I.

The wickedness of man.

    Behold how kind and merciful
      Our heavenly Father was,
    To bear so long with sinful men,
      Who had transgressed His laws.

    The hearts of men wax’d worse and worse,
      They disobeyed the Lord;
    They followed their own thoughts, nor walked
      According to His word.

    And men were multiplied on earth,
      They spread both far and wide;
    And there were giants in those days,
      Who did God’s law deride.

    The Lord look’d down from Heaven to see
      If there were any good;
    Behold they all were turn’d aside,
      Sin tainted all their blood.

    Yet still the Lord was good to them—­
      He gave them sun and rain,
    And every blessing, yet their hearts
      Were foolish, wicked, vain.

    There is no sin so base as that
      We call ingratitude,
    To use those ill, with wicked hearts,
      Who seek to do us good.

    And when the Great and Holy One
      With kindness stoop’d to bless
    The sorrows of a sinful world,
      And pity their distress;—­

    ’Twas vile ingratitude in them
      To act so wickedly,
    And spurn the mercy of the Lord,
      The great, the good, the high.

    God’s goodness leads us to repent,
      And give our folly o’er;—­
    And if we use His kindness right,
      We’ll go and sin no more.

II.

God is provoked.

    But God is just as well as good,
      He will not always strive;
    He will assert His sovereign right,
      Nor let the sinner live.

    He does not seek the death of one
      Of all the sinful race,
    Yet He will not forever bear
      With those who slight His grace.

    His mercy is forever sure,
      His justice too must stand,
    And people must obedient be
      To what He does command.

    So when the world so wicked proved,
      And wander’d from the Lord,
    And with most stubborn hearts refused
      To hear His sovereign word;—­

    He bore with patience long and kind,
      Their steady wickedness;
    But did at last withdraw His grace,
      And leave them in distress.

    He gave them up to their own hearts,
      To work their own desire;
    He threatened them with judgment vast,
      And kindled was His ire.

    “My spirit shall not always strive”—­
      Jehovah sternly said—­
    A Flood I’ll bring which will destroy
      All things that I have made.

    “Why should they live in guilt and wo,
      And all my words despise;
    Their every work, and every thought,
      Is loathsome to my eyes.”