Peregrinus in his childhood. A poem

Preface

The design of this Poem is to lead people to reflect on the nature of the doctrines in which they have been educated and carefully trained ; with gentleness to allure them to the habit of making use of their reason, while they scrutinize ^the Holy Scriptures, for the purpose of ascertaining the truth.

Peregrinus, the young hero of the poem, is a real person, under a fictitious name. The author was sufficiently acquainted with him to be qualified to affirm, that in reality he devoted his incipient meditations to the subject of theology long before the time of life in which, according to the usual course of affairs, children are in the habit of beginning to reflect either on this topic or upon others of serious importance. No poem has ever been written whose scenes consist of realities like the following. It is not only founded on fact, as 4, ^

6 PREFACE.

are many others, but all the materials of the superstructure have been furnished from real events.

If some readers should not recognize certain doctrines in their portraits as delineated here, we have only to remark that all these doctrines appear on the stage in such peculiar garb as they were accustomed to wear in the beginning of the nineteenth century, as well as in the latter end of the preceding. None of the lectures which were received by Peregrinus in common with the family have been suffered to make their appearance in the song. All that are paraphrased here will be found to be such as were elicited in private, by those inquiries which intolerable anxiety compelled him to make, and which were addressed to his maternal guide, in whose knowledge of sacred truth he for a long time possessed unlimited confidence.

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PEREGRINUS.

FIRST BOOK.

Of Peregrinus, in his early voyage, And perilous adventures, on the deep Of Intellect, incited and impelled By fervent, irrepressible desires To see his life-creating Father, God ; — To feel and know his all-pervading Love, Unquenchable, immortal ; and inhale Its pure, ethereal spirit ; then to quaff The nectar which it copiously distils. And taste the ambrosial viands of the feast, — We sing, in humble, truth-directed style. As unpretending as our lowly theme.

Mnemosyne ! thou muse of time elapsed, Whose province is in memory to revive The scenes and requiems of departed years, — Thou real mother of historic verse. Of epic song, and biographic lays, — Hear thy sole devotee, who thus applies To thee ; — who claims thee for his only guide.

PEREGRINUS.

Not her, the mother of the fabled Nine, By Roman and by Grecian bards invoked, •-?

From ancient dark mythology we call ; — Those fancied prompters of romantic songs, Fictitious records and unreal scenes.

Unsullied whisperer of poetic truth ! Thy harp, though long untuned, resuming now, Sing his encounters with the dreadful powers Of false theology, traditions vain. Presuming ignorance, unhallowed guile, Black superstition, and dogmatic rage. Sing how, with feeble arms, the child engaged, Full oft, in battle with their frantic bands. At seasons routing them, before the day When his decisive victory was obtained O'er all the princes of infernal night : — How these, excited into maddening rage. Once drove his bark into the horrid gulf Of desperation, where no struggling rays Of gospel light could penetrate the gloom.

Thee having chosen as our only muse. We still invoke thee : — from thy sacred bowers, Descend, with nature's loveliness arrayed. To favor these unparalleled designs. Through these narrations all thy spirit breathe, And thus imbue them with unfaiUng charms, To subjugate to love's immortal power

INVOCATION.

Unnumbered youths ; then lead them to the source Of life's pure river, issuing from the mount Of Zion, and the city of our God.

Fling open those oxygenated doors — Though barred and bolted — of thy place obscure ; And from thy secret chambers now descending, Memoirs within thy mystic shrine preserved Develop ; as related once before, By Peregrinus, at the warm request Of one of that alluring, gentle sex, By which our own is polished and refined. Presented him with such a fervent zeal, As he could neither parry nor decline. A fair one of intelligence and grace, Whose taste and genius, fiative and improved, Encountered few superiors. She displayed, In words, in gestures, in her anxious mien. The liveliest, keenest sympathy with him. In all his trials, sorrows, comforts, joys. Of dawning life ; and her acute desires To learn the graduations of his course. And how the haven of delight he gained, — The port of life and evangelic truth ; The wonders of his variegated voyage.

We call for inspiration to a theme Unknown to poets in the days of yore, Or to the moderns following in the rear,

Along the footpaths of the classic throng ; Till these, high soaring in aerial flights, Evade their pupils, and affect the skies.

