Our opening hymn this Sunday is “The spacious firmament on high” (hymn 409 in The Hymnal 1982), a paraphrase of the first six verses of Psalm 19, the Psalm appointed for this Third Sunday in Lent. The words for this hymn are from Joseph Addison (1672-1719). In 1711 he founded the newspaper The Spectator, in which he published all of his hymns. This hymn is from a discourse (August 23, 1712) on the proper ways to strengthen and confirm one’s faith, where Addison claims that faith is strengthened by morality. While listing means of reducing the distractions of everyday life, he mentions “the Silence and Darkness of the Night” as a helpful way for the mind to meditate on higher concerns (note stanza 2). Addison prefaced the hymn with these words: “The Supreme Being has made the best arguments for his own existence in the formation of the heavens and the earth.”
Joseph Addison was born in Wiltshire, England, and was educated at Queen’s College and Magdalen College, Oxford. He had a strong interest in literature and politics. After retiring from public life in 1710, he became a dramatist, essayist, and poet.
The tune for “The spacious firmament on high” is by the Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). He began his musical career as a choirboy at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. From 1761 to 1790 he served as music director for the Esterhazy family. Haydn composed many sacred works including fourteen masses, in addition to symphonies, chamber music, piano sonatas, oratorios, and a few original hymn tunes.
This hymn tune is taken from the chorus “The Heavens Are Telling” at the end of Act I of The Creation, an oratorio which he composed in 1798. The tune, appropriately called CREATION, is a good match for Addison’s text since Haydn paraphrased verses 1 and 2 of Psalm 19 for the chorus “The Heavens Are Telling.” The English composer William Gardiner (1770-1853) adapted Haydn’s music to make it work as a hymn tune. Our hymnal version of this tune was first printed in 1850 in Isaac B. Woodbury’s Dulcimer, or New York Collection of Sacred Music.
One commentary on “The spacious firmament on high” points out that the hymn never uses the word “God.” It also notes that Joseph Addison’s imagery would have seemed archaic even in his own time, especially his reference to an earth-centered universe (stanza 3). Yet this hymn has been included unaltered in every edition of the Hymnal since the first edition in 1789, and in hymnals in many languages throughout the world. Much of its appeal is attributed to the fact that it presents us with an ordered creation watched over by a benevolent Creator.
The spacious firmament on high, with all the blue ethereal sky,
And spangled heavens, a shining frame, their great Original proclaim.
The unwearied sun from day to day does his Creator’s power display;
And publishes to every land the work of an almighty hand.
Soon as the evening shades prevail, the moon takes up the wondrous tale,
And nightly to the listening earth repeats the story of her birth:
Whilst all the stars that round her burn, and all the planets in their turn,
Confirm the tidings, as they roll and spread the truth from pole to pole.
What though in solemn silence all move round the dark terrestrial ball?
What though no real voice nor sound amid their radiant orbs be found?
In reason’s ear they all rejoice, and utter forth a glorious voice;
Forever singing as they shine, “The hand that made us is divine.”
