LEGENDARY AND POETICAL.
DIES IRÆ.
The day of wrath, that dreadful day
Shall the whole world in ashes lay,
As David and Sybils say.
What horror will invade the mind,
When the strict Judge, who would be kind,
Shall have few venial faults to find!
The last loud trumpet's wondrous sound
Must thro' the rending tombs rebound,
And wake the nations underground.
Nature and death shall with surprise
Behold the pale offender rise,
And view the Judge with conscious eyes.
Then shall with universal dread,
The sacred mystic book be read,
To try the living and the dead.
The Judge ascends His awful throne,
He makes each secret sin be known,
And all with shame confess their own.
O then! what int'rest shall I make,
To save my last important stake,
When the most just have cause to quake!
Thou mighty formidable King!
Thou mercy's unexhausted spring!
Some comfortable pity bring.
Forget not what my ransom cost,
Nor let my dear-bought soul be lost,
In storms of guilty terror tost.