HOW glorious, Lord, thine earthly temples rise! And every solemn spire, that meets the sky, Draws Heaven, descending, nearer to our eyes, And lifts the rising soul to worlds on high. In dens and mountain caves, thy saints of old, Through clouds and darkness, sought the promise given, Our brighter vision bids us view unrolled Thy glories beaming in the blaze of Heaven. Up to thy holy name, our fathers' God! How oft our lips the cheerful song have raised! In doubt and fear thy sacred courts they trod, And praised thy love, but trembled while they praised. Even here, where nature breathes so calm and still, And all is peaceful as thy holy word, In arms they prayed, and stood to hear thy will, And grasped their warlike weapons, as they heard. Their quiet graves are lying all around, And long have slept their trials, doubts and fears, And mossy stones, that lowly press the ground, Record their tale of twice a hundred years. Oh, for their fervent, simple hearts of yore! The zeal they felt,—the conquering faith they knew! For this we'd welcome all the toils they bore, And joyful seize their final victory too. Yet, while an evil age thy truth perverts, The plain and sacred truth our ears have heard, And light but darkens, in their wandering hearts, The gospel glories brightening round thy word; Yet, Lord! on us bestow thine ancient grace, As dews descending bless this holy sod, That children's children here, an unborn race, May know and prove thee still their fathers' God! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE VOICE by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON SOIS SAGE O MA DOULEUR by CHARLES BAUDELAIRE AN UNWRITTEN TRAGEDY by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT A HYMN OF IMAGINATION by GORDON BOTTOMLEY SELLING A COW IN VERMONT by DANIEL LEAVENS CADY |