COME near, ye nations! and give ear, O earth!
Ye distant isles, and continents remote,
Where-e'er dispers'd beneath the vast expanse
Of heav'n's high roof, attend! Attend, and hear
Your doom tremendous ratify'd above,
Sad retribution of enormous guilt,
Which calling loud for justice and revenge,
Flew swift as light up to the throne of God,
And pull'd down dire destruction on the earth.
The mighty God, with all his thunder arm'd,
Will cast abroad the terrors of his wrath;
And show'r down vengeance on the guilty land.
The Lord of hosts amidst a night of clouds,
And with the majesty of darkness crown'd,
Thunder'd aloft; and from the inmost heav'n
Hurl'd down impetuous fury swift as thought
Through th' azure void, wide-stretch'd from pole to pole,
To ravage all the boundless universe.
As when a blust'ring wind rolls from the north,
And shakes all autumn with the driving blast;
So shall the fury of th' Omnipotent
Destroy the nations, and confound their arms,
Swords, shields, and spears, and all the pow'rs of war;
With eager speed rush o'er th' embattled ranks,
And thro' the thick battalions urge its way.
JEHOVAH'S arm will shake the vast convex,
And wrap the whole circumference around
In wasting desolation, ruin wide.
Destructive slaughter, ghastly to behold,
Dire specimen of wrath omnipotent,
Shall march tremendous o'er the burden'd earth,
Oppress'd, and conscious of unusual weight,
Shrinking beneath the heavy load of death.
The purple piles, and mountains of the slain,
Expiring wretches, pouring out their souls
With bursts of groans, shall fill the lab'ring world.
Each slaughter'd corps shall breath a pestilence;
And wide around diffuse the scents of death.
Th' eternal hills shall float in seas of blood;
And mountains vanish in the crimson tide.
Nature's huge volume shall be folded up
Like a vast scroll; and all the glittering orbs
Drop from the heavens like autumnal leaves,
Or the ripe fig, when sultry  reigns;
While peals of thunder rattling in the skies,
Shall roll incessant o'er th' astonish'd world.
Death and destruction threat'ning all below,
And in substantial darkness high enthron'd,
Shall draw the curtains of eternal night,
And spread confusion hideous o'er the earth,
As when the embryo world ere time began,
In one rude heap, one undigested mass
Of jarring discord, and disorder lay.
The sun, amaz'd to see the wild obscure,
No more with radiant light shall gild the skies;
No more diffusing his all genial beams
On the high mountains spread the shining morn;
But downwards flaming thro' the vast immense,
Shall hide his glory in eternal night,
Thus in loud thunder speaks th' Almighty Sire —
In copious slaughter will I take my sword,
And,  thou shalt swim in blood.
The Lord shall hasten from the lofty skies;
Destruction on his aweful footsteps waits;
Death stalks before, ruin on every side
Proclaims the terror of an angry God.
The ravenous sword, pamper'd with reeking gore,
Drunk with the blood of half the rebel world,
Shall there be sheath'd in  stubborn foes.