 
 
 HlSPANIA. 
 
 Long, over hill and vale, 
 Did the proud Gaul prevail ; 
 Now to thy king all hail ! 
 
 " VIVA EL REY." 
 
 Thy field, Vittoria, 
 Covered with gloria, 
 
 In the red fray, 
 Where thine oppressors die, 
 Whence bloody tyrants fly, 
 Rolls the loud anthem high, 
 
 " VIVA EL REY." 
 
 Dire was the din and rack, 
 Red was the siege and sack, 
 Of Gaul s dread sway. 
 
158 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Now flies war s tempest cloud, 
 Falls the oppressor proud ; 
 Shout forth the welcome loud, 
 "VivA EL KEY." 
 
 Long live King Ferdinand ! 
 Long may our rescued land 
 
 Thy rule obey. 
 Hail to great WELLINGTON ! 
 England s victorious son ; 
 But thee, our King, we crown, 
 
 "VivA EL KEY." 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 Doomed Austria, prepare thy hosts again, 2 3 
 For lo ! the giant and his legions come ; 
 The Gallic bugles sound the martial strain, 
 Thy mountains echo to his thunder-drum ; 
 Arouse, ye brave ! defend each hearth and home 
 Now Eckmuhl sees thy shattered ranks go down 2 * 
 Beneath the tempest s shock; but, midst thy gloom, 
 Aspern and Essling s battle sets the crown 2 s 
 Of victory on thy head the giant overthrown. 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 But O, alas ! on Wagram s fatal field, 26 
 
 His host s recuperated, dash on thee ; 
 
 Thy sons, though brave, borne down by numbers, 
 
 yield 
 Before the charge tremendous ; see, they flee ! 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 159 
 
 But in their track what myriads, ah ! me ! 
 Fall bleeding, dying, dead, upon the plain, 
 And thy fair, weeping daughters there must see 
 Their lovers, brothers, husbands, fathers slain, 
 While the great conqueror s feet thy sacred shrines 
 profane. 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 Bear of the North, thy hibernating lair 2 ? 
 Bestir ; for in the South a gathering cloud 
 Of Gallic eagles, darkening earth and air, 
 Glooms o er thy forests ; hear their screechings 
 
 loud! 
 
 They come upon the whirlwind ; see them crowd 
 Thy great highways, thy cubs from thee to tear. 
 Russians, arouse ! and meet the invaders proud ; 
 Upon your sacred shrines and hearthstones swear, 
 Rather than they should rule, destruction shall reign 
 
 there. 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 Ah ! how shall I describe that march of death ? 
 Now crossing marshy fens, now barren moors, 
 Now half a million men war s clouds enwreath, 
 Where thunder breaks on grim Smolensko s towers, 
 And then in wrath o er Borodino lowers, 
 Till burning Moscow sends its blaze afar, 
 In whose dread light e en great Napoleon cowers, 
 With cold and famine, makes unequal war, 
 As flies his scattered troops and sinks his glory s star. 
 
l6o BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 But not yet sated with the nations blood, 28 
 Though hecatombs have fall n beneath her ire, 
 Gaul quickly rears another vulture brood 
 To bathe the world again in blood and fire. 
 On Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden, ruin dire 
 Soon falls. But Leipsic marshals Europe s power, 
 To crush, the giant burns a strong desire ; 
 And in the wrack of that tremendous hour, 
 His shattered armies fly, and Freedom claims her dower. 
 
 LXXVII I. 
 
 To exile gone, another takes his throne, 
 And Elba owns alone the conqueror s sway ; *9 
 " How has the mighty fallen !" dimmed his crown ! 
 How sets the sun of his triumphal day ! 
 His empire o er the nations passed away. 
 But yet not long, as Elba s island king, 3 
 The terror of the nations deigns to stay ; 
 Again on Gallia s shores his footsteps ring, 
 The eagles of his hosts again have spread the wing. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 How, at his magic call, the hosts of France 3 1 
 Swarm forth, obedient to his high command ! 
 His clarion sounds, those hosts, in swift advance, 
 Haste from the furthest corners of the land 
 To place the empire once more in his hand. 
 The reigning king, without one manly blow, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. l6l 
 
 Flies from his throne, his armies quick disband, 
 Or, rallying, on the breeze their banners throw, 
 And cries of " Vive Napoleon " forebode the nation s 
 woe. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 To crush his power the allied kings again 
 Send forth their armies in their veteran might, 
 And war resounds again o er land and main, 
 Its glittering pageantries bedaze the sight, 
 Till, Waterloo, thy thundering furies frights 2 
 The world, and pour on France the burning hail, 
 Till allied armies, clamoring in the fight, 
 At length o er the great conqueror prevail, 
 And chase his shattered legions on their bloody trail. 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 That sun is set which, with its burning rays, 33 
 The nations scorched, quenched in red seas of blood. 
 On that lone isle, where ocean flings its sprays 
 On rocky shores, o er his great fall to brood, 
 The conqueror stays, and there he dies. The flood 
 In heaving billows sings his funeral dirge 
 While thundering on the rocks in angry mood, 
 Instead of booming cannon, midst the surge 
 Of waving plumes, where marshaled armies wield the 
 scourge. 
 
 LXXX 1 1. 
 
 Of gory war. Great man is this thine end ? 
 Thou, whose ambitious genius thought to weave 
 
1 62 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 A crown from many crowns, and to extend 
 Thine empire o er the world, and didst believe 
 Thyself the man of destiny, to give 
 The law to nations ? Thou, whose soul 
 Burned like a blazing comet to achieve 
 Unthought-of battles ; thus o er earth to roll 
 A flood of tears and blood. Great man, is this thy goal ? 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 Art thou the man who, like the Thunder King, 
 Glared on the startled nations through the smoke 
 Of battle ? On kingly crests, with deathly ring, 
 Rained thy hot bolts, and, with thy thunder-stroke, 
 Didst lay them low, their ancient sceptres broke ? 
 Thy once bejeweled head now lies as low, 
 Thy grave as humble as was e er bespoke 
 For meanest soldier, who, in overthrow, 
 From thine exterminating sword received the blow. 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 Now turn, my muse, to that old throne of power 33 
 
 Upon the seven hills so long upreared : 
 
 Behold the man before whom millions cower, 
 
 Who, as a God, in former times was feared. 
 
 Well wears he robes with crimson hue besmeared, 
 
 Fit symbols to his numerous minions given, 
 
 Who on the world through blood-red clouds have 
 
 leered, 
 
 And with their works the hearts of millions riven, 
 Who sought with fire and sword to win the world to 
 
 heaven. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 163 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 Behold the man who, in the place of God, 
 Has claimed the homage due to Him alone ; 
 The man who smote the world with iron rod, 
 And made its kings obedient to his throne, 
 That all their realms his sovereign power should 
 
 own ; 
 
 Beneath whose interdict no king could stand, 
 But, outlawed by his subjects, and undone, 
 Must leave his throne and fly his native land. 
 Hear the old man of sin assert his high command. 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 What name than mine can greater be, 
 Though earth be searched from sea to sea ? 
 Yea, though the search reach up to heaven, 
 And down to hell with lightnings riven ? 
 For lo ! the sceptre of my power 
 Is owned by all. My thunders lower 
 In every sky, and, o er the world, 
 My blood-red banners are unfurled. 
 
 On land they wave most gloriously, 
 Where legions charge victoriously, 
 And on the sea, where navies ride, 
 Their glory crowns the heaving tide. 
 The kings of earth my sceptre own, 
 And pay allegiance to my throne. 
 All should be mine, the gold and gems, 
 And earth s resplendent diadems ; 
 
164 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 The merchandise upon the seas, 
 With hoisted sails to every breeze ; 
 The cattle on a thousand hills, 
 Whose lowing every valley fills ; 
 And horses which to battle dash 
 Where er their riders helmets flash ; 
 My sovereign power, all, all controls, 
 Even men s bodies and their souls. 
 
 Then with this power it well accords 
 
 That I, by men and angels crowned 
 The King of Kings and Lord of Lords, 
 Should in Jehovah s seat be throned. 
 And furthermore, I do proclaim, 
 By the dread sanction of my name, 
 That every tribe and people come, 
 Wherever they may rest or roam, 
 And me, their Lord and master, greet, 
 And pour their offerings at my feet ; 
 Or, with my thunder-shaking hand, 
 I ll scatter them o er sea and land, 
 And break their armies o er the world, 
 Their navies to destruction hurled, 
 Their souls to hell s hot furies given, 
 By lightnings scorched and thunders riven. 
 
 Curst be the man that will not raise, 
 In honor of my mighty name, 
 
 Loud Te Deums of lofty praise, 
 
 And wide my sovereign power proclaim ; 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 165 
 
 Curst in his hands, curst in his feet, 
 
 Curst in his head, curst in his heart, 
 Curst in his house, curst in the street, 
 
 Curst in his fields, curst in the mart, 
 Curst when he roams, curst when he rests, 
 Curst be his friends, curst be his guests, 
 With fears and terrors let him start, 
 With burnings let his body smart, 
 With rack and torture break his bones, 
 And fill his mouth with woeful groans ; 
 Let thirst and famine pinch his flesh, 
 And pincers tear his wounds afresh ; 
 Let wild beasts rend him in the den, 
 
 Till death shall seize him as its prey ; 
 His name be outcast with all men, 
 
 Nor in their recollection stay. 
 LET DEEP DAMNATION SEIZE HIS SOUL 
 WHO WILL NOT OWN MY STRONG CONTROL. 
 
 : 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 Ah ! such were once his loud, blasphemous boasts, 
 When, at his beck, all nations vilely cowered, 
 Then he received the worship of the hosts, 
 And o er all lands his potent thunders lowered, 
 And on each rebel s head his bolts were showered. 
 Into his hand the saints of God were given, 
 Beneath his heel, a season, overpowered, 
 Until the time shall come, decreed of heaven, 
 When he, by Venging wrath, shall from his throne be 
 driven. 
 
1 66 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXXXVIII. 
 
 Old man, the hour of destiny has come,- 
 
 God s high decrees must be fulfilled in thee ; 
 
 Not long o er earth shall thy red legions roam ; 
 
 They shall be overthrown on land and sea, 
 
 And naught, from pain and scath, shall set them 
 
 free. 
 
 Down from the frowning heavens the angel stoops,3s 
 Ye hear his wings now rushing frightfully, 
 As swiftly through the whirling air he swoops, 
 On Rome the plagues of God he brings in countless 
 
 troops. 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 Now stand in awe ! upon his seat of power 3 6 
 He pours the fearful vial of dread wrath ; 
 Ah ! the deep darkness of that awful hour 
 Foretells defeat, and direful rout and death ; 
 And, like a pall of doom, hangs o er his path, 
 O ercasts his cowering hosts with deathful gloom.. 
 Ah ! how they raise despairing cries, from scath 
 To be set free ; but vain ; the reeking tomb 
 Is gorged with myriads, till for more there scarce is 
 room. 
 
 XC. 
 
 Vexed with the heat, the blight, the blain, the 
 
 smart, 
 They gnaw their tongues, bemaddened with the 
 
 pain 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. l6/ 
 
 Of sore, and thirst, and piercing, fiery dart, 
 Groping in darkness, here and there ; in vain 
 They of their dreadful sufferings complain, 
 And on the name of God their curses pour. 
 Deep, deep the avengers swords with crimson stain 
 Are smeared ; see, midst dire revolution s roar, 
 Their shattered kingdom falls, and falls forevermore. 
 
 XCI. 
 
 Tis thus five woes, each other following 37 
 In quick succession, from the first to last, 
 So quickly that the dread events they bring, 
 O erlapping, crowd each other, till they re past. 
 While at the first the nations stand aghast, 
 A fearful war is raging on the sea, 
 And, ere tis o er, Italia feels the blast, 
 And Europe flames with war most fearfully ; 
 Woes heaped on woes, and deaths on bloody butchery 
 
 XCII. 
 
 Ere these are past, the fifth woe comes in wrath, 3 8 
 And rolls upon disabled, sinking Rome 39 
 Dire revolutions in war s gory path ; 
 The Papal power sinks prostrate, overcome, * 
 Robbed of its riches, filled with odium. 
 To pillage doomed, she drinks the bitter cup 
 Which she to other lips, so burdensome, 
 Full oft hath pressed ; forced even to yield up 
 The sacred person of her trembling, senile Pope. 2 
 
168 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XCIII. 
 
 A helpless prisoner, he is dragged away, 
 To die alone in foreign, hostile lands ; 
 Helpless to hold his puny royal sway 
 From falling into some more kingly hands. 
 Say, sons of Italy, by whose commands 
 Do ye award old Rome a doom so rough ? 43 
 Why take the spoil once spared by Gothic bands? 
 Why from her gorgeous temples carry off 
 Her choicest treasures, while at her ye gibe and scoff? 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 We blame not Italy that she thus casts 
 Rome s yoke of bondage from her children s necks. 
 But why, Italians, as iconoclasts " 
 Disgrace your noble cause ? Why scatter wrecks 
 Of art s great triumphs in the glorious tracks 
 Which mark fair Freedom s progress o er the world ? 
 She art preserves, the soul of genius wakes, 
 And not destroys ; her banner once unfurled, 
 The foes of art, not art, to ruin should be hurled. 
 
 XCV. 
 
 But foreign power installs another Pope 
 Within the walls of that old capital ; 
 The friends of freedom strive in vain to cope 
 With brutal ignorance, and despot s thrall. 
 They yield ; again, in Church and senate hall, 
 The minions of the harlot hold their sway. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 169 
 
 And yet, not long, for he whom millions call 
 Head of the Church, again is borne away 
 By France, and lives in exile many a weary day. 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 And yet, again in Rome is reinstalled 
 The Holy Father, and, for fifty years, 
 His lessening realms are neath his sway enthralled, 
 And he to alternating hopes and fears 
 Is left a prey. Again Nemesis rears 
 O er him her fearful form, and rolls on Rome 
 Another revolution, which besmears 
 The seven hills with blood, drives him from home 
 An exile, all his boasting legions overcome. 
 
 XCVII. 
 
 In vain on Garibafdi s impious head 
 The worsted Pope invokes the curse of heaven, 
 And on his armies hurls his thunders dread, 
 By which, in former times, whole realms were riven. 
 Emancipated Italy is given 
 To fair Sardinia s king, who holds, 
 O er North and South, a lenient scepter even, 
 And wide the flag of liberty unfolds, 
 While pure Religion sings for joy as she beholds. 
 
 XCVIII. 
 
 From exile he would never have returned 
 To occupy again the Papal chair, 
 Had not the bigot zeal of Frenchmen burned 
 With bayonets, to restore and hold him there. 
 
I/O BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 The outrage done, how little was his share 
 Of what was his. In senile helplessness, 
 Not half his realms for him did spoilers spare, 
 A patch round Rome is all he may possess, 
 Too feeble and forsaken to obtain redress. 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 But still his high pretensions he proclaims, 
 Is Christ s vicegerent o er the earth alone ; 
 He writes his name above all kingly names, 
 And, while he sits upon his ancient throne, 
 He stoutly hurls his Papal thunders down 
 Upon the daring head of heresy 
 Whose loud hosannas all his clamors drown. 
 It will not heed the Holy Father s cry, 
 And at his curses impotent will never die. 
 
 In looking through the gloom before the dawn, ^ 
 My guide, the prophet on lone Patmos Isle 
 My muse to thee, my native land, is drawn. 
 Did not the prophet gaze on thee awhile, * 6 
 When on his vision rose that wondrous pile, 
 The temple of the future, reared of God, 
 In which his saints should worship, weep and smile, 
 Whose long, dark aisles their bloody feet have trod ? 
 Dost thou not form a part within that fane fore- 
 shewed ? 
 
 CI. 
 
 Wast thou not written in that wondrous book, 
 Held in His hand, who sat upon the throne, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. \Jl 
 
 Which none could open, none thereon could look, 
 Though challenged by the angel to make known 
 Whatever in the book might be foreshown ? 
 Innumerous events do crowd its pages, 
 On both sides written ; can there not be one 
 Which speaks of thee, thy poets, heroes, sages, 
 Where garnered are the choicest fruits of struggling 
 ages? 
 
 CII, 
 
 Adown the dusky track of centuries, 
 Where shadowy wonders crowd upon the view, 
 Where wrangling storms and murky tempests rise, 
 Bestreamed with fire and war s ensanguined hue. 
 The prophet saw a woman, pure and true, 47 
 In sunlight clad, while, under her white feet, 
 The full moon rolled upon her path of blue ; 
 Her snowy brow and flowing ringlets sweet, 
 Were crowned with a coronal where the stars should 
 meet. 
 
 cm. 
 
 Blest mother soon to be, almost as dear 
 
 As Mary, who to Christ our Lord gave birth, 
 
 She loudly cried* in labor pangs severe, 
 
 To give a precious offspring to the earth, 
 
 Whose birth should cause the songs of holy mirth 
 
 To sound almost as loud as those of old, 
 
 * Rev. xii. i, 2. 
 
172 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 When angels rang their loud hosannas forth 
 To listening shepherds round the sleeping fold, 
 When from the highest heavens the answering anthems 
 rolled. 
 
 CIV. 
 
 Then rose before his vision, huge, misformed, 8 
 
 A seven-headed dragon,* red with blood, 
 
 Each head becrowned, and with ten horns full 
 
 armed. 
 
 His monstrous tail, as he through ether rowed 
 Himself along, of stars a countless crowd 
 Drew after him, and cast them down from heaven. 
 Before the woman s face the dragon stood, 
 With greedy eyes, while she to pangs was given, 
 Her offspring to devour soon as her womb was riven. 
 
 CV. 
 
 The child was born, a man-child, hale and strong, 
 Who was to rule all nations with a rod 
 Of iron,f he should rule so firm and long, 
 And was caught up unto the throne of God. 
 The woman fled. Then Michael sent abroad 
 The summons to his angels to make war, w 
 To crush the beast beneath Jehovah s rod. 
 They fought ; the battle clamored near and far, 
 The wrathful beast fell earthward like a blazing star. 
 
 CVI. 
 
 Dread was his wrath, he knew his time was short, 
 Woe ! woe to dwellers on the land and sea ; s 
 
 * Rev. xii. 3, 4. * Rg;vT xii. 5-13. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 173 
 
 With furious rage he sought the woman s hurt, s 1 
 That he on heaven avenged might surely be. 
 She fled his presence for security, 52 
 On wings of eagle to the wilderness, 
 To wait the wonders of futurity, 
 A time and times and half time in duress, ^ 
 By hand of God sustained amidst her loneliness. 
 
 CVII. 
 
 The dragon war upon the woman waged, 
 And sent his armies after like a flood, 
 To drown her sons ; and fierce the conflict raged, 
 Till lo ! his minions, weltering in their blood, 
 Were swallowed by the earth, who pitying stood, 
 To help the woman in the fearful fight ; 
 She only gave the world the purest good, 
 And sought to bless all lands w r ith truth and light, 
 Earth s sorrows lessen, and make glad her darksome 
 night. 
 
 CVIII. 
 
 The battles which the dragon fought against 
 The woman and her seed for ages lasted, 
 While all his missiles from her aegis glanced, 
 Until the monster and his hosts were blasted 
 By heaven s increasing fire, and he, detested, 
 Into the horrid deeps of hell was hurled, 
 Of all his guile and mighty power divested, 
 No more to blacken, curse, or scorch the world ; 
 BEFORE THE DAWN his blood-red banners shall be furled. 
 
174 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CIX. 
 
 How like the Church may this fair woman be, 
 True to the Lord, clad in his righteousness ; 
 Her wondrous son, like civil Liberty, 54 
 Born of her pangs, decreed the world to bless ; 
 And likest despotism s vile ugliness, 
 The seven-headed monster, horned and red, 
 Upon whose back she sat, in wantonness, 
 The woman for whose gain the nations bled, 
 Far from whose gloomy realms both light and peace 
 had fled. 
 
 CX. 
 
 Dark ages o er the world have cast their gloom, 
 And nations clanked their chains in slavery s 
 
 night, 
 
 Has Freedom with Religion found a tomb ? 
 No, no ! the first to heaven has ta en her flight, 
 Until the time appointed for the right 
 To triumph in the world, and then descend. 
 And sweet Religion finds her heart s delight 
 In the lone desert, with her husband, friend, 
 Half exiled from the world until the night shall end. 
 
 CXI. 
 
 Far down the shadowy vista peers the eye 
 Prophetic, midst the turmoil of the storm, 
 Where Superstition, Tyranny, full high 
 Have raised their banners, nerved the murderou 
 arm, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 1/5 
 
 Around whose standards servile millions swarm. 
 From rift in yonder tempest cloud behold ! ss 
 A white-winged, graceful-gliding, beauteous form, 
 Rides proudly o er the waves,* with aspect bold, 
 By wrangling demons of the tempest uncontrolled. 
 
 CXII. 
 
 See ! where she flies the tempest legions cower, 
 The clouds uplift and scatter from her path, 
 Nor does Old Ocean claim her for his dower, 
 So wont to swallow all that mocks his wrath ; 
 But o er her way are hovering Hope and Faith 
 And Love, whose glorious trains her journey lighten, 
 Whilst on her head is set a starry wreath, 
 A turban blue, on which her glories brighten, 
 Those stars which from their work the despot s minions 
 frighten. 
 
 CXIII. 
 
 On, on she holds her way, the billows cleaving, 
 By angel hands conducted in her course ; 
 Sink down her native mountains she is leaving, 
 From mother land she seeks a long divorce ; 
 Ring out the ocean s anthems loud and hoarse, 
 While endless wastes of waters round her roll. 
 Hark ! hear that music, set to sounding verse, 
 Which from her deck rings out the distant tocsin s 
 
 knoll, 
 Loud hallelujahs pealed from Freedom s lofty soul. 
 
 * Rev. xii. 14. 
 
1/6 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CXIV. 
 
 O God of nations, speed her on her flight, 
 Conduct her to some harbor safe and large, 
 Cause her bright stars to cast their hallowed light 
 O er all the world ; throw over her thy targe, 
 To shield her head when envious storms discharge 
 Their bolts to stop her flight, and in the deep 
 O erwhelm her ; stay the mountain floods that surge 
 Against her prow, and hush the winds to sleep ; 
 All o er her long and dangerous way thy vigils keep. 
 
 CXV. 
 
 Behold ! behold ! ye nations near and far, 
 The brave ship s pilgrimage across the sea, 
 Her mast-head lifts a second Bethlehem s star 
 To point the people where the child should be 
 Who is to rule the world, fair Liberty ; 
 Her home is far beyond the heaving wave 
 A land outspread in virgin purity, 
 There is an empire for the free and brave, 
 Where shall not clank the chain of serf or cringing slave. 
 
