When the fierce north wind
With his airy forces
Rears up the Bal­tic
To a foam­ing fu­ry;
And flame of light­ning,
With a storm of hail comes
Rushing amain down.

How the poor sail­ors
Stand am­azed and trem­ble!
While the hoarse thun­der,
Like a bloody trum­pet,
Roars a loud on­set
To the gap­ing wa­ter
Quick to de­vour them.

Such shall the noise be,
And the wild dis­or­der,
If things eter­nal
May be like these earth­ly;
Such the dire ter­ror
When the great arch­an­gel
Shakes all cre­ation.

Tears the strong pil­lars
Of the vault of Hea­ven,
Breaks up old mar­ble,
The re­pose of princ­es;
See the graves op­en,
And the bones aris­ing,
Flames all around them!

Hark, the shrill out­cries
Of the guil­ty wretch­es!
Lively bright hor­ror,
And am­az­ing ang­uish;
Stare through their eye­lids,
While the liv­ing worm lies
Gnawing with­in them.

Thoughts, like old vul­tures,
Prey up­on their heart strings,
And the smart twing­es,
When their eye be­holds the
Lofty Judge frown­ing,
And a flood of vengeance
Rolling afore Him.

Hopeless im­mor­tals!
How they scream and shi­ver
While de­vils push them
To the pit wide yawn­ing,
Hideous and gloomy,
To re­ceive them head­long
Down to the cen­ter.

Stop here, my fan­cy:
All away, ye hor­rid
Doleful ideas, come,
Now arise to Je­sus;
How he sits Godl­ike!
And the saints around Him
Throned, yet ad­or­ing!

O may I sit there
When He comes tri­um­phant,
Dooming the na­tions!
Then as­cend to glo­ry,
While our ho­san­nas
All along the pas­sage
Shout the Re­deem­er.