Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.
By Reginald Heber (1783–1826)Praise
| I PRAISED the Earth, in beauty seen | |
| With garlands gay of various green; | |
| I praised the Sea, whose ample field | |
| Shone glorious as a silver shield; | |
| And Earth and Ocean seem’d to say | 5 |
| “Our beauties are but for a day.” | |
| I praised the Sun, whose chariot roll’d | |
| On wheels of amber and of gold; | |
| I praised the Moon, whose softer eye | |
| Gleam’d sweetly through the summer sky:— | 10 |
| And Moon and Sun in answer said, | |
| “Our days of light are numberëd!” | |
| O God! O Good beyond compare! | |
| If thus Thy meaner works are fair; | |
| If thus Thy bounties gild the span | 15 |
| Of ruin’d earth and sinful man; | |
| How glorious must the mansion be | |
| Where Thy redeem’d shall dwell with Thee! | |