 CXVI. 
 
 Far o er the main a thousand leagues she s fled, 
 A boundless sea her lessening rodder laves. 
 What is yon object glimmering far ahead ? 
 There mid the roaring rocks the ocean raves, 
 See how they break in spray the giant waves. 
 The land, the land, a rocky coast uprears 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 177 
 
 Across her path ; the way she boldly braves, 
 Lo ! yonder twixt the rocks a way she clears, 
 Into a broad haven the Mayflower safely steers. 
 
 CXVII. 
 
 High dash the waves along the rock-bound shore, 
 Shrill shrieks the wind as she approaches land, 
 But yet in" accents heard above the roar, 
 Rolls the high anthem of that pilgrim band. 
 The vessel. anchors near the stormy strand ; 
 They man her boats, and lo ! on Plymouth Rock 
 They moor them fast, and soon upon it stand, 
 And make it a defense to break the shock 
 Of Titan tempest, all oppression s wrath to mock. 
 
 CXVIII. 
 
 Lo ! there the woman, seen by prophet s eye, 
 To howling wilderness for safety fled, 
 To rear her offspring, raise her banners high, 
 And gather constellations round her head. 
 The Church of Christ, ere many years have sped, 
 Hath fixed her tendrils strongly in that soil, 
 And wide o er rugged hill and vale hath spread 
 Her tabernacles, far from brunt or broil, 
 Or shock of hostile arms her heritage to spoil. 
 
 CXIX. 
 
 But, when to millions they have multiplied, 
 The greedy monster sends across the main s 6 
 The mercenary hordes to him allied,* 
 To bind the woman with the tyrant s chain. 
 
 * Rev. xii. 15-] 7. 
 
178 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 They wage a murderous war on her in vain ; 
 She tramples them in dust, and lo ! the earth 
 Doth drink their blood and cover up their slain. 
 Hark ! hear the paeons of triumphant mirth, 
 As from the throes of war a nation has its birth. 
 
 CXX. 
 
 What wondrous growth, my native land, is thine, 
 Thy ten-fold people throng thy hills and vales; 
 Upon two oceans does thy baldric shine, 
 Seas, lakes, and rivers, whiten with thy sails ; 
 Across a continent are stretched thy rails, 
 Thy thundering cars shake mountain, valley, plain ; 
 Thy wealth in fields of commerce never fails, 
 And heaven s swift fires thy messages contain, 
 Though o er thy broad expanse no king may ever reign. 
 
 CXXI. 
 
 But yet that dragon, cunning in his schemes, 57 
 Did plant a germ in thy productive soil, 
 While thy great statesmen reveled in their dreams. 
 Of future good, thy heritage to spoil, 
 Which laid in bonds three million sons of toil. 
 It grew a dreadful monster like its sire, 
 And circled half thy land within its coil ; 
 To seize the rest it burned with fierce desire, 
 And whelmed the anguished nation in a sea of fire. 
 
 CXXII. 
 
 Dark was the time when on that throne of power 
 The angel poured the fearful vial out ;* 
 
 * Rev. xvi. 10, n. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 1/9 
 
 And black the tempest which in heaven did lower, 
 And long it raged amidst the mingled shout 
 Of wrangling foes, until disastrous rout 
 Poured its hot bolts on Slavery s hydra head, 
 Until his grizzly front was turned about, 
 And from the field he and his minions fled ; 
 Yea, till the sword of God had smote the monster dead. 
 
 CXXIII. 
 
 Thus this dread vial reached across the seas, 
 And thus its lightnings shattered slavery s throne. 
 So, o er a mighty nation, on the breeze, 
 Far to the North, its subtle influence blown, 
 On forty million men in serfdom prone 
 It fell, and quickly all their bonds were riven ; 
 And when the glorious work abroad was known, 
 To every feeling heart great joy was given, 
 And Freedom s anthem rang exultingly to heaven. 
 
 CXXIV. 
 
 Imperial Russia, hail to thy great Czar I 
 Who spake the word, and Serfdom ceased to be, 
 Without arousing the dread fiends of war ; 
 My native land extends the hand to thee. 
 Thy forty million serfs at once made free, 
 With our enfranchised sons of toil may raise 
 Their psalms of Freedom, borne above the sea, 
 To our predestinating God, and praise 
 The wisdom that foreshows His wondrous works and 
 ways. 
 
180 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CXXV. 
 
 The solemn shadows of the coming time 
 Begin to cast their thickening gloom, before 
 The last night watch peals out its closing chime ; 
 The earth prepares for conflict, fierce and sore, 
 And darkness deepens, but twill soon be o er. 
 Around we hear the notes of preparation, 
 Full soon will break the battle s fearful roar, 
 To fill the foe with woeful lamentation, 
 And for the laboring Church complete a full salvation. 
 
 cxxvi. 
 
 Rome s hierarchy feels the heavy blows 
 That shake her power in Austria, France and Spain, 
 Redoubling on her head the dreadful woes 
 Which she received before, on land and main. 
 See ! where she, wounded, writhes in deathful pain, 
 On dread Sadowa s fearful field of blood. 
 Ah ! what a blow to weaken her long reign 
 By Nemesis, avenger of the good, 
 
 Where once the martyr, Huss, mid burning faggots 
 stood. 
 
 CXXVII. 
 
 Ah ! yes, Bohemia, from thy sprinkled ground 
 The blood of martyrs long to heaven has cried ; 
 Four hundred years it hears the woeful sound, 
 And knows how many sons and daughters died 
 To sate the Roman s hatred, lust and pride. 
 But long delays the sure, descending blow, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. l8l 
 
 That, when upon his chariot he should ride 
 For fullest vengeance, all the world might know 
 THE MILL OF GOD GRINDS FINE, THOUGH IT GRIND 
 SLOW. 
 
 cxxvin. 
 
 How was thy scepter broken, scarlet Rome, 
 In that great Empire, by that fearful fray, 
 When Austria was by Prussia overcome ! 
 What millions ransomed from thy hateful sway ! 
 See, as the smoke of battle rolls away, 
 So passes thy dominion from that land. 
 Its king enfranchised shall no more obey 
 Thy laws supreme, nor fear thy puny hand, 
 Though feebly grasping thunders to uphold command. 
 
 cxxix. 
 
 Now Italy, fair land, thy Venice take, 
 In this affray wrenched from the tyrant s hand ; 
 With Lombardy she hastens now to make 
 Thine ancient realm o er all thy sunny land 
 Complete ; and States torn from the Pope s com 
 mand, 
 
 Still more enlarge thy fast increasing sway. 
 The time will come when, from the Tiber s strand, 
 United Italy shall drive away 
 All foes, with Rome her capital. GOD SPEED THE DAY. 
 
 cxxx. 
 
 Spain, bloody mother of a bloodier son,* 
 How supple was thy king to Rome of yore ! 
 
 * Philip Second. 
 
182 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 What horrors hath thy Inquisition known ! 
 How swam thy dungeons dark with martyr gore ! 
 How hast thou slain thy thousands many score, 
 And desolated kingdoms with the scourge 
 With which red Rome has lashed the nations sore, 
 Upon unwilling necks her yoke to urge, 
 The world from so-called fatal heresy to purge ! 
 
 CXXXI. 
 
 On thee, in his full time, the avenger came,* 
 When endless thousands swarmed thy land from 
 
 Gaul, 
 
 And lit thy towns and cities in the flame 
 Of war, and made thy sons by myriads fall, 
 And draped thy beauteous land in death s black 
 
 pall; 
 
 When every breeze was laden with the wail 
 Of thy fair daughters, who could ne er recall 
 Their lovers, slain amidst the battle s hail, 
 And widows woeful moans arose without avail. 
 
 CXXXII. 
 
 Yet, though thy pride was humbled in the dust, 
 And glory faded from thy martial wreath, 
 Thy greatness gone, still thou didst put thy trust 
 In bloody Rome, and blindly sit beneath 
 Her upas shadow breeding naught but death ; 
 And in thy folly impotently swear 
 Her monstrous claims, until thy latest breath, 
 With all thy might t uphold, no force should tear 
 Thee from her bosom yea, for aye thou wouldst be 
 there. 
 
 * Napoleon s campaigns in Spain. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 183 
 
 CXXXIII. 
 
 And there thou didst remain, as if entombed 
 In some dark crypt beyond all mortal ken, 
 Dead to the living world, forever doomed 
 To superstition s chains, and ne er again 
 To wake to glory with thy fellow-men, 
 With them all emulous in high emprise. 
 AWAKE, O SPAIN, and from thy sleepy den 
 Come forth to-day, and ope thy wondering eyes, 
 And see what costly guerdon bids thy sons arise. 
 
 CXXXIV. 
 
 Where are thy works of art ? pray tell me, Spain ; 
 Where is thy wealth that whitened on the wave ? 
 Thy golden galleons that plowed the main ? 
 And where thy gallant soldiers, once so brave? 
 Search for these treasures at Religion s grave. 
 Where are thy railroads, with their engine s roar? 
 And where thy knowledge, industry to save 
 Thy people ? Go ask him who laid thy shore 
 Beneath stern interdiction s blasting, crushing power. 
 
 cxxxv. 
 
 Go, lay on Rome this fearful charge of guilt, 
 That she has barred thy sons from heaven s blest 
 
 light, 
 
 While they for her their choicest blood have spilt, 
 She shuts them in with adamantine night, 
 And with her grasping, grim and ghostly might, 
 Has strangled all their highest aspirations, 
 
184 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Till from thy land Religion takes her flight, 
 And leaves thy sons to her stale incantations. 
 O pray, then, " RISE AND BLAST HER POWER, GREAT 
 GOD OF NATIONS." 
 
 CXXXVI. 
 
 HARK ! HARK ! an echo borne across the sea, 
 Of revolution sweeping o er that land ; 
 Her sons arise, and swear she shall be free, 
 They tear the scepter from her tyrant s hand, 
 The vile corrupter flies at their command. 
 They strike for liberty from Papal Rome, 
 And on religious freedom take their stand, 
 To give to all the land the sacred tome, 
 And ope the fount of life on every hearth and home. 
 
 CXXXVII. 
 
 HlSPANIA, HAIL THE MORNING OF NEW LIFE! 
 Hail to the throes that give thee a new birth ! 
 God save thee from a long continued strife, 
 And set thee in high places of the earth. 
 Thou turnst thy back upon the blight and dearth 
 Which Rome has fastened on thy hungry soul ; 
 Turn now thy heart to pure Religion s worth, 
 Thy name beneath her banner now enrol, 
 And dread as much the atheist s as the Pope s control. 
 
 cxxxvni. 
 
 Thou Rip Van Winkle of a thousand years, 
 Dost hear the train of progress thundering on ? 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 185 
 
 Dost hear the kingdoms shake about thine ears ? 
 Dost feel beneath thee now thy tottering throne ? 
 Dost know thy thunder-shaking bird has flown ? 
 Dost see thy bulls before the eagles cower ? 
 Thy pigmy foe e en to a giant grown ? 
 Awake, O Pope, and save thy waning power, 
 Put on a cloud of wrath and bid thy thunders lower. 
 
 CXXXIX 
 
 Ye heretics, attend. The Vatican 
 Gives forth a sound portentous ; he awakes ; 
 Now brave the tempest every one who can ; 
 With sorest wrath his mighty hand he shakes, 
 And on the startled ear his thunder breaks. 
 The seven mountains labor, what comes forth ? 
 A " mus ridiculus ! " hear what it speaks ; 
 The Syllabus of Pius ! hear it South and North, 
 And East and West proclaim it over all the earth. 
 
 CXL. 
 
 Poor silly Pope, thou art behind thy time, 
 The nations do not heed thy piteous cry ; 
 Earth s grand improvements spread in every clime, 
 Religious freedom breathes neath every sky, 
 And heresy triumphant will not die ; 
 The ghost that frights thee, father, will not down, 
 For mighty truth is stronger than a lie ; 
 It will not cower beneath thine angry frown, 
 Nor will it longer wear the martyr s bloody crown. 
 
1 86 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CXLI. 
 
 O Pius, don t despair, but try once more, 
 
 And call thy VIRTUES, BISHOPS, PRINCES, 
 
 POWERS, 
 
 (They surely won t despise thy taurus roar,) 
 To help thee stay Saint Peter s crumbling towers. 
 And shield thee, for destruction o er thee lowers. 
 He calls, and thousands hear him, one and all 
 They hasten from the earth s remotest shores 
 At their old father s feet again to fall, 
 And form at Rome a council ecumenical. 
 
 CXLII. 
 
 " All hail, ye hierarchs of Church and State," 
 (The Pope addresses them as he of old 
 Was wont,) " and all that on your mother wait, 
 " My many subjects, if the truth be told, 
 " Do not regard me, though I weep and scold ; 
 " Declare ye my infallibility, 
 11 It will increase my power a thousand fold, 
 " And greatly add to my tranquility, 
 " And stay me up while sinking in senility. 
 
 CXLII I. 
 
 " Make me INFALLIBLE, ye priests of God," 
 (At least make doting fools believe him so,) 
 " I ll make the nations tremble neath my rod : 
 " I ll tread on necks of kings, as long ago 
 " Rome s hierarchs were wont ; yea, I will show 
 " The roaring wheels of progress where to boom 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. l8/ 
 
 " Or stop," (a thing they ought to learn to know,) 
 " Scare their conductors with some threatened 
 
 doom, 
 " Or sweep them off the track with my ecclesial broom. 
 
 CXLIV. 
 
 " Besides, ye saints," (a thing of no account,) 
 " I ll make our Peter s pence in golden streams 
 " Ten-fold, flow singing to our holy mount, 
 " And you shall realize your fondest dreams 
 " Of wealth and power, as sure it well beseems 
 " The faithful, and if fallibilitie 
 " Belongs to me, as sketicism misdeems, 
 " Infallible shall be my treasurie, 
 " For alT the gold of nations sure belongs to me. 
 
 CXLV. 
 
 And can it be a man that has his wits, 
 Believes himself so favored of high Heaven 
 That from that tottering throne whereon he sits 
 Commands infallible can e er be given ? 
 What if by Papal bulls States once were riven ! 
 Or by a mighty crime would he deceive 
 And hold men down, who for the light have striven, 
 In sottish ignorance for aye to live, 
 And bow to his as to Divine Prerogative ? 
 
 CXLVI. 
 
 O blasphemy, how brazen is thy front, 
 Thus to usurp Jehovah s awful throne ; 
 
188 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 How long immunity canst thou account 
 Ere thou lt be blasted by his withering frown ? 
 Thou seekest still a universal crown. 
 Say, when thy starving children ask for bread, 
 What dost thou give to fill their mouths ? A stone. 
 For fish ? A serpent poisonous instead. 
 What crown is infamous enough to wreathe thy head ? 
 
 CXLVII. 
 
 O live there, Heaven, within the light of day, 
 So many millions breathing thy sweet air, 
 At such a shrine to throw their souls away, 
 On such an altar pour unmeaning prayer? 
 Dumb, driven cattle hasting, anywhere, 
 At beck of tonsured Priest or mitred Pope, 
 Believing nonsense stark oracular, 
 Content in stolid blindness thus to grope, 
 Now moved by craven fear, and now delusive hope. 
 
 CXLVIII. 
 
 Almighty Spirit, breathe thy potent breath 
 Upon these slain, that they may live again ; 
 Cause life to pulsate twixt their ribs of death, 
 That they may stand and walk like living men, 
 And see what things lie open to their ken ; 
 That they may seek the infallible in Popes 
 No more, nor yet in any creature ; then 
 Inflame their aspirations with those hopes 
 Which cheer the saint when he with hell s dark legions 
 copes. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 189 
 
 CXLIX. 
 
 Although the Pope now merits piteous scorn, 
 And only that receives from thinking men ; 
 Although the Papal Church is rudely torn 
 By heresies and factions, still she lives, 
 And something in her constitution gives 
 Her great vitality and power, a life 
 Which, while it wanes, its wasting power retrieves, 
 And will not yield to reformation s knife 
 Until it shakes the world with mortal din and strife. 
 
 CL. 
 
 Fully awake to her great loss of power 
 In her old seats of empire cross the sea, 
 Upon thy sky her boding tempests lower, s 8 
 AMERICA ; she calls them up for thee. 
 Tis true thou boastest now that thou art free ; 
 Take warning, Rome is forging heavy chains, 59 
 To lay thy sons again in slavery ; 
 With evil eye she sees thy hills and plains, 
 And lusts to rule the land o er which fair Freedom 
 reigns. 6o 
 
 CLI. 
 
 Think not, my native land, that spirit dead, 
 Which stained her hands with blood, in former 
 
 times, ^ 
 
 Think not those bloody nands would spare thy 
 
 head, 
 Though full the record of her former crimes ; 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 For she has desolated fairer climes. 
 If she to her own power can give increase, 
 It fully with her bloody spirit chimes 
 To drive from thee all true religion, peace, 
 And make thy freedom, worship, e en thy Bible cease. 61 
 
 CLII. 
 
 Guard thy Palladium well, America, 62 
 The center and circumference of thy power ; 
 THY OPEN BIBLE, which has spread thy sway 
 O er realms of mind, increasing every hour : 
 It is assailed, the flames above it lower, 
 And threat to take from men its sacred lore. 
 Thou must not at Rome s haughty footstool cower, 
 If thou wouldst save thyself, from shore to shore, 
 Though ballots, bullets, threaten even seas of gore. 
 
 CLIII. 
 
 Another of thy bulwarks is assailed 
 
 Thy COMMON SCHOOLS, which e er have been thy 
 
 pride, 
 
 From which the spring Pierian has not failed 
 To flow to all thy parts, a crystal tide, 
 O erflowing thy great country, far and wide ; 
 But Priests would educate thy sons and daughters, 
 And for j;hy halls of science would provide, 
 Corrupting all thy sweetest, clearest waters 
 With their dark superstitions. EVIL PLOTTERS. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. igi 
 
 CLIV. 
 
 Let Europe s priest-rid lands a warning give, 
 How thou entrustest to such crafty hands 
 Thy dearest boons. O wilt thou not believe 
 That groping ignorance on which she stands, 
 By which she gains consent to her commands, 
 The only portion she will give to thee, 
 As to the stolid mass of other lands ? 
 All that she ll give to them who bow the knee 
 To her, is knowledge to uphold the Roman See. 
 
 CLV 
 
 She marches on to empire, silent, sure, 6 3 
 Deep-laid her schemes, and strong her outworks 
 
 stand ; 
 
 She builds as if for ages to endure, 6 
 As if her rule no one could countermand ; 
 And myriads are swarming to our strand, 
 The sworn allegiants of a foreign king 
 King Pope sworn to support, with heart and 
 
 hand ; 
 
 And to our cherished institutions bring 
 No love, but hatred in their hearts deep smouldering, 
 
 CLVI. 
 
 Let none accuse the poet with croaking, when 
 He augurs yet a conflict sharp with Rome, 
 Unless we re willing to be slaves again. 
 To save our dear-bought liberty at home, 
 
IQ2 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 We, or our sons, must to the conflict come 
 A conflict of opinion it may be, 
 If we re in time ; but by delay, the drum 
 Shall beat the warning roll, and call the free 
 To strike with carnal arms again for liberty. 
 
 CLVII. 
 
 We hear the notes of preparation sounding, 
 And see portentous heralds of that day, 
 And while the signs of evil seem abounding, 
 Behold, the hand of God prepares the way, 
 And better portents come in blest array. 
 The high-built walls of separation fall, 
 And Christian love begins to hold her sway ; 
 Exclusiveness begins to lose her thrall, 
 And love s blest union banner soon shall wave o er all. 
 
 CLVIII. 
 
 The Lord the Christian host begins to mass 
 For some decisive move along the front, 
 Beyond the present army lirfes to pass, 
 On some stronghold or battlement to mount 
 His glorious banner; or, in battle s front, 
 Repel the fierce assault of gathering foes, 
 Who compass the destruction, as they re wont, 
 Of all that we hold dear. He bids us close 
 With them, and strike their daring front with crushing 
 blows. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. . 193 
 
 CLIX. 
 
 Hail, Christian union, blessed of the Lord, 
 Thy trophies now begin to mark our age ; 
 Two mighty hosts are marshaled in accord, 
 In their united strength, this war to wage, 
 To stand with breast to breast while battles rage. 
 HAIL ! THE BLUE FLAG OF CALVIN AND OF KNOX, 
 Of those brave old reformers, glorious badge, 
 High may st thou wave upon the eternal rocks, 
 And ne er go down in storm, though wild the tempest s 
 shocks. 
 
 CLX. 
 
 God speed the time when all that bear that flag, 
 In one strong band of union shall be bound ; 
 When none from high emprise their feet shall lag, 
 And loud their shout of battle shall resound. 
 ETERNAL SPIRIT, bring the day around, 
 When other severed Churches shall arise, 
 And each the other with love s arms surround, 
 In bonds of union sealed above the skies ; 
 Let prayers and songs united, hell s dark hosts surprise. 
 
 CLXI. 
 
 And hasten, too, the blessed time when all, 
 However named, that love our gracious Lord, 
 As God in man, into one line shall fall, 
 And, with a shout of high and rapt accord, 
 Unsheath and wave aloft the flaming sword, 
 And rain its crushing blows on death s dark towers, 
 
 9 
 
194 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Until his conquering, all-triumphant word, 
 Shall put to flight the Devil s marshaled powers, 
 And men and angels shout, " THE VICTORY IS OURS." 
 
 CLXII. 
 
 But hark ! while paeons of triumphant mirth 
 Rise from our native land, with joy, to heaven, 
 A muttering storm begins to shake the earth, 6 
 Across the sea, as if her womb were riven, 
 And in her throes most fearful portents given 
 Of monstrous births. Hear th tramp of armed 
 
 men, 
 O er fields where maddened hosts of yore have 
 
 striven. 
 
 Lo ! Gaul sends forth her vulture brood again ; 
 Her martial bugles shake the mountain, plain and glen. 
 
 CLXIII. 
 
 Behold her glittering pageant proudly wave 
 Her martial plumes ; her armor glitters far, 
 A million men go forth. To what ? The grave. 
 Ah ! see what pride and circumstance of war ! 
 Soon ends the pomp, soon sets her glory s star. 
 Get ready God s great wine-press of dread wrath, 
 Heap high a sacrifice piacular, 
 
 With vine of earth, reaped from destruction s path. 
 Death s steeds, wade to your bridles in the gory math. 
 
 CLXIV. 
 
 Ah ! what destruction in this monstrous war ! 
 What bloody torrents deluge that fair land ! 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 195 
 
 What din, infernal thunders, near and far ! 
 In vain the Gauls the German hosts withstand ; 
 Thy day, Sedan, breaks down his high command 
 Who grasped for empire, though to wade in blood 
 Unto a throne, or stain his royal hand 
 With blackest crimes, were needed. There he stood 
 And sowed the dragon s teeth, to reap a serpent brood. 
 
