The Spacious Firmament
Text written in 1712 by Joseph Addison
Sung to CREATION, arranged in 1798 from Franz Joseph Haydn
Psalm 19:1, 4 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands....Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
V. 1 The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue, ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame,
Their great Original proclaim.
Th' unwearied sun from day to day
Does his Creator's power display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an almighty hand.
V. 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;
While all the stars that round her burn,
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.
Psalm 19:3 They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
V. 3 What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid 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."
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