We call for inspiration to disclose The dismal, black, and horrible effects, On young and unsophisticated minds. Of that strange mode of training, long pursued By parents, deacons, ministers, and schools, To fit these objects of their pious care For some high standing in the Christian church.

"We seek to lead our brethren to reflect On all the vain traditions, theories, creeds. Long on the consciences of men imposed, — First by the dogmatizing church of Rome, — As chains infrangible, as fetters strong. From which the wearers cannot be released, But on the peril of eternal death. To bid them learn the character of God, In nature and in Scripture, for themselves ; To know their own importance, and be free, As men accountable to God alone For their opinions, doctrines, or belief.

Muse, who delightest in the sacred fount Of memory, hovering o'er the mystic grove Which shades the elysium of departed years, We call thee to commemorate the scenes Of early childhood, hitherto consigned childhood's experience. 11

To dark oblivion, there to lie unsung ;

As if that age, so delicate and pure.

Through which truth flutters in romantic garb,

Were deemed unworthy of the poet's lyre.

This infant's strange experience revive ;

Display his opening powers, too soon immerged

In deep anxiety, corroding cares,

O'erwhelming sorrows, anguish and dismay.

Which from erroneous education flowed.

Sing his inquiries after truth divine ; —

The fervent aspirations of his soul

To know the love and equity of God,

The immortal Sire, with all his vast designs,

By wisdom marshalled ; then surveying these,

Behold a joyful destiny for all

His fellow-creatures in their future life.

His deep investigation and research.

To find immortal love ; in which he plied

All instruments and mediums offered then

To his excited mind ; his deep reflections,

In solitary places, to replies

Of his intelligent and pious guide

To many a query, many a time proposed —

The guide and teacher of his infant mind.

To whom, with confidence, he raised his eye.

For clear solutions of unnumbered themes,

Exciting grief and agonizing fears.

Begin, Mnemosyne, these humble strains,

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With thoughts and meditations of the soul, As yet unsuUied with delusive creeds ; Unaided with instructions, and unwarped By false tradition's influence malign, Which give too soon a bias to the thoughts ; A griping prejudice, which all the powers Of opening reason seldom overcome. Or force the giant from his murdering grasp.

But, muse, forbid thine audience to demand Who Peregrinus was, or whence he came ; Or, if among the living he remain, What land he traverses, or where abides. Tell them, it may suffice for them to know, That Peregrinus is misfortune's child ; — That he was early chief adopted son Of grief and pain, calamities and woe. But tell them, if they further importune. That Peregrine, ere flung upon the shore On which Amanda's warm inquiries called These secrets from their hiding-place obscure, Had long (to speak as heathen poets sing) Been made the sport of fortune's blind caprice, While navigating life's tempestuous seas. Full many a season, her most brilliant offers. Like vain illusions, like the tints of rainbows. Had disappeared, — all vanishing in smoke, Impervious vapors, and heart-chilling mist, And sequent darkness buried all in night.

eg,

HIS TRIALS. 13

But, long before this pleasing interview Removed the covering from his infant trials, Her golden wings expanding, she had flitted To regions far away, — no more, forever, To glide before him with fantastic motions. Her glittering treasures proffering ; — to deceive him With hopes of being to mankind a blessing ; — His chief desire, — the goal of his ambition.

As sage Ulysses, by whose secret wiles Old Ilium was perverted ; and that hero, Claimed as the great progenitor of Caesar, Who lost his wife, Creusa, while he bore His sire, Anchises, from the burning city ; Both wandered long, by foaming billows tossed From sea to sea ; by tempests often hurled On barbarous and inhospitable shores : — So had our Peregrinus, from his youth, Been oft encountered by the furious storms Of dire calamities, austere and rude, Driven from his destined way to climes remote, Impelled on desolate and dreary coasts. Inhospitably wild, obscure and bleak.

He, too, by malady's pestiferous gales. Had oft been flung on Hades' gloomy verge, — Torpidity's dark realm, — to linger there. While month and years, in dull succession, rolled On tardy wheels, — the planetary spheres.

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Then were imagination's glowing fires Extinguished, smothered, as by Stygian damps, Or Lethe's exhalations ; while the powers — Those intellectual faculties of mind, By nature given — appeared inert and dead, By epilepsies paralyzed and slain.

