Music & HymnsSpacious Firmament On High, The

"The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands." Psalm 19:1

Words: Joseph Addison, in The Spectator (London, England), August 23, 1712. It followed an essay on the proper means of strengthening and confirming faith in the mind of man, with this introduction:

As such a bold and sublime manner of Thinking furnished out very noble Matter for an Ode, the Reader may see it wrought into the following one.

Music: "Creation," Franz Josef Haydn, 1798

"London (Addison's)," J. Sheeles, circa 1720

The spacious firmament on high,
With all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame
Their great Original proclaim.
Th'unwearied sun, from day to day,
Does his Creator's powers display,
And publishes to every land
The work of an Almighty Hand.

Soon as the evening shades prevail
The moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth
Repeats the story of her birth;
While all the stars that round her burn
And all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings as they roll,
And spread the truth from pole to pole.

What though in solemn silence all
Move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound
Amid the radiant orbs be found?
In reason's ear they all rejoice,
And utter forth a glorious voice,
Forever singing as they shine,
"The hand that made us is divine."

Hymns supplied through the gracious generosity of the Cyber Hymnal Website