360.
The Flood.
1
When oppress'd by Satan's chain,
Earth, to death devoted, stood;
Ere the voice that could restrain,
From his slumbers, roused the Flood.
Silence reigning through the air,
What a solemn pause was there!
CHORUS.
Like the sleeping leaves and reeds,
That the thunder oft precedes.
2
Nature, in her fairest vest,
Charmed the eye, and soothed the heart;
All around, from east to west,
Made the tear of rapture start:
Lovelier dyes, and fresher green,
In creation's face were seen.
CHORUS.
Take once more the lingering glance,
Lo! Destruction's wheels advance!
3
Whilst the earth, in grace array'd,
Scatter'd her voluptuous smile,
Man alone the curse display'd!
Every thought perverse and vile!
Sin he loved, whose fruit is woe;
Sin shall be his overthrow!
CHORUS.
Sinners oft at God rebel,
On the verge of death and hell.
4
Now the Sovereign word has past!
“Tempests! in your fury, sweep!”
“Whirlwinds! round, destruction cast!”
“Burst, ye fountains of the deep!”
View the torrents from the sky!
See the lawless lightnings fly!
CHORUS.
While his bow Jehovah bends,
From one spot, the prayer ascends!
5
View the scoffers! fix'd! aghast!
Midnight gathering in the air!
Mark that rock-upturning blast!
With that flood of fiery glare!
At heaven's frown, so dark! so dread!
Rocks and mountains hide their head!
CHORUS.
Earth, when God to wrath awakes,
To her deepest centre shakes.
6
Sabler clouds invest the sky!
Crowds, the wreck of life to save,
To the hills, bewilder'd, fly,
Follow'd by the foaming wave!
Tenderest sympathies are fled!
Nature in this hour is dead!
CHORUS.
Parents, on their struggling child,
Gaze, unmoved, in horrors wild!
7
What shall screen yon vent'rous bark,
'Mid the ocean's fearful swell;
For the winds the noblest mark,
On its ample form to dwell?
Blow, assailants! fiercer blow,
Strive to whelm your daring foe!
CHORUS.
Storms are harmless! lightnings, vain!
What can move, if God sustain!
8
While around the bolts are hurl'd,
Noah, calm in faith appears!
Moved not by a crashing world,
He restrains his rising fears!
'Mid commingling earth and skies,
He, to God, his refuge, flies!
CHORUS.
We may trust unchanging love,
Here, as in the realms above!
9
Now the conflict is no more!
Storms are hush'd! the winds subside!
Noah, and his sons, adore
God, their guardian and their guide!
See them raise memorial-stone,
While the world is all their own!
CHORUS.
Shall no wider ruin rise?
Vaster tempests rend the skies?
10
Greater wreck shall earth behold
In the great and final day!
When creation, waxing old,
Like a scroll, shall pass away!
Who shall then lift up his head
That has not to Jesus fled!
CHORUS.
O, Immanuel, let us flee
For a refuge-tower, to thee!
