Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By William AugustusMuhlenberg

110 Heaven’s Magnificence

SINCE o’er thy footstool here below

Such radiant gems are strown,

Oh, what magnificence must glow,

My God, about thy throne!

So brilliant here these drops of light,

There the full ocean rolls, how bright!

If night’s blue curtain of the sky,

With thousand stars inwrought,

Hung like a royal canopy

With glittering diamonds fraught,

Be, Lord, thy temple’s outer veil,

What splendor at the shrine must dwell!

The dazzling sun at noontide 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!

Ah, how shall these dim eyes endure

That noon of living rays!

Or how my spirit, so impure,

Upon thy brightness gaze!

Anoint, O Lord, anoint my sight,

And robe me for that world of light.