--
"I will destroy the earth,
For violence is in the land,
And wickedness and mirth.

"Men's hearts are full of laughter wild,
Their lives are full of sin;
And I will send destruction swift,
And show my power divine.

"I'll rain upon the earth a flood,
And drown men in the storm,
And they shall find no arm to save,
Amid their fearful gloom.

"But thee I have found true and good,
A follower of my ways;
And I will save thee from the flood,
And lengthen out thy days.

"Now therefore build thyself an ark,
According to my word;
To save thyself and family,
For ye have fear'd the Lord.

"For every thing that now has life,
And all things that have breath,
Even for the wickedness of man,
I do devote to death.

"I am the Lord, the mighty one,
I, even I, do speak;
The flood upon the earth I'll bring,
And nought my word shall break."

Noah prepared to build the ark,
The tidings did him grieve;
Yet it was just, and every word
He did at once believe.

V.

NOAH PREACHES.

While Noah built for six score years
The ark to ride the flood,
He preach'd unto the people round
The dreadful word of God.

He show'd to them their heinous sins,
He told them God was just,
That He would surely punish them
Unto the uttermost.

Not only did they break God's law
But they despised His grace;
That they had most ungrateful proved,
A hard, rebellious race.

And though the Lord had suffer'd long,
Nor seem'd to notice them,
Yet soon He would arise in might,
And loud His wrath proclaim.

He told them of the impending flood,
The threatening of the Lord;
And that His counsel sure would stand,
And ever true His word.

But if they would repent, perhaps
The Lord would turn away
His anger from the earth and thus
Avert the dreadful day.

But if they should persist in sin
And folly to the last;
Then God in wrath would visit them,--
Their day of grace be past.

He there fore bade them all repent,
And turn from all their sin,
And humbly to Jehovah pray,
To stay His wrath divine.

The time wore on, the ark progress'd,
And Noah grew more bold;
And to the people day by day,
God's threat