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An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.
Dedication Hymn
By Nathaniel Parker Willis (1806–1867)
T
Was the first temple—built by God;
His fiat laid the corner-stone,
And heaved its pillars one by one.
The broad illimitable sky;
He spread its pavement, green and bright,
And curtained it with morning light.
The sea—the sky—and “all was good”;
And when its first pure praises rang,
The morning stars together sang.
And earth and sky a house for thee;
But in thy sight our off’ring stands—
A humbler temple, made with hands.