 CLXV. 
 
 Proud man ! in shame thy haughty pride doth end, 
 
 A deep disgrace thy royal purple stains ; 
 
 No fawning sycophants thy way attend, 
 
 Thou art saluted by no martial strains. 
 
 A captive, thy forsaken soul complains 
 
 Of treachery, when impotence alone, 
 
 Joined with that pride of power which filled thy 
 
 brains, 
 Uncrowned thy head, and drove thee from thy 
 
 throne ; 
 But it is well that thou shouldst for thy sins atone. 
 
 CLXVI. 
 
 Look at the ruin thine ambition makes ; 
 See how have fallen myriads true and brave ; 
 With war s dread larums thine whole Empire 
 
 shakes, 
 
 Near half thy realm is one vast, reeking grave, 
 And thy proud capital no power can save ; 
 The cannon thunder at her trembling gates, 
 
196 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 And millions there with cold and famine rave ; 
 Poor Paris reels amid her maddening straits, 
 She falls! she falls f forsaken by her fickle fates. 
 
 CLXVII. 
 
 Look at the myriad homes now desolate, 
 Their sun gone down in shades of deepest night,- 
 What lands made bare ! what cities subjugate! 
 Or laid in smouldering ruins in the fight ! 
 Till La Belle France mourns at her ruined plight. 
 Where is that valor which at Jena steeled 
 Her mighty arms, and burned with mad delight 
 In hell of strife, and shattered Prussia s shield ? 
 Hear France lamenting o er Sedan s besprinkled field. 
 
 CLXVIII. 
 SEDAN. 
 
 The morning sun rose clear and bright, 
 Which roused these legions with its light ; 
 All gay with life, with vigor warm, 
 As in long glittering lines they form, 
 At evening, when its ghastly rays 
 Are struggling through the battle s haze, 
 They fall on heaps of slaughtered men, 
 Which strew for miles the bloody plain. 
 
 Look o er this field, this ghastly field, 
 Where battle s thunders lately pealed ; 
 How torn and bloody ! heaped and crushed ! 
 Where charging squadrons o er it rushed ; 
 
BEFORETHE DAWN. 197 
 
 See wreck and ruin, blood and death ! 
 
 And tell me, now, if glory s wreath, 
 And glory s praise, which is but breath, 
 
 Repay the ills which wars bequeath 
 
 Where is the soldier s martial fire 
 
 Which burned upon his cheeks at morn ? 
 Where is ambition s costly hire, 
 
 Which nerved his arm in fight upborne ? 
 The fire is quenched upon his cheeks, 
 
 And glory s wreath is rudely torn, 
 His praises are the orphan s shrieks, 
 
 His deeds a million widows mourn. 
 
 CLXIX. 
 
 Ah ! France, how fearful is thy bitter cup ! 
 Pressed to thy pale and bloody, quivering lips, 
 It burns thy soul, yet thou must drink it up, 
 Though from its brimming fullness madness drips, 
 And thou must sit in dust, on ghastly heaps 
 Of ruin. Child of mighty Babylon, 
 How art thou fall n into profoundest deeps 
 Of rage and woe ; torn from thy brows thy crown, 
 And shattered, tottering, fallen, thine imperial throne. 
 
 CLXX. 
 
 Peace comes ; the German hosts from thee retire, 
 Proud Paris. Ah ! now what do we behold ? 6 5 
 Thy boulevards flame with revolution s fire, 
 Fraternal blood bestains thee as of old ; 
 
198 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Thy royal halls to mad sedition sold ; 
 And there in revels bloody riot runs. 
 Where is the man unscrupulous and bold, 
 To wake to glory once again thy sons ? 
 Better than this the reign of thy Napoleons. 
 
 CLXXI. 
 
 Sad nation, to be free thy heart aspires, 
 But thou canst not the blessed boon preserve ; 
 Thou hast forgotten God, and burn st with fires 
 Of lust, which rob thee of all manly nerve. 
 Forsake thy crimes, if thou wouldst freedom serve ; 
 Give to thy land an open Bible s pages, 
 Nor dare again from God s great law to swerve ; 
 Give to thy sons the wisdom of past ages, 
 Restrain thy daughters from those ways which lust 
 enrages. 
 
 CLXXII. 
 
 Corrupt them not with thine abominations, 
 Nor sell them for the harlot s hire of sin ; 
 And to avoid these awful visitations, 
 At once this reformation s work begin ; 
 Till then shalt thou be torn without, within, 
 For God a controversy hath with thee 
 For thine enormous crimes, and skin for skin 
 He will require. Ah ! dread calamity 
 Shall come on thee in protean forms, by land and sea. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 199 
 
 CLXXIII. 
 
 A changeless God hath said he will, in wrath, 
 Turn nations that forget him into hell 
 Trace thou, in retrospect, the gloomy path 
 Of wicked cities down to hades, and tell 
 If his vindictive fury never fell 
 Upon offenders. Ah ! as sure as he 
 Sits on his throne and wields his scepter well, 
 Unless thou dost repent, he ll visit thee 
 With dire destruction this thine end shall be. 
 
 CLXXIV. 
 
 Wait not till other vials are outpoured, 
 Wait not till other woes upon thee fall, 
 Avoid the plagues which for thee have been stored, 
 Rise from thy gory bed, to heaven call, 
 And God in mercy will again install 
 Thee in thy former glory, purified 
 From thy deep stains of guilt, and disenthrall 
 Thee from oppression s power, by which have died 
 iliy sons by millions, midst destructions wide. 
 
 CLXXV. 
 
 Ah ! France, we do remember, in our night 
 
 Of trial, in " those times that tried men s souls," 
 
 When proud oppression sought, with wicked might, 
 
 To bind our limbs, enforce her greedy tolls, 
 
 And of protection grant us scanty doles ; 
 
 Thy heart for us beat warmly in thy breast, 
 
200 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Thy gallant soldiers swelled our army roi 
 Thy La Fayette, in memory ever blessed, 
 Stood by our Washington, and our deep wrongs redressed. 
 
 CLXXVI. 
 
 The Tree of Liberty, which now o erspreads 
 Our happy land, was watered by the blood 
 Of thy brave sons who bowed in death their heads, 
 And, but for them, oppression, like a flood, 
 Might us have overwhelmed, and spawned its brood 
 O er all this western world. To thee we owe, 
 For this, a debt of lasting gratitude. 
 We wish thee well, and pray that thou mayst know, 
 Ere long, the blessings which to true Republics flow. 
 
 CLXXVII. 
 
 Great city, on the seven mountains throned, 
 The storm that deluged France hath shaken thee ; 
 Thou hast not yet for all thy sins atoned, 
 Though flowing blood hath reddened land and sea, 
 And plagues- have filled thy realms with misery ; 
 From thee not passed the darkness and the pain, 
 Though fiom thy woes thy Pope was forced to flee 
 Thrice, while thy streets were heaped with many 
 
 slain, 
 And gathering armies choked thy desolate Champaigne. 
 
 CLXXVIII. 
 
 And Italy, the blow which prostrates France 
 Doth weld anew the scepter of thy king, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. .20 1 
 
 Unbolt those heavy gates and bid advance 
 His hosts, and over Rome his banners fling, 
 And make her domes with Freedom s paeons ring ; 
 Doth make for aye the Eternal City thine, 
 The bread of life unto her children bring, 
 The light from heaven upon her darkness shine, 
 Shine from THE OPEN BOOK, all glorious, all benign. 
 
 CLXXIX. 
 
 Victor Emmanuel, all hail ! 
 Thy name, a happy omen to the world, 
 Means " God with us," before whom despots quail, 
 And foes to swift destruction shall be hurled. 
 See that the banner thou hast now unfurled 
 Is never stained by foul oppression s hands ; 
 See that thy crown, with rarest gems impearled, 
 Shall shine undimmed o er all thy sunny lands ; 
 And millions shall uphold thee where thy throne now 
 stands. 
 
 CLXXX. 
 
 Poor Pope, alas ! we really pity thee, 
 Dispelled of all thy earthly realms at last, 
 Thou who hast claimed infallibility, 
 From great pretensions down so quickly cast. 
 But thou art doomed ; hear now the trumpet blast, 
 For fallen, fallen, is great Babylon ! 
 To blank oblivion thou art hasting fast, 
 When better days will dawn the world upon. 
 Thee fallen, Christ shall sit, instead, upon the throne. 
 
203, BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CLXXXI. 
 
 True, thou mayst call thy minions to thine aid, 
 For millions yet before thee bow the knee, 
 And thou mayst preach another great crusade 
 To bring revolted States aback to thee, 
 T restore the glory of the Papal See. 
 But warning take, for warning sure is given, 
 Filled to the brim thy cup of wrath shall be ; 
 Nor with new crimes inflame the wrath of heaven. 
 Repent, or with more fires be scorched, more thunders 
 riven. 
 
 CLXXXII. 
 
 But now awhile from these dread tempests sore, 
 Which did o er Europe s realms so fiercely rave, 
 To waste the dragon and cast down the whore, 
 We turn to where thy floods, Euphrates, lave 
 The Orient shores, which God in wrath once gave 
 To the false prophet. See what him befalls; 
 For sure, a people God hath there to save, 
 For whom he breaks the bondage that enthralls 
 Those realms; he to his work th avenging angel 
 calls. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 203 
 
 CANTO II. 
 THE FALSE PROPHET. 
 
 From Araby, the land of rocks and sands, 
 There flowed a wondrous river long ago, 
 And, though it had its source in desert lands, 
 Far o er the world its murmuring floods did flow. 
 Tis said, great prodigies the earth did show, 
 When from the rended rocks its waters sprung ; 
 She was with earthquakes shaken to and fro, 
 While clouds and darkness in her welkin hung, 
 And sunk a wide-spread lake her yawning deeps among. 
 
 II. 
 
 A heathen shrine received attention, too, 
 Whose fire, supposed divine, had ages burned, 
 The idol of that fire-adoring crew, 
 Who, in the East, have true religion spurned. 
 Its fire is quenched, its light to darkness turned, 
 And many other portents shadowed forth, 
 (Though what they were tis bootless to have 
 
 learned,) 
 
 That, in the East, the West, the South, the North, 
 These wrangling, swelling waters should o erflow the 
 
 earth. 
 
204 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 III. 
 
 We find its symbols in that wondrous book, 
 In which the vials now outpoured are shown ; 
 You ll find it called Euphrates, if you look * 
 The greatest river to the Orient known. 
 Four mighty angels, in its bed bound down, 
 Are loosed to bathe the world in fire and blood ; 
 On their fierce prophet s head to set the crown 
 Of Orient realms; to whelm beneath its flood, 
 A third of men, while scattering their fanatic brood. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Its small beginnings soon a flood become, 
 And whelm Arabia beneath their tide ; 
 It breaks the bounds of its grim desert home, 
 O er Palestine its wrangling waters glide, 
 That city trembles where our Saviour died, 
 And Carmel pales to hear their angry roar, 
 
 * And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the 
 golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, 
 Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four 
 angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a 
 year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen 
 were two hundred thousand thousand : and I heard the number of them. And thus I 
 saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breast-plates of fire, 
 and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of 
 lions ; and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone. By these three 
 was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, 
 which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their 
 tails : for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do 
 hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented 
 not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of 
 gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood : which neither can see, nor hear, 
 nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their 
 fornication, nor of their thefts. REV. ix. 13-21. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2O5 
 
 As, red with blood, all bounds they override ; 
 Across great Lebanon their legions pour, 
 And roll a sanguine flood on Asia Minor s shore. 
 
 v. 
 
 See what a numerous host of armed men 
 Now tramp along in hostile war s array 
 The Arab, Turk, the savage Saracen, 
 In armor rushing to the battle s fray. 
 They, from their turbid multitude, display 
 The crescent of the prophet, flaming high ; 
 True to the flag that leads them to the fray, 
 " Allah il Allah, Allah hu ! " they cry, 
 And with the charge and shout they rend the earth and 
 sky. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Ah ! dread array, as couching lance and spear, 
 Two hundred thousand thousand horsemen strong, 
 Fly to the charge, to scatter death and fear, 
 Like whirlwinds, as their squadrons rush along. 
 SEE ! SEE ! their horses, maddened in the throng, 
 From their wide nostrils belch hot streams of fire ; 
 See ! in their tails are scorpions, and, when stung, 
 Their victims, falling, instantly expire, 
 Ground in the gory dust by horse and horseman s ire. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Behold o er Asia Minor s hills and vales, 
 That torrent roars on its tempestuous path, 
 
 ^W 
 
 0? THE 
 
 TIVBESITY 
 
206 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 And over all opposing foes prevails, 
 Till e en on Europe s shores it breaks in wrath, 
 Resounds the Moslem s shout in march of death ; 
 And, as the tramping hosts the mountains shake, 
 Doomed men in terror mutely hold their breath. 
 At last, in siege, Byzantine pillars quake, 
 Though not for long do they the trembling city take. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 But o er Roumelia s ancient hills and dales, 
 And Macedon, the Moslem army sweeps ; 
 The snow-white peaks of Pindus e en assails, 
 And takes them, then adown their heights it leaps ; 
 Albania s realm o erruns, subdues and keeps, 
 Where Adria s waters break upon the strand, 
 Upon whose breast the tempest never sleeps. 
 Thermopylae, wilt thou not guard that land ? 
 Not shield thy Greece from the invader s bloody hand ? 
 
 IX. 
 
 Ah ! no ! for at that pass no Spartans brave 
 Stand to resist the Moslem s conquering might 
 To drive him back, or find a glorious grave, 
 Preferring death to ignominious flight. 
 Thy land, fair Greece, must feel the invader s 
 
 blight ; 
 In vain thy classic fields are stained with gore ; 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2O/ 
 
 Thy sun must set in a long, darksome night ; 
 
 And Greece, dear land, be " living Greece no 
 
 more " 
 Thy Corinth, Athens, Sparta s glorious days are o er. 
 
 X. 
 
 But not alone o er Eastern realms this flood 
 From Araby its wrangling waters poured ; 
 But round Akaba s gulf its path of blood 
 Was marked ; its swelling torrents westward roared, 
 Across that fatal sea where once were stored 
 Egyptian treasures, buried in the wave 
 A host not smitten by the warrior s sword ; 
 Where horse and rider found a watery grave 
 Where God, by mighty wonders, did his people save. 
 
 XI. 
 
 So onward o er those fertile lands redeemed 
 By Nilus from the sands, their armies spread, 
 As locusts from the pit of hell upstreamed, 
 Whose clouds o ershadowed earth with darkness 
 
 dread, 
 
 Their mighty king, Abaddon, at their head, 
 Devouring all where er their swarms might stray ; 
 Their flaming steeds plunge into Nilus bed, 
 Slake their hot thirst, shake from their sides its 
 
 spray, 
 Then, fierce to snuff the desert air, they haste away. 
 
208 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Haste madly on o er Afric s lands afar, 
 Along the Middle Sea s resounding shore ; 
 Old Carthage sees, above, their crescent star, 
 While round her walls the Moslem squadrons 
 
 pour, 
 
 Then westward rush, resistless as before, 
 Until with shout and fiery charger s neigh 
 Is mingled stern Atlantic s stormy roar, 
 And Afric, yielded to the prophet s sway, 
 Bids millions at his feet their servile homage pay. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Not long on Afric s coast the deluge waits, 
 But, glancing to the coasts of sunny Spain, 
 Its fiery squadrons leap Gibraltar s straits, 
 To flood that fated land from sea to main. 
 Fair Andalusia, sweetly decked with plain, 
 Hill, valley, thou must feel the Moslem s tread ; 
 O er dark Morena s peaks a hurricane 
 Breaks, and sweeps down to Gaudiana s bed, 
 Which cannot quench the fires, for still they swiftly 
 spread. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Swift o er Toledo s mountain barriers leaps, 
 And down to Tagus flowery banks doth glide 
 The thundering avalanche. Still it keeps 
 Its onward way, expands its burning tide, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2OQ 
 
 As over hills and vales its horsemen ride ; 
 It climbs the mountain heights of old Castile, 
 And in Duero s vale lays low the pride 
 Of Spain, and makes her vanquished armies feel, 
 Around Segovia s walls, the bite of Moorish steel. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Nor long its Arab chargers rest upon 
 Iberian mountains, stretching far away, 
 But rushing down on proud old Aragon, 
 Round Saragossa pours the ensanguined fray ; 
 But Aragon repels them from their prey, 
 And plants upon her high Pyrenian rocks 
 The cross whose glory never shall decay, 
 Where it shall never feel war s tempest s shocks, 
 Where Moslem never shakes his spear, nor rudely 
 mocks. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 But yet it breaks o er Pyrenees on France, 
 E en up to Potiers it spreads its power, 
 Nor stays it in its terrible advance, 
 Till over half that realm its tempests lower. 
 But then arises in the North a shower 
 A mingled fire and hail of venging wrath ; 
 Rally a host the nation to restore, 
 To cast destruction in the Moslem s path, 
 To drive the Moors from Gaul, or lay them low in death. 
 
210 , BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 The champion, Martel, leads the avenging host, 
 In armor dressed for battle s dreadful fray ; 
 Two mighty armies front to front opposed, 
 Like thunder clouds, stand each in dread array, 
 To test, in battle s awful brunt, the day. 
 The destinies of Europe trembling stand, 
 As there those hostile hosts their ranks display, 
 All waiting their own leader s dread command, 
 To join in battle that shall shake the solid land. 
 
 XVin. 
 
 There are the lighter-visaged sons of Spain, 
 With the Arabian and Saracen 
 Arrayed, and with the sable African ; 
 Full many a pennon fluttering there is seen, 
 Full many a charger neighs for battle, when 
 Around their countless falchions shall glance, 
 And send their lightning flashes o er their van, 
 To light upon the steel-clad crest of France ; 
 Behold their feathery plumes in snowy splendor dance. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 And there o er many a squadron of swift horse, 
 O er many a phalanx with its countless spears, 
 Full proud the cresent holds its lordly course, 
 And high the battle s fearful signal rears. 
 Now here, behold the Christian host appears ! 
 Of heroes come from far, a countless throng, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 211 
 
 The flower of France, unknown to craven fears, 
 Of Germans many mighty thousands strong, 
 While other peoples swell their numerous tides along. 
 
 XX. 
 
 Behold their stalwart legions bravely stand, 
 All covered with the helmet, gorge, and shield, 
 Like rocks of granite, on the stormy strand, 
 Whose flinty crests ne er to the billows yield ; 
 Stand cross the Moslem s path upon that field, 
 To stay his progress and turn back his tides. 
 Hark ! HARK ! the battle cry, the rattling shield, 
 Behold, each horseman to his charger strides, 
 And then in awful pause the battle signal bides. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 " Allah, il Allah ! Allah hu ! " tis given, 
 See how those fiery squadrons bound along, 
 While with their thundering hoofs the earth is 
 
 riven ; 
 
 Now in the air each flashing blade is flung, 
 Hear, as they dash the Christian hosts among, 
 To break their living breastwork clad with steel. 
 Was ever such tremendous clamor rung 
 With arms, where men in hell of battle reel ? 
 Did e er resisting hosts such dread concussion feel ? 
 
 XXII. 
 
 Oh heavens ! see how their blood-stained falchions 
 
 crash ! 
 How break on helm and shield the lance and spear ! 
 
212 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 How blade on blade in maddened fury clash ! 
 Till all along the field, afar and near, 
 In frightful heaps, the Moslem slain appear; 
 Horse, rider, all go down in that advance, 
 Laid low in that tremendous hour of fear, 
 When Moorish spear and Arab s balanced lance 
 Are dashed and broken on the ringing shield of France. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 O dread and fearful work of ruin dire ! 
 It broke the power of Islam on that plain ; 
 Like navies wrecked amid the tempest s ire, 
 Dashed on the rocks and shoals of ocean s main, 
 It left, alas ! full many myriads slain ! 
 Twas thus the glorious field of Tours was won, 
 The hammer struck and broke the invader s might, 
 And crushed beneath his weight Abdalla s son ; 
 And then, when forced into disastrous flight, 
 He left ten thousand slain in internecine fight. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 Nor stops he till beyond the snowy peaks 
 Of Pyrenees he comes to halt, and stands 
 Where stern and stormy winter rudely shakes 
 His frosts for aye, to guard fair Gallia s lands 
 With icy legions drive his bloody bands 
 Away, and give to her a long release. 
 But long their bearded legions shake their brands, 
 Menacing Europe, giving her no peace, 
 From Biscay s Bay to where the Danube s waters cease. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 213 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Long centuries, too, the Moslems hold the sway, 
 As rulers of the sunny lands of Spain, 
 Until at length the crescent s powers decay; 
 The flood tiiat covered hill, and vale, and plain, 
 Rolls back to Afric s servile coast again, 
 And she is freed from presence of the Moor. 
 And in her time, Greece from the Moslem s chain 
 Strives to be free ; the flames which burned of yore 
 Blaze from her shrines again besmeared with patriot s 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 Fair Freedom flings her banners to the breeze, 
 Awakes her prostrate sons to nobler life ; 
 Into the fray, which either kills or frees, 
 They rush, and bravely mingle in the strife, 
 And strike for altars, children, home, and wife, 
 And to redeem the. green graves of their sires, 
 Although their land with many slain is rife ; 
 Tis not in vain, she gains her fond desires, 
 She smothers all her foes in Navarino s fires. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 Yet have that river s waters overran 
 The Eastern Continent from sea to sea. 
 It rules the Persian still. The Turkoman, 
 The Afghan, and the roving Belochee, 
 All serve the prophet. Nor is China free, 
 Nor Hindoostan, nor Tartary, the wild, 
 
214 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Nor any part of Asia, but may see 
 The crescent s sign ; and Afric is beguiled 
 Amid her desert wastes, and where sweet vales have 
 smiled. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 This is the spreading river that was named 
 Euphrates by that dreaming prophet old, 3 
 And widely has its wondrous power been famed ; 
 But now its end comes, as by him foretold, 
 The avenging angel in his flight, behold ! 
 From heaven stoops o er the oriental land ; 
 See, o er its waters dark his wings unfold, 
 On them he pours the vial in his hand, 
 Not long can they its potent influence withstand. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Ah ! high indeed its waters, midst the shout 
 Of nations, and with seas of blood, had rolled, 
 And spread before the crescent death and rout, 
 And on its course for long did hold 
 But now its waning floods of power are knolled, 
 Its deep-worn channels soon shall be left dry, 
 O er which the orient kings from empires old 
 Shall come to offer gifts to the Most High, 
 To Zion s King descending from the bending sky. 
 