With swelling canvass oft his little bark, Impelled by charming breezes, had approached The long-sought haven where his wishes centred ; Whence he, with pleasure, might ascend the mount, The glorious mount of shedding general blessings On this world's citizens, our fellow-men. But when the imaginary promised land Arose in prospect to his ravished eyes, Then sudden, adverse, unexpected storms, With onset terrible, his bark impelled Far off from his anticipated goal. And buried all his prospects in the deep.

Thus far, to satisfy the curious, give Brief outlines of the fortunes of his life, From youth's fair morning, till his cherished hopes Completely vanished, like the morning dews ; And these sole expectations now remained, — To glide along unnoticed and unknown, To make life's final exit unobserved ; And mingle, in oblivion, with the dust, Without a speaking marble o'er his bed, To show that Peregrinus ever lived.

AMANDA. 15

But, while deep plunging in oblivion's gulf, Then his Almighty Father interposed. Uplifted him ; and, through untrodden paths, Led him into the ministry of peace ; That ministry, to which, in early days. He felt himself to be divinely called.

Next, in the name of his Pacific Prince, — That all-subduing name, — he levied war Against old Bigotry, infernal Queen ; And cruel Superstition, where she sits In her enchanted castle, seeming strong. By means of smoke and vapors hovering there, All which observers, viewing from abroad, Or from the windows of her gloomy cells, Deem towers impregnable, and solid walls Of well cemented adamantine rock.

In this high warfare being thus engaged. Our soldier's steps by Providence were led To fair Amanda's hospitable dome, Whose irresistible solicitations Drew, from the secret treasures of his breast. The first narration of these early scenes.

From Rumor's whispers having first received Brief intimations that his dawning life Was signalized by some peculiar traits Of thought and character, in which he stood

In obvious clear distinction from all others Of life's young actors in her opening scenes. She, therefore, with anxiety, demanded Of him the narrative which now we sing.

To her interrogations he replied : — Why will Amanda urge me to reveal Those painful struggles of the tender heart Of infancy, which still, in age mature, Recalled by memory's realizing power. Bid grief, in torrents, down my cheeks to flow ?

Though from these apparitions I recoil, And shudder as the gloomy phantoms rise. Still often does the morning of my life (The incipient dawn of intellectual powers) Revisit now my bosom ; and recall These variegated scenes of childhood's prime.

Then, by young curiosity impelled, I looked around this habitable globe, Beyond what visual faculties could reach, 52Lr as imagination could expand, Or new-developed mental vision seize On various objects painted on the brain. By means of auditory nerves alone. So far I carefully examined all. To learn their nature, ascertain their use. And know the secret workings of their cause ; While aspirations after knowledge high Were never, then, by narrow confines pent, Nor was imagination's glowing fire

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THE CREATOR. 17

Stayed by contracted limits ; far abroad

They both extended with elastic force,

Which optic vision reached, or which report,

Through various channels, wafted to ray hearing ; —

To Rumor's objects, and to those of sight.

The muse innate, coeval with the mind, —

A native romance, planted in the breast

By Heaven's creative hand, — gave higher charms.

And colorings of her own ; and interwove

The scenes of nature, and the scenes of art,

And ever she displayed fair Nature's forms

In all their beauties and inherent graces,

Their genuine, their poetic loveliness ;

Not blemished, tarnished, sullied and obscured,

As in the chilling air of gloomy prose.

Then were the mental energies aroused,

Before quiescent ; and the faculties.

Which dormant in the little bosom lay.

Excited into motion. I demanded.

In secret meditations, of my spirit.

Concerning my own being, and the means

By which I was injected into life.

Who turned these members 1 From what hidden power

Have I received intelligence 1 Who gave me

This high capacity which I possess

For intellectual pleasures 1 Still I seek

The Mystic Author of ray life, inquiring 4 _ _ — ♦

For him that gave me being ; gazing round On every quarter. — How I long to see him ! Though still the Great, the Wonderful Prime

Cause Of being, the Creator of the world, Remains invisible in all my searches, He may be found ; — of this I feel assured. Perhaps he dwells beyond the rising sun : In oriental realms ; perhaps resides Beyond the blue horizon, where he sets, When he, retiring, leaves a darkened world ; Or, far above the height, which he ascends, To scorch us with his full meridian blaze.

I 'm confident that my Creator lives ; And lives in high sublimity. Of this My person is a demonstration clear, A proof divine which nothing can refute.

