“Amazing, beauteous change”

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.