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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
He spoke of war and murder , curse and crime , Of heathen rite , and burning * sacrifice ; And then his dark idolatry he made A fit excuse for all his foul misdeeds , And , like the bigots of a nearer clime , All those who differed doom'd to agony ; Inflicted what he could ; and when no more He had the power to make them suffer here , Liv'd in the hope of their eternal pangs—But , as he pass'd beneath the stately arch , His speech was stopp ed , his white and restless lips Suddenly elos'd , leaving" a lie half told :
We enter'd silently and stood within . Thousands on thousands , in a circle vast , Of every tongue , and tribe , and station , there Mingled in mighty union—all arrayed In the extremes ! pomp of their degree : — Kings , in their coronation robes of state ;—Warriors , all armed as if for deadly fight ; Courtiers , in all their pride , and priests in theirs ;—And yet no sign was there of kingly rite , Nor battle fierce , nor courtly pageant gay , Nor that miscalled religious pomp which makes The worship of the ever-blessed God Naught but a sensual , soulless offering ! Each seemed unconscious of the other ' s being * . There was a Turk , who by a Christian sat
( A Christian /—such are called so oftentime ) They both were men whose eyes , if bent on each , Would have flashed daggers of the deadliest hate , But like the rest of that mass'd multitude , They spoke not—stirr'd not : — Silence cast her spell In such complete perfection o ' er the whole , That , with clos'd lids , you might have deem'd the place A vast untrodden desert in a calm . Lifted the curtains of the precious sense , And looked upon that mighty moveless mass , You would have thought them senseless , lifeless all , But for the fixed intent in every eye ; And there her seat of empire life had made , And in such bright , consummate glory shone ,
As if she had deserted for a while Each other sense , to reign triumphant there . The gaze of all was fastened to one point , — What seem'd a cloud—a small dense purple cloud—And rose above the centre of the throng ; Anon it brighter grew , and then it glow'd With ever-changing colours : —all sat by In rapt expectancy , —when suddenly A ray of heavenly light swift darted down , And , like a golden wand , it touch'd the cloud , Which , parting instantly , display ed to view
Untitled Article
258 b A Dream .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1832, page 258, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1810/page/42/
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