Hark, the Crash of Roaring Thunder

Hark

the crash of roar­ing thun­der

Earth’s deep

yawn­ing ca­verns shake;

See the blaze of flash­ing light­ning:

Horrified

see na­ture quake.

See the moon

in dark­est mid­night

Like a shield of flam­ing blood!

Blazing stars

like bleed­ing scars

All the wound­ed skies be­stud.

Foaming oceans

fear­ful­ly heav­ing

Seas and crack­ing mount­ains blend:

Maddening noise

the skies as­sault­ing

Nature in its ang­uish rent.

Hear God’s pow­er as arch­an­gel trum­pet

Sounds abroad

and pierc­es the tomb;

Angels cry

with saints re­join­ing

Loud the cry that shat­ters gloom.

Saints white robed

from graves they spring

See the ho­ly

sanc­ti­fied rise

Robbing death

sa­lut­ing their king

As He cleaves the burn­ing skies.

Like a thief

He comes un­ex­pect­ed

Rousing sin­ners from their dreams;

Now from tor­tured bo­soms break­ing

Hear their ang­uished

shriek­ing screams.

So

in pray­er

let all pre­pare

Greet the Lord while grace is giv’n;

Else we hear the dread­ed sen­tence:

Wicked down to hell are driv’n.