Alas ! where is he 1 Should he not pervade The whole creation, which is all his own, Surveying still the building which he formed ? Should he not carefully observe the ways Of all the tenants which he placed within ? Perhaps the reason that I see him not Is, that his person is supremely fine ; Preeminently purer than the wind. Through which I view the sky's expansive arch, All spangled over with unnumbered stars.

If, in reality, this be the cause Why we cannot perceive him, he may still

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THE CREATOR. 19

Be all around us, like the vital air Which we forever use, but never see.

We feel the wind, we know his mighty power, What time he lashes ocean into foam. Then roars and bellows over all the land ; Makes lofty mountains tremble at his rage, Breaks, with tremendous crashing, solid trees, And dashes them with fury to the ground. We never see him when he madly roars ; We never see him in his gentler mood, While breathing, whispering, whistling through the grove.

And does not reason teach our Maker's life Is far superior to the life of man ? Is not the vital principle retained Within him, as essentially his own, Superior to the life which he bestows'?

Within his own serenity withdrawn, By infinite degrees, I fear he dwells Beyond the comprehension of mankind. Alas ! I fear that I shall ne'er behold The giver of my life — the Great Supreme. Shall never be so purified — refined — That I can know him. Can I be content While ignorant of him 1 I never can ; Without his knowledge I shall be unblest.

Thus, oft, within a solitary grove, I, musing, sat ; or wandered to and fro

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20 PEREGRINTJS.

Among- the trees ; while on the flowery verge That passes for the separating line Of infancy and childhood ; (not, indeed, As our narration has their limits drawn ; But as the periods by maternal lips Are commonly divided ;) in the garb Of infancy arrayed, still pondering o'er The variegated scenes and numerous objects That passed before me ; or, concerning which, From conversation, while those aged sires, Who passed their evenings oft in our abode, — And aged matrons with my parents talked, I heard incomprehensible reports.

I mused in secret, till the swelling heart, With deep solicitude, with anxious cares. And troubled thoughts, long smothered in the breast, Seemed now, within it, ready to explode ; While queries, uttered in the passing breeze, Found no solutions. Then I dared to seek That information from my teacher's lips So long desired in vain ; and then revealed, With caution, these emotions of the soul, — Emotions long by diffidence concealed.

Then first did our maternal guide perceive The fervent aspirations of her child ; — His aspirations after sacred knowledge. Creation's general science ; first discerned His anxious, his supreme desire to know All Nature's Great Invisible Prime Cause, —

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HIS mother's teachings. 21

Her Author, her Controller, and her Guide ; His moral character, if yet discovered ; And, if revealed, how this will be developed, In his complete economy with man. From time's beginning to its termination. And in the future never ending ages.

His teacher was all gentleness and love ; His kind, indulgent mother ; and, full oft. She, through maternal deep affection, mixed Caresses with her teaching ; while her eyes, Her visage, and her gestures, all displayed The emotions of a parent's throbbing heart, — A heart imbued with delicate sensations. By charming Nature, when her plastic fingers Arranged its fibres and supplied its nerves, Which issued first from her creative hand ; Replete with goodness, kindness, truth and love, Benevolence, and every social virtue.

Although so delicate, and so refined. The soul of our instructress, — yet, alas ! She never understood the glorious truths Concerning Love Immense — the Love Divine, Which pure and holy through the Scripture flows, Iq rivers of salvation ; never saw The Tree of Life, which, in that paradise, Abounds with perfumes of immortal power, Replenishing its atmosphere with bliss, Inviting all mankind to eat and live.

Taught in the partial system, she supposed That Sin and Death eternally would reign, Soiling and blotting our Creator's work. She never learned that Jesus was commissioned To save and rescue men from every foe ; To cleanse them all from sinfulness and flesh ; Create, in every one, a spirit pure ; And thus, collecting all into himself. At length instal them as the sons of God.

Not dreaming of the universal power Of Goodness Infinite, and Love Immense, She still imparted, with maternal care, Those human doctrines which she had imbibed In childhood ; which she verily believed To be the systems of immortal truth. She, too, most indefatigably strove To lead her children all in pious ways ; And holy principles she ever taught. As far as she had knowledge : yet, alas ! She deviated from the holy books. Still teaching those traditionary schemes, And all those dogmas, horrible and strange, Wherein she had herself, in early days, By parents kind, been educated well ; — By parents holy, " Orthodox," and good.

