How great, how ter­ri­ble that God,
Who shakes cre­ation with His nod!
He frowns—earth, sea, all na­ture’s frame,
Sink in one uni­ver­sal flame.

Where now, O where shall sin­ners seek
For shel­ter in the ge­ne­ral wreck?
Shall fall­ing rocks be o’er them thrown?
See rocks, like snow, dis­solv­ing down!

In vain for mer­cy now they cry;
In lakes of li­quid fire they lie;
There on the flam­ing billows tossed,
For ev­er—O, for ev­er lost!

But saints, un­daunt­ed and se­rene,
Your eyes shall view the dread­ful scene;
Your Sav­ior lives, the worlds ex­pire;
And earth and skies dis­solve in fire.

Jesus, the help­less crea­ture’s friend,
To Thee my all I dare com­mend;
Thou canst pre­serve my fee­ble soul,
When lightn­ings blaze from pole to pole.