1. STAND and adore! how glorious He
That dwells in bright eternity;
We gaze and we confound our sight,
Plunged in th' abyss of dazzling light.
2. O Sacred One, Almighty Three,
Great everlasting mystery,
What lofty numbers shall we frame,
Equal to Your tremendous name?
3. Seraphs that stand around the throne
Begin and speak the great Unknown;
Attempt the song, wind up your strings
To notes untried and boundless things.
4. Ye whose capacious powers survey
Largely beyond our eyes of clay,
Yet what a narrow portion too
Is seen, or known, or thought by you!
5. How flat your highest praises fall
Below th' immense Original!
Weak creatures we that strive in vain
To reach an uncreated strain!
6. Great God, forgive our feeble lays,
Sound out Thine own eternal praise;
A song so vast, a theme so high,
Calls for the voice that tuned the sky. Amen.
