Speak not of "The good time coming";
Say not, "Happy times draw nigh."
Lo! the clouds with terror looming,
Darken o'er the future sky!
Undeceive thyself, O mortal!
To the winds such dreamings give;
Think upon the fearful purging
That the earth must first receive.
Tell rather of wrath and vengeance,
Pending o'er this guilty race;
In its shame still glorying, boasting;
Deaf to all the calls of grace;
God forgetting, God dishonoring,
Guilty world, thy doom is nigh.
Fear unknown will seize upon thee,
When He shakes the earth and sky.
To the Ark, and from destruction
All who'd be preserved, then haste!
Christ's alone the Ark of safety;
Come, and full salvation taste:
Tarry not for reformation;
Sinners—Jesus died to save.
Art thou lost? He came to find thee;
Thou, believing, life shalt have.
Then, amid the coming glory,
Which the Church with Christ shall share;
Thou shalt have thy happy portion,
Bride of His, His image bear.
Then, His earthly people gathered,
Earth made clean, and Satan bound;
Thou shalt, with thy Savior, reigning,
O'er a happy world be found!
"God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”