Ye Tribes of Adam, Join

Ye tribes of Ad­am

join

With Heav’n and earth and seas

And of­fer notes di­vine

To your cre­at­or’s praise:

Ye ho­ly throng of an­gels bright

In worlds of light

be­gin the song.

Thou sun with dazz­ling rays

And moon that rules the night

Shine to your mak­er’s praise

With stars of twink­ling light:

His pow­er de­clare

ye floods on high

And clouds that fly in em­pty air.

The shin­ing worlds above

In glo­ri­ous or­der stand

Or in swift cours­es move

By His su­preme com­mand:

He spake the word

and all their frame

From no­thing came

to praise the Lord.

He moved their migh­ty wheels

In un­known ag­es past

And each His word ful­fills

While time and na­ture last:

In dif­fer­ent ways His works pro­claim

His won­drous name

and speak His praise.

Let all the earth-born race

And mon­sters of the deep

The fish that cleave the seas

Or in their bo­som sleep;

From sea and shore their trib­ute pay

And still dis­play their mak­er’s pow­er.

Ye va­pors

hail

and snow

Praise ye th’al­migh­ty Lord

And stor­my winds that blow

To exe­cute His word:

When light­nings shine

or thun­ders roar

Let earth adore His hand di­vine.

Ye mount­ains near the skies

With lof­ty ce­dars there

And trees of hum­bler size

That fruit in plen­ty bear;

Beasts wild and tame

birds

flies

and worms

In va­ri­ous forms

ex­alt His name.

Ye kings and judg­es

fear

The Lord

the sov­er­eign King;

And while you rule us here

His heav’n­ly hon­ors sing;

Nor let the dream of pow­er and state

Make you forget His pow­er su­preme.

Virgins and youths

en­gage

To sound His praise di­vine

While in­fan­cy and age

Their feeb­ler voic­es join:

Wide as He reigns His name be sung

By ev­ery tongue in end­less strains.

Let all the na­tions fear

The God that rules above;

He brings His peo­ple near

And makes them taste His love:

While earth and sky at­tempt His praise

His saints shall raise His hon­ors high.