O for the living flame
From His own altar brought,
To touch our lips, our minds inspire,
And wing to heaven our thought!
There, with benign regard,
Our hymns He deigns to hear;
Though unrevealed to mortal sense,
The spirit feels Him near.
Arise, and bless the Lord,
The Lord your God adore;
Arise, and bless His glorious name,
Henceforth, for evermore.
1 To Thee, O God! we homage pay,
Source of the light that rules the day;
Who, while he gilds all nature's frame,
Reflects Thy rays, and speaks Thy name.
2 In louder strains we sing that grace,
Which gives the Sun of Righteousness;
Whose nobler light salvation brings,
And scatters healing from his wings.
3 O may his glories stand confessed
From north to south, from east to west:
Successful may his gospel run
Wide as the circuit of the sun.
4 When shall that radiant scene arise, When, fixed on high in purer skies, Christ all his lustre shall display
On all his saints, through endless day?
1 'Tis by Thy strength the mountains stand, God of eternal power;
The sea grows calm at Thy command,
And tempests cease to roar.
2 Thy morning light and evening shade
Successive comforts bring;
Thy plenteous fruits make harvest glad,
Thy flowers adorn the Spring.
3 Seasons and times, and moons and hours,
Heaven, earth, and air are Thine;
When clouds distil in fruitful showers,
The Author is divine.
4 Those wandering cisterns in the sky,
Borne by the winds around,
With watery treasures well supply
The furrows of the ground.
5 The thirsty ridges drink their fill,
And ranks of corn appear;
Thy ways abound with blessings still,
Thy goodness crowns the year.
1 Thy glory, Lord, the heavens declare,
The firmament displays Thy skill
The changing clouds, the viewless air,
Tempest and calm Thy word fulfil ;
Day unto day doth utter speech,
And night to night Thy knowledge teach.
2 Though voice nor sound inform the ear,
Well-known the language of their song,
When one by one the stars appear,
Led by the silent moon along;
Till round the earth, from all the sky,
Thy beauty beams on every eye.
3 Waked by Thy touch, the morning sun
Comes, like a bridegroom from his bower, And, like a giant, glad to run
His bright career with speed and power; Thy flaming messenger, to dart
Life through the depths of Nature's heart.
4 While these transporting visions shine
Along the path of Providence,
Glory eternal, joy divine,
Thy word reveals, transcending sense:
My soul Thy goodness longs to see,
Thy love to man, Thy love to me.
1 Thou art, O God! the life and light
Of all this wondrous world we see;
Its glow by day, its smile by night,
Are but reflections caught from Thee:
Where'er we turn Thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are Thine.
2 When day, with farewell beam, delays
Among the opening clouds of even,
And we can almost think we gaze
Through golden vistas into heaven;
Those hues that make the sun's decline
So soft, so radiant, Lord! are Thine.
3 When night, with wings of starry gloom,
O'ershadows all the earth and skies,
Like some dark beauteous bird, whose plume
Is sparkling with unnumbered eyes;
That sacred gloom, those fires divine,
So grand, so countless, Lord! are Thine.
4 When youthful Spring around us breathes,
Thy spirit warms her fragrant sigh;
And every flower the Summer wreathes
Is born beneath that kindling eye:
Where'er we turn, Thy glories shine,
And all things fair and bright are Thine.
1 The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
2 The unwearied sun from day to day
Doth his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty Hand.
3 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.
4 Whilst all the stars which round her burn.
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
5 What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball;
What though nor real voice nor sound
Amidst their radiant orbs be found;
6 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.'
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