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 splendor fills all space with rays divine. Thou wert, and art, and shalt be! Glorious! Great! Light-giving, life-sustaining Potentate! Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround: Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath! Thou the beginning with the end has bound, And beautifully mingled life and death! As sparks mount upwards 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: They own Thy power, accomplish Thy command; All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss. What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light-- A glorious company of golden streams-- 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 unnumber'd host, Though multiplied by myriads, and array'd in all the glory of sublimest thought; Is but an atom in the balance weighed Against Thy greatness; is a cypher brought Against infinity! What am I, then? Naught! Naught! But the effluence of Thy light divine, Pervading worlds, hath reach'd my bosom, too; Yes! In my spirit doth Thy spirit shine As shines the sunbeam in a drop of dew. Naught! But I live, and on hope's pinions fly Eager towards Thy presence; for in Thee I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high, Even to the throne of Thy divinity. I am, O God! and surely _Thou_ must be! Thou art! directing, guiding all, Thou art! Direct my understanding then to Thee: Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart: Though but an atom midst immensity, 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 marvelously Constructed and conceived? Unknown! This clod Lives merely through some higher energy; For from itself alone it could not be!