 It may be in this wise the work was done: 
 The Church, who found herself a Western home, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 215 
 
 Where she to Christ had many millions won, 
 Changed a wild desert into vernal bloom, 
 Called out a world of light from night and gloom, 
 Won for mankind a great and glorious crown, 
 Unfurled the flag of Freedom o er the tomb 
 Of slavery, and the despot s throne cast down, 
 And made his minions in perdition s waves to drown ; 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 Had sent from thence a faithful praying band, 
 The choicest gems of Jesus earthly crown, 
 To preach the Word in that afflicted land, 
 Where Moslems ruled ; entreat them to cast down 
 Their idols ; they whose fathers once did own 
 The sway of Jesus ; to their ancient faith 
 To win them back ; and wide the seed was sown. 
 By the dear cross of Jesus, millions found their path 
 Back to the light of heaven, from darkness grim as 
 death. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 This roused the Moslem s wild fanatic ire ; 
 He grasped stern persecution s bloody scourge, 
 To plunge the Church again in seas of fire. 
 He by such means, of old, was wont to urge 
 His faith upon mankind, or in the gurge 
 Of tribulation drown them. So, with rack 
 And torture, bastinado, fire, would purge 
 His realms. Of all such means there was no lack, 
 So o er the Church he rolled a tempest wild and black. 
 
2l6 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 Famine and thirst to them were not unknown ; 
 To the cross and stake and gibbet they were led 
 Helpless: Again to wild beasts they were thrown. 
 Ten thousand victims for religion bled. 
 The air was filled with lamentations dread 
 Of those who cruel murder had survived, 
 And loathsome prisons echoed to the tread 
 Of those who rack and torture had outlived 
 A myriad widows for their murdered husbands grieved. 
 
 xxxiv. 
 
 Long was the suffering, dire the murderous work 
 Of slaughter over all that bloody land, 
 Where Moslem zeal fanatic urged each Turk, 
 To stain with Christian blood his hostile hand ; 
 Till, longer, vengeance could not idle stand ; 
 For loud and wide the cry to heaven was raised ; 
 Came from the eternal throne the high command, 
 And the avenging angel, irate, seized 
 The sword, to smite the foes whose deeds the world 
 amazed. 
 
 xxxv. 
 
 And now is heard in dreadful murmurings loud, 
 
 The gathering, hostile armies from afar, 
 
 As dread avengers, come a countless crowd, 
 
 To wage upon these bloody men a war 
 
 That shall of vengeance give them their full share. 
 
 Ah, yes, dire persecutors, ye shall feel, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2I/ 
 
 Amid alarums, that the stoutest scare, 
 The stroke tremendous of His biting steel 
 Who, as Avenger, doth His mighty hand reveal. 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 Lo ! in the north is roused the growling bear, 
 Who leads his countless marshaled warriors down : 
 The roaring lion, too, would have a share 
 In fight, and hastens there, from Albion. 
 Flung to the breeze her flaming gonfalon, 
 She leads to battle many thousand strong. 
 And from his eyrie, when the clarion 
 Resounds, the eagle s cry sounds clear and long, 
 And o er Atlantic s wave he leads a numerous throng. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 See how the starry banner flutters there, 
 O er brave hearts beating for the world s oppressed ; 
 Where tempests darken in the murky air, 
 With strife, where many wrongs shall be redressed, 
 And righteous war shall succor the distressed. 
 They ready are, when battle-cry is given, 
 Upon those tyrants heads who long transgressed, 
 To launch, as from the stormy cope of heaven, 
 Hot thunderbolts of wrath with which the world is riven. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 Staunch Germany, and thou poor La Belle France, 
 Who once stood breast to breast before the Moor, 
 10 
 
2l8 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 While lightnings from your burnished helms did 
 
 glance, 
 
 And bolts of war upon the field of Tours, 
 Say where will ye be ranged, where will ye pour 
 Your battle hail, in that dread carnival ? 
 What standard follow, till the fight is o er ? 
 But wheresoe er your martial bugles call, 
 Millions are there who low before the prophet fall. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 Ah ! yes, the prophet has a strange array : 
 There the old dragon, stained with martyrs gore, 
 Stands ready for the battle s fearful fray, 
 No thirst for blood has lost since days of yore ;- 
 Rush his red hosts along the Black Sea s shore. 
 And there among the tyrant cringing herd, 
 The Moslem marches in the van once more, 
 For him the Persian, Arab, Turk, and Koord 
 Have couched again the lance and spear and drawn the 
 sv/ord. 
 
 XL. 
 
 Look there ! the scarlet flag of Papal Rome, 
 Is waving too o er many a supple slave. 
 She must obey her instincts and must come 
 To fight against the right, and find a grave 
 For myriads. Anti-Christ, he who did rave 
 Amid the darkness, when himself proclaimed 
 Himself as high as God though but a knave. 
 And worse than ever is religion shamed 
 By him, among that host where heathen gods are named. 
 
BE FORE THE DAWN. 2 19 
 
 XLI. 
 
 Yet tis a meet alliance tripartite, 
 The dragon s minions and the scarlet beast, 
 With the false prophet, all the sons of night, 
 Who crowd by millions from the swarming East, 
 While from the West with many a host increased. 
 Behold them there within their crowded camp, 
 They marshal many myriads at least, 
 And earth doth tremble midst their mighty tramp, 
 While furious horse for fight their iron bridles champ. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 Behold the Lord s avengers near and far, 
 Their heavy columns stretching deep and wide, 
 Swarm to thy fearful work, avenging war, 
 Across the Bosphorus an endless tide. 
 Their myriad banners float aloft in pride, 
 Unfolding now the red, white, blue and gold, 
 And gleam like rainbows waving side by side. 
 Their countless guns and bayonets behold ! 
 Earth trembles as their rattling wheels are onward 
 rolled. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Ah ! me ! what tumult dread of warlike sounds 
 Burst forth from yon advancing thunder-cloud, 
 And bode destruction, death or fearful wounds ! 
 Hear now the tempest s mutterings deep and loud, 
 As horsemen gather there, a countless crowd, 
 And on the dreadful flanks of battle form. 
 
220 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Now pause awhile, survey those armies proud, 
 Ere wakes the fury of the coming storm, 
 And those bright blades are dimmed with gore all wet 
 and warm. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 Ah ! think what great decisions hang in poise 
 
 Upon the issues of this dreadful day. 
 
 There bigotry its enginery employs 
 
 To take the heaven-born rights of men away, 
 
 The despot s tottering throne from wrack to stay, 
 
 Though built on slavery s sighs and tears and 
 
 groans ; 
 
 For where is Pagan s, Pope s or Moslem s sway, 
 There may be heard its victims bitter moans, 
 Nor aught else would it hear o er earth s encircling zones. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Ah ! tis a precious right to wield the scourge, 
 To lay its gory thongs upon man s back, 
 For bigot superstition grim to urge 
 Midst torture, stake and wheel, and breaking rack, 
 Or, with the battle, flaming siege and sack, 
 Her claims on men, denying heaven to all 
 Who will not serve the prophet s lustful pack, 
 Or vilely cringe beneath the Papal thrall, 
 Or on the name of Boodh and Brahma humbly call. 
 
 XLV I. 
 
 Pressed by the avengers gathering power, they know 
 That the decisive hour has come at last, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 221 
 
 To test their rights and to the nations show, 
 If they may still the chain and fetter cast 
 On half the world, and all its beauty blast ; 
 If they may tread upon the necks of slaves 
 Who pronely lie beneath their feet aghast, 
 Or on brave fallen freemen s bloody graves, 
 Whose fervor drowns in blood or else its country saves ; 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 Or if they shall in the dread conflict fall, 
 
 Their scepters broken, from their temples torn 
 
 Their ancient crowns, destroyed for aye their thrall, 
 
 Their purple robes and royal thrones forsworn, 
 
 All ruined, hopeless, to destruction borne. 
 
 Say, shall a hundred million own the power 
 
 Of Islam ? Over half the world forlorn 
 
 Shall Boodh and Brahma reign ? Shall millions 
 
 more 
 Beneath the Papal thunders shrink and vilely cower? 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 So, too, with the avenger s gathering host, 
 
 If they are overthrown in that dread fight, 
 
 Freedom of body, soul and all is lost. 
 
 Crushed then shall be the cause of truth and 
 
 right, 
 
 Sink down the earth in slavery s gloomy night, 
 Eclipsed in darkness be the sun of heaven. 
 Shall all men s choicest blessings take their flight ? 
 Shall all that science, all that art have given, 
 Be blotted out when with this storm the earth is riven ? 
 
222 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 Shall Freedom, fighting in the stormy van, 
 Lie prostrate when this frightful fray shall end ? 
 Or shall her banners, in behalf of man, 
 The skies of every continent ascend, 
 And their bright flames with starry splendors blend ? 
 O, shall that glorious flag arise on high, 
 To which the azure skies their tints did lend, 
 In sign of peace to friends afar and nigh, 
 Its red, of war to foes, where er its splendors fly ? 
 
 Hark ! hark ! the battle s fearful signal s given, 
 Loud sounds its echoes to the cope on high. 
 Then break its flames with fearful flash forth driven, 
 Full wide its screaming missiles crash and fly, 
 While its black smoke blots sunlight from the sky. 
 There cannons roar and muskets harshly bray, 
 There whiz and screech of ball and shell, and cry 
 Of death create a hell in sulphur spray, 
 Whose fires and furies fierce are gorged amidst the fray. 
 
 LI. 
 
 They glut the grave with food unmeasured, hark ! 
 See there ! beneath the cope of battle rack, 
 Which makes the brightest noonday splendors dark, 
 The murmuring horsemen form for the attack. 
 They re falling into lines, dense, deep and black, 
 See how above their heads their sabres flash, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 223 
 
 Like lightnings o er the tempest s fearful track, 
 Prepared, like a wild whirlwind s rush and crash, 
 In the dread melee on the allied camp to dash. 
 
 LI I. 
 
 Ye supple followers of Abdallah s son, 
 Ye cringing minions of the scarlet whore, 
 Ye votaries to the dragon s bloody throne, 
 Prepare to fight as ye have ne er before. 
 Behold yon avalanche with thunder s roar 
 In mighty squadrons rushing to the fray 
 With sounding hoof, earth shakes as on they pour, 
 And as they near their grim expectant prey, 
 The shout of nations rises from their dread array. 
 
 LIII. 
 
 Ah, me! what fearful work the foemen make, 
 As on the Moslem ranks the squadrons dash ! 
 Ah ! how the hills in the concussion quake, 
 As through their steel-clad hosts the whirlwinds 
 
 crash ; 
 
 Ah ! myriads fall beneath the sabres gash. 
 In vain the Moslem s volleyed thunder flies, 
 Amid the racking cannon s frightful flash, 
 In vain they drape with clouds the reeling skies, 
 In vain the furious soldier falls and bleeds and dies ; 
 
 LIV. 
 
 In vain their hungry falchions blush with blood, 
 In vain to Allah lift their helpless prayers ; 
 
224 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Ten myriads fall beneath their sweeping flood, 
 All wounded, bleeding, groaning, dying there. 
 Dread panic now doth all their minions scare, 
 Disastrous rout spreads all their ranks among ; 
 They fly in great confusion everywhere 
 Before the tempest which their hosts o erhung, 
 Dropped down their nerveless arms, aside their falchions 
 flung. 
 
 LV. 
 
 See how in hot pursuit relentless War 
 Hurls his huge hosts upon the flying foe ; 
 See how they fall by myriads, near and far, 
 Tis thus the power of Islam is laid low, 
 Thus proud Euphrates floods, which did o erflow 
 The world, were dried in War s dread battle flame. 
 God s martyrs were avenged in this fell blow, 
 Dissolved the spell of the false prophet s name, 
 Sunk neath the vial s wrath in death, defeat and shame. 
 
 LVI. 
 
 Now, for a season, there is peace and rest, 
 The gory sword of persecution broke ; 
 Rejoice, the friends of God, in East and West, 
 Foes crushed beneath his arm s avenging stroke, 
 And broken now the tyrant s heavy yoke. 
 Afar the banner of the cross unfurled, 
 No conquests can its enemies provoke 
 To blood, and liberty o er all the world 
 To worship God, where er Euphrates waves have swirled. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 225 
 
 LVII. 
 
 And so the tale is told in many a land, 
 And Christ proclaimed the Saviour of the race, 
 Till millions own the scepter of his hand ; 
 Till West, East, South, and North, in his free grace 
 Rejoicing stand before his smiling face, 
 And sound their glorious anthems in full flood, 
 As one united Church, in every place, 
 And tell their triumphs in a Saviour s blood, 
 That fountain opened where his cross of anguish stood. 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 Sweet, O how sweet the gospel work ! to bring 
 The ransomed captives back to Zion s hill, 
 And see them bow adoring to their king ! 
 Sweet, too, their hungry souls with bread to fill ! 
 Ah ! how their victor songs our bosoms thrill, 
 As millions, bought by Jesus fearful death, 
 Repentant turn to God ; and angels trill 
 Their harps, and every creature that hath breath 
 Sing their loud psalms in heaven, and on the earth 
 beneath. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 For many years the precious work goes on, 
 While Christian nations, locked in bonds of peace, 
 Shout their hosannas o er the triumphs won. 
 Fair Zion rises bright, her beams increase 
 So much, and wars and tumults so much cease, 
 That men expectant now begin to say 
 10* 
 
226 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 " The time foreshadowed for the world s release 
 Has come, the light of the millennial day 
 Bursts o er the hills, to chase the shades of night away " 
 
 LX. 
 
 But yet the groaning world through blood and tears 
 
 Must wade, be shaken still by conflicts sore, 
 
 Perhaps for many, many weary years, 
 
 Before her Christ shall reign from shore to shore. 
 
 Those powers of evil which the hosts o erbore 
 
 Still live, though crushed beneath the mighty tread 
 
 Of God s great chariot, in the din and roar 
 
 Of war, wrenched from their hands the sword, and 
 
 dead 
 
 Their warring hosts, all hushed their shouts and clamors 
 dread. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 Yet other weapons they will surely find 
 To work sad mischief on the Church of God ; 
 With other evil powers they will be joined, 
 By which to seize again the iron rod 
 Of empire, and, beneath their potent nod, 
 To bind the world again in heavy chains. 
 On this vile work three unclean spirits plod, 4 
 Vile frogs, to curse the world with bitter banes, 
 On each bright spot of earth to leave their filthy stains. 
 
 LXI I. 
 
 Forth from the mouth of dragon, and the beast, 
 And the false prophet, these three spirits came, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 22/ 
 
 Like others from the pit of hell released ; 
 They call themselves by some pretentious name, 
 And with great words the credulous inflame, 
 While with their lying wonders they deceive 
 The kings and nations, and their homage claim, 
 Who might their lying miracles believe, 
 To lead them forth to war, their losses to retrieve. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 Philosophy, so-called, essayed to teach s 
 That revelation cannot, never comes 
 From Heaven. That, what the reason cannot reach, 
 Cannot be truth ; that man, where er he roams, 
 Must trust to nature s light ; no other speech 
 Revealeth God, whatever man may teach 
 From sacred books. He framed eternal law, 
 And should he turn from that it would impeach 
 His government, and cause a fatal flaw 
 In his unchangeability, and ruin draw 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Upon the world. No miracle can be, 
 Nor change from law. All forms of prayer are vain, 
 For even God himself cannot be free 
 From law. Man may not ask for sun, or rain, 
 Or any thing. Law must its rule maintain 
 Unchangingly. If it will rain, it must. 
 If not, then drouth must parch hill, vale and plain. 
 And so the law must rule though God be thrust 
 Out of His world, with naught for us but law to trust. 
 
228 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 Thus when the law is throned in place of God, 
 And prayer, the Christian s bulwark, brought to 
 
 naught, 
 
 Soon falls his heavenly hope neath Satan s nod ; 
 For whosoever harbors such a thought, 
 Denies God s Providence, and is soon brought 
 To cast aside his word. Keep men from prayer, 
 From that dear mercy-seat which they once sought, 
 And Satan soon can lead them anywhere. 
 This was one form of unbelief which drew its share 
 
 LXV I. 
 
 Of blind adherents. Since they could not rule 
 By force, these unclean devils sought to sneer 
 The light of heaven from earth ; none but a fool 
 Would hold a faith so built on craven fear, 
 They said, that Christ would yet again appear 
 To save them, since his flesh had been consumed 
 Two thousand years. How could he uprear 
 The judgment throne ? Could he, so long entombed, 
 Call forth his sleeping saints for ages now inhumed ? 
 
 LXVII. 
 
 Where of his coming could they find a pledge ? 
 For since their martyred fathers fell asleep, 
 All things the same continue, they allege, 
 And as of old their customed courses keep. 
 Seed time and harvest come and go ; men reap, 
 From year to year, the fields they till and sow. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 229 
 
 That God will e er the world to ruin sweep, 
 Nor earth nor heaven one portent symptom show ; 
 Yea naught can shake the firm foundations here below. 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 These frogs bred lusts in the hearts of millions 
 
 more 
 
 To eat, to drink, to reek and roll in wine, 6 
 The lowest forms of license to explore, 
 And unto sin and shame their souls resign, 
 To whatsoe er men s wicked hearts incline, 
 Without one honest blush to hide their shame. 
 Old Sodom did no more. " It shall be mine," 
 The young man said, " though blackened be my 
 
 name, 
 To live in all the pleasures that my lusts inflame." 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 No matter if he lived to others cost, 
 And at the fearful risk of losing heaven ; 
 Yea, though all hope of heaven to him were lost, 
 And all those soaring powers to mortals given ; 
 Yea, not the fear of hell, with thunders riven, 
 Could from his course his wandering feet restrain, 
 Though for him many mother s prayers had striven. 
 All these to rescue him had been in vain. 
 His short life wasted, sinks his soul to endless pain. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 Yea, many bent on sin insanely swore 
 There was no living God, no heaven, no hell, 
 
230 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 But this short, fitful life, and nothing more, 
 Why should they not enjoy its pleasures well? 
 Since of a sphere beyond no one could tell, 
 And earthly good to them and theirs was all 
 They had, why not submit to pleasure s spell ? 
 Short was their gospel, startling was its call, 
 " Enjoy yourself, to-morrow die, forgotten fall." 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Thus grossest sensualism obtained control, 
 And held unchallenged an unrivaled sway 
 O er many a man, denying him a soul ; 
 Yea, twas obeyed by millions in that day. 
 So strong it grew that it began to lay 
 The people under ban, and then compel 
 Them to deny the Lord, and turn away 
 From faith, neglect his word, the sabbath bell, 
 And e en the way to Zion, loved so long and well. 
 
 LXXIL 
 
 And Mammon, too, regained a mighty power, 
 In that sad. day, and with the hope of gold, 
 He held his sway o er many myriads more. 
 Yea, many million souls to him were sold ; 
 It made the miser s heart so hard and cold, 
 That he would give no heed to mercy s call, 
 Would grasp the widow s mite but small all told, 
 Cause want and sorrow on her house to fall, 
 Yea, all the weak he strove to keep in penury s thrall. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 231 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 He helped to nerve the assassin s bloody hand, 
 When he would seek in stealth his victim s bed, 
 To do a deed of blood, to shock the land. 
 His love the prowling thief to plunder led, 
 To rob his neighbor, leave his houseless head 
 To feel the storm, his wife s and children s cry 
 Unheeded hear, as they implored for bread. 
 And he would build the huge monopoly, 
 To hold the rich man up, and make the poor low lie. 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 With law s enactments armed, he steeled the soul 
 Of heartless minions, to the devil sold, 
 To put the cursed and fiery, damning bowl 
 Unto their neighbors lips for sordid gold, 
 That they, their feet enthralled, might be controlled 
 By spirits lost, prone in the filth to crawl, 
 To drag to penury and woe untold 
 Those mothers and their children, who should fall 
 From happy homes to hovels, where rum s demons 
 brawl. 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 O ! if damnation s loudest, direst knell 
 Sounds in the ears of any guilty man, 
 If there are hottest flames in deepest hell, 
 And hugest chains to hold his soul in ban, 
 They are for him whate er his tribe or clan, 
 Who sells the burning contents of the bowl 
 
232 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 To friend or neighbor, say he what he can 
 
 In self-defense : he damns the life and soul 
 
 Of every one who falls beneath the fiend s control. 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 The power of alcohol was truly great ; 
 Deep did its widening, withering influence blend 
 With social life, and with the powers of State, 
 With strength that made the people cower and 
 
 bend 
 
 In suppliance, with which few might dare contend. 
 For millions paid their homage at his feet, 
 And men, though longing for his reign to end, 
 In open conflict dare not with him meet, 
 His power had grown so strong, his mastery so complete. 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 Twas by the liquor league defiant, bold, 
 He seized the reins of power and under ban, 
 Would lay, and in his shameless clutches hold, 
 For purposes political, th outspoken man 
 Who durst propose and advocate some plan 
 To rescue liquor s victims from the jaws 
 Of frightful death ; with hands of ruffian 
 Would throttle him, if he durst plead their cause, 
 And seek to abate the infernal work by wholesome laws ; 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 Yea, in the dark would aim at him the blow 
 Of the assassin ; would his buildings burn, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 233 
 
 If he its villainy should dare to show ; 
 
 His walls and fences e en would overturn, 
 
 And with mean spite that common thieves would 
 
 spurn, 
 
 Turn loose the hungry herd into his grain ; 
 Would gird his trees and vines, with hate inferne ; 
 With snares and traps would seek his hurt and pain, 
 In every way that craft Satanic could attain. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 And when in open power it was arrayed, 
 It laid its hand on any one who dared 
 To raise his voice against the wretched trade, 
 With mulct and heavy bonds and prisons scared 
 The timid ; all the friends of temperance shared 
 A common portion of its hate and wrath. 
 But, if it failed of suffrage, it upreared 
 The flag of treason o er its burning path, 
 With fire and sword of war would scatter hurt and 
 scath, 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 If it might thus its baneful power retain. 
 For civil rights sought opportunity 
 To send its plagues all o er the land and main. 
 It claimed unchallenged, free immunity 
 To blight the life of each community ; 
 Its monstrous claims uphold with bloody hand, 
 And, if it could, with bold impunity, 
 No law so sacred it would not withstand, 
 Which sought to make its deathful traffic contraband. 
 
234 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 Twould skulk in secret, crawl, and lie, and steal, 
 To thwart restraining power of government ; 
 And at such villain practices could feel 
 No shame, twas so intently, fiercely bent 
 On its curst errands, by the devil sent : 
 No evil power had wrought such hurt before : 
 And thus by false religion with it blent, 
 And lingering tenets of the scarlet whore, 
 An evil power was gathering, unsurpassed of yore: 
 
 Lxxxn. 
 
