--- title: Times and Seasons description: Issues of 1842 to 1843. authors: - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints editors: - Ebenezer Robinson - Don Carlos Smith - Smith, Joseph, Jr. - Taylor, John collections: - periodicals tags: - newspaper - times-and-seasons - nauvoo - nineteenth-century periodical: Times and Seasons volume: 4 number: 23 published: 1843-10-15 publisher: E. Robinson and D. C. Smith; later John Taylor publisher_place: Commerce and Nauvoo, Illinois language: en type: article reference: "“God,” *Times and Seasons* 4, no. 23 (October 15, 1843): 366–367." printed_title: GOD source: url: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-10-15_4_23 transcription: Text from the Centerplace.org transcription (https://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v4n23.htm), with its page breaks; this Internet Archive scan is the reference copy (its OCR was used only as a witness for OCR repair) identifier: per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-10-15_4_23 start_page: 366 end_page: 367 curator_note: A Mormon newspaper published by the church in Nauvoo; included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1843 (Nauvoo, Illinois); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States source: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1843-10-15_4_23 publication_year: 1843 --- # God O THOU ETERNAL ONE! whose presence bright The sands, or the Sun's rays; but God! for Thee All space doth occupy-all motion guide; There is no weight nor measure; none can mount Unchanged thro' Time's all-devastating flight, Up to the mysteries. Reason's brightest spark, Thou only God! There is no God beside. Though kindled by Thy light, in vain would try Being above all beings! Mighty One! To trace thy councils, infinite and dark; Whom none can comprehend, and none explore; And Thought is lost ere thought can soar so high, Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone; E'en like past moments in eternity. Embracing all-supporting-ruling o'er- Being whom we call God-and know no more! Thou, from primeval nothingness, didst call First, Chaos, then Existence. Lord, on Thee In its sublime research, Philosophy Eternity had its foundation; all May measure out the Ocean deep-may count Spring forth from Thee; of Light, Joy, Harmony, Some origin-all life, all beauty, Thine. Eager towards Thy presence; for in Thee Thy word created all and doth create: I live, and breathe, and dwell; aspiring high Thy splendor fills all space with rays divine. Even to the throne of Thy Divinity, Thou art and wert, and shalt be glorious! great! I am, O god, and surely Thou must be! Life-living, life-sustaining, Potentate. Thou art! directing, guiding all, Thou art! Thy chains the unmeasured universe surround. Direct my understanding then to Thee; Upheld by Thee, by Thee inspired with breath! Control my spirit, guide my wandering heart; Thou the beginning, with the end hast bound, Though but an atom 'midst immensity, And beautifully mingled Life and Death! Still I am Something fashioned by Thy hand! As sparks mount upward from the fiery blaze, I hold a middle rank, 'twixt Heaven and Earth, So suns are born, so words spring forth from Thee! On the last verge of mortal being stand. And as the spangled in the sunny rays Close to the realm where angels have their birth, Shine silver round the silver snow, the pageantry Just on the boundary of the spirit land! O! Heaven's bright army glitters in Thy praise; The chain of being is complete in me; A million torches lighted by Thy hand In me is matter's last gradation lost, Wander unwearied through the blue abyss; And the next step is Spirit-Deity! They own thy power, accomplish thy command, I can command the light'ning, and am dust! All gay with life, all eloquent with bliss: A monarch, and a slave; a worm, a God! What shall we call them? Piles of crystal light? Whence came I here, and how? so marvellously [marvelously] A glorious companion of golden streams? Constructed and conceived, unknown? This clod Lamps of celestial ether burning bright? Lives surely through some higher energy Suns, lighting systems with their joyous beams, For from itself alone it could not be. But Thou, to those, art as the noon to night. Creator! Yes! Thy Wisdom and Thy Word Yes! as a drop of water in the Sea, Created me! Thou source of Life and Good! All this magnificence in Thee is lost:- Thou Spirit of my spirit, and my Lord! What are a thousand Worlds compared to Thee? Thy Light, Thy Love, in their bright plenitude And what am I, when Heaven's unnumbered host, Filled me with an immortal Soul, to spring Though multiplied by myriads, and arrayed Over the abyss of Death, and bade it wear In all the glory of sublimest thought, The garments of Eternal Day, and wing Is but an atom in the balance, weighed Its heavenly flight beyond this little sphere, Against Thy greatness-is a cipher brought Even in its source, to Thee, its Author, Thee. Against Infinity? What am I then? Nought [Naught]! O thought ineffable! O vision blest! Nought [Naught] ! but the effluence of Thy light divine, (Though worthless our conceptions all of Thee.) Pervading worlds, hath reached my bosom too; Yet shall Thy shadowed image fill our breast, Yes, in my spirit doth Thy spirit shine, And waft its homage to the Deity. As shines the sun-beam in a drop of dew, God! thus alone my lowly thoughts can soar; Nought [Naught]! but I live and on hope pinions' fly, Thus seek thy presence. Being wise and good! Midst Thy vast works, admire, obey, adore; And when the Tongue is eloquent no more, The Soul shall speak in tears of gratitude. The Times and Seasons is edited by JOHN TAYLOR. Printed and published about the first and fifteenth of every month, on the corner of Water and Bain streets, Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, by JOHN TAYLOR AND WILFORD WOODRUFF. TERMS. TWO DOLLARS per annum, payable in all cases in advance. Any person procuring five new subscribers, and forwarding us Ten Dollars current money, shall receive one volume gratis. All letters must be addressed to John Taylor, editor, POST PAID, or they will not receive attention.