Deign, gracious God, to hear my feeble lays!

A mortal sings, immortal be the praise,

Thy tribute, due from all whom breath inspires,

From reptile man to seraph's rapt'rous fires.

But can thy goodness reach the loathsome grave?—

E'en there thou art not impotent to save.

Rescu'd by thee, from death's eternal gloom,

I live—blest emblem of the life to come!

Free was I counted with the silent dead,

O'erwhelm'd with horror and amazing dread. 

The pit had shut its mouth with dreadful sound,

And Death, grim tyrant! aim'd the fatal wound.—

Thy tender mercies, with the dawning light,

Illum'd my eyes just clos'd in endless night,

Gave me to life, and living to display

Thy providential care from day to day.—

O thou supremely wise, supremely good!

Whose ways are like the th'unfathomable flood,

Grant me to celebrate thy glorious name,

Till death dissolves this late-preserved frame:

And when this earth shall hasten to decay,

When seas shall burn, and mountains melt away,

When suns and stars in wild confusion hurl'd

Now crush each other, now destroy a world,

May I resume the sacred theme above;

For ever praise thee, and forever love.