“Amazing, beauteous change”

Philip Doddridge (1702–1751)

AMAZING, beauteous change!

A world created new!

My thoughts with transport range,

The lovely scene to view;

In all I trace,

Saviour divine,

The word is thine,—

Be thine the praise!

See crystal fountains play

Amidst the burning sands;

The river’s winding way

Shines through the thirsty lands;

New grass is seen,

And o’er the meads

Its carpet spreads

Of living green.

Where pointed brambles grew,

Intwined with horrid thorn,

Gay flowers, forever new,

The painted fields adorn,—

The blushing rose

And lily there,

In union fair,

Their sweets disclose.

Where the bleak mountain stood

All bare and disarrayed,

See the wide-branching wood

Diffuse its grateful shade;

Tall cedars nod,

And oaks and pines,

And elms and vines

Confess thee God.

The tyrants of the plain

Their savage chase give o’er,—

No more they rend the slain,

And thirst for blood no more;

But infant hands

Fierce tigers stroke,

And lions yoke

In flowery bands.

O, when, Almighty Lord!

Shall these glad things arise,

To verify thy word,

And bless our wandering eyes?

That earth may raise,

With all its tongues,

United songs

Of ardent praise.

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