The Spacious Firmament On High
- Words:
- Joseph Addison
- Music:
- Haydn
Sheet music
- 1The spacious firmament on high,With all the blue, ethereal sky,And spangled heav’ns, a shining frame,Their great Original proclaim:Th’unwearied sun from day to dayDoes his Creator’s pow’r display,And publishes to ev’ry landThe work of an almighty hand.
- 2Soon as the evening shades prevail,The moon takes up the wondrous tale,And nightly to the list’ning earthRepeats the story of her birth;While all the stars that round her burn,And all the planets in their turn,Confirm the tidings as they roll,And spread the truth from pole to pole.
- 3What tho’ in solemn silence allMove round this dark terrestrial ball?What tho’ no real voice nor soundAmid the radiant orbs be found?In reason’s ear they all rejoice,And utter forth a glorious voice,Forever singing as they shine,“The hand that made us is divine.”
In the hymnals
- Written in 1712, the words are in 834 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The sheet music and words are from PDHymns.com. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.