The sky became at noon

As black as very night;

With neither sun nor moon,

Nor any star of light:

And from the cloud stern Justice hurled

Its lightning through the darkened world.

With guilty fears beset,

My conscience cried dismayed;

And ne'er shall I forget

That bitter cry for aid:

In agony I turned and fled,

Not knowing where to hide my head.

I reached the Law's strait door,

Hoping to find release;

I pleaded, faint and sore,

For refuge and for peace:

'Flee for thy life,' she said, 'from me,

To the Son of Man on Calvary!'

Fleeing, I tried to flee,

Amid the thunders' roar;

The lightning followed me,

Like some red host of war:

I came at last to Calvary--

There Jesus only could I see.

What though my flesh be grass,

And all my bones but clay,

I'll sing where lightnings pass--

'God took my sins away!'

The Rock of Ages--there I've stood:

Quenched are the lightnings in His blood!