Thou Earth

Lyrics

• Poet: Eliza R. Snow
• Copyright: Public Domain

Lyrics from Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Thou, Earth, wast once a glorious sphere
Of noble magnitude
And didst with majesty appear
Among the worlds of God.

Thy dimensions have been torn
Asunder, piece by piece;
And each dismembered fragment borne
Abroad to distant space.

When Enoch could no longer stay,
Amid corruption here;
Part of thyself was borne away,
To form another sphere.

That portion where his city stood,
He gained by right approved;
And nearer to the throne of God
His planet upward moved.

And when the Lord saw fit to hide
The ten lost tribes away;
Thou, Earth, was severed to provide
The orb on which they stay.

And thus from time to time thy size
Has been diminished till,
Thou seemest the law of sacrifice
Created to fulfil.

The curse of God on man was placed;
That curse thou didst partake,
And thou hast been by turns disgraced
And honored for his sake.

The vilest wretches hell will claim,
Now breathe thy atmosphere;
The noblest spirits heaven can name,
Have been embodied here.

Lord Jesus Christ, thy surface graced;
He fell a sacrifice;
And now within thy cold embrace
Thy martyred Joseph lies.

When Satan's hosts are overcome,
The martyred princely race
Will claim thee, their celestial home -
Their royal dwelling-place.

A “Restitution” yet must come
That will to thee restore,
By that grand law of worlds thy sum
Of matter here-to-fore.

And thou, O Earth! will leave thy track
Thou hast been doomed to trace -
The Gods with shouts will bring thee back
To fill thy native place.

Also known as "An Address to Earth"
Eliza R. Snow, Millennial Star 13:272, September 1852
Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1891 ed, p. 322.