Great Former of This Various Frame

Great form­er of this var­ious frame

Our souls ad­ore Thine aw­ful name;

And bow and trem­ble while they praise

The An­cient of eter­nal days.

Thou

Lord

with un­sur­prised sur­vey

Sawest na­ture ris­ing yes­ter­day;

And

as to­mor­row

shall Thine eye

See earth and stars in ru­in lie.

Beyond an an­gel’s vi­sion bright

Thou dwell’st in self-ex­ist­ent light;

Which shines

with un­dim­in­ished ray

While suns and worlds in smoke de­cay.

Our days a tran­si­ent pe­ri­od run

And change with eve­ry circ­ling sun;

And

in the firm­est state we boast

A moth can crush us in­to dust.

But let the crea­tures fall around;

Let death con­sign us to the ground;

Let the last gen­er­al flame arise

And melt the arch­es of the skies:

Calm as the sum­mer’s ocean

we

Can all the wreck of na­ture see

While grace se­cures us an ab­ode

Unshaken as the throne of God.