 Lo ! now these three foul spirits, at the head ? 
 Of millions, ranged in hostile league once more, 
 Again o er Christendom their armies spread, 
 To drown the Right in seas of crimson gore. 
 Since they have felt the truth s great pressure sore, 
 They know that they must win or lose their sway 
 Amid the fearful battle s din and roar, 
 And so they ll stake their all in one great fray, 
 To win, or dash the pillars of the world away. 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 They gather now their hosts in countless throngs, 
 To the great battle of Almighty God, 8 
 Innumerous nations, peoples, tribes, and tongues, 
 Where they shall feel Jehovah s crushing rod. 
 The kings of earth send their commands abroad, 
 And call great captains on the lists of fame 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 235 
 
 By thousands, who the world have overawed, 
 
 And thus by daring deeds have won a name ; 
 
 And common hosts by millions, their hot zeal inflame. 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 In their great camps are royal robes and crowns, 
 And glittering tinselry of grand array ; 
 And there are many pontificial gowns, 
 Which lend their presence there to fire the fray, 
 Amid their armies stretching far away. 
 Then revelry is heard within that camp, 
 And lustful passions have unbounded sway, 
 All mingled with their minions ceaseless tramp, 
 Or when they rest at eve, or wake at morning s gray. 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 Hark ! how their loud blasphemous curses rise, 
 As madly boast they of their mighty power, 
 Defying God enthroned above the skies, 
 While counting all their numerous legions o er, 
 Swearing that now their foes shall be no more ; 
 They send defiance to the very stars, 
 And call creation s hosts from shore to shore, 
 To meet them there upon the field of Mars, 
 And test their rival powers amidst the battle s jars. 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 To banish Right and Truth from every land, 
 They wake again the noise of civil strife ; 
 
236 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 With martyr blood would stain the murderous 
 
 hand, 
 Would hold at every Christian s throat the whetted 
 
 knife, 
 
 And aim the assassin s blow at every life, 
 Until the seas with gore again be blent, 
 Until the cry, amid the fearful strife, 
 Rings up to heaven by prayer s strong groanings 
 
 rent, 
 And to avenge the Right Jehovah s hosts are sent. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 THE WICKED WARNED AND THE FAITHFUL 
 CONSOLED. 
 
 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and fear, 
 
 For now, as avenger, the Lord doth appear, 
 
 Like a thief in the night,* when your legions are still, 
 
 In drunken sleep hushed, in the vale, on the hill. 
 
 Ye have seen, when th tempest was gathering its 
 
 power, 
 
 When its legions in blackness of darkness did lower, 
 Ye have known, when the earthquake was ready to 
 
 shake 
 The nations, and merge their great cities wreck, 
 
 That the silence of death, o er the land and the sea, 
 Ruled the world, till the powers of the tempest set free, 
 Should burst in wild fury on hamlet and town, 
 And with thunder the clamor of myriads drown ; 
 
 *Rev. xvi. 15. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 237 
 
 When death rides in fury on earth and in air, 
 And faces are pale with the looks of despair, 
 As expectant they wait in the turmoil of wrath, 
 Which scatters destruction in every path. 
 
 Just so shall Jehovah of battles come down 
 
 In silence, till ready to burst on your lines ; 
 Then your legions, as chaff in the whirlwind is blown, 
 
 Shall be scattered, with death to your bloody designs. 
 Ye will not remember what plagues he has poured 
 On the beast and false prophet, abhorred of the Lord ; 
 Ye despise his long-suffering, blaspheme his great name, 
 Take warning, take warning, he ll whelm you in flame. 
 
 Ye servants of Jesus, be faithful and true, 
 
 For behold ! I come quickly a Saviour for you ; 
 
 Watch, watch and be sober, with garments untorn, 
 
 Unstained by the world, and in comeliness worn, 
 
 That you may not in nakedness walk and proclaim 
 
 To the world what would ever redound to your shame. 
 
 If coming he find you in righteousness clad, 
 
 With salvation s strong helmet surrounding your head, 
 
 With truth as your girdle, with feet duly shod, 
 
 With the gospel of peace to protect on the road, 
 
 And the breastplate of righteousness, glittering and 
 
 bright, 
 
 And faith s mighty shield over all in the fight ; 
 With the means of aggression, the spirit s great sword, 
 To vanquish your foes, e en the Word of the Lord ; 
 With all perseverance and prayer to the end, 
 That God will his saints in the battle defend : 
 
238 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 If coming he find you thus armed for the fight, 
 In you, as his soldiers, he ll take great delight ; 
 Your arms, in the conflict, he ll clothe with his might, 
 With confusion the minions of darkness to smite ; 
 His shield he ll stretch o er you in that fiery day, 
 And bring you in safety through battle s fierce fray ; 
 While he whelms all his foes in eternity s night, 
 You shall shine as his saints, clad in garments of white. 
 
 Yea, when he to judgment in triumph shall come, 
 With life s crown on your heads he will bring you safe 
 
 home. 
 
 But watch and be sober, Jehovah s great day 
 Is coming with haste, and the battle array 
 Will be set when the beasts and the fowls of the air 
 
 Shall be called by the angel who stands in the sun 
 The flesh of great captains and warriors to share 
 
 In the supper of God which will soon be begun. 
 
 LXXXVIII. 
 
 Forth from the throne a fearful mandate goes, 
 For now to Armageddon s fatal field 
 Jehovah gathers all his wicked foes. 
 Yes, yes, ye rebels, ye must to him yield, 
 When earth and hell in furious fires annealed 
 Hurl their dread thunders in the face of God, 
 And answering, heaven s artillery shall be pealed 
 In greater fury from the tempest s cloud, 
 And earth shall quake with clamor huge and loud. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 239 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 Such issues on a battle never hung. 
 Shall be religion in the world suppressed ? 
 Shall fall the Saviour s name unheard, unsung? 
 Shall all the world as cringing slaves confessed, 
 By tyrants be forever more oppressed ? 
 O say shall the sweet reign of Jesus cease, 
 And his dear Church be torn and ne er have rest ? 
 Shall never come the reign of joyful peace ? 
 And Jesus glorious kingdom have no more increase ? 
 
 XC. 
 
 Sweet name of Jesus, say, shall men not hear? 
 That name ! than which none other under heaven 
 Is given to save the soul and hush each fear, 
 That name for which those hero souls have striven ? 
 Must hush those praises which to God are given, 
 That roll so sweetly down from Zion s hill ? 
 Shall Satan s bonds no more from men be riven, 
 Saved souls with joy the heart of Jesus fill ? 
 Shall all the world be doomed forevermore to ill ? 
 
 XCI. 
 
 Shall set the sun of Freedom s glorious light, 
 Amid the gloom of endless night and storm ? 
 With her shall end fair Science s reign so bright ; 
 The works and triumphs swallowed by that swarm 
 Of foes? Shall shrewd Invention come to harm, 
 Who always showed herself the friend of man ? 
 
240 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 She with her scepter s wondrous, magic charm, 
 Called from their chambers subterranean 
 The occult powers of Nature, man s great artisan 
 
 XCII. 
 
 She bade her railroads gird the rotund world, 
 And made her thundering cars of commerce great 
 Along their iron tracks be swiftly whirled, 
 To bind the world s great peoples State to State. 
 She bade the ocean s billows boil irate, 
 Beneath the glorious steamer s wide recoil ; 
 She did the world with wire reticulate, 
 To make highways where heaven s lightnings toil 
 For man, to be his couriers in life s brunt and broil. 
 
 XCIII. 
 
 She wove his garments, sowed in spring his grain, 
 And reaped his fields ; and from the flinty rocks 
 She crushed his golden wealth ; naught could 
 
 restrain 
 Her work. With wondrous speed she made his 
 
 books. 
 
 To all she lent her hand with kindly looks, 
 On every work she set her glorious seal. 
 Shall sadly perish all Art s beauteous works ? 
 Shall all things bright and sweet that bid men feel, 
 Be blotted out amid the tempest s crash and peal ? 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 The voice of millions stoutly answers, No. 
 Wide let the martial trumpet send its blare, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 24! 
 
 Above let right its streaming banners show, 
 Fling on the foe defiance near and far, 
 Arouse Jehovah s hosts and call to war, 
 And fill his camp with swarms to seize the prey. 
 More than before shall light the battle s glare, 
 More reel in fight for God. Now comes the day 
 When hell is balked in one tremendous conflict s fray. 
 
 XCV. 
 
 Listen, O blood-stained earth from far and near, 
 Ye rocks and hills, ye murmuring floods and air, 
 Six vials, full of wrath and trembling fear, 
 Have on the earth been poured. But stored with 
 
 care, 
 
 In heaven, a seventh awaits its summons there. 
 Awhile these marshaled armies wait, before 
 They test in fight the fearful fate of war, 
 Then God the last dread vial doth outpour, 
 Earth pales and shudders wild with fear on every shore. 
 
 XCVI. 
 DEFIANCE ON THE FOE. 
 
 Now, ye oppressors of truth and the right, 
 Howl your defiance on Jesus with might, 
 Call forth your legions to battle s fierce fray, 
 Roll out your engines, tremendous array, 
 Though strong your armies when marshaled for war, 
 The God of battles is mightier far ; 
 II 
 
242 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 You may not, cannot escape his great hand, 
 When red with vengeance it shakes o er the land. 
 The angel commissioned the vial to bear, 9 
 Pours out its contents into the air; 
 Wide it diffuses itself o er the world, 
 Into commotion all nature is whirled. 
 Hark ! how the thunders fill earth and the sky, 
 Jehovah s alarums resound from on high. 
 
 XCVII. 
 
 Above these gathered hosts a dismal noise 
 Is heard, loud sounding from Jehovah s throne, 
 In deep, heart-thrilling accents ; a loud voice 
 Portentous tells the world "THE WORK IS DONE." 10 
 Ah ! yes, tis done, oppression s power is gone, 
 Its blight shall curse the sons of men no more. 
 Wrong shall be crushed, and right shall rule alone, 
 While light shall banish darkness nature o er, 
 And unbelief, pride, lust shall fall, on every shore. 
 
 xcvm. 
 
 The prince of evil cowed with hideous fears, 
 
 Beaten in fight on many fearful fields, 
 
 Shall clank his ponderous chain a thousand years. 
 
 But ere he to the great Avenger yields, 
 
 The direst war must rain on upturned shields 
 
 Hot bolts, and bathe the sword in blood yet more, 
 
 Though worlds have fallen neath the power he 
 
 wields. 
 
 Prepare again to see red streams of gore 
 The mountains, valleys, plains and streams bccrimson 
 
 o er. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 243 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 Now awful voices in the air are heard, 11 
 .Surely portentous of some dreadful doom, 
 Most fully ripe for wicked men prepared, 
 While clouds and tempests lower in deepening 
 
 gloom, 
 
 And fearful thunders shake the skies, which loom 
 In wrath, and redden with the lightning s glare. 
 On comes the storm, its distant chariots boom, 
 Men s hearts now fail with fear and dark despair, 
 The earth and sky are thick with portents everywhere. 
 
 Hark! hark! Do ye not hear that saddening wail, 12 
 Raised by the sighing winds in fitful puffs, 
 As if tasked nature s weary powers would fail ? 
 It rises ; dies again in mournful soughs : 
 The sea, uneasy, heaves in waves and troughs : 
 The trees moan sadly in the dying wind, 
 The grain waves solemn to its soft rebuffs, 
 While frightened birds and beasts of every kind, 
 Fly madly here and there with terror undefined. 
 
 Cl. 
 
 Dire apprehension fills each trembling heart, 
 All cheeks turn pale beneath the vaguest fear ; 
 What may be coming none can tell : they start 
 At every sound : and signs to all appear, 
 That earth with fear and trembling, far and near, 
 Awe-struck, awaits some dread award of heaven. 
 
244 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Hark ! hark ! that dreadful sound ! Do ye not 
 
 hear? 3 
 
 It jars beneath, where giant powers have striven : 
 It comes ! with earthquake s crash the solid world is 
 
 riven. 
 
 CII. 
 
 It heaves the ocean from its briny bed, 14 
 Rolls the great billows high upon the land, 
 Wrecks navies, dashed by waves high overhead, 
 Its Titan shocks the rocks cannot withstand ; 
 It mocks the mightiest works of human hand- 
 Convulsed is tortured nature everywhere 
 Uplifts the valleys, sinks the mountains grand, 
 Engulfs great cities in its treacherous snare, 
 The frightened world forebodes the end of all things 
 near. j s 
 
 CHI. 
 
 Never before was work so fearful known 
 Since the young earth received her tenant, man, 
 When she was into such confusion thrown, 
 No, never since the reign of sin began. 
 Ah me ! there rushed the hostile stormy van l6 
 Of armies ; midst the earthquake s fearful fray, 
 Mad into the red hell of strife they ran. 
 As thunder-clouds bedazed with blood-red spray, 
 They hurl huge hosts together, ranged in wide array. 
 
 CIV. 
 
 Ah ! there ten thousand cannons belch and crash, 
 And many million muskets harshly bray, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 245 
 
 While midst the smoke ten myriad sabres clash 
 So loud they cannot hear the earthquake s fray ; 
 And scarcely would, though earth should pass 
 
 away. 
 
 But God and nature aid the powers of right, 
 They win the field on that decisive day, 
 The foes are broken, routed, put to flight, 
 And myriads of them slain by God s avenging might. 
 
 CV. 
 
 And now behold the fruits that war has won, 
 On Armageddon s fearful field of blood ! 
 Ah ! me, ah ! me, what fearful work is done ! 
 Where, with his sword unsheathed, Jehovah stood, 
 And drove his foes before a fiery flood. 
 There to the blood-stained harlot he hath given 
 A wound which shall destroy her murderous brood, 
 To rob none more of the sweet light of heaven : 
 While with her wailings hell s dark pit is fiercely riven. 
 
 CVI. 
 
 For lo ! while hills and mountains reel and shake 
 Beneath the earthquake s fearful shock and roar, 
 The city s strong foundations rock and break, z 7 
 And fall in shattered wreck, to rise no more. 
 By fissures deep, of fathoms many score, 
 Into three parts the city hath been rent, 
 Each faction stained by internecine gore, 
 Its armies but a fierce, mad rabblement, 
 Munitions, strength, and blood in mutual conflict spent. 
 
246 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CVII. 
 
 No more, as once, thou standst the nation s dread, 
 Proud city of the hills, 18 with trembling filled, 
 And never more shalt stand the tyrant s head, 
 Bereft of might, with coward terror thrilled, 
 The rushing of thy chariots now is stilled ; 
 And to increase the sorrows of thy fall, 
 The cities of the nations, who fulfilled 
 Thy high behests in the dread carnival, 
 Are wrecked, or turn on thee to fill thy cup with gall. 
 
 CVIIT. 
 
 Begrimed and torn thy scarlet robes of state, 
 Stripped thy tiara from thy helpless head, 
 Dishonored now is thine uncovered pate, 
 Cast out in scorn of thine unholy bed, 
 Wrenched from thy hand with gore of martyrs red 
 Thy scepter, fall n thine ensigns of command, 
 With all thy mighty men, great captains, dead, 
 Expelled with loathing hate from every land, 
 Come down and sit in dust, and wait the avenger s 
 hand. 
 
 CIX. 
 
 Ah me ! in that commotion of the sea, 
 Before the tidal wave s high swelling wrath, 
 Behold the terror-stricken islands flee ^ 
 In haste away from the dread tempest s path. 
 The mountains shake beneath the fear of death, 
 Fly from their ancient seats to scape the storms 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 247 
 
 Which frown upon the rebel s heads beneath. 
 See how their legions gather now in swarms 
 The spirits of the tempest, grim, terrific forms. 
 
 ex. 
 
 THE TEMPEST OF HAIL. 
 
 Behold, O men, the gathering clouds, 
 
 Surcharged with whirlwinds, fire, and hail, 
 
 Behold how fear on terror crowds, 
 As winds and thunders loudly wail. 
 
 O God, thy judgments were severe, 
 When in that carnival of fear, 
 With battle s din and earthquake s shock, 
 Thou didst the startled nations rock. 
 
 When millions in the strife were slain, 
 Which smeared with blood vale, hill and plain, 
 When bruised and dying, with their cries 
 And lamentations, rent the skies. 
 
 Must now the sons of men bewail 
 Wide slaughter by the wrathful hail ? 
 O may not thine avengers rest, 
 Since earth is with thy plagues oppressed ? 
 
 Ah ! no ; comes on the dreadful storm ; 
 On, on its countless legions swarm ; 
 Its whirlwinds through the forests pour 
 With rattling din and crashing roar. 
 
248 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 They break the forest trees asunder 
 Like frailest reeds, with bolts of thunder ; 
 As reapers lay the fields of grain, 
 All things they reap from hill and plain. 
 
 They fiercely plow the watery deep, 
 Its waves their customed bounds o erleap, 
 Which mingle with the cloudy skies, 
 And hailstones form of fearful size. 
 
 These from the roaring heavens are cast 
 On earth by whirlwind s rattling blast, 
 And scatter ruin all around, 
 Till scarce a living thing is found. 
 
 CXI. 
 
 Hark ! what alarm ! for midst that fearful fight 
 Of elements, blasphemous curses roll 
 From out the heaving womb of blackest night, 
 Poured forth in torrents from the burdened soul 
 Of men, who curse the hail with bitter dole. 
 So God may thunder through the shaking sky, 
 Down from the clouds, his mighty chariot roll, 
 The nations feel his lightning strokes and die, 
 Yet see not tis his hand uplifted from on high. 
 
 CXII. 
 
 Mistaken men, why will ye madly brave 
 The God, whose hand the earth s foundations 
 shakes ; 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 249 
 
 O why blaspheme his name and madly rave 
 Against his power, which earth s great kingdoms 
 
 breaks, 
 
 Whose Providence in quick obedience makes 
 The winds and waves serve him, and wrath of men 
 To praise him, and from the remainder takes 
 The power to hurt. Repent, or else again 
 Prepare for fiercer wrath, sore blight, and deathful pain. 
 
 CXIII. 
 
 But ere that last dread storm of wrath shall burst 
 On her rebellious, proud, defiant head, 
 Recall to mind the woman God hath cursed, 
 Behold her ere her minions all have fled, 
 And think how, by her. hand, the saints have bled, 
 And how against them she has long prevailed ; 
 E en till God s thunderbolts shall strike her dead 
 She at their torments will have fiercely railed. 
 Hear now her story, and how God her power assailed. 
 
 CXiv. % 
 
 MYSTERY OF BABYLON, THE GREAT, THE 
 MOTHER OF HARLOTS AA^D 
 TIONS OF THE EARTHS 
 
 Lo, in the wilderness of earth,* 
 Behold what wonder had its birth, 
 A woman full of all that s bad, 
 In purple and in scarlet clad ; 
 
 * Rev. xvii. See Lecture XI. 
 II* 
 
250 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 And decked she was with precious stones, 
 And pearls around her glittering zones, 
 In hand a golden cup she held, 
 With vile abominations filled. 
 That cup with filthiness o erflowed, 
 Her unclean fornications showed. 
 
 She sat upon an evil beast, 
 
 Which had been once from hell released. 
 
 His color was of scarlet hue, 
 
 And well, for million saints he slew ; 
 
 While on his gory skin were shown, 
 
 Names of blasphemies all his own. 
 
 He was a monster, for he bore 
 
 Seven heads and ten great horns of power. 
 
 The woman s forehead bore a name 
 
 Which loud proclaimed her sin and shame. 
 
 Though beautiful, she burned with lust 
 
 And trampled virtue in the dust ; ,je 
 
 For with the kings of earth she played 
 
 The harlot, and with them she made 
 
 A league of death, to draw the sword 
 
 Against the servants of the Lord, 
 
 Till drunk with blood and carnage she 
 
 Rolled in her sin and infamy. 
 
 This woman is the Church of Rome, 
 Which hath the nations overcome, 
 And formed alliance with her kings, 
 Till earth to her its tribute brings, 
 And lays it at her bloody feet, 
 Her ghostly favors to entreat. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 251 
 
 And like the waters of a flood, 
 Swarm to her seat a multitude. 
 The beast is ancient Pagan Rome ; 
 For on her did the woman come, 
 And Rome s idolatries she taught, 
 Her idols to her temples brought, 
 Baptised as saints to them she prayed, 
 As Rome had to her heroes paid 
 Her homage. She to cross and shrine, 
 And pictured saints, bowed as divine ; 
 To them paid adoration blind. 
 As Rome to such things was inclined. 
 And she to vilest lusts would creep, 
 That she might thus her votaries keep ; 
 She stumbled not at any crime, 
 That ever stained the book of time, 
 As Rome, in her licentious fanes, 
 On lustful passions laid no chains. 
 
 The seven heads upon the beast, 
 
 Are seven mountains on which rest 
 
 The city of the harlot s power, 
 
 Which kings had given her for her dower. 
 
 The city of the seven hills 
 
 With story many ages fills ; 
 
 To her swarm kings and potentates 
 
 Of peoples, empires, kingdoms, states : 
 
 They traffic with the impious witch, 
 
 By whom their merchants have grown rich, 
 
 To purchase scepters, crowns and thrones, 
 
 Silver and gold and precious stones. 
 
252 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 And costly raiment of all hues, 
 
 They buy ; with wine, oil, odors sweet, 
 All kinds of food which nations use, 
 With steeds to jostle in the street. 
 And chariots, too, full many score, 
 With which to bolster up her power, 
 They bought, and slaves and souls of men, 
 In which she bartered for her gain. 
 Indulgence, too, for any sin, 
 She sold to them who sought her shrine. 
 
 The horns are kings which shall have power 
 
 To prop the beast up for an hour. 
 
 They with one mind united stand, 
 
 Sworn to support the woman s hand. 
 
 Their gathering hosts with war inflame, 
 
 Against the followers of the Lamb ; 
 
 Of kings the King, of lords the Lord, * * 
 
 They cannot stand against his sword, 
 
 But worsted, beaten in the fight, 
 
 Their legions all are put to flight. 
 
 And then they turn in deadly hate, 
 
 To make the harlot desolate, 
 
 To strip from her her glittering zones, 
 
 And tear the flesh off from her bones ; 
 
 To scorch and burn her in the fire, 
 
 As hot as her own fierce desire : 
 
 For they agreeing do fulfill 
 
 The will of God in good or ill. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 253 
 
 They serve the purposes of God, 
 Bring on his foes his scourging rod, 
 Whether they fight against his word, 
 Or pierce the harlot with their sword. 
 
 CXV. 
 
 Behold ! another wonder still appears, 
 Filling the world with blank astonishment, 
 While all that serve the harlot shake with fears. 
 A mighty angel from the heavens is sent, 
 With clouds of glory, his habiliment. 
 Hark ! as above the earth he wings his flight, 
 The firmament with his great voice is rent, 
 The inhabitants of earth turn pale with fright ; 
 These are the portent words he utters forth with might 
 
 CXVI. 
 
