My God, I love and I adore!
But souls that love would know thee more:
Wilt thou for ever hide, and stand
Behind the labours of thy hand?
2 The starry arch proclaims thy power,
Thy pencil glows in every flower;
Thy hand, unseen, sustains the poles
On which this huge creation rolls.
3 Thy painted wonders, to our eyes,
In thousand shapes and colours rise;
While beasts and birds, with lab'ring throats,
Teach us a God in thousand notes.
4 Where sense can reach, or fancy rove,
From hill to hill, from field to grove;
'The meanest pin in nature's frame
Marks out some letter of thy name.
5 There's not a spot, or deep or high,
Across the waves, around the sky,
Where the Creator has not trod,
And left the footstep of a God.
6 Fain would I trace the immortal way
That leads to courts of endless day,
Where the Creator stands confess'd,
In his own fairest glories dress'd.
7 Bless'd Jesus, meet me on the road,
Fit me to dwell in heaven with God:
Clothe me with vestures yet unknown,
And place me near thy Father's throne.
THE spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim:
The unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land,
The work of an Almighty hand.
2 Soon as the evening shades prevail,
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth,
Repeats the story of her birth:
While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets, in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
3 What though in solemn silence all
Move round this dark terrestrial ball?
What though nor real voice nor sound,
Amidst their radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice;
For ever singing, as they shine,
The hand that made us is divine.
O God, thou bottomless abyss!
Thee to perfection who can know?
O height immense! what words suffice,
Thy countless attributes to show?
2 While thee, all-infinite, I set
By faith before my ravish'd eye,
My weakness bends beneath the weight;
O'erpower'd I sink, I faint, I die.
3 Eternity thy dwelling was,
Which, like thee, no beginning knew;
Thou wast, ere time began its race,
Ere glow'd with stars the ethereal blue.
4 Greatness unspeakable is thine,
Greatness, whose undiminish'd ray,
When short-lived worlds are lost, shall shine, When earth and heaven are fled away.
5 Unchangeable, all-perfect Lord,
Essential life's unbounded sea!
What lives and moves, lives by thy word,
It lives, and moves, and is from thee.
6 Thy parent-hand, thy forming skill,
Firm fix'd this universal chain;
Else empty, barren darkness, still
Had held his unmolested reign.
7 Whate'er in earth, or sea, or sky,
Or shuns or meets the wandering thought,
Escapes or strikes the searching eye;
By thee was to perfection brought.
8 High is thy power above all height;
Whate'er thy will decrees, is done;
Thy wisdom, equal to thy might,
Only to thee, O God, is known!
9 What our dim eye could never see,
Is plain and naked to thy sight:
What thickest darkness veils, to thee
Shines clearly as the morning light.
10 In light thou dwell'st; light, that no shade, No variation ever knew;
Heaven, earth, and hell, stand all display'd,
And open to thy piercing view.
THOU true and only God, lead'st forth
The immortal armies of the sky:
Thou laugh'st to scorn the gods of earth;
Thou thunderest, and amazed they fly!
2 With downcast eye the angelic choir
Appear before thy awful face:
Trembling they strike the golden lyre,
And thro' heaven's vault resound thy praise.
3 [In earth, in heaven, in all, thou art:
The conscious creature feels thy nod,
Whose forming hand on every part
Impress'd the image of its God.
4 Thine, Lord, is power, and thine alone:
Justice and truth before thee stand:
Yet, nearer to thy sacred throne,
Mercy withholds thy lifted hand.]
5 Each evening shows thy tender love,
Each rising morn thy plenteous grace;
Thy waken'd wrath does slowly move,
Thy willing mercy flies apace.
6 To thy benign, indulgent care,
Father, this light, this breath we owe;
And all we have, and all we are,
From thee, great Source of being, flow. 7 [Parent of good, thy bounteous hand Incessant blessings down distils;
And all in air, or sea, or land,
With plenteous food and gladness fills. 8 All things in thee live, move, and are; Thy power infused doth all sustain: E'en those thy daily favours share, Who thankless spurn thy easy reign.]
9 Thy sun, thou bid'st his genial ray, Alike on all impartial pour:
On all who hate or bless thy sway,
Thou bid'st descend the fruitful shower.
10 Yet while at length, who scorn'd thy might, Shall feel thee a consuming fire:
How sweet the joys, the crown how bright,
Of those who to thy love aspire!
11 All creatures, praise the eternal name!
Ye hosts that to his courts belong,
Cherubic choirs, seraphic flame,
Awake the everlasting song!
12 Thrice holy thine the kingdom is,
The power omnipotent is thine;
And when created nature dies,
Thy never-ceasing glories shine.
13 Unfathomable depths thou art:
O plunge me in thy mercy's sea!
Void of true wisdom is my heart—
With love embrace and cover me.
JEHOVAH reigns, his throne is high,
His robes are light and majesty:
His glory shines with beams so bright,
No mortal can sustain the sight.
2 His terrors keep the world in awe,
His justice guards his holy law;
His love reveals his shining face,
His truth and promise seal the grace.
3 Through all his works his wisdom shines,
And baffles Satan's deep designs:
His power is sovereign to fulfil
The noblest counsels of his will.
4 And will Jehovah condescend
To be my Father and my Friend?
Then let my songs with angels join;
Heaven is secure if God is mine.
THOU didst, O mighty God! exist,
Ere time began its race;
Before the ample elements
Fill'd the void of space.
2 Before the ponderous earthly globe
In fluid air was stay'd;
Before the ocean's mighty springs
Their liquid stores display'd.
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