Alas ! the bitter and unwholesome fruit, By sad experience we have fully proved, Of these instructions venomous and crude.

HIS MEDITATIONS. 23

Which, though transmitted from maternal lips, O'erwhelmed us with the blackness of despair And misery ; being horribly surcharged With all the deadly poison which proceeds From bigotry and superstition blind ; Those clerical traditions, long imposed On churches, by their proud, ambitious priests, As equal to the oracles of God.

While standing in the vestibule of life, (Still in the garb of infancy arrayed, As in maternal dialect expressed,) The station of gay pleasures, airy joys, — The glee, the shout, the prattle, and the laugh. Replete with frolic, with unmeaning sports, — With songs, with pictures, and with flowery scenes, Which charm its occupiers, — deeper thoughts And meditations oft employed the mind Of this young object of our humble theme, For whose adventures, lady, you have called. Even there his intellectual powers awoke To vast exertions, — labors seldom tried By men of faculties and years mature. For, thence his mental energies essayed To flit around this habitable globe. To hover round the scenes of human life, And thence imbibe instructions. He observed, Among earth's varied animated forms. Myriads of individuals like himself

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In their specific shapes ; though differing much

In age, size, texture, qualities and mould : —

Myriads of beings of the human race,

Who till the ground, who navigate the seas,

Who ply commercial, or mechanic arts.

In towns or cities ; — who devote their time,

To medicine, theology, the laws.

Or legislation ; similar, perhaps.

In passions ; varying only in degrees ; —

They being in their temperament unlike.

And in their general training ; — fashioned oft

By circumstances, — the strong influence

Of people round them, and the general aspect

Viewed in their country ; — these asunder lead

Into diverging courses, and create

A strange diversity of human kind.

Nor solely Man attracted his survey. Nor did he reason of our race alone ; But all inferior animals observed. And marked those evidences of design. Of knowledge, wisdom, and creative skill, Which stand, with shining characters, displayed In all their members, and in all their forms ; With those abounding and appropriate means, Provided for the sustenance of all. On earth, or in the seas ; while every sort Is nicely fitted to its mode of life.

Nor did he overlook, in this survey.

THE OCEAN. 25

That many a species in the brutal world Is made subservient to the use of man ; Who, by his nobler intellectual powers, Protects the feeble, and subdues the strong. With admiration, day and night, he viewed,. The heavens' expanded canopy above ; — Replete with glorious systems ! he observed The variegated landscape here below ; — Earth's charming surface, with her numerous hills, Whence living waters flow ; her fertile vales ; Her shady forests ; her extensive plains ; Her mountains proud, which lift their heads on high, And look serenely over all the clouds ; Her streams, her rivers, and her flowing seas, Now decked with beauty, — now in terrors clad. And threatening wild destruction. These he viewed As ornaments and glories of the world.

Next, in imagination, he surveyed The realms of Ocean, — his unfathomed depths Of waters, — fruitful of unnumbered tribes Of finny creatures ; where the ponderous whale Rides, in majestic glory, through the waves, And high above their ridges spouts the brine. There fierce Leviathan, old ocean's king. With length enormous stretches o'er the deep. Or lifts above its surface numerous curves, By mariners afar through glasses viewed. As towering arcs of Neptune's rapid wheels, That waft his flying chariot through the flood.

With admiration and sublime delight, He saw the lightning flashing from the clouds ; Heard, while tremendous thunders, growling, rolled. And, with harsh bellowings, shook the solid ground.

These wondrous objects having thus observed, With vast astonishment, our infant's lips Asked, Who created these? And then was told That God created everything that is ; — He gave existence to the worlds above ; Heaven, earth, and ocean, too, with all their tribes, Confess themselves this high Creator's work ; — All nature sprang from his prolific will ; All beings, too, were fashioned by his hand. He reared the mountains, and he sank the vales, Scooped out the vast receptacles of seas, And poured the rivers from prolific urns ; With briny waters filled the ocean's bed, Then peopled all with every finny tribe : The quadruped, the reptile, fish, and bird, Alike by his volition were produced.

But Man, the chief production of his power, Made in the image of Almighty God, Although created last of all his works. By him, was constituted lord of all.

