Poems (Hornblower)/Hymn (Where is the Almighty's temple—where)

by Jane Elizabeth Roscoe Hornblower

For works with similar titles, see Hymn.

HYMN.

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Where is the Almighty's temple—where
 In nature's wide domain—
Glories of ocean, earth, and air,
 Do these his power contain?
Yes! nature's wondrous works unfold
 The great, the Eternal will,
And walking 'midst them, as of old,
 "We meet the Lord God still."

His eye, well-pleased, creation saw,
 His perfect, beauteous world,
Obedient to his first great law,
 Successively unfurled.
In loveliness it dawned to life,
 In beauty lay enshrined,
And, rising from chaotic strife,
 Revealed the Eternal mind.

Is there His noblest temple? No,
 Though order reigned supreme,
And perfect beauty lay below
 The first bright morning's beam;
Yet God beheld it but the shrine
 To hold a spirit bright,
And bade a being, half divine,
 Spring forth to life and light!

The human heart—Ah! there he knew
 His own blest image traced;
Devotion, holy, deep, and true,
 Within that void he placed.
His temple there he deigns to fill,
 A calm and hallowed spot,
To human eyes 't is hushed and still,
 But He forgets it not.