"The Earth is the Lord's"

Lord! the earth it thine,
     And the fulness of the sea—
Heaps of gold, and gems that shine,
Flashing through the flashing brine,
     All belong to Thee!
Underneath the yeasty waves,
     Where the great sea-monsters roam,
Thou hast hollowed wound’rous caves
     For their ocean home.
Where the huge Leviathan
     Revels in his kingly might
     Over beds of chrysolite,
     Thou hast builded temples fairer—
     Thou hast fashioned grottos rarer
Than the proudest works of man.
     There uncounted treasures lie
     Hidden deep from human eye;
     Lustrous gems, whose radiant gleams
     Sparle aye in starry beams.
All the wonders of the sea,
     All the gems that flash and shine
     Underneath the ocean-brine,
God! belong to Thee!

Lord! the earth is thine,
     And the fulness of the earth!
Thou, in sovereignty of will,
From thine everlasting hill,
Called the light—the VOICE DIVINE
     O’er the formless void went forth,
     And the darkness fled!
From the mass chaotic hurled
Rose to life this wond’rous world—
Suns and stars with constant force
And undeviating course
     In their orbits sped.
Tree, and plant, and opening flower,
     In their virgin beauty drest,
Heard the mandate, and Thy power
     Instantly confessed.
All by Thee were called to birth,
Sole PROPRIETOR of Earth.

Thine is every living thing—
     From the sluggish worm that crawls 
     O’er the dungeon’s slimy walls,
To the forest’s tameless king—
And the bird, whose rapid wing
     Flashes in the glad sunshine,
As it soars aloft, to fling
Out upon the gales of spring
     Gifts of song that seem divine—
     Insect, beast, and bird are thine!
Formed by Thy creating hand,
Heedful all to thy command.

Hills arrayed in living green,
     Where the sunshine loves to linger,
     And the wind with wizard finger,
     Trifles with the springing grass—
     Waters singing as they pass,
(Pauses none to intervene,)
     With a low and pleasant tune,
     All the leafy time of June—
     Valleys with the sunshine dancing
     On their verdant slopes, and glancing
Downward to their deepest beds—
     Forests, regally uplifting
To the clouds their crowned heads—
And the undulating plain
Swaying with the swaying grain—
These are Thine—and Thine the sky,
With its gorgeous pageantry,
     And its shadows ever shifting.
Wait they all upon thy word,
Nature’s Universal Lord!

Then to Thee, of life the Giver,
Praises be ascribed for ever!
Thine be thanks and adoration,
Thine by songs of exultation:
     Thanks and songs for ever given—
Every voice in concert sounding,
Every heart with rapture bounding,
All harmonious anthems blending,
Louder swelling as ascending—
     Tribute of the earth to Heaven!