From high the Lord beheld, ere worlds began,
As though it was the residence of man,
This teeming earth, by sin and hate defiled
Estranged from God, perverted, lawless, wild.
But underneath the mass of sin and vice
He saw a pearl of untold, matchless price,
On it He set His yearning heart, and then
Gave all He had and bought the peerless gem.
Of it possess'd, His gracious purpose is
To make it shine in everlasting bliss;
To polish it is now His constant care,
His image on its beauteous face to bear.
A. M.