His knowledge rules, His strength defends,
His love doth cherish all;

His birth our joy, His life our light,
His death our end of thrall.

Alas! He weeps, He sighs, He pants,
Yet doth His angels sing;

Out of His tears, His sighs and throbs,
Doth bud a joyful spring.

Almighty Babe, whose tender arms
Can force all foes to fly,

Correct my faults, protect my life,

Direct me when I die!

ROBERT SOUTHWELL

27.

NATIVITY

MMENSITY, cloistered in thy dear womb,

cl well-beloved imprisonment;

There He hath made Himself to His intent,
Weak enough now into our world to come:
But oh! for thee, for Him, hath th' inn no room?
Yet lay Him in His stall, and from the orient
Stars and wise men will travel, to prevent
Th' effect of Herod's jealous general doom.

See'st thou, my soul! with thy faith's eyes, how He,
Which fills all place, yet none holds Him, doth lie!
Was not His pity towards thee wondrous high,
That would have need to be pitied by thee?
Kiss Him, and with Him into Egypt go,
With His kind mother who partakes thy woe.

44

JOHN DONNE

28.

FOR CHRISTMAS DAY

MMORTAL Babe, who this dear day
Didst change Thine heaven for our clay,

And didst with flesh Thy godhead veil,
Eternal Son of God, all hail!

Shine, happy star; ye angels, sing
Glory on high to heaven's King:

Run, shepherds, leave your nightly watch,
See heaven come down to Bethlehem's cratch.

Worship, ye sages of the east,

The King of gods in meanness dressed,
O blessed maid, smile and adore

The God thy womb and arms have bore.

Star, angels, shepherds, and wise sages,
Thou virgin glory of all ages,
Restored frame of heaven and earth,
Joy in your dear Redeemer's birth!

JOSEPH HALL

29.

A HYMN ON THE NATIVITY OF

MY SAVIOUR

SING the birth was born to-night,
The Author both of life and light,

The angel so did sound it:
And like the ravished shepherds said,
Who saw the light and were afraid,

Yet searched, and true they found it.

A Hymn on the Nativity of my Saviour

The Son of God, th' Eternal King,
That did us all salvation bring,

And freed our soul from danger;

He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger.

The Father's wisdom willed it so,
The Son's obedience knew no No,

Both wills were in one stature;
And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made flesh indeed,
And took on Him our nature.

What comfort by Him we do win,
Who made Himself the price of sin
To make us heirs of glory!
To see this Babe, all innocence,
A martyr born in our defence:
Can man forget the story?

BEN JONSON

30.

THE SHEPHERDS' SONG

SWEE

WEET music, sweeter far

Than any song is sweet:
Sweet music, heavenly rare,
Mine ears, O peers, doth greet.

The Shepherds' Song

You gentle flocks, whose fleeces pearled with dew
Resemble heaven, whom golden drops make bright,
Listen, O listen, now, O not to you

Our pipes make sport to shorten weary night:
But voices most divine

Make blissful harmony:
Voices that seem to shine,

For what else clears the sky?

Tunes can we hear, but not the singers see,
The tunes divine, and so the singers be.

Lo, how the firmament

Within an azure fold

The flock of stars hath pent,

That we might them behold,

Yet from their beams proceedeth not this light,
Nor can their crystals such reflection give.
What then doth make the element so bright?
The heavens are come down upon earth to live:
But hearken to the song,

Glory to glory's King,
And peace all men among,

These quiristers do sing.

Angels they are, as also (shepherds) He

Whom in our fear we do admire to see.

Let not amazement blind

Your souls, said he, annoy:

To you and all mankind

My message bringeth joy.

The Shepherds' Song

For lo! the world's great Shepherd now is born,
A blessed Babe, an Infant full of power:
After long night uprisen is the morn,
Renowning Bethlem in the Saviour.
Sprung is the perfect day,
By prophets seen afar:
Sprung is the mirthful May,
Which winter cannot mar.

In David's city doth this Sun appear

Clouded in flesh, yet, shepherds, sit we here?

EDMUND BOLTON

31.

F

OF THE EPIPHANY

'AIR eastern star, that art ordained to run

Before the sages, to the rising sun,

Here cease thy course, and wonder that the cloud
Of this poor stable can thy Maker shroud:
Ye heavenly bodies glory to be bright,
And are esteemed as ye are rich in light,
But here on earth is taught a different way,
Since under this low roof the Highest lay.
Jerusalem erects her stately towers,

Displays her windows and adorns her bowers;
Yet there thou must not cast a trembling spark,
Let Herod's palace still continue dark;

Each school and synagogue thy force repels,

There Pride enthroned in misty error dwells:

The temple, where the priests maintain their quire,
Shall taste no beam of thy celestial fire,