SELECT POETRY. THE DOOMED MAN.'

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 226, 30 May 1872, Page 9

SELECT POETRY. THE DOOMED MAN.'

There is a time, we know not when, A point we know not where, That marks the destiny of men, To glory or despair. There is a line by us unseen That crosses every path— The hidden boundary between God's patience and his wrath. To pass that limit is to die, To die as if by stealth- 1 It does not quench the beaming eye, Or pale the glow of health. The conscience may be still at ease, The spirit light and gay ; That which is pleasing still may please, And care be thrust away. But on the forehead God has set Indelibly a mark — Unseen by man, for man as yet Is blind and in the dark. And yet the doomed man's path below Like Eden may have bloomed — He did not, does not, will not know Or feel that he is doomed. He knows, he feels that all is well, And every fear is calmed ; He lives, he dies, he wakes in hell, Not only doomed but damned. O ! where is this mysterious bourne, . By which our path is nrossed, Beyond which, God Himself hath sworn, That he who goes is lost ? How far may we go on in sin ? How long will God forbear ? "Where does hope end, and where begin The confines of despair ? An answer from the skies is sent : " Ye that from God depart, While it is called to-day repent, And harden not your heart." —Rev. J. A. Alexander, D.D.