For thou wert born of woman: thou didst come,
Oh Holiest! to this world of sin and gloom,
Not in thy dread omnipotent array;

And not by thunders strewed
Was thy tempestuous road;

Nor indignation burnt before thee on thy way.
But thee, a soft and naked child,
Thy mother undefiled

In the rude manger laid to rest
From off her virgin breast.

The heavens were not commanded to prepare
A gorgeous canopy of golden air;

Nor stooped their lamps the' enthroned fires on
A single silent star

Came wandering from afar,

[high:

Gliding unchecked and calm along the liquid sky;

The eastern sages leading on,

As at a kingly throne,

To lay their gold and odours sweet

Before thy infant feet.

The earth and ocean were not hushed to hear
Bright harmony from every starry sphere;
Nor at thy presence brake the voice of song
From all the cherub choirs,

And seraphs' burning lyres

[clouds along.

Pour'd through the host of heaven the charmed

One angel troop the strain began,

Of all the race of man

By simple shepherds heard alone,
That soft hosanna's tone.

And when thou didst depart, no car of flame
To bear thee hence in lambent radiance came;

VOL. I.

E

Nor