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!

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!

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!

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.