Thou True and Only God

Thou

true and on­ly God

lead’st forth

Th’immortal ar­mies of the sky;

Thou laugh’st to scorn the gods of earth

Thou thun­der­est

and am­azed they fly.

With down­cast eye th’an­gel­ic choir

Appear be­fore Thy aw­ful face;

Trembling they strike the gold­en lyre

And through Heav’n’s vault re­sound Thy praise

In earth

in Heav­en

in all Thou art;

The con­sci­ous crea­ture feels Thy nod

Whose form­ing hand on ev­ery part

Impressed the im­age of its God.

Thine

Lord

is wis­dom

Thine alone;

Justice and truth be­fore Thee stand;

Yet

near­er to Thy sacr­ed throne

Mercy with­holds Thy lift­ed hand.

Each ev­en­ing shows Thy ten­der love

Each ris­ing morn Thy plen­te­ous grace

Thy wak­ened wrath doth slow­ly move

Thy will­ing mer­cy flies apace.

To Thy be­nign in­dul­gent care

Father

this light

this breath we owe;

And all we have

and all we are

From Thee

great source of be­ing

flow.

Parent of good

Thy boun­te­ous hand

Incessant bless­ings down dis­tils

And all in air

or sea

or land

With plen­te­ous food and glad­ness fills.

All things in Thee live

move

and are

Thy pow­er in­fused doth all sus­tain;

E’en those Thy dai­ly fa­vors share

Who thank­less spurn Thy ea­sy reign.

Thy sun Thou bidd’st his ge­ni­al ray

Alike on all im­par­tial pour;

To all

who hate or bless Thy sway

Thou bidd’st des­cend the fruit­ful show­er.

Yet

while at length who scorned Thy might

Shall feel Thee a con­sum­ing fire

How sweet the joys

the crown how bright

Of those who to Thy love as­pire!

All crea­tures

praise th’eter­nal name!

Ye hosts that to His court be­long

Cherubic choirs

se­raph­ic flames

Awake the ev­er­last­ing song!

Thrice Holy! Thine the king­dom is

The pow­er om­ni­po­tent is Thine

And when cre­at­ed na­ture dies

Thy nev­er-ceas­ing glo­ries shine.