The Cyber Hymnal ‎#6268

6268. The Spacious Firmament on High

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 powers display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an almighty hand.

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.

3. What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid the 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.

Text Information

• First Line: The spacious firmament on high
• Title: The Spacious Firmament on High
• Author: Joseph Addison (1712)
• Meter: LMD
• Language: English
• Source: The Spec­ta­tor, Lon­don, Au­gust 23, 1712
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: It followed an essay on the proper means of strengthening & confirming faith in the mind of man, with this introduction: The Supreme Being has made the best arguments for his own existence in the formation of the heavens and the earth, and these are arguments which a man of sense cannot forbear attending to who is out of the noise and hurry of human affairs...The Psalmist has very beautiful strokes of poetry to this purpose in that exalted strain (Psalm xix). As such a bold and sublime manner of Thinking furnished out very noble Matter for an Ode, the Reader may see it wrought into the following one. Al­ter­nate tune: LONDON (ADDISON'S), John Sheeles, cir­ca 1720 (re­peats last line in each verse)

Tune Information

• Name: CREATION
• Composer: Franz Josef Haydn (1798)
• Meter: LMD
• Incipit: 51122 31617 56712
• Key: A♭ Major
• Copyright: Public Domain