1 Since o’er Thy footstool here below
Such radiant gems are strewn;
O, what magnificence must glow,
Great God, about Thy throne!
So brilliant here these drops of light—
There the full ocean rolls, how bright!
2 If night’s blue curtain of the sky—
With thousand stars in-wrought,
Hung like a royal canopy
With glittering diamonds fraught—
Be, Lord, Thy temple’s outer veil,
What splendor at the shrine must dwell!
3 The dazzling sun at noonday hour—
Forth from his flaming vase
Flinging o’er earth the golden shower
Till vale and mountain blaze—
But shows, O Lord, one beam of Thine;
What, then, the day where Thou dost shine!
4 O, how shall these dim eyes endure
That noon of living rays!
Or how our spirits, so impure,
Upon Thy glory gaze!
Anoint, O Lord, anoint our sight,
And fit us for that world of light.