NIGHT SHOWETH KNOWLEDGE.
By Wm. Habingdon
WHEN I survey the bright
Celestial sphere,
So rich with jewels hung, that night
Doth like an Ethiop bride appear. My soul her wings doth speed,
And heavenward flies,
The Almighty mysteries to read
In the large volumes of the skies. For the bright firmament
Shouts forth no flame
So silent, but is eloquent
In speaking the Creator's name. No unregarded star
Contracts its light
Into so small a character,
Removed far from our human sight. But if we steadfast look
We shall discern
In it, as in some holy book,
How man may heavenly knowledge learn. It tells the conqueror,
That far-stretched power,
Which his proud designs traffic for,
Is but the triumph of an hour. Thus those celestial fires,
Though seeming mute,
The fallacy of our desires
And all the pride of life confute. For they have watched since first
The world had birth,
And found sin in itself accurst,
And nothing permanent on earth.
Wm. Habingdon—1605.