HYMN III.—THE CREATION.

Now let the spacious world arise, Said the creator Lord: At once th' obedient earth and skies Rose at his sov'reign word. Dark was the deep, the waters lay Confus'd, and drown'd the land; He call'd the light, the new-born day Attends on his command. He bids the clouds ascend on high; The clouds ascend, and bear A wat'ry treasure to the sky, And float on softer air. The liquid element below, Was gather'd by his hand; The rolling seas together flow, And leave a solid land: With herbs and plants (a flow'ry birth) The naked globe he crown'd, Ere there was rain to bless the earth, Or sun to warm the ground. Then he adorn'd the upper skies, Behold the sun appears, The moon and stars in order rise, To mark our months and years. Out of the deep th' Almighty King Did vital beings frame, And painted fowls of ev'ry wing, And fish of ev'ry name, He gave the lion and the worm At once their wond'rous birth; And grazing beasts of various form Rose from the teeming earth. Adam was form'd of equal clay, The sov'reign of the rest; Design'd for nobler ends than they, With God's own image blest. Thus glorious in the Maker's eye, The young Creation stood; He saw the building from on high, His word pronounc'd it good.