The perfect world, by Adam trod, Was the first temple built by God; His fiat laid the corner stone, And heaved its pillars one by one. He hung its starry roof on high, The broad expanse of azure sky; He spread its pavement, green and bright, And curtained it with morning light. The mountains in their places stood, The sea, the sky; and all was good; And when its first pure praises rang, The morning stars together rang. Lord, 'tis not ours to make the sea, And earth, and sky, a house for Thee; But in Thy sight our offering stands, A humbler temple, made with hands.