THE EARTH IS FULL OF THY RICHES

Almighty! hear thy children raise

The voice of thankfulness and praise,

To Him whose wisdom deigned to plan

This fair and bright abode for man.

For when this orb of sea and land

Was moulded in thy forming hand,

Thy calm, benignant smile impressed

A beam of heaven upon its breast.

Then rose the hills, and broad and green

The vale’s deep pathway sank between;

Then stretched the plains to where the sky

Stoops and shuts in the exploring eye.

Beneath that smile earth’s blossoms glowed,

Her fountains gushed, her rivers flowed,

And from the shadowy wood was heard

The pleasant sound of breeze and bird.

Thy hand outspread the billowy plains

Of ocean, nurse of genial rains,

Hung high the glorious sun and set

Night’s cressets in her arch of jet.

Lord, teach us, while the admiring sight

Dwells on Thy works in deep delight,

To deem the forms of beauty here

But shadows of a brighter sphere.