Hymn XI.
1.
Each trembling spray and little flower1
Repeats a tale of God,2
Who feeds their life with ev’ry shower3
That wets the steaming sod.4
2.
He gave the force unseen and strange5
That works in every pore,6
Through hours, and days, and seasons’
[range,7
[range,7
Unfolding wiser lore.8
3.
A course of endless change in all9
By changeless rules decreed,10
That weave about this teeming vale11
New life from every seed.12
4.
Thou, seen around, above the whole,13
Sustaining every part,14
By each to man’s believing soul15
Displayest what thou art.16
5.
Unmeasured might, unmingled good,17
In countless beings shown ;18
That fills each leaf in all the wood,19
In every bud is known.20
6.
Beneath thy sun their fruits mature,21
And so a world sustain ;22
Yet still the procreant seeds endure,23
And all shall flower again.24
7.
O God ! thy forests old attest,25
How fix’d thy wisdom’s plan ;26
The sudden grass may teach us best27
How much thy moments can.28
8.
But while unfathomable will29
Thus rules creation’s host ;30
O living Truth ! instruct me still31
That man reveals thee most.32
9.
He grows like herbs, like leaves decays,33
And turns again to dust ;34
But even his flesh proclaims thy praise,35
And bids his reason trust.36
10.
Like some fair plant the body grows,37
But oh ! how subtlier knit38
The web and frame, that largely shows39
Thy life pervading it !40
11.
A moving frame, an engine strong,41
For thought and choice to guide ;42
When these to it no more belong43
In darkness laid aside,44
12.
Give Thou the life which we require,45
That rooted fast in Thee,46
From Thee to Thee we may aspire,47
And earth thy garden be.48