 LAMENT FOR BAB YLON* 
 
 Babylon is fallen, is fallen from power, 
 Low lies her strong ones to rise nevermore, 
 Her robe and tiara with carnage are soiled, 
 Her temples are crumbled, her palaces spoiled, 
 The vile habitations of devils become, 
 Where every foul spirit may find him a home ; 
 Of birds all unclean and most hateful, the cage, 
 A warning most fearful to every age. 
 
 All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath, 
 Which the Lord surely pours in the transgressor s path ; 
 
 * Rev. xviii. 
 
254 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 In her vile embraces the kings of the earth, 
 Have indulged in their revels of unholy mirth, 
 Till their sins have enkindled Jehovah s strong ire. 
 And the merchants of earth have waxed rich on her 
 
 hire, 
 
 By their traffic in dainties forbidden of God, 
 For which they shall feel the strong weight of his rod. 
 
 Come out, O my people, her blasphemy see, 
 
 Saith Jehovah, that ye from her plagues may be free, 
 
 For her sins up to heaven have reached, and they call 
 
 For the great sword of wrath on her head now to fall. 
 
 Reward her as she has rewarded your sires, 
 
 Around her enkindle redoubled the fires 
 
 With which she slew them, and the cup that she filled 
 
 Redouble to her, from strong wormwood distilled. 
 
 u 
 
 As much as she lifted herself in her pride, x 
 As much by her crimes as she heaven defied, 
 So much, in full measure, to her now be given 
 Of plagues, till her bosom with torment be riven. 
 For she saith in her heart, " Lo ! I sit as a queen, 
 And no sign of widowhood e er shall be seen 
 Around my habitation, nor shall I see sorrow, 
 As to-day is great plenty so shall be to-morrow." 
 
 For this, in one day famine, mourning and death, 
 Shall fall as dread plagues on her desolate path, 
 And she shall be burned in unquenchable fire ; 
 For strong is the Lord who arises in ire. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 255 
 
 Now the kings of the earth who have seen her great 
 
 power, 
 
 And rolled in her dainties for many an hour, 
 Bewail her sad fate from Jehovah s fell stroke, 
 As they see all her glory ascending in smoke. 
 
 And the merchants, grown rich from the sales of her 
 
 ware, 
 
 Afar from her stand lest her torments they share, 
 With weeping and wailing and sounds of great woe, 
 That the source of their wealth to destruction should go, 
 That a city arrayed in such costly attire, 
 With its gold and its gems should be doomed to the fire, 
 Saying, " W T oe worth the day, it surpasses all thought, 
 In one hour such riches should thus come to naught." 
 
 The masters of ships and the whole company 
 
 Of those who for traffic go down to the sea, 
 
 Stand afar from her plagues and lament to discover 
 
 The smoke of her torment arising forever. 
 
 "Alas! O alas! that she in one hour, 
 
 The source of all mariner s riches and power, 
 
 With direst distress is made desolate !" 
 
 Casting dust on their heads they bewail her sad fate. 
 
 Rejoice over her, O ye heavens, with praise : 
 Ye prophets, apostles and martyrs now raise 
 Your songs of redemption from her dreadful thrall, 
 For God, your avenger, now makes her to fall. 
 And then a strong angel took up in his hand 
 A stone, like a mill-stone, which lay on the strand, 
 
256 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 And cast it with violence into the sea, 
 
 Saying, " THUS THOU GREAT CITY IT SHALL BE WITH 
 THEE." 
 
 With violence sudden she shall be thrown down, 
 
 While the cry of her torment the tempest shall drown, 
 
 As the stone is entombed by the waves on the shore, 
 
 So she shall be found on the earth nevermore. 
 
 Now hushed is the voice of the harpers she cherished, 
 
 Her music of pipes and of trumpets is perished, 
 
 All palsied the hand that has swept the sweet strings. 
 
 And dead is the rapture that melody brings. 
 
 Her craftsmen are gone that supplied her rich store, 
 
 And the sound of the mill-stone is heard there no more, 
 
 Her light has gone out in the -darkness of night, 
 
 And the joy of her festals has taken its flight. 
 
 The board where the bridegroom was wont to preside, 
 
 At which, in her beauty, attended the bride, x 
 
 Is desolate, round it are silent their songs, 
 
 For the stroke of Death s angel has palsied their tongues. 
 
 CXVII. 
 
 Rejoice, the battle s o er, the day is won. 
 In arms and panoply victoriously 
 Rides forth upon his chariot the Son, 
 His banner o er his head waves gloriously; 
 The earth, long rent with pangs laboriously, 
 Is now from the red harlot s power released; 
 Ring her high anthems meritoriously, 
 Exultant that her agony hath ceased, 
 While with the voice of floods the music is increased. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 257 
 
 CXVIII. 
 
 Hark ! hark ! there sounds from heaven a mighty 
 
 voice 22 
 
 Of many people swelling high and strong 
 Rolls up and bids the starry worlds rejoice, 
 And join with men in one resounding song 
 Of triumph, full, clear, loud and long, 
 While angel s harps with harmony are trilling, 
 And all are jubilant amidst the throng ; 
 Hark to their strains with joy so sweetly thrilling, 
 The full choired heavenly hosts with deepest rapture 
 filling. 
 
 CXIX. 
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL SONG* 
 
 Hallelujah to God, 
 
 Who sits on the sky, 
 
 And breaks with his rod 
 
 His foes far and nigh. 
 
 Salvation, and honor, and glory, and power 
 Ye nations give to him, in songs evermore. 
 
 True and righteous his ways, 
 His judgments severe ; 
 
 * And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying 
 Alleluia: Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God : For 
 true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great whore, which did 
 corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at 
 her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 
 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshiped God 
 that sat on the throne, saying, Amen ; Alleluia. REV. xix. 1-4. 
 
2$8 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 O join in his praise, 
 
 With trembling and fear ; 
 For on the corrupter he visits the blood 
 Of martyrs, shed by her in streams like a flood. 
 
 Hallelujah again ! 
 
 Send the shout through the skies ; 
 
 Let the mighty amen 
 
 In thunders arise, 
 
 In anthems loud pealing from heaven s vast throngs, 
 With symphonies swelling from angelic tongues. 
 
 Ye elders fall down 
 
 And worship the Lamb 
 
 Who sits on the throne, 
 
 With loud-sounding psalm. 
 Amen ! hallelujah ! let it sound forth again 
 Through the heaven of heavens, hallelujah ! Amen ! 
 
 cxx. 
 
 Thus Heaven s high-sounding anthems rang aloud, 
 With all its golden harps delicious clang, 
 At sight of ruin of the harlot proud, 
 Whose smoke doth o er the pit of blackness hang. 
 Hark ! hark ! as once the stars together sang, 
 Another louder burst of rapture thrills 
 The hosts than when creation s anthems rang; 
 It rolls a deluge from the heavenly hills, 
 And all the earth with its harmonious music fills. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 259 
 
 CXXI. 
 THE UNIVERSAL ANTHEM* 
 
 Praise Jehovah, praise Jehovah, 
 
 All ye bright, angelic throngs, 
 Shout his praises, shout his praises, 
 
 Earth, with thy ten thousand tongues ; 
 Tell the glad and thrilling story, 
 
 Ocean, with thy thunders loud ; 
 Show his glory, show his glory, 
 
 Tempest, flashing from the cloud. 
 
 Lo ! his kingdom, lo ! his kingdom, 
 
 Stretches now from shore to shore ; 
 He is mighty, he is mighty, 
 
 He shall reign forevermore. 
 In the dust his foes are fallen, 
 
 All their mighty heads lie low, 
 Crushed to earth and ground to powder 
 
 By his last tremendous blow. 
 
 Let rejoicing, let rejoicing 
 
 Fill our hearts with gladness now ; 
 
 Give him honor, give him honor, 
 And before his footstool bow, 
 
 * And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, 
 and ye that fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of 
 a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thun- 
 derings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and 
 rejoice, and give honor to him ; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife 
 hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine 
 linen, clean and white : for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. REV. xix. 5-8. 
 
260 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 For the long-expected marriage 
 Of the glorious Lamb has come, 
 
 And the bride hath made her ready 
 To attend him to his home. 
 
 Church triumphant, Church triumphant, 
 
 Ne er shall sink again thy head 
 In the dust, beneath the footsteps 
 
 Of thy foes, forever fled ; 
 Clothe thyself in finest linen, 
 
 White and clean as fallen snow, 
 Robe of righteousness adorns thee, 
 
 Stain of sin shall never know. 
 
 Once again repeat the wonders 
 
 Of the triumph of the Lord, 
 Shout the song with pealing thunders, 
 
 All his mighty acts record ; 
 Let hosannas, loud hosannas, x 
 
 From creation s countless throngs, 
 Roll in surges like the ocean, 
 
 Filling heaven with sounding songs. 
 
 CXXII. 
 
 "BLESSED ARE THEY THAT ARE CALLED TO 
 THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB."* 
 
 Sweet are the words that fill our ears, 
 
 Like heavenly music to the soul, 
 Changing to smiles our falling tears, 
 
 And bidding broken hearts be whole. 
 
 * Rev. xix. 9. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 26 1 
 
 Blest are the men that hear the call 
 That bids them to the wedding feast ; 
 
 O what delights await them all, 
 Of fruits delicious to their taste. 
 
 A glorious vision fills their eyes : 
 
 The fairest of the sons of men, 
 The Lamb who was their sacrifice, 
 
 Doth now the kingly state maintain. 
 
 They look upon his glorious face, 
 Bright shining as the morning sun, 
 
 And sweet assurance there they trace 
 Of everlasting joys begun. 
 
 There they shall see, in stainless dress, 
 The bride adorned with all her charms, 
 
 As, coming from the wilderness, 
 She leans on her beloved s arms. 
 
 O there forever shall they rest, 
 
 And feast their souls on heavenly bread ; 
 With all heaven s dainties now possessed, 
 
 Which on the festal board are spread. 
 
 There with united hearts and tongues, 
 And golden harps delicious sound, 
 
 They all shall sing triumphal songs, 
 
 While heaven with rapture shall resound. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 263 
 
 CANTO III. 
 
 THE LAST PREMILLENNIAL CONFLICT. 
 
 Look yonder ! in the clouds of heaven uprolled 
 A vision full of wonder and surprise, 
 Mid gorgeous tints of purple, white, and gold, 
 A way to heaven lies open through the skies, * 
 A way down which full many a cherub flies, 
 A beaten way down from those heights sublime, 
 So bright, what mortal looks upon it dies ; 
 Those walls which tower above the wrecks of time 
 Appear : their open gates reveal that glorious clime. 
 
 II. 
 
 A rider on a milk-white horse comes forth, * 
 Most glorious of all visions we have seen, 
 His eyes flash fiery flames upon the earth, 
 And many crowns cast their resplendent sheen 
 From his white brow. A sword with edges keen 
 Flames from his mouth, with which to smite. 
 " FAITHFUL AND TRUE" his name hath ever been, 
 His wars he wages in behalf of right, 
 In truth and righteous judgments always takes delight. 
 
 * Rev. xix. ii. 
 
264 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 III. 
 
 He hath a written name, to man unknown, 
 Which none but he himself can apprehend ; 
 A character, yet to his saints unshown, 
 Must with his many names its glory blend ; 
 Though PRINCE OF PEACE, he can his Church 
 
 defend 
 
 With fire and sword. A vesture dipped in blood 
 He wears, which bolts of hell can never rend. 
 Another name he bears, " THE WORD OF GOD ; " 
 His mission is to spread that message all abroad. 2 
 
 IV. 
 
 Still other name wrote on his robe and thigh 
 
 He bears, "THE KING OF KINGS AND 
 
 LORD OF LORDS." 
 
 He thus arrayed, in mien and bearing high^ . 
 What office now with him so well accords 
 As leading them who wield Jehovah s swords ? 
 Behold them there ! the armies of high heaven ! 
 On milk-white chargers mounted, while each girds 
 His sword o er linen white as snows new driven ; 
 To them, to wage the last great war with hell, is given. 
 
 V. 
 
 By these he rules the world with iron rod, 
 
 And with them war s red, reeking wine-press 
 
 treads, 
 
 The " wrath and fierceness of Almighty God." 
 Preached from his mouth, the gospel widely spreads 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 265 
 
 O er earth s great nations, and its glory sheds 
 Upon the world. But wicked kings combined 
 To fright it from the earth with bloody deeds ; 
 They and their minions to its mission blind, 
 Shall to the sword and flame of battle be consigned. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Behold ! a mighty angel now uprears 
 Himself upon the sun s broad, flaming face, 
 So bright, his form in that great disc appears ; 
 His brightness e en those splendors doth displace, 
 Which on a thousand shores their footprints trace, 
 And through their open, massive, golden bars, 
 Those floods no finite distance can efface, 
 Fling their white banners flashing to the stars. 
 Hear now his proclamation : hell s huge hosts it scares. 
 
 VII. 
 
 " Come, gather together, ye fowls of the heaven, 
 * For your countless legions a supper is given ; 
 " The Lord hath prepared it, come ye to his board, 
 " Where food in abundance for you he has stored. 
 " For lo ! on the battle-field, steeped in their gore, 
 " The flesh of great captains, full many a score ; 
 " Of kings that have fallen, and men of renown, 
 " Their lofty heads shorn of both helmet and crown ; 
 " The steed from whose nostrils life s fervor is fled, 
 " The rider all pale with the hue of the dead ; 
 " Where the freeman and bondman lie down side 
 
 by side, 
 
 " As in the dread onslaught of battle they died ; 
 12 
 
266 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 " Where in death s gory arms lie the small and the 
 
 great, 
 
 " With no kinsman left to bewail their sad fate. 
 " Come, come to the banquet of carnage and blood, 
 " Ye fowls, to THE SUPPER OF ALMIGHTY GOD. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Exalted now on high prophetic ground, 
 Like that on which the prophet took his stand 
 When from Mount Pisgah s top he gazed around 
 Upon the desert and the promised land, 
 In retrospect what visions we command ! 
 Ah ! what a journey through the wilderness 
 The Church has made, though led by his right hand, 
 As now outstretched behind us we may trace 
 Her path from where she started up to this high place. 
 
 IX. v 
 
 See yonder where she rode upon the flood, 
 Anon begirt around with flames of fire, 
 Then onward marching, wading seas of blood ; 
 And then assailed and tossed by tempest s ire ; 
 Attacked by myriad foes, with fierce desire 
 To hurl her to destruction ; on she came, 
 Though round her wrangled conflicts fiercer, higher; 
 Still she, now merged in floods, now scourged with 
 
 flame, 
 Held ever loyal to that only saving name. 
 
 x. 
 
 What sandy, barren deserts she has crossed ! . 
 O er what high, craggy mountains she has toiled ! 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 267 
 
 Now in the wilderness her way seemed lost, 
 And now by lying landmarks almost foiled 
 Though there were pastures green that were not 
 
 spoiled, 
 
 Where her young lambs in safety might lie down, 
 And there were quiet streams by foot unsoiled, 
 Which through these pastures had forever flown, 
 By which a gentle shepherd led them as his own. 
 
 XI. 
 
 Along that weary, toilsome way were seen 
 The rack, the torture, and the blackened stake, 
 Where, midst the burning, God s dear saints had 
 
 been, 
 
 And there were dungeons where for Jesus sake 
 They suffered all their weary bones to break 
 Beneath the Inquisition s torturing rack. 
 And often they a spectacle did make 
 For thousands filled with lusts demoniac, 
 Where bravely they received the wild beasts fierce 
 
 attack. 
 
 XII. 
 
 Yet on, through floods and flames and conflicts sore, 
 O er mountains, deserts, wildernesses waste, 
 Midst tortures, where she bled at every pore, 
 O er fields of strife, where she was forced to taste 
 Most sore defeats, by foes relentless chased, 
 She held her way, and from her hardest thralls 
 Arose, increased in strength and unabased, 
 Her numbers multiplying, and her walls 
 Enlarging, till their shadow over millions falls. ^ 
 
268 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 Yes, she endures while all things pass away. 
 On that long journey since her race begun, 
 She saw the youthful nations growing gray 
 With years, great empires, when their race was run, 
 To ruin fall, and cities which had greatness won, 
 With power and riches, sink beneath the shock 
 Of arms, or earthquakes, all their warrings done, 
 While tottering thrones did hoary monarchs mock, 
 And wrecking revolutions wrangling nations rock. 
 
 XIV. 
 
 Ah ! what a desert waste is that behind ! 
 How barren, thirsty, bloody, conflict torn ! 
 A perfect rest and peace she could not find, 
 While thus by sorrow, toil and suffering worn. 
 Now is she to this favored height upborne, x 
 In numbers numberless, her tents outspread 
 O er many a rood, with banners of the morn 
 All waving gloriously above her head : 
 To the last conflict she is waiting to be led. 
 
 XV. 
 
 Now nations, empires, rally to her call, 
 And Jesus name is sung in many tongues, 
 Thrones and dominions at his footstool fall, 
 While continents are thrilled with Zion s songs. 
 O what a prospect fills these marshaled throngs ! 
 The world outspread in all its riches, power, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 269 
 
 To Jesus and his toiling Church belongs ; 
 And now comes on the great decisive hour, 
 W 7 hen it shall surely fall the bride s rich marriage dower. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 Behold ! behold the glorious scenes before us, 
 Send up the shout, all hail ! the promised land, 
 Let all the armies swell the sounding chorus, 
 Inspiring fealty to his high command, 
 Who leads the sacramental host. We stand 
 Upon the border which divides the night 
 From day ; the desert from that region grand 
 Where, in effulgence beams celestial light, 
 " Sweet fields in living green and rivers of delight." 
 
 XVII. 
 
 But yonder rises a black cloud of wrath, 
 Which spreads its murky wings from pole to pole, 
 And casts its gloomy shadows o er our path, 
 And veils the day-star in its outstretched scroll, 
 As on its fearful convolutions roll. 
 It makes the darkness just before the dawn 
 More fearful and depressing to the soul, 
 Than when night s car is to the zenith drawn, 
 And to engulf the world the deeps of midnight yawn. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 Religious despotism was shorn of power 
 
 By that fell stroke on Armageddon s field, 
 
 And Islam did before the avenger cower, 
 
 When proud Euphrates flood was forced to yield. 
 
2/0 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 
 In vain, in other strifes upon the shield 
 
 Which overspread the Church, had Satan hurled 
 The heaviest bolts his mightiest power could wield 
 On every field his bloody flag is furled, 
 And, now, religious freedom rules the Christian world. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The dragon, which had symbolized before 
 The persecuting power of Pagan Rome, 
 When crushed, was superceded in his power, 
 By her that in a harlot s dress did come, 
 And on the seven mountains fixed her home ; 
 Again revived, he on his back did bear 
 This woman covered with the odium 
 Of fornications vile, till God did tear 
 Her from her seat and hurl her minions to despair. 
 
 " The beast that was and is not and yet is," * 
 Is this red dragon, now the last of foes, 
 Dread symbol ! all the Pagan world is his, 
 And has been since from hell s dark shades he rose, 
 And will be till the last tremendous blows 
 Of God shall fall upon his hydra-head ; 
 When in the last great struggle they shall close, 
 For ever falls the monster horned and red, 
 By whom so many prophets, saints and martyrs bled. 
 
 XXI. 
 
 Behold ! two worlds are front to front opposed, 
 The Christian and the Pagan, all prepared 
 
 * Rev. xvii. 8. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2/1 
 
 For war, and soon in conflict shall be closed ; 
 That rider with his flaming falchion bared 
 Now calls his saints who have his kingdom shared, 
 To rally all their legions for the war. 
 Wide have the dragon s martial trumpets blow d 
 To summon all the nations, near and far, 
 That own his power, to swell the battle s fearful jar. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 How then shall these two worlds in war collide ? 
 The Son of God arrayed in mightier power 
 Than he has ever shown before, shall ride 
 Upon his foes, with myriad saints, and shower 
 His mighty blows, increasing every hour, 
 By that sharp sword delivered from his mouth, 
 The blessed gospel, heaven s most precious dower, 
 The Spirit s weapon, all-prevailing truth, 
 On heathen lands, till all shall hear of love and ruth. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 Thousands shall fall in every country, slain 
 By that sharp sword, but slain again to rise 
 To new and nobler life, to break the chain 
 Of sin and death and hell, and to the skies 
 Be borne, when struggling with the agonies 
 Of the last hour, an endless life to feel, 
 On that great day to hear the symphonies 
 Which angels sing when their loud anthems peal, 
 And th burden of their songs the heavenly worlds 
 shall thrill. 
 
2/2 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 As from the sun, the fountain of all light, 
 The angel s last dread invitation came 
 To all the fowls in their remotest flight, 
 So war, where er his beamy arrows flame, 
 Shall rage and roar, with nation s loud acclaim, 
 In East, West, North and South, and everywhere, 
 Wherever men are sunk in sin and shame. 
 High burn the fires and wide their lightnings glare, 
 Angels and devils in the conflict all shall share. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Behold THE MAN WHOSE EYES ARE FLAMES OF 
 
 FIRE ! 
 
 Who wields resistlessly the sword of God, 
 With gorgeous banners streaming in the air, 
 Preparing now to rule, with iron rod, 
 The nations, who shall quickly own his nod^; 
 When, in the reeking wine-press,* he shall tread 
 In fierceness of his wrath, with vengeance shod, 
 Till higher he shall raise his jeweled head, 
 And over all the world his conquering armies spread. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 What wondrous armies follow in his train ! 
 Heaven s glorious chieftains famed in wars of old ! 
 Their countless cohorts swarm o er hill and plain, 
 Wide through the air their glittering ranks unfold, 
 Yea, on the clouds their daring way they hold ; 
 Yes, see the earth, the air, the rolling clouds 
 
 * Rev. xix. 15. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2/3 
 
 Alive with warriors on their chargers bold, 
 
 With ranks wide, deep, and high, in countless 
 
 crowds, 
 
 While sheen of banners, plumes and swords, the heav 
 ens enshrouds. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 * These are the warriors which the conqueror led,* 
 When first rebellion shook the heavenly world, 
 As from his presence thrones, dominions fled, 
 And fallen hierarchs to hell were hurled. 
 Lo ! on the right, with banners all unfurled, 
 Great Michael illustrious comes in arms ; 
 Far to the north, white as the snows upwhirled 
 By boreal winds, his countless army swarms, 
 
 Outnumbering the snowflakes in that realm of storms. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 While on the left, down to the furthest pole, 
 Next, Gabriel commands the heavenly hosts ; 
 Princes and potentates, neath his control, 
 Guard with their legions all those Southern coasts, 
 E en from where Capricornus holds his posts, 
 And turns the torrid summer northward back, 
 When it hath reached its bounds, t Antarctic 
 
 frosts : 
 
 Outspread and wide his armies, as the wrack 
 Which rises from the ocean, in the sun s warm track. 
 
