Hymns and Odes for Charity Occasions XI

Loud o'er thy savage child, O God, the night-wind roared, As, houseless, in the wild He bowed him and adored. Thou saw'st him there, As to the sky He raised his eye In fear and prayer. Thine inspiration came! And, grateful for thine aid, An altar to thy name He built beneath the shade. The limbs of larch, That darkened round, He bent and bound In many an arch; Till, in a sylvan fane, Went up the voice of prayer, And music's simple strain Arose in worship there. The arching boughs, The roof of leaves That summer weaves, O'erheard his vows. Then beamed a brighter day; And Salem's holy height And Greece in glory lay Beneath the kindling light. Thy temple rose On Salem's hill, While Grecian skill Adorned thy foes. Along those rocky shores, Along those olive plains, Where pilgrim Genius pores O'er art's sublime remains, Long colonnades Of snowy white Looked forth in light Through classic shades. Forth from the quarry stone The marble goddess sprung; And, loosely round her thrown, Her marble vesture hung; And forth from cold And sunless mines Came silver shrines And gods of gold. The Star of Bethlehem burned! And, where he Stoic trod, The altar was o'erturned, Raised "to an unknown God." And now there are No idol fanes On all the plains Beneath that star. To honor thee, dread Power! Our strength and skill combine; And temple, tomb, and tower Attest these gifts divine. A swelling dome For pride they gild, For peace they build An humbler home. By these our fathers' host Was led to victory first, When, on our guardless coast, The cloud of battle burst, Through storm and spray, By these controlled, Our navies hold Their thundering way. Great Source of every art! Our homes, our pictured halls, Our thronged and busy mart, That lifts its granite walls, And shoots to heaven Its glittering spires, To catch the fires Of morn and even,-- These, and the breathing forms The brush or chisel gives, With this when marble warms, With that when canvass lives,-- These all combine In countless ways To swell thy praise, For all are thine.