The spacious firmament on high
The spacious firmament on high. Joseph Addison* (1672-1719).
From The Spectator, no 465, Saturday, 23 August 1712. It comes at the end of an essay on ‘strengthening and confirming’ faith. Addison argues that faith is strengthened by morality, but even more powerfully by ‘an habitual Adoration of the Supreme Being, as well in constant Acts of Mental Worship, as in outward Forms.’ Particularly to be recommended are ‘frequent Retirement from the World, accompanied with religious Meditation.’ Addison was concerned that in daily life ‘the Cares or Pleasures of the World strike in with every Thought’, and that in cities there were too many distractions: ‘In Courts and Cities we are entertained...
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Chicago style (see The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th Ed.)
. "The spacious firmament on high."
The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology. Canterbury Press, accessed February 8, 2026,
http://www.hymnology.co.uk/t/the-spacious-firmament-on-high.