 * Rev. xix. 14. 
 
 12* 
 
2/4 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 And he who bears the sword, the center holds, 
 Which stands outstretched across the burning 
 
 zone: 
 
 The mightiest columns his command unfolds, 
 Wide as the ocean, towering toward the throne, 
 On which the Great Eternal sits alone, 
 In numbers far too great for men to show 
 With earthly signs to God they re only known : 
 As countless as the aqueous drops that flow 
 In all the ocean tides throughout the world below. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 And mighty Abdiel and Uriel, 
 His great lieutenants, hold direct command 
 With him, who knows their power and valor well, 
 For each has led in fight a numerous band, 
 And each with mighty foes has tried his haitd 
 On many a hard-fought field of strife and din, 
 Where heaven s great sons contended to withstand 
 The powers of darkness, Satan, death, and sin : 
 Ranged now in line, they wait the battle to begin. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 But there are others in that vast array, 
 Not less beloved of him who bears the sword, 
 Who, over thorny paths, have made their way, 
 With faith, in life or death, to own their Lord ; 
 Ten million saints in white, with one accord, 
 Join with the angels, their last war to wage 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 275 
 
 Against the beast, so much by Heaven abhorred. 
 Behold the Church triumphant there engage, 
 Apostles, prophets, martyrs, saints of every age. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 These are the hosts, invisible, that come 
 To this last conflict, which, when won, shall end 
 The wars before the blest millennium. 
 These, Church of Christ, doth thy Redeemer send 
 To guard thee day and night, and thee befriend, 
 Since to the post of honor thou art called, 
 In battle s front the banner to defend, 
 To plant on every fortress, grim and walled, 
 The lifted cross, by which are millions disenthralled. 
 
 xxxin. 
 
 Now Jesus sends his proclamation forth 
 
 Again, " O Church, gird up thy loins anew, 
 
 " Go to the East, the West, the South, the North, 
 
 " And preach my gospel to the Greek and Jew ; 
 
 " Gird on thy sword which once its thousands slew, 
 
 " And wield it with a faith that ne er before 
 
 " Hath nerved thine arm ; and keep my cross in 
 
 view. 
 
 " Go tell all men its precious story o er, 
 " And offer pardon, heaven, to all from shore to shore." 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 (t Go, I ll be with thee, and those countless hosts, 
 " Around and o er thee, covering van and rear, 
 
2/6 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 " Shall guard thy goings to those distant coasts, 
 " Which thou shalt traverse, then dismiss thy fear, 
 " And sound the trumpet for the world to hear." 
 The Church responds, and feels intenser zeal 
 Thrill through her limbs and members far and 
 
 near 
 
 The mission spirit, 4 love for others weal- 
 She feels more strong desire to save a world from ill. 
 
 They go by thousands, now, instead of twos, s 
 Dear missionaries of the precious cross, 
 For Jesus sake, a weary life they choose. 
 The Church begins to count her gold but dross, 
 And all her richest gains as so much loss, 
 If she the glorious kingdom may -not aid ; 
 And to the winds her doubts and fears doth toss: 
 She gives her millions where before afraid v 
 To give her tens, for this she learns her gold was made. 
 
 xxxvi. 
 
 Soon missionaries swarm the heathen world ; 
 In sufferings, prayers and labors, they abound, 
 Until Jehovah s banners are unfurled 
 On every mountain top, the world around, 
 Till every nation hears the trumpet sound, 
 And myriads haste the precious cross to own 6 
 While casting their dumb idols to the ground : 
 They burn to make the cross to others known 
 And bring the world to bow before Messiah s throne. 
 
BEFORE T II E D A W N. 2// 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 Now he who wore the vesture dipped in blood, 
 Sounds his great trumpet, makes its thunders roll 
 From the high zenith, upward many a rood, 
 Round the whole heavens and down to either pole : 
 It stirs his armies, thrills them to the soul. 
 They know his signal, bidding them to haste 
 To counsel with him : quick as thought, the whole 
 Celestial army, numberless and vast, 
 Upstand in grand concentric circles round him massed. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 " Archangel, cherubim and seraphim attend, 
 " Dominions, principalities, give ear, 
 " And to my words your quick obedience lend : 
 " On yonder outspread battle-field you hear, 
 " Midst mortal strife, the sounds of hope and fear, 
 " My struggling Church contending with the beast, 
 " Must fight his minions, gathering far and near, 
 " Until the chosen are from him released, 
 " And he cast down to hell, the grievous war hath 
 ceased. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 " Round every soul, now struggling for release 
 
 " Upon that field, a thousand demons wait 
 
 " To hold him back from Wisdom s paths of peace, 
 
 " And bind him down to their own fiery fate. 
 
 " Once angels like yourselves, in high estate, 
 
 " Though fallen, mighty yet, they will prevail 
 
2/8 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 11 To drive each sin-sick soul from yonder gate, 
 " Unless your equal powers their ranks assail, 
 " And pour upon their heads Jehovah s burning hail. 
 
 XL. 
 
 " Great Michael, renowned for lofty deeds, 
 " Put on thy shield, thy sword upon thy thigh, 
 " Conduct thy legions, on their flaming steeds, 
 " To yonder empire where in conclave high, 
 " The king and princes of the land draw nigh ; 
 " Where fallen potentates elate for fight, 
 " Still hope celestial thunder to defy, 
 " To bind that mighty realm in ruin s night ; 
 " Go, with your flaming weapons, all their armies smite. 
 
 XLI. 
 
 " And Gabriel, second in your high estate, 
 
 " Go, lead your hosts where Boodh and Brahma 
 
 reign, 
 
 " Who on the beast as servile minions wait ; 
 " Launch all your thunders on their heads amain, 
 " Drive them in dire confusion from the plain. 
 " While Abdiel, Uriel, warriors tried and bold, 
 " Be it our part to bind a ponderous chain, 
 " Upon the limbs of him who once of old 
 "Stirred mightiest war: in lasting bondage him we ll 
 
 hold. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 " Ye spirits of the just made perfect, dear 
 
 " As apple of mine eye, be this your part, 
 
 " Our struggling brothers yet on earth to cheer ; 
 
 " When fighting, ward away the fiery dart, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 279 
 
 " When wounded, soothe the bitter pang and smart, 
 " When weary, gently lead them into rest, 
 " When fainting, re-inspire the sinking heart, 
 " When dying, in ambrosial garments dressed, 
 " Go, bear their franchised souls to regions of the blessed." 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 He spake, and quick as light s swift arrows fly, 
 In mighty arcs back to their stations wheel 
 Innumerable armies, filling earth and sky, 
 While loud the hoofs of heavenly chargers peal, 
 And with their rattling wheels the heavens reel. 
 They pause awhile as forming their array 
 Till each division hears its chief s appeal. 
 Behold ! Imagination can convey 
 No thought of visions seen in such a grand display. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 There a white cloud, ten thousand leagues around, 
 Uprears so bright that moon and stars grow pale 
 And hide their faces in the deeps profound, 
 While e en the sun s resplendent banners fail. 
 It is alive with warriors, clad in mail, 
 With shields outspread broad as the orb of day, 
 Helms from whose crests hath glanced hell s fiery 
 
 hail, 
 
 And swords that flash their own intrinsic ray, 
 And milk-white steeds that rush like whirlwinds to the 
 
 fray. 
 
280 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XLV. 
 
 Now swift as morning, on their squadrons roll, 
 Their sounding hoofs upon the empyrean break, 
 Like seven-fold thunder, shaking either pole, 
 While tramp and shout and thundrous clamor make 
 The highest heaven and earth s foundation quake. 
 Songs of high daring swell from rank to rank, 
 While tramp and trump and shout no discord make, 
 But blend harmonious song or saber s clank, 
 And one all-thrilling anthem sounds from flank to flank. 
 
 XLV I. 
 
 Thick as autumnal leaves swept by the wind, 
 They scatter o er all lands of Pagan night, 
 Swarm round each soul by thousands, to unbind 
 The chains of sin, to ope blind eyes to light, 
 To worst hell s struggling legions in the fight 
 Which soon with double fury rages round, 
 Where er th awakened soul would take its flight 
 From Death s dark door ; it loudly will resound, 
 Till Satan flies and leaves the captive s limbs unbound 
 
 XL VI I. 
 
 It is a wondrous, solemn thought indeed, 
 That round each sin-sick soul such conflict rages, 
 As that to it the heavenly powers give heed, 
 And angel with archangel there engages, 
 Momentous more than long historic pages 
 Unfold. Yea, there the great destroyer Death 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 28 1 
 
 Doth dash his floods against the Rock of Ages, 
 To drown the soul, e er it is moored beneath 
 His shade in deep despair to merge awakening faith. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 But yet we will remember what that soul 
 Possesses, that its worth is vastly more 
 Than many w r orlds like ours ; as ceaseless roll 
 The ages more than sands on ocean s shore 
 It lives, and heights, unmeasured, shall explore, 
 Of knowledge, virtue, happiness and peace ; 
 Or merged in shades where storms forever roar, 
 Where endless pains forever shall increase, 
 And pangs of worm that never dies, shall never cease. 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 O, if the possibilities of hell 
 And heaven are hanging in the dreadful poise 
 Of battle, wonder not that angels dwell 
 Upon the conflict, and, with bold emprise, 
 Cross swords with fallen cherubim, midst noise 
 Of rattling shields. What is an empire s dower? 
 What the whole sum of all terrestrial joys? 
 What are ten thousand crowns and thrones of 
 
 power ? 
 Stark nothing when compared with life forevermore. 
 
 L. 
 
 O then, ye warriors, spur your steeds afresh, 
 Dash your bright squadrons on the powers of hell, 
 
282 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 And with the glance of lightning gainst them flash 
 Your swords of high celestial temper, fell 
 Their huge, misformed battalions, ring their knell 
 With your resounding, helmet-crushing blows ; 
 On, on, their horrid insurrection quell, 
 And save the people from devouring foes, 
 Go, hurl sin s legions down to everlasting woes. 
 
 LI. 
 
 The conflict rages far o er hill and vale, 
 In country, village, seaport, inland town, 
 In cities great, where er is heard the wail 
 Of millions sinking under wrath s dread frown, 
 Of beggar and of him who wears a crown ; 
 But everywhere God s warriors prevail, 
 While Satan s shaken bulwarks topple down 
 Beneath the truth in storming rain and hail 
 As everywhere in huge defeat his armies fail. 
 
 LTI. 
 
 Now millions own the Lord, in every land, 
 Snatched from idolatry s debasing thrall, 
 While songs and praises rise on every hand, 
 And east to west, and north to south do call, 
 To tell the news, proclaim, to great and small, 
 The precious gospel s joy-inspiring sound. 
 So many come, tis thought again that all 
 Will soon obey the truth, the world around, 
 And Christ will reign where er the race of man is found 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 283 
 
 LIII. 
 
 Thus hell is worsted, on ten thousand fields, 
 And its dark warriors fly before the sword, 
 Which smites and crushes all their orbed shields, 
 And cleaves the brazen helmets which begird 
 Their scowling foreheads, yea, with zeal bestirred, 
 It thrusts through every stony, hating heart, 
 Those piercing pangs which they who hate the 
 
 Lord, 
 
 Forever feel, while writhing with the smart, 
 Of worm that never dies and fires that ne er depart. 
 
 LIV. 
 
 The fallen hierarch, o erthrown in fight, 
 Now fled from battle s dread disastrous rout, 
 Betakes himself to yon lone mountain height, 
 And there, in his dark soul, is tossed about 
 With mighty passion, while he belches out, 
 Like a volcano, hatred, scorn and pride : 
 Now he laments, and now he curses stout 
 The Prince against whose shield he vainly tried 
 His sword, when on his ranks the milk-white steeds did 
 ride. 
 
 LV. 
 
 He groans, and, with the sound, the mountain 
 
 shakes, 
 
 As yEtna, when its adamantine base 
 Is heaved with hidden fires and inly quakes, 
 As in convulsion, it would strive to raise 
 
284 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 The flaming vomit, its sore pangs to ease. 
 " Alas ! alas ! and has it come to this 
 " That scorned and beaten, filled with deep disgrace 
 ", Great Lucifer, who once was throned in bliss, 
 " Must now receive both men s and angels gibing hiss. 
 
 LVI 
 
 " Must I, to whom both thrones and kingdoms 
 
 bowed, 
 
 " Whom seraphim and cherubim obeyed, 
 " Before the Almighty s minions scourged and 
 
 cowed, 
 
 " And by my craven followers betrayed 
 " These sons of men against me now arrayed 
 " Must I be driv n from this mean earth, the last 
 " Of my once great possessions, and afraid 
 " Of venging wrath, fly at his trumpet s blast, 
 " And, with my limbs enthralled, in deepest hell be cast. 
 
 V 
 
 LVII. 
 
 " By all the fiends that rally round me, NO ! 
 " By all the storms that in the abyss may lower, 
 " By all the thunders in the world of woe, 
 
 " BY ALL INFERNAL ENGINES OF DREAD POWER, 
 " BY ALL THE DEEDS WHICH MADE THE NATIONS 
 
 COWER, 
 
 " Before .me, who am styled the prince of air, 
 " BY ALL THE TEMPESTS WHICH FROM HEAVEN 
 
 I LL POUR, 
 
 " IT SHALL NOT BE, naught shall my purpose 
 
 scare, 
 " I ll win or lay the world in ruins everywhere." 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 285 
 
 LVIII. 
 
 So saying, filled with bitter rage and hat 
 He grows a monstrous form, black, swoll n, immense, 
 And darkens earth and sky, as clouds dilate 
 When gathering, in their caverns dark and dense, 
 Their tempests, fires and floods, with violence 
 To scathe and scatter all upon the gale : 
 So he to measure with Omnipotence 
 His powers again, doth fire and winds inhale, 
 And with hell s stormy night doth cover mount and vale. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 He sounds his horrid signal far and near, 
 To call his hosts from each disastrous field, 
 The mountain groans and shakes, as if with fear, 
 And belches flame, the growling thunders yield 
 Their lungs to sound the trump as pealed 
 They once o er Sodom, winds and tempests wail 
 With dismal hiss, like flying serpents, nealed 
 In fires, thus all combined, the ears assail 
 With dissonance ne er heard before, unless in hell. 
 
 LX. 
 
 His minions hear on every hill and plain, 
 
 And quick as thought, as locusts swarmed of yore, 
 
 They rise from myriad fields where they have lain 
 
 In dire defeat, amazed, appalled and sore, 
 
 By angels strokes amidst the battle s roar, 
 
 And fill the air above, below, around 
 
286 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 . The mount, a hundred leagues and more, 
 While with the clouds their dark battalions crowned, 
 Rise rank o er rank above where Satan sits enthroned. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 With satisfaction high the fiend surveys 
 His armies, thus so ready at his call, 
 He brings to mind the scenes of other days, 
 Ere he and his did from the empyrean fall. 
 He sees the same great chieftains, one and all, 
 Have come, with tendant armies, numerous 
 As forest leaves, now rallying great and small, 
 As once they hung on battle ruinous, 
 When first they sought with God rebellious swords to 
 cross. 
 
 LXII. 
 
 Their swarming legions darken e en the sun ; 
 They dry the dews and rains with their hot Breath, 
 O er all that land whereon their armies run, 
 Their footsteps wither, blast, and lay in death 
 Green grass, and shrub and tree, and all beneath 
 The horrid cloud, and make the land a waste 
 A thousand roods around, a barren heath, 
 Whose blistering sands, nor dews, nor rains may 
 
 taste, 
 Where, through the choking air, the poison samiels 
 
 haste. 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 Look on that vast array of fallen spirits, 
 Each in his own etherial essence lives, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 287 
 
 (For there is none but endless life inherits, 
 Though doomed to hell, and many a time receives 
 Great sword thrusts, such as high archangel gives, 
 Which wound, but cannot kill.) But how deformed 
 Their horrid shapes, whose features naught relieves ! 
 Distort with hate, and now with fear alarmed, 
 Or shriveled with hot bolts, as in the fight they 
 stormed. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 Soon as this grizzly host is gathered round 
 The seat, pavilioned by the sulphur smoke, 
 Where Satan sits, again the hills resound ; 
 He speaks, as many a time of yore he spoke: 
 " Once more, O comrades, we have felt the stroke 
 " Of the Almighty in his power and wrath, 
 " As erst upon our ranks his thunder broke, 
 " And we were writhing with the pain and scath : 
 " Fled we have hence, aside the Son s victorious path. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 " But not to hide ourselves in craven shame ; 
 " No, no, to nurse our injured pride and hate, 
 " To brave again the terrors of his name, 
 " For we will ne er this stormy war abate 
 " While we can strike ; let prince and potentate 
 " Recall the grievous wrongs they have received 
 " From yonder upstart Son, who rides in state 
 " Upon that ghostly horse, and is believed 
 " The king decreed of all the earth, from us retrieved. 
 
288 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 " Think how, upon the heavenly hills, we waged 
 " An equal war with twice our numbers told, 
 " Of angel hosts ; think how the conflict raged 
 " For many a day, till o er our legions bold 
 " This enemy his thunder chariot rolled : . 
 " How thick and fast his hurtling missiles cast 
 " Upon our heads with fury uncontrolled ! 
 " Unused to such dire war, we stood aghast, 
 " Till to the abyss we fled before the flaming blast. 
 
 LXVIL 
 
 " This Son hath balked my plans a thousand times : 
 " Once, when upon the earth the deluge came, 
 " And we had grasped all men besteeped in crimes, 
 " Foredoomed to death ; above the flood and flame, 
 " In that great ark, he snatched from death and 
 
 shame ^ 
 
 " A remnant of that doomed and hated race, 
 " Which now by millions rally at his name, 
 " That he might save their sons by his free grace, 
 " And safely make them dwell for aye before his face 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 " He hath cast down those heathen gods of yore 
 " Who rallied hosts obedient to my nod ; 
 " And that false prophet, rallying millions more, 
 " Hath bowed his head transfixed beneath his rod : 
 " And Pagan Rome, beneath the scourge of God 
 " Hath fallen, and with her, Rome s high Pontifex, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 289 
 
 " And hoary prelates the same path have trod, 
 
 " Who with the rack, and flame, and death would 
 
 vex 
 " God s servants, e en high heaven s deep counsels would 
 
 perplex. 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 " And Sensualism, Atheism, o ercome and shamed, 
 " Which once called millions our strong cause to 
 
 aid, 
 " Are now cast down where er his sword hath 
 
 flamed. 
 
 " The despot s throne, which once our flag upstayed, 
 " And Mammon s, too, which many soldiers made 
 " For us, are fallen prone neath his attack, 
 " And all our helps, of low or lofty grade, 
 " Are sunk, o er half the world, in ruin s wrack : 
 " Our cause is lost unless we drive his armies back. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 " Let us recall how we have balked his power : 
 " Once, when our hosts were into prison hurled, 
 " We broke his bonds, and, in a Stygian shower, 
 " Poured countless armies on this new-made world, 
 " And, in the pall of death, its beauty furled ; 
 " Drew man from his allegiance to his God, 
 " Laid all in ruins dire, by tempests whirled, 
 " Spread sickness, pain, and sorrow all abroad, 
 " With wounds, and blood, and death, where er our 
 feet have trod, 
 13 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 " And once, when yonder victor came to save 
 " This wretched race from our supreme control, 
 " We caught and held him in the gloomy grave, 
 " And down to hell did send his groaning soul, 
 " And, though he from our gloomy prison stole, 
 " What has been may be yet again, we may 
 " This warrior seize, and gainst his prison roll 
 " Mountains of granite, which, to roll away, 
 " Not all his hosts have power, with all their great 
 array. 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 " And, as the trophies of our numerous wars, 
 
 " Behold yon mighty host of ruined men 
 
 " In the abyss, outnumbering the stars, 
 
 " Doomed to eternal pains and sorrows, then 
 
 " Consider what vast hosts we ll capture wh^n 
 
 " Our squadrons rush again to hostile arms, 
 
 " And tell me, warriors, have our wars been vain ? 
 
 " Those hosts now doomed to yonder realm of 
 
 storms 
 " Are nearly equal ours when first we felt hell s harms." 
 
 LXXIII, 
 
 To whom Beelzebub, in prompt reply : 
 " Great King, thy faithful subjects all say No ! 
 " Tis not in vain we ve raised the sword on high, 
 " For we have been avenged for all our woe, 
 " In this great host of captives from our foe ; 
 " My suffrage still is, war e en to the knife, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2QI 
 
 " Lead on, great chief, into the fight we ll go, 
 " And sate our lust and hatred in the strife, 
 " Or in the blaze of battle quench this wretched life. 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 " But, first of all, methinks thou shouldst be wise ; 
 
 " Behold our foe, in his triumphant trains, 
 
 " Leads forth his saints by thousands from the 
 
 skies, 
 " Whilst thou hast kept thy followers bound in 
 
 chairfe, 
 
 " As helpless captives on yon Stygian plains ; 
 " Unbind their fetters, habit them in arms, 
 "And I ll engage, by all the racking pains 
 " Which they have suffered, they will come in 
 
 swarms, 
 " And swell thy train, and fill thy foes with dread 
 
 alarms." 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 Apollyon next, the Great Destroyer, spake : 
 " Fools we have been as we have ne er before, 
 " In this last fight ; why did we fail to take 
 " Our carnal arms, and call from every shore 
 " Obedient kings, 8 and stain the earth with gore ? 
 " My counsel is, the scourge, the burning stake, 
 " The rack, the torture, with the wild beast s roar, 
 " To conflict let earth, heaven, and hell awake, 
 " We ll win, or with the shock of arms creation shake ; 
 
 LXXV I. 
 
