Poems (Hoffman)/Without

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

WITHOUT
(Rev. 22:15.)

When the King hath returned to His City of Light,
 And gathered His glorified in
From the shadow of death, from the darkness of night,
 From the blight and contagion of sin;
God's glory shall light up the shining pearl gates,
 Girt with precious jewels about,
But what in the dread outer-darkness awaits
 For the lost wicked nations without?

Oh, rayless shall be the dark maze where they grope,
 Who learn at a terrible cost,
No beacon of morn, and no day-star of hope
 Shall cheer the lone land of the lost!
Glad anthems shall rise from the myriads within,
 'Till the echoes with rapture shall shout;
But sorrow unending shall swiftly begin
 To the dwellers of darkness without.

They were bought with a price, by the King on His throne,
 They were purchased from bondage and sin,
Redeemed to be prophets and priests of His own
 And shine in His temple within;
But they trailed their white robes in the low dust of time,
 They groveled in error and doubt;
They stained their pure hands in the black pools of crime,
 They are dwellers in darkness without.

Through the cities of earth, they have passed in their pride,
 They have scattered their harvest abroad;
But they find only those of the Lamb's spotless bride
 Can enter the city of God.
The pure and the upright, alone shall go in
 To that realm, girt with glory about;
The kingdoms of crime and the nations of sin
 Are lost in the darkness without.

O City of Cities! thy bright natal star
 Shines o'er, where thy strong walls are built,
Through thy gates shall not enter, thy brightness to mar,
 One shadow of darkness or guilt.
The kings of the earth bring their honor to thee,
 Their glory is lost in thine own;
Forever and ever thy Kingdom shall be
 Immortal as He on thy throne.