The surpassing Glory of God.
1 Since o'er thy footstool here below
Such radiant gems are strown,
O what magnificence must glow,
Great God, about thy throne!
So brilliant here these drops of light--
There the full ocean rolls--how bright!
2 If night's blue curtain of the sky--
With thousand stars inwrought,
Hung like a royal canopy
With glittering diamonds fraught--
Be, Lord, thy temple's outer veil,
What splendor at the shrine must dwell!
3 The dazzling sun, at noon-day hour--
Forth from his flaming vase
Flinging o'er earth the golden shower
Till vale and mountain blaze--
But shows, O Lord, one beam of thine:
What, then, the day where thou dost shine?
4 O how shall these dim eyes endure
That noon of living rays!
Or how our spirits so impure,
Upon thy glory gaze!--
Anoint, O Lord, anoint our sight,
And fit us for that world of light.