Poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Give praise to God! All things in earth and air,
In the deep waters, in the o'erarching skies;
All ye loud winds, the many-toned, prepare
To laud him with your wond'rous melodies!
And ye, swift-flowing rivers, glad and free,
That scatter plenty as ye roll along,
Still let your murmurs sound rejoicingly,
But let his praises form the burden of your song!

Praise! everlasting praise!—Ye wood-crown'd hills,
Ye pastures, where a thousand flocks are grazing;
Ye rushing cataracts, meandering rills,
And ye, hoar mountains, your jagged summits raising

Into the wreathing clouds, old Appenine,
And tempest-crested Alp, and ye that rise
Majestic, beneath India's tropic skies,
Swell high the chorus of the hymn divine.

Hear it, ye birds, that 'mid the forest leaves
Sing thro' the livelong day, or upward soar
Aspiring, to the portals of the sky,
And ye, that warbling 'neath the cottage eaves,
Give music to each wind that wanders by,
Hear the seraphic melody, and pour
Your voices with the rest triumphantly,
And let your pinions bear the sound from sea to sea.

Praise! praise! unceasing praise! both night and day,
Praise to Jehovah! Yield it, thou great sun,
Giver of life, with every golden ray,
From roseate morning, till thy course is run.
Yield it, when earth, obedient to thy sway,
Reveals the wealth from thine effulgence won,

Puts forth her leaves, unfolds her rainbow flowers,
And sweetest fragrance breathes thro' the long summer hours.

And thou, less wonderful, yet queenly fair,
Pale, argent moon, that in yon azure dome,
Darkly serene, of soft and dewy air,
Half-hid by fleecy clouds, art chastely beaming,
Utter his praise, who in thy glorious home,
Didst set thee, earth's great lamp, with downward radiance streaming.

Planets, and multitudinous stars, that roll
In orbits still the same, and ye that stray,
Eccentric, and perturb the affrighted soul
Of awe-struck man with portents of dismay—
All ye resplendent orbs of lucid light,
Look forth in beauty from your rest afar,
And in the deep, hush'd stillness of the night,
Oh, magnify his name, whose ministers ye are!

Let not the anthem cease! oh, mighty main!
Dread, glorious, infinite, inscrutable;
Let thy loud, mountainous billows join the strain,
And with the according earth, sublimely tell
His wonders!—Or with calm, unheaving breast,
A glassy mirror, bright with sunny rays,
And tones, more soft than those of thine unrest,
Murmuring melodiously, still, still, proclaim his praise.

And thou, though last, yet first, immortal man,
Image of God himself! oh be not thou
Silent, while all Creation's glorious span,
Earth, sea, and air, their boundless thanks avow—
Be not thou silent! let thy voice arise,
High above all, till angels catch the sound,
And from their lyres, with kindred harmonies,
Echo it back to earth's remotest bound!
Be not thou silent! thou, to whom alone,
The gift of bright intelligence is given,

Oh swell the chant, that from earth's every zone,
Streams up, like fragrant incense unto Heaven!
Praise him! the Omnipotent! the Infinite!
All-wise, and just, and good—Ruler of all,
Of all Preserver! Lord of life and light,
That from dim chaos first vouchsaf'd to call
This wondrous world, and thee, more wondrous still,
Whom, by the power of his creative skill,
With wisdom he endued, and godlike soul,
With strength, to lord it o'er each meaner thing,
And grasping thoughts, that spurn the earth's control,
And to far loftier heights, untiring spring,
Than sweeps the mountain wind, or soars the falcon's wing!

For these, and all thy gifts, a countless train,
The choral symphony of praise prolong,
Till earth become one wide, majestic fane,
And all created things, a reverent throng

Of grateful worshippers.—Oh, then incline
Thine ear, Almighty Father, as the song
Still rises heavenward, and with grace benign,
Accept the offering! while with loud acclaim,
Cherub and seraph join to magnify thy name!

The reader will of course perceive that this Hymn is in a great degree paraphrastic. The Author trusts it will also be seen that the nature of the subject well-nigh precluded the possibility of avoiding this, even had it been desirable.