Beginnings and Endings

The Creation and Dissolution of all Things

In the beginning, God said "Be!"

And all things were,--heaven, earth, and sea:

God, in the end, once more will say,

"Perish!" and all shall pass away.

But Thou, O Lord! for ever art:

The orb of Thine eternity

Is one great whole, without a part;

Past, present, future, meet in Thee.

Convinced of sin, my soul would bend

Before Thee in the lowest dust;

Yet to Thy Throne by prayer ascend,

With trembling awe and childlike trust.

O look in loving-kindness down

On a frail worm with Thee at strife;

Eternal death were in Thy frown,

Thy smile will be eternal life!

--from Sacred Hymns and Poems by James Montgomery

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