| 367 Some origin-all life, all beauty, Thine. Eager towards Thy presence; for in Thee
Thy word created all and doth create: I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high
Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine. Even to the throne of Thy Divinity,
Thou art and wert, and shalt be glorious! great! I am, O god, and surely Thou must be!
Life-living, life-sustaining, Potentate.
Thou art! directing, guiding all, Thou art!
Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround. Direct my understanding then to Thee;
Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath! Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart;
Thou the beginning, with the end hast bound, Though but an atom 'midst immensity,
And beautifully mingled Life and Death! Still I am Something fashioned by Thy hand!
As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze, I hold a middle rank, 'twixt Heaven and Earth,
So suns are born, so words spring forth from Thee! On the last verge of mortal being stand.
And as the spangled in the sunny rays Close to the realm where angels have their birth,
Shine silver round the silver snow, the pageantry Just on the boundary of the spirit land!
O! Heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise;
The chain of being is complete in me;
A million torches lighted by Thy hand In me is matter's last gradation lost,
Wander unwearied through the blue abyss; And the next step is Spirit-Deity!
They own thy power, accomplish thy command, I can command the light'ning, and am dust!
All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss: A monarch, and a slave; a worm, a God!
What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light? Whence came I here, and how? so marvellously [marvelously]
A glorious companion of golden streams? Constructed and conceived, unknown? This clod
Lamps of celestial ether burning bright? Lives surely through some higher energy
Suns, lighting systems with their joyous beams, For from itself alone it could not be.
But Thou, to those, art as the noon to night.
Creator! Yes! Thy Wisdom and Thy Word
Yes! as a drop of water in the Sea, Created me! Thou source of Life and Good!
All this magnificence in Thee is lost:- Thou Spirit of my spirit, and my Lord!
What are a thousand Worlds compared to Thee? Thy Light, Thy Love, in their bright plenitude
And what am I, when Heaven's unnumbered host, Filled me with an immortal Soul, to spring
Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed Over the abyss of Death, and bade it wear
In all the glory of sublimest thought, The garments of Eternal Day, and wing
Is but an atom in the balance, weighed Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere,
Against Thy greatness-is a cipher brought Even in its source, to Thee, its Author, Thee.
Against Infinity? What am I then? Nought [Naught]!
O thought ineffable ! O vision blest!
Nought [Naught] ! but the effluence of Thy light divine, (Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee.)
Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too; Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast,
Yes, in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine, And waft its homage to the Deity.
As shines the sun-beam in a drop of dew, God! thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar;
Nought [Naught]! but I live and on hope pinions' fly, Thus seek thy presence. Being wise and good!
Midst Thy vast works, admire, obey, adore;
And when the Tongue is eloquent no more,
The Soul shall speak in tears of gratitude.
The Times and Seasons is edited by JOHN TAYLOR. Printed and published about the first and fifteenth of every month, on the corner of Water and Bain streets, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, by JOHN TAYLOR AND WILFORD WOODRUFF.
TERMS. TWO DOLLARS per annum, payable in all cases in advance. Any person procuring five new subscribers, and forwarding us Ten Dollars current money, shall receive one volume gratis. All letters must be addressed to John Taylor, editor, POST PAID, or they will not receive attention.
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