Isaac Watts(1674–1748)
The Day of judgment
An Ode Attemptedin English Sapphic1
When the fierce north wind with his airy forces,
Rears up the Baltic to a f o a m i n g fury,
And the red lightning with a storm of hail c o m e s
R u s h i n g a m a i n 0 down,violently
H o w the poor sailors stand a m a z e d and tremble,
While the hoarse thunder, like a bloody trumpet,
Roars a loud onset 0 to the gaping waters,assault
Quick to devour them!
Such shall the noise be and the wild disorder,
(If things eternal may be like these earthly)
Such the dire terror, when the great Archangel
Shakes the creation,
Tears the strong pillars of the vault of heaven,
Breaks up old marble, the repose of princes;
See the graves open, and the bones arising,
Flames all around 'em!
Hark, the shrill outcries of the guilty wretches!
Lively bright horror and amazing anguish
Stare through their eyelids, while the living worm lies2
Gnawing within them.
Thoughts like old vultures prey upon their heart-strings,
And the smart 0 twinges, 0 when the eye beholds thesharp /pains
Lofty Judge frowning, and a flood of vengeance
Rolling afore him.
Hopeless immortals! how they scream and shiver,
While devils push them to the pit wide-yawning
Hideous and gloomy, to receive them headlong
Down to the center.3
Stop here, my fancy: (all away ye horrid
Doleful 0 ideas); come, arise to Jesus;gloomy
How He sits God-like! and the saints around him
Throned, yet adoring!
Oh may I sit there when he comes triumphant
Dooming the nations! then ascend to glory
While our hosannas4 all along the passage
Shout the Redeemer.