To God

O! Thou, infinite in space,Existing in the motion of matter,Eternal amidst the mutations of time,Without person, in three persons the Divinity!The single and omnipresent spirit,To whom there is neither place nor cause,Whom none could ever comprehend,Who fillest all things with thyself,Embracest, animatest, and preservest them,Thou whom we denominate God!

Although a sublime mind might be ableTo measure the depths of ocean,To count the sands, the rays of the planets,To thee there is neither number nor measure!Enlightened spirits, althoughProceeding from thy light,Cannot penetrate thy judgments;Thought scarce dare lift itself to thee;It is lost in thy greatness,Like the past moment in eternity.

Thou calledst chaos into existence,Before time, from the abyss of eternity,And eternity, existing prior to all ages,Thou foundedst within thyself.Constituting thyself of thyself,By means of thyself shining from thyself,Thou art the light from which light first flowed;Creating all things by a single word,Extending thyself throughout the new creation,Thou wast, thou art, thou shalt be for ever!

Thou unitest within thyself the chain of beings,Upholdest and animatest it,Thou connectest the end with the beginning,And through death bestowest life.As sparks shoot forth and scatter themselves,Thus suns are born of thee:As, in a cold and clear winter's day,Particles of frost scintillate,Whirl about, reel, and glisten,Even so do the stars in the abysses beneath thee!

Millions of lighted torchesFly throughout infinite space,They execute thy laws,And shed life-creating rays.But these fiery luminaries,Or shining masses of crystal,Or crowds of boiling golden waves,Or blazing ether,Or all the dazzling worlds united--Compared to thee are like night compared to day.

Like a drop of water cast into the oceanIs this whole firmament compared to thee.But what is the universe which I behold,And who am I, in thy presence?Were I to add to the millions of worldsExisting in the ocean of air,A hundred fold as many other worlds--and thenDare to compare them to thee,They would scarcely appear an atom,And I compared to thee--nothing!

Nothing! yet thou shinest in meThrough thy great goodness:In me thou imagest thyself,As the sun is reflected in a small drop of water.Nothing! yet I am sensible of my existence,By an indescribable longing I ascendSteadfastly to a higher region:My soul hopes to be even as thou,It inquires, meditates, reasons;I am, and doubtless thou must be.

THOU ART! the order of nature proclaims it;My heart declares it to be so,My mind assures me of it.Thou art! and I am not, therefore, nothing!I am a particle of the whole universe,Placed, as I think, in that importantMiddle point of being,Where thou finishedst mortal creatures,Where thou began'st heavenly spirits,And the chain of all beings unitedst by me.

I am the bond of worlds existing everywhere;I am the extreme grade of matter;I am the centre of living things,The commencing trait of the Divinity;My body will resolve itself into ashes,My mind commands the thunder.I am a king, a slave, a worm, a god!But, being thus wonderful,From whence have I proceeded? This is unknown.But I could not have existed of myself!

I am thy work, Creator!I am the creature of thy supreme wisdom,Fountain of life, Giver of blessings,Soul and monarch of my soul!It was necessary to thy justiceThat my immortal beingShould traverse the abyss of death,That my spirit should be veiled in perishable matter,And that through death I should return,Father! to thy immortality!

Inexplicable, incomprehensible Being!I know that the imaginingsOf my soul are unableEven to sketch thy shadow!But, if it be our duty to praise thee,Then it is impossible for weak mortalsOtherwise to render thee homageThan, simply, to lift their hearts to thee,To give way to boundless joy,And shed tears of gratitude!