2 Leave beauty, strength, and wisdom, too, All won in hard employment,— All I have learnt, and all I’ve loved, And all this world’s enjoyment. 3 Can I evade the stroke of Death That rends all ties asunder? Do not his awful shambles gape For me to be his plunder? 4 Ye gilded men would fain enjoy The wealth your souls engrossing, But ye must bow to him and go The journey of his choosing. 5 Ye favored fair, whose lightest word Has caused ten thousand errors, Think not your garish, tinselled charms Can blind the King of Terrors. 6 Ye who rejoice in heedless youth And follow fleeting pleasures, Know that ye cannot conquer Death By valor, arts, or treasures. 7 Ye who exult in madding song The giddy dances treading, Think not that all the mirth of France Can thwart the fate you’re dreading. 8 Ye who have roamed the wide world o’er, Where have ye found the tower, With walls and portals strong enough To check Death’s awful power? 9 Statesmen and learned sages, all Of godlike understanding, What will your craft and skill avail? ’Tis Death who is commanding. 10 The greatest foes of man are now The world, the flesh, the devil; And yet, ere long, we’ll surely find In Death a greater evil. 11 How little now it seems to die— To gain the suit or lose it? But when the doom is of thyself How great thy care to chose it? 12 We care, at present, not a jot Which way our gains may turn us; Eternal life, howe’er so great, We think can not concern us. 13 But when thou’rt hedged on every side And Death himself is nearest, For one brief, ling’ring space we’ll give Whate’er to us is dearest. 14 Think not that thou canst make thy terms For thine eternal dwelling, On either side of that dread gulf, With death thy steps compelling. 15 Repentence, faith, and righteousness, Alone are thy Salvation, And in the agony of Death Shall be thy consolation. 16 And when the world is passing by, Its joys and pleasures ending, Infinite thou wilt deem their worth When to the bourne descending! III.—THE VISION OF HELL.