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Written February 9, 1875
Published in the Signs of the Times,
August 1, 1877
1. The first of May in sixty-nine,
As on my bed I did recline,
I heard a voice, from heaven it came,
And in my ears it did proclaim;
2. "In that great day there shall be war
With every nation near and far;
And mercy I will have on none,
Saving one nation, only one."
3. Then I beheld a field of wheat
Lay in a valley near my feet;
And there was one with might and main
A cutting down the golden grain.
4. This, I was made to understand,
Was verily the Son of Man
The field of what was all mankind,
And to the harvest were consigned.
5. And as he cut from east to west,
I saw a few among the rest,
That moved along with even pace,
And were not slaughtered in the race.
6. And when they reached the outer wall,
There was a door, though very small,
And all the moving ones passed through,
And thus they passed beyond my view.
7. And all the rest, as I was shown,
Were in a common bundle thrown.
That voice again came unto me,
"Bind in a bundle what you see."
8. Then I approached, with awe profound,
And took the bundle from the ground;
But soon, with wonder, I did find
It was too much for me to bind.
9. To make two bundles then I tried,
But found that it would not divide;
And I awoke, my vision fled,
But still it lingers in my head.
CONCLUSION
1. Thus, I believe that I was shown
That awful day when Christ shall come,
To claim His people for His own,
And wicked men receive their doom.
2. We read in Scripture of the tares
To be in bundles bound and burned;
The wicked taken in their snares,
Into an awful hell be turned.
3. But there's a nation, just and pure,
Chosen of God, a royal seed,
A holy priesthood shall endure,
And are from sin and bondage freed.
4. This holy nation, I believe,
I saw pass through that little door;
They shall a crown of life receive,
And reign with Christ forevermore.
5. O, that I could but know that I
Was one of these much favored ones;
I think I should rejoice to die,
And be at home among the sons. |
