Classic Poem

Hail , new creation! which of old wast not,
While in the Father's bosom dwelt the Son
And co-eternal Spirit; Each with Each
Well pleas'd, nor wanting aught their joy to fill,
Who fill'd eternity. No time was then,
Nor was requir'd, until the Word came forth,
The worlds invisible and visible
In condescension infinite to frame;
That so the Father's glory might appear,
His love immense and beauty exquisite
O'erflowing far and wide. Then first, O Time,
Thou too forthwith didst into being spring
(If being may be call'd what rather seems
Relationship of ordered entities),
That all creation might in thee proceed
On its predestin'd course. For whatsoe'er
From non-existence finds an origin,
Needs must in time continue; God alone
Eternity inhabits; God alone
No past or future has, as evermore
Remaining unenduringly the same;
But all things else, the fabric of His hand,
As of progression, so of time admit, —
Time, not in all the same, but different far
In each, according as their nature is:
Angelic time for Angels; for the stars
Sidereal time, — a mock eternity,
The vastness of immeasurable years;
For man, the tenant of this lower orb,
Time annual, in months and weeks and days
Administer'd; while for the insect tribes,
Suffices to complete their round a time
Ephemeral; they in that little space
Long years compress: and as their life to us,
So ours to Angels seems; so theirs in turn
To loftiest Seraphim. O, wondrous scheme
Of gradual duration, — flight by flight,
From lowest time to highest mounting on!
Highest of all no nearer to the plane
Of that supreme and true Eternity,
Which God inhabits, than the mimic years
Of a poor insect's life. Our part be, then,
Thee only to adore, true Infinite!
Thee only, true Eternal! Father, Son,
And Spirit everblest! And O, vouchsafe,
That here by Thine all-perfect ordinance
Establish'd in this sublunary state,
We so may estimate and duly measure
Thy sacred gift of time, our golden treasure,
That every hour to Thy pure-glory spending,
We may acquire, in glory never ending,
A life all time, all space, all measurement transcending!