O thou, my Lord Almighty, great and wise, Wellseen for mighty works, and marvellous To every mind that knows thee, Ever Good! Wondrously well all creatures Thou hast made, Unseen of us or seen; with softest band
Of skilful strength thy brighter beings leading, Thou from its birth forth onward to its end This middle earth by times hast measured out As was most fit; that orderly they go
And eftsoon come again. Thou wisely stirrest To thine own will thy changing unstill creatures, Unchangeable and still thyself for ever!
No one is mightier, greater than Thou art,
No one was made thine equal: need was none,
Of all these works which thou hast wrought, to Thee;
But, at the willing of thy power, the world
And everything within it didst thou make, Without all need to Thee of such great works,
Great is thy goodness,-think it out who will; For it is all of one, in everything,
Thou and Thy good; thine own; not from without,
Neither did any goodness come to Thee:
But, well I know, thy goodness is Most Good All with thyself: unlike to us in kind;
To us, from outwardly, from God himself, Came all we have of good in this low earth. Thou canst not envy any; since to Thee Nothing is like, nor any higher skilled;
For thou, All good, of thine own thought didst think, And then that thought didst work. Before Thee none Was born, to make or unmake anything,
But Thou without a model madest all,
Lord God of men, Almighty, very good,
Being thyself of all the Highest good! Thou, Holy Father, thou, the Lord of hosts, After thy will, and by thy power alone,
The world, this midway garden, didst create; And by thy will, as now thy wisdom would, Wieldest it all! For thou, O God of truth, Long time of old didst deal out all good things, Making thy creatures mainly well alike, Yet not alike in all ways; and didst name With one name all together all things here, "The World under the clouds." Yet, God of glory, That one name, Father, thou didst turn to four: The first, this Earth-field; and the second, water; Shares of the world: third, fire, and fourth, air: This is again the whole world all together. Yet have these four each one his stead and stool, Each hath its place; tho' much with other mixt; Fast by thy might, Almighty Father, bound, Biding at peace, and softly well together By thy behest, kind Father! so that none Durst overstep its mark, for fear of Thee, But willing thanes and warriors of their King Live well together, howsoever strive The wet with dry, the chilly with the hot. Water and Earth, both cold in kind, breed fruits : Water lies wet and cold around the field. With the green earth is mingled the cold air, Dwelling in middle place: it is no wonder That it be warm and cold, blent by the winds, This wide wet tier of clouds; for, in my judgment, Air hath a midway place, 'twixt earth and fire: All know that fire is uppermost of all Over this earth, and ground is nethermost. Yet is this wonderful, O Lord of Hosts,
Which by thy thought thou workest, that distinctly Thou to thy creatures settest mark and bound And dost not mingle them : the wet cold water Thou fixest it the fast earth for a floor, For that itself, unstill and weak and soft Alone would widely wander everywhere,
Nor (well I wot it sooth) could ever stand. But the earth holds, and swills it in some sort, That through such sipping it may afterward Moisten the aery-lift: then leaves and grass Yond o'er the breadth of Britain blow and grow, Its praise of old. The cold earth bringeth fruits More marvellously forth, when it is thawed And wetted by the water: if not so, Then were it dried to dust, and driven away Wide by the winds; as often ashes now Over the earth are blown: nor might on earth Aught live, nor any wight by any craft Brook the cold water, neither dwell therein, If thou, O King of Angels, otherwhile Mingledst not soil and stream with fire together; And didst not craftwise mete out cold and heat So that the fire may never fiercely burn
Earth and the sea stream, though fast linked with both, The Father's work of old. Nor is methinks
This wonder aught the less, that earth and sea, Cold creatures both, can by no skill put out The fire that in them sticks, fixt by the Lord. Such is the proper use of the salt seas Of earth and water and the welkin eke, And even of the upper skies above. There, is of right the primal place of fire; Its birth-right over all things else we see Throughout the varied deep, tho' mixt with all Things of this world, it cannot over one Rise to such height as to destroy it quite, But by His leave who shaped out life to us, The Everliving and Almighty One.
Earth is more heavy and more thickly pack'd Than other things; for that it long hath stood Of all the nethermost: saving the sky Which daily wafteth round this roomy world, Yet never whirleth it away, nor can Get nearer anywhere than everywhere, Striking it round-about, above, below,
With even nearness wheresoe'er it be.
Each creature that we speak of hath his place Own and asunder, yet is mixt with all.
No one of them may be without the rest, Though dwelling all together mixedly: As now the earth and water dwell in fire, A thing to the unlearned hard to teach, But to the wise right clear and in same sort Fire is fast fixt in water, and in stones Still hidden away and fixt, tho' hard to find. Yet thitherward the Father of angels hath So fastly bound up fire, that it may Never again get back to its own home
Where over all this earth sure dwells the fire. Soon would it leave this lean world, overcome Of cold, if to its kith on high it went ; Yet everything is yearning thitherward Where its own kindred bide the most together.
Thou hast established, thro' thy strong might, O glorious king of hosts, right wondrously The earth so fast, that it on either half Heeleth not over, nor can stronger lean Hither or thither, than it ever did. Since nothing earthly holds it, to this globe 'Twere easy up or down to fall aside, Likest to this, that in an egg the yolk Bides in the middle, tho' the egg glides round. So all the world still standeth on its stead Among the streams, the meeting of the floods : The lift and stars and the clear shell of heaven Sail daily round it, as they long have done.
Moreover, God of people, thou hast set
A threefold soul in us, and afterward Stirrest and quick'nest it with thy strong might
So that there bideth not the less thereof In a little finger than in all the body. Therefore a little before I clearly said That the soul is a threefold workmanship
In every man: because the wise all say That ire is one whole part in every soul, Another, lust; another and the third
Far better than these twain, wise-mindedness: This is no sorry craft; for only man Hath this, and not the cattle: the other two Things out of number have as well as we; For ire and lust each beast hath of itself. Therefore have men, thro'out this middle sphere Surpassed Earth's creatures all; for that they have What these have not, the one good craft we named. Wisemindedness in each should govern lust And ire, and its own self; in every man With thought and understanding ruling him. This is the mightiest mainstay of man's soul, The one best mark to sunder it from beasts.
Thou mighty king of peoples, glorious Lord, Didst fashion thus the soul, that it should turn Itself around itself, as in swift race
Doth all the firmament, which quickly twirls Every day around this middle sphere, By the Lord's might so doth the soul of man Likest a wheel whirl round about itself, Oft-times keen searching out by day and night About these earthly creatures of the Lord : Somewhile herself she probes with prying eye: Somewhile again she asks about her God The Ever One, her Maker; going round Likest a wheel, whirling around herself. When she about her Maker heedful asks, She is upheaved above her lower self: She altogether in herself abides
When, seeking round, she pries about herself: But furthest falls beneath herself, when she With love and wonder searcheth out this earth, With its lean lusts, above the lore for ever!
Yea, more; Thou, Evergood! to souls in heaven Givest an heritage, Almighty God,
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