Thou from primeval nothingness didst call First chaos, then existence; Lord! on Thee Eternity had its foundation :-all Sprung forth from Thee :—of light, joy, harmony, Sole origin :-all life, all beauty, Thine, Thy word created all, and doth create: Thy splendour fills all space with rays divine. Thou art, and wert, and shalt be! Glorious! Great! Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate! Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround: Thou the beginning with the end hast bound, As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze, So suns are born, so worlds spring forth from Thee; And as the spangles in the sunny rays Shine round the silver snow, the pageantry Of heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise. A million torches lighted by Thy hand, Wander unwearied through the blue abyss: Lamps of celestial ether burning bright— Suns lighting systems with their joyous beams? But Thou to these art as the noon to night. Yes! as a drop of water in the sea, All this magnificence in Thee is lost : What are ten thousand worlds compared to Thee? And what am I then? Heaven's unnumbered host, Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed In all the glory of sublimest thought, Is but an atom in the balance weighed Against Thy greatness-is a cipher brought Nought! But the effluence of Thy light divine, As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew. I am, O God! and surely Thou must be ! Thou art directing, guiding all, Thou art! Still I am something fashioned by Thy hand! I hold a middle rank 'twixt heaven and earth, On the last verge of mortal being stand, Close to the realms where angels have their birth, Just on the boundaries of the spirit-land! The chain of being is complete in me; In me is matter's last gradation lost, And the next step is spirit-Deity! I can command the lightning, and am dust! A monarch and a slave; a worm, a god! Whence came I here, and how? so marvellously Constructed and conceived unknown! this clod Lives surely through some higher energy; For from itself alone it could not be ! Creator, yes! Thy wisdom, and Thy word Thy light, Thy love, in their bright plenitude O'er the abyss of death, and bade it wear The garments of eternal day, and wing Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere, Even to its source-to Thee-its Author there. O thoughts ineffable! O visions blest! Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee, Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast, And waft its homage to Thy Deity. God! thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar; The soul shall speak in tears of gratitude. THE ACCEPTED SACRIFICE. "Give me thy heart." WHAT shall we offer Thee, thou God of love! Thou who didst build the heavens and mould the earth; Thou who didst hang the sparkling stars above, And called from darkness light and beauty forth! From all the treasures of the earth and sea, What shall we offer Thee? Shall we present Thee gold and glittering gems, An offering fair and meet? Or shall we deck Thy temple with the spoil And pour around Thee mingling melodies Breathing up praise to Thee? Or shall we bring Thee treasures of the field, The flowers of summer, the sweet buds of spring- There is a voice which saith, "Oh, dearer far, When in the light of Truth it loves to live;" Our hearts, our hearts be thine! |