2 The works of God above, below,
Within us, and around,

Are pages in that book, to show
How God himself is found.

3 The glorious sky, embracing all,
Is like the Maker's love,

Wherewith encompassed, great and small
In peace and order move.

4 The dew of heaven is like thy grace;
It steals in silence down;

But where it lights, the favored place
By richest fruits is known.

5 One name, above all glorious names,
With its ten thousand tongues,
The everlasting sea proclaims,
Echoing angelic songs.

6 The raging fire, the roaring wind,
Thy boundless power display;
But in the gentler breeze we find
Thy Spirit's viewless way.

7 Thou, who hast given me eyes to see
And love this sight so fair,

Give me a heart to find out thee,
And read thee every where.

35

L. M.

The Voice of Nature.

MRS. STEELE.

1 THERE is a God, all nature speaks,

Through earth, and air, and seas, and skies;

See, from the clouds his glory breaks,

When the first beams of morning rise.

2 The rising sun, serenely bright,

O'er the wide world's extended frame,
Inscribes, in characters of light,

His mighty Maker's glorious name.
3 For man and beast, here daily food
In wide, diffusive plenty grows;
And there, for drink, the crystal flood
In streams sweet winding gently flows.
4 The flowery tribes all blooming rise
Above the faint attempts of art;
Their bright, inimitable dyes

Speak sweet conviction to the heart.
5 Ye curious minds, who roam abroad,
And trace creation's wonders o'er,
Confess the footsteps of the God,
And bow before him, and adore.

36

C. M.

TATE & BRADY.

The Voice of Nature. Ps. 19.

1 THE heavens declare thy glory, Lord,
Which that alone can fill;
The firmament and stars express
Their great Creator's skill.

2 The dawn of each returning day

Fresh beams of knowledge brings;
And from the dark returns of night
Divine instruction springs.

3 Their powerful language to no realm
Or region is confined;

"Tis nature's voice, and understood
Alike by all mankind.

4 Their doctrine does its sacred sense Through earth's extent display; Whose bright contents the circling sun Does round the world convey.

5 No bridegroom, for his nuptials dressed, Has such a cheerful face;

No giant does like him rejoice

To run his glorious race.

6 From east to west, from west to east,
His restless course he goes;

And, through his progress, cheerful light
And vital warmth bestows.

37

L. M.

ADDISON.

The Heavens declare the Glory of God. Ps. 19.

1 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,
Doth 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;

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.

3 What though, in solemn silence, all
Move round this dark, terrestrial ball;
What though no real voice nor sound
Amidst their radiant orbs be found;
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing, as they shine,

"The hand that made us is divine."

38

C. M.

J. Q. ADAMS.

Ps. 19.

1 TURN to the stars of heaven thine eyes, And God shall meet thee there;

Exalt thy vision to the skies,

His glory they declare;

Day speaks to day, night teaches night,
The wonders of their frame,

And all in harmony unite

Their Maker to proclaim.

2 Earth has no language, man no speech,
But gives their voice a tongue;
Their words the world's foundations reach;
Their hymn in heaven is sung;
Pavilioned there in glory bright,
As from a blooming bride,

The sun comes forth in floods of light,

With all a bridegroom's pride.

3 Glad, like a giant for the race,

His orient flame ascends,

Soars through the boundless realms of space, And in the west descends;

His heat the vital lamp bestows,
The firmament pervades,
In ocean's darkest caverns glows,
And earth's profoundest shades.

39

L. M.

WATTS.

The Glory of God in Creation and Providence. Ps. 104.

1 MY soul, thy great Creator praise; When, clothed in his celestial rays, He in full majesty appears,

And like a robe his glory wears.

2 The heavens are for his curtains spread;
The unfathomed deep he makes his bed;
Clouds are his chariot when he flies,
On winged storms, across the skies.

3 The world's foundations by his hand
Are poised, and shall forever stand;
He binds the ocean in his chain,
Lest it should drown the earth again.

4 The swelling billows know their bound,
And in their channels walk their round;
Yet, thence conveyed by secret veins,
They spring on hills, and drench the plains.

40

L. M.

The Same. Ps. 104.

WATTS.

1 GOD from his cloudy cistern pours
On the parched earth enriching showers;
The grove, the garden, and the field,
A thousand joyful blessings yield.