His curiosity, by such replies Excited higher, more intensely glowed ; Hence, quickly, to his kind informer, next

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god's existence. 27

He, with a palpitating heart, inquired : But who is God, — this Maker, — this Creator 1 How long has he been living 1 — Where was he, And where his dwelling, when there was no heaven For him to occupy 1 What shining world Contains him now? — and who created him?

His kind instructress mildly thus replied, (While piety and reverential awe Were in her tones and countenance displayed. As, with enunciation clear, she strove To solve her infant's queries, and inspire His mind with reverence for the Great Supreme.)

God never was created, dearest child ! His essence and his life had no beginning. He always had existence ; and his power And love were always infinite as now. His justice was eternally the same, — His wisdom, knowledge, and unfailing truth, With all perfections, holy and divine.

Such the Creator of this earth and heaven, Life's author, both for animals and men ; For angels holy, and for seraphs pure.

He is essential intellect immense, — Is pure essential spirit ; — and he lives Forever, independent and alone.

Jehovah's life is one eternal day ; A day not ushered in by rising morn, Nor destined to behold declining eve,

As indicating an approaching night. He, to this day, the never failing sun, With light serene and uncreated, fills Eternity's illimitable orb.

Orb of eternity ! — how mortals pant. Heave, toil, and struggle, thee to comprehend ! Then pausing, with amazement overwhelmed, They see their noblest aspirations foiled.

Although Jehovah's day is truly one Which cannot be divided into parts. Yet, seen as intersected by the line, Stamped by the wheel of intervening time, And through fallacious mediums viewed, it seems Two hemispheres immense, whose arcs combined, With sweep eternal, comprehend the whole ; — Uniting with the past, which ne'er began. Duration future, which will never end : From this bisection, — all an idle dream, — Of two eternities our doctors speak. One terming future, and the other past.

But, did you ask me where Jehovah dwelt Before the heavens and earth, at his volition, Sprang into being ? — or, what brilliant orb Of glory now contains him 1 — Where he dwells, Far off, invisible to mortal eyes. That you, while seeking him, can never find him ? - My dear, before the birth-day of creation, Our God, within his own essential spirit eft.- god's dwelling. 29

Existing, filled immeasurable space,

Forever, with interminable mind.

Which all duration, as all space, pervades,

And in mysterious harmony unites

The present future with the present past ; —

For past and future in his presence stand

Like that which mortals style "The Present Hour."

Our theologic teachers, while they know This doctrine, as a philosophic truth ; And while they, to the knowing and the wise, Declare that God's ubiquity is true — Is taught in Holy Scripture ; — still they speak, In humble style, to men of vulgar minds ; And, therefore, as they would accommodate Their feeble, narrow comprehension, say : God dwells in heaven, that glorious, bright abode, Unpierced by keen imagination ; — • there He fills and occupies a shining throne. Whose glory dazzles all the piercing eyes Of flaming seraphim ; who, therefore, veil Their faces, bowing in prostration low. With raptures beatific and sublime. They say : Heaven is Jehovah's high abode. This earth is but his footstool.

Yet, though heaven — World of bright glories, and of joys untold — Is said to be the dwelling of our God, The realm of angels and collected saints ;

Where seraphs, gliding on their wings of flame,

Are chanting anthems to the immortal King ;

Regions of pure beatitude, unseen

By mortals grovelling in this shadowy vale ; —

Pacific land, for which apostles sighed.

Where bliss, her dove-like wings expanding, sheds

Felicities on all ; serene delights,

And life-exhilarating joys : — though heaven,

Where God Almighty's presence is displayed,

In special glories, and effulgence pure.

Is said to be his dwelling, you must know

His essence has no bound, — is not confined

By any limit, nor to any space.

He is a Being whom the heaven of heavens

Contains not, neither circumscribes. He fills

Unbounded space ; and all the realms unknown

Of vast immensity are full of God.

His title, God Almighty, well expresses. To those who comprehend its definition. His goodness and illimitable power. His name, Jehovah, — his most holy name. Expresses an eternity of Being, Without a passing shadow of a change.

He, being Author of the human race, In the beginning was the Sire of all. His grace is infinite ; — he will continue, Forever, father to the wise and good. Unchangeable in his eternal love. These will he bless ; — will succor, will defend them

*- god's rebellious children. 31

Against those evils which will overwhelm, In future life, the souls of wicked men.