Amid the angry storms of Heaven,
      And rising waves around
    Overflowing all the fields of earth,
      And all the highest ground.

VI.

Noah enters the ark.

    And now the ark was built; the day
      Of wrath was drawing near;
    Yet still no cloud was in the sky;
      And in men’s hearts no fear.

    No doubt they wonder’d much what now
      This foolish man would do;
    And thought that they would surely prove,
      His prophecy untrue.

    But soon he heard Jehovah’s voice;—­
      These words he heard Him say,—­
    “Come thou into the ark at once,
      With all thy family.”

    So Noah enter’d in the ark,
      He and his children too,
    And beasts and birds of every kind,
      Did enter two by two.

    The lives of these Jehovah spared,
      To fill the earth again,
    When He should cause the ark to rest,
      And should the flood restrain.

    And when they all were in the ark,
      The just and mighty God,
    Prepared to bring upon the earth
      The waters of the flood.

    The day of grace was fully past,
      No voice should now proclaim,
    To sinful, faithless, scoffing men,
      Jehovah’s gracious name.

    The righteous in God’s care were safe,
      From every fear of harm;
    But wicked men would be o’erwhelm’d
      With terrible alarm.

[Illustration:  Babylon.]

VII.

The windows of heaven are opened.

    Ah! where shall now the sinner hide—­
      what power the storm can stay? 
    What pleasing charm can he call up
      To drive his fears away?

    Who can withstand the wrath of God! 
      He with a single breath,
    Could vanquish all our boasted strength,
      And visit us with death.

    He gathers now His angry clouds,
      And thick they quickly come;
    Bearing along the teeming rains
      And the devouring storm.

    The beauteous sky is overcast. 
      And darkness fills the air;
    And lightnings flash, and thunders roll;
      No ray of hope is there.

    As if the clouds are not enough,
      Heaven’s windows open wide,
    To pour upon the startled earth
      The overflowing tide.

    The clouds come down almost to earth,
      And seem to bend with rain;
    And men look up with fearful gaze,
      Nor can their fear restrain.

    Oh! fearful and majestic scene;
      Jehovah’s awful frown
    Seems o’er the sinfulness of earth,
      In anger bending down.

    No sun now cheers, no light of star
      To those shall ever come,
    Who by their long continued crimes,
      Provoked this awful doom.