 " Yea, with the smoke of fight put out the sun, 
 " And veil the reeling sky in blackest night, 
 
2Q2 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 " Unhinge the stars, which in their orbits run, 
 
 " And make them fall like rain, the world to fright ; 
 
 " Yea, wreck the world in one last mortal fight, 
 
 " And make the stormy heavens together roll 
 
 " As one black scroll, and pass from mortal sight ; 
 
 " And while the earth doth shake from pole to 
 
 pole, 
 " The flames shall, covering land and sea, devour the 
 
 whole." 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 Surceased the crafty fiend, when round him broke 
 Applauding thunder, at his braggart boast ; 
 Upflash a million spears amid the smoke, 
 Which seethes in sulphur stench throughout their 
 
 host, 
 
 Echoes through all that land, from coast to coast, 
 The noise of rattling arms prepared for wars, v 
 Defiance huge from rank to rank is tossed ; 
 Impatient chieftains in the camp of Mars 
 Now clamor for a conflict that will shake the stars. 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 Behold what tempests bode within that cloud, 
 The heavens grow black beneath their scowling 
 
 hate, 
 
 The wrangling winds with passion shrieking loud, 
 Groaning in limbos of the storm, inflate 
 The clouds, their pregnant caverns agitate, 
 While far, from flank to flank, the frowns of wrath 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 293 
 
 Light up their glancing fires infuriate, 
 Where fiends of blood incarnadine their path, 
 As whirlwinds, hail, and tempest scatter wreck and 
 death. 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 Arises now the prince of power of air, 
 And sounds again his trumpet in the din, 
 His minions hear his signal from afar, 
 And pause ere they the battle may begin ; 
 They catch a voice discordant far within 
 Their ranks, and to it all attentions lend. 
 " Well spoken, faithful servants, if we win 
 " We must to battle all our forces bend, 
 " And in the dread attack let men and devils blend. 
 
 LXXX. 
 
 " Great Beelzebub, go with this brazen key, 
 " Push back the massy bolts which hold yon gates, 
 " And set that numerous host of prisoners free ; 
 " Tell them their captain now in armor waits 
 " Their coming here, that he may put to straits 
 " Our common foe ; for empire of the earth 
 " We fight ; the wrathful conflict ne er abates 
 " Till we win back the country of their birth, 
 4< Where all shall dwell forever free from blight and 
 dearth. 
 
 LXXXI. 
 
 " And thou Apollyon, words so bravely spoken, 
 " Must needs have weight, go thou to every king 
 
294 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 " And prince who with us have not broken, 
 
 " And stir them up to deeds of blood, and bring 
 
 " Them here, their greatest armies gathering 
 
 " From all their realms, roll up their cannons 
 
 thunder, 
 
 " Let lance and spear and sword and saber ring, 
 " And muskets crash the rolling rack from under, 
 " We ll gather force and win, or cleave the world asunder. 
 
 LXXXII. 
 
 " Go thou with hell-born vengeance on thy brow, 
 " Stir all our furies far o er hill and vale, 
 " Again to flames these praying Christians throw, 
 " Bid Moloch make their roasting infants wail ; 
 " Upon the cross their writhing bodies nail, 
 " As once, in better days, we nailed their Lord, 
 " With torture, rack, ten thousand deaths assail 
 " The rebels gainst our power, of hell abhorred. 
 " Exterminate them all, as once by Nero stirred." 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 He ceases, then as quick as tempests dash, 
 His ready servants on their missions haste. 
 Soon hell re-echoes with the sounding crash 
 Of bolts withdrawn, the gates, before the blast 
 Of quick explosion, backward open cast, 
 And from the dread abyss outpours a tide, 
 Black as the smoke of furnace hot and vast, 
 And, like an inundation deep and wide, 
 It rolls along through air and halts at Satan s side. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 295 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 High acclamations shake that vast array 
 Of fallen angels, when those spirits damned, 
 Whose murky clouds shut out the light of day, 
 Swarm to their aid, by hell s fierce fires inflamed, 
 Won to that course by lying words unshamed ; 
 Lost souls, once cheated out of heavenly bliss 
 By this apostate, the old serpent named, 
 Now hope to gain, in such a world as this 
 A place, to mend, by fighting Christ, their fatal miss. 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 To Beelzebub is given the command 
 Of this array, an army woundrous great, 
 To spread throughout the world in every land, 
 Against the Church to stir up wrath and hate, 
 And urge to blood each evil magistrate 
 No bloodier armies, Satan ever had, 
 Than these lost souls with wrath insatiate : 
 Not even fallen angels are as bad 
 As they, since they in arms against the Church are clad. 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 Apollyon hastes through all the earth to stir* 
 
 Each king and prince to wrath against the saints, 
 
 Assisted by the beast, to wage a war, 
 
 So bloody, that imagination faints 
 
 At its dread picture, which she vainly paints, 
 
 To crimson earth and sea with running gore, 
 
 * Rev. xix. 19. 
 
296 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 To fill the pregnant air with mournful plaints, 
 To shake the mountains with the battle s roar, 
 And light war s conflagrations wide on every shore. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 HARK ! hear the call to arms throughout the 
 
 world, ^ 
 
 Roll its alarums over land and sea, 
 Behold ! war s crimson banners wide unfurled, 
 Hear sounds portending dread calamity, 
 The bugle call, the rumbling chariots, see 
 Yon RIDER comes, upon his milk-white steed, 
 To meet these hosts of hell-born chivalry ; 
 His earthly Church in this great war to lead, 
 In carnal armor clad for this last time of need. 
 
 LXXXVIII. 
 
 Now heaven, and earth, and hell, for fight arrayed, 
 On battle s awful brink, expectant stand. v 
 There have the kings of earth their flags displayed, 
 With many nations massed at their command, 
 Outspread, for many a league, on either hand, 
 While far in rear their deepening columns form, 
 In numbers vast as grains of desert sand, 
 And overhead, around, on wings of storm, 
 Lost souls of men and fiends in countless armies swarm. 
 
 LXXXIX. 
 
 Outnumbering these, by far, the hosts of God 
 Are ranged for fight, o erlapping their wide flanks, 
 With steeds of battle for destruction shod, 
 While to the rear outstretch their bristling ranks, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 2Q7 
 
 For many a mile where gun or saber clanks, 
 And overhead, far to the zenith rise 
 Celestial warriors, filling boundless blanks 
 Of space, the guardian armies of the skies, 
 To cover front, flank, rear, where winged danger flies. 
 
 XC. 
 
 Now wake the sounds of carnal strife again, I0 
 More loud and fearful far than e er before. 
 Along the front burst fires of death amain, 
 While like exploding worlds the cannons roar, 
 And through the sky their iron tempests pour, 
 While leaden rain torments the sulphurous air : 
 Come wounds, and death, and floods of running 
 
 gore, 
 
 Mid glancing steel of sabers, in the glare, 
 Where iron tramp of steeds the wounded do not spare. 
 
 XCI. 
 
 E er wnile, above this mortal din and strife, 
 The pow r ers of hell fight with the hosts of heaven, 
 Where whirlwind gusts and thunderbolts are rife, 
 Hurled back and forth as to the battle driven, 
 At whose tremendous strokes the sky is riven, 
 Where host meets host in huge concussion crashed 
 (Such hosts in battle ne er before have striven) 
 With such commotion, e en the stars are dashed 
 Down from the sky, as flaming swords on shields are 
 clashed. 
 
 13* 
 
298 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 XCII. 
 
 Along the north, where Michael s claymore flames, 
 
 Thrones sink in ruins, hoary empires fall, 
 
 Kings lie in death, who wrote in blood their names, 
 
 Great cities shake, lies prostrate every wall : 
 
 In vain the princes on their subjects call. 
 
 Down sink, ye gods, your temples stained with 
 
 lusts, 
 
 Your grisly powers are wavering one and all, 
 Below, before a million saber-thrusts, 
 Above, before the angels awful thunder-gusts. 
 
 XCIII. 
 
 Meanwhile along the south where Gabriel fights, 
 Is heard the dismal crash of falling towers, 
 The rush of heavenly hosts the beast affrights, 
 And Boodh and Brahma yield their waning powers, 
 Prone in the dust, each smitten minion cowers, 
 Their ancient kingdoms sink in ruins dire ; 
 No more their gods shall bask amid their bowers, 
 Their prophets fall beneath Jehovah s ire, 
 All soon to be o erwhelmed beneath the lake of fire. 
 
 XCIV. 
 
 But in the center where, in battle closed, 
 
 Hell s potent hierarch arrayed in arms, 
 
 With heaven s most choicest warriors is opposed, 
 
 His mightiest powers are gathered round in swarms, 
 
 There, in the shock, as swept by myriad storms, 
 
 The mountains tremble, shakes the solid land, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 299 
 
 The heavens grow pale amidst the dread alarms, 
 Sun, moon and stars in fear expectant stand, 
 As if the end of all things earthly were at hand. 
 
 Now Satan s armies, shattered in the shock 
 Of battle, fly and leave him all alone, 
 But yet, uncowed and firmer than a rock, 
 He stands and hurls defiance at the throne, 
 And scorns to fly, though all his troops are flown. 
 The heavenly hosts divide and swift advance 
 Sheer past the spot where his dread form is shown, 
 Then close behind him quick as lightnings glance, 
 And leave him helpless quite, to mend the dread mis 
 chance. 
 
 XCVI. 
 
 And now their wide extended flanks outspread 
 In curve concentric round his routed host, 
 A flaming crescent, by the archangel led, 
 Pursues them, now with pain and terror tossed, 
 Their idle swords no more in battle crossed. 
 Chased by a mightier power than whirlwind s blast, 
 They know the day, that everything is lost, 
 So, like autumnal leaves by tempest cast 
 To th winds, they fly, in huge confusion thrown, aghast. 
 
 XCVII. 
 
 On rush the horsemen, roar the chariot wheels, 
 And rain hot thunderbolts by angels hurled 
 
300 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Upon their writhing shapes, creation feels 
 The shock. Then upward, by tornado whirled, 
 They re lifted far above th astonished world, 
 And borne in ruin dire unto the brink 
 Of that abyss of fiery billows swirled 
 By hot recoil, neath scoria black as ink, 
 Down in whose horrid deeps the foes of God must sink. 
 
 XCVIII. 
 
 Hell hath enlarged itself a hundred fold : 
 Farther than eye can reach, that sulphur sea 
 Extends its dread expanse, with smoke uprolled 
 In pitchy blackness, where eternally 
 The tempest groans, whence none can flee. 
 High flaming walls do everywhere enclose 
 This realm, and fires to all eternity 
 Shall rage unquenched : its lowest deeps disclose 
 Still lower deeps enlarged for all Jehovah s foes. 
 
 XCIX. 
 
 They halt in horror s dread recoil, at sight 
 Of that tremendous lake of flaming fire, 
 As if again they would renew the fight, 
 But charged with heaven s ten-fold avenging ire, 
 They re swept across the brink in ruin dire, 
 And down the horrid height, a deluge pours, 
 Than of Niag ra s endless cat ract higher 
 Ten thousand times ; nine frightful days it roars : 
 The shock is heard and felt on earth s remotest shores. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 3OI 
 
 C. 
 
 In huge astonishment erst Satan stood, 
 To see the ruin of his armies vast ; 
 Outstretched around him, on that field of blood, 
 Lay kings who, in his service, armies massed, 
 Great captains, too, laid low by tempest s blast ; 
 The horse and rider, bond and free, all slain 
 By heaven s devouring fires, in vengeance cast, 
 While mountain heaps of bodies choke the plain : 
 The fowls of heaven unto their supper haste amain. 
 
 Cl. 
 
 E en while the foe of God and man surveys 
 The wrack and ruin of this last great fight, 
 Lo ! in the east a wondrous cloud displays 
 The True and Faithful, on his charger white, 
 By heavenly guards attended in his might. 
 With them had he from swift pursuit withdrawn, 
 To seize this wily foe, disdaining flight, 
 When all his armies into rout had gone, 
 And bind and cast him where hell s fiery caverns yawn. 
 
 CII. 
 
 Whom Satan sees, he feels within his breast 
 Hot fires enkindling envy, wrath and hate, 
 His swelling rage by naught can be repressed, 
 The heavens grow dark with frowns infuriate, 
 His eyes flash lightnings, thunders fulminate 
 From his dark bosom, earth grows black 
 
302 BEFORE THE DA-WN. 
 
 And quakes with terror, lest her fate 
 Should be destruction, midst the threatened wrack 
 Of fight, as this great chieftain waits the dread attack. 
 
 cm. 
 
 As onward the victorious horseman rides, 
 He gathers heaven s hot lightnings in the cloud 
 On which, with sounding hoof, his charger strides, 
 Flings from his hand ten thousand thunders loud, 
 And calls his guard around, a numerous crowd : 
 Nor pauses when he nears his raging foe, 
 But hurls his sword upon his forehead proud, 
 Whose swift descent cleaves helm and buckler 
 
 through, 
 Nor stays its fall until it cleaves the fiend in two. 
 
 CIV. 
 
 Now once again with monstrous pain he quails, 
 Though quick his essence part to part returns, 
 At sight of such fierce anguish heaven e en pales ; 
 And so black hell would pale, where hottest burns 
 Its fire, if it were there, although it spurns 
 All thoughts of pity for the pangs it makes. 
 Swift flight this chieftain now no longer scorns, 
 But to his aid the wings of whirlwind takes, 
 And flies the frowning cloud, whose thunder on him 
 breaks. 
 
 CV. 
 
 Like some vast meteor, through the midnight 
 
 gloom, 
 Discharging loud explosions, jets of flame, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 303 
 
 The dragon flies, as if to scape his doom, 
 Pursued by him who bears the unknown name. 
 Nor does he seek his clamorous flight to tame, 
 
 o 
 
 Till on far Afric s sands he s brought to bay 
 By heavenly guards, uncowed by fear or shame, 
 Surrounded, yet through many a well-fought fray 
 He braves angelic arms and stems the vast array. 
 
 CVI. 
 
 Far in the desert stands a mountain high, 
 Of strongest granite built, with furrowed brow, 
 Whose hoary turrets lean against thy sky. 
 With back against that mount the fiend doth vow 
 To brave extermination, ere to bow 
 Submiss to him who bears the sword of God, 
 Not all heaven s angels shall his spirit cow, 
 Grim death alone shall make him own that nod, 
 And death can only come by the Almighty s rod. 
 
 cvn. 
 
 Now heaven s stern warriors their artillery wield 
 Against him fearless, e en upon him cast 
 The mountain tops, yet on his rocky shield 
 The avalanches thunder harmless ; last 
 They seek to overturn the mountain, blast 
 Its strong foundations, hurl it down in wreck, 
 And bury him neath rocks to hold him fast. 
 But he, perceiving what they d undertake, 
 Doth balk their counsels, all their meshes break : 
 
304 . BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CVIII. 
 
 For, as his wont was, he with rage, and hate, 
 And stark defiance, swells his monstrous form, 
 A nameless shape of cloudy wrath elate, 
 Begirts the mountain with a wreath of storm, 
 And shakes loud thunders with his great right arm. 
 Vain is the fight, till " HE WITH MANY CROWNS " 
 Rides to the front and stays the work of harm, 
 Confronts the mount, from which the tempest 
 
 frowns, 
 And sounds his signal trump, which all the thunder 
 
 drowns. 
 
 CIX. 
 
 Now from the bending sky, on sounding wing, 
 The warrior, Abdiel, stoops at his. command, 
 Ithuriel, disenchanter, following, 
 And both before the Lord obedient stand, 
 The first a chain and key holds in his hand. 
 Says Christ : " Ithuriel, take thy wondrous spear, 
 " Go touch yon monster who doth so expand 
 " His large proportions, and himself uprear 
 " So high, in his appropriate form he ll soon appear." 
 
 ex. 
 
 No sooner said than done, the frowning cloud 
 Ithuriel smites ; with quick collapse it takes 
 Its pristine form the fall n archangel, proud 
 Though shorn of glory, still with wrath he shakes, 
 And on the ear his stern defiance breaks. 
 " Go, Abdiel, bind his rebel feet and hands 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 305 
 
 " With thy great chain, for earth now groans and 
 
 quakes 
 
 " To be released from his enslaving bands ; 
 " Go shut him up in prison beneath the burning sands." 
 
 CXI. 
 
 The mighty angel grapples with the foe, 
 But short the struggle with superior might ; 
 Soon hell s archangel in the dust lies low, 
 And, held by giant hand, he yields the fight. 
 Quick bound in chains, he is prepared for flight 
 To the abyss ; fast in the whirlwind s track 
 He s borne away, far out of mortal sight, 
 And, with the rush of tempest, hurried back 
 To that grim world of death and stark destruction s 
 wrack. 
 
 CXII. 
 
 Beneath the wall that guards the burning lake, 
 On side the furthest off from earth or heaven, 
 A horrid path, two severed mountains make, 
 Through fearful gorge, by some great earthquake 
 
 . riven, 
 Leads down to that dread place, where vengeance, 
 
 driven 
 
 By dire rebellion, hath in wrath prepared 
 A prison-house, where fiends of yore have striven ; 
 Its ponderous gates have open stood, unbarred, 
 Since when the powers of hell the new creation marred. 
 
306 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 CXIII. 
 
 Unto those yawning gates is Satan borne, 
 Through them, upon a fiery*tempest, whirled 
 Into the soundless deep, forever torn 
 By wracking torments : then the gates are hurled 
 Together with a crash that shakes the world 
 Below. The ponderous key drives home the bars 
 That hold in prison him who first unfurled 
 The rebel flag, and plowed the earth with wars, 
 And scattered wounds and death o er all beneath the 
 stars. 
 
 CXIV. 
 
 Shut in his adamantine prison round, 
 With the archangel s seal upon him set, 
 No more the cheated nations shall be drowned 
 In wars ; yea, sword and spear they shall not whet, 
 And even war s dread arts they shall forget^ . 
 They shall enjoy this rest a thousand years, 
 With all that peace and plenty can beget ; 
 Exempt from war s alarms, its deaths and fears ; 
 Dried up the fount of orphans moans and widows tears. 
 
 cxv. 
 
 Hail, conquering Jesus, hail, all hail to thee ! 
 Comes on thy kingdom now with peace and joy ; 
 Earth sings thy praises over land and sea, 
 And in thy service finds her sweet employ 
 No more shall foes thy heritage destroy : 
 Now from the east the gloomy clouds are gone, 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 307 
 
 Wide for the advance the heavenly hosts deploy : 
 Lo ! through the gates, by milk-white coursers 
 
 drawn 
 The Eternal Son of God brings in the glorious dawn. 
 
 CXVI. 
 
 Ah, me ! what visions fill my raptured eyes ! 
 The Conqueror, arrayed in robes of state, 
 Outshining all the glories of the skies, 
 The rainbow on the cloud where fulminate 
 His thunders loud, his eyes, whence radiate 
 The light which pierces to creation s bounds, 
 His locks, his brow, his form, the hosts that 
 
 wait 
 
 Upon his path, the choir that him surrounds, 
 Their myriad harps : a psalm from earth to heaven 
 
 resounds. 
 
 CXVII. 
 
 BEHOLD OUR CONQUERING JESUS COMES. 
 
 Behold our conquering Jesus comes, 
 
 In triumph from the skies ; 
 Now, from our homes and temple domes, 
 
 Let our loud anthems rise. 
 
 Thou earth, lift up thy smiling face, 
 
 Ye mountains, skip like rams, 
 As bathed in glory by his grace, 
 
 Ye little hills, like lambs. 
 
308 BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Ye forests, clap your hands for joy, 
 
 Ye murmuring rivers, sing, 
 Ye oceans, all your waves employ, 
 
 To praise our glorious King. 
 
 Ye nations, hail the blessed Lord, 
 The glorious Prince of Peace ; 
 
 Beneath his reign, in sweet accord, 
 Shall wars and tumults cease. 
 
 Oh ! gracious Sovereign, hail ! all hail ! 
 
 We welcome thee to earth : 
 Thy righteous scepter shall prevail 
 
 Wherever men have birth. 
 
 We ll fill thy courts with sounding praise, 
 
 The world with holy song, 
 And heaven shall echo back our lays, 
 
 Our joyful notes prolong. 
 
 CXVIII. 
 
 He listens, smiling, to our faltering strains, 
 His scepter waves in answer to our joy, 
 His countless choirs, arrayed in glorious trains, 
 Will all their sweetest minstrelsy employ, 
 Earth to salute in notes without alloy 
 Of discord. O, what harmonies descend, 
 As rank by rank, their glittering hosts deploy, 
 And, earthward, all their shining squadrons tend, 
 While all the melodies of heaven in concert blend. 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 309 
 
 CXIX. 
 
 THE ANSWERING SONG OF THE ANGELS. 
 
 We re coming, we re coming, on pinions of love, 
 With chariots and horses, innumerable throng, 
 
 We haste with sweet rapture from regions above, 
 And we send you our greeting in heart-swelling 
 song. 
 
 We have heard of your sorrows, your fears and your 
 pains, 
 
 Your conflicts and triumphs for Jesus dear name, 
 As, in the dark valleys and drear desert plains, 
 
 You breasted the tempest of war, flood and flame. 
 
 We have stood by your sides in your weakness and 
 woe, 
 
 Invisible spirits to strengthen your souls ; 
 Now, as earthward in glorious triumph we go, 
 
 We catch your loud anthem as heavenward it rolls. 
 
 We join in your songs of Salvation to God, 
 
 To Jesus, all glorious, our own blessed King ; 
 
 With loudest hosannas we ll spread all abroad 
 His praise while creation its tribute shall bring. 
 
 CXX. 
 
 O, never was the earth so bright before, 
 Since Eden s morn, when God with men did dwell, 
 Never such music sound from shore to shore, 
 Never such raptures from men s bosoms swell ; 
 
3IO BEFORE THE DAWN. 
 
 Too deep and strong for human speech to tell, 
 The angel hosts descend on Zion s mount, 
 And mingle with the hosts of Israel, 
 In unison the praise of Christ recount, 
 And shout the song that thrilled his armies militant. 
 
 CXXI. 
 CHRIST S CORONATION HYMN. 
 
 "All hail the power of Jesus name ! 
 
 Let angels prostrate fall ; 
 Bring forth the royal diadem, 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 " Crown him, ye morning stars of light ! 
 
 He formed this floating ball ; 
 Now hail the strength of Israel s might, 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 "Ye chosen seed of Adam s race, 
 
 Ye ransomed from the fall, 
 Hail him who saves you by his grace, 
 And crown him Lord of all. 
 
 " Let every kindred, every tribe, 
 
 On this terrestrial ball, 
 To him all majesty ascribe, 
 And crown him Lord of all." 
 
BEFORE THE DAWN. 311 
 
 CXXII. 
 
 The hymn is hushed yet one more swelling wave 
 
 Of song rolls up from those attendant throngs, 
 
 So loud, its liquid measures even lave 
 
 The throne of God the grandest of all songs, 
 
 Its theme alike, to heaven and earth belongs 
 
 It fired the souls of heroes for emprise, 
 
 And heavenward raised their thoughts ; and e en 
 
 the tongues 
 
 Of angels chant its measures in the skies ; 
 Like ocean s, and the thunder s voice, its clamors rise. 
 
 CXXIII. 
 
 " Praise God, from whom all blessings flow ; 
 Praise him, all creatures here below ; 
 Praise him above, ye heavenly host ; 
 Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Of 
 
 U5I7BRSITT 
 
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY