Say Then, Ye Worms of Earth

Say then

ye worms of earth

to whom

Will ye your glo­ri­ous God com­pare?

Vainly thro’ all His works ye roam

And find Je­ho­vah’s like­ness there.

The vile ido­la­ter be­lies

His im­age with a gold­en shrine

To coun­ter­feit the God­head tries;

And stocks and stones be­come di­vine.

Man his own de­ity rev­eres

By self de­light

and self es­teem

Whate’er the sin­ner hopes

or fears

Desires

or loves

is God to him.

But have ye not His be­ing known

And clear­ly seen by na­ture’s light?

Have not the an­cient fa­thers shown

And you con­fessed the In­fi­nite?

The heav­ens His glo­ri­ous pow­er pro­claim

Th’in­vi­si­ble on earth is showed;

Nature is writ­ten with His name

And all things speak their build­er God.

Creation to His law sub­mits

His rule He ov­er all main­tains

High on the globe of Heav­en He sits

And un­dis­turbed for ev­er reigns.

Th’inhabitants of earth from thence

As grass­hop­pers His eye be­holds;

His hand

and pow­er

and pro­vi­dence

The cur­tain of the heav­ens un­folds.

’Tis He who stretched them out

’tis He

Who still the wide pa­vil­ion spreads

That blue ethe­re­al ca­no­py

And draws it o’er His crea­tures’ heads.

Princes and kings that dare with­stand

Their un­con­trolled Cre­at­or’s sway

Shall sink be­hind His migh­ty hand

And fall

and fade

and die away.

Planted awhile

or sown be­low

Their stock ac­cursed shall ne’er take root;

The Lord up­on their pride shall blow

Wither the flow­er

and blast the fruit.

Say then

ye ab­ject worms

to whom

Will ye your glo­ri­ous God com­pare?

Who shall His ho­li­ness pre­sume

To match

or who His pow­er shall dare?

Lift up your eyes to things on high

Nor fix on earth your gro­vel­ing thought;

Who built yon az­ure vault­ed sky?

Who spoke those beau­te­ous orbs from naught?

God only wise

and great

and strong

Made them to run their heav­en­ly race;

Knowledge and might to God be­long

Honor

and ma­jes­ty and praise.

Their ra­di­ant hosts He mar­shals right

Their na­ture

names and num­ber knows;

He bids them in their cours­es fight

And blast their great Cre­at­or’s foes.

They hear

and each His will per­forms

And lo! to man they ev­er call

Lift up your eyes

ye ab­ject worms

Adore the glo­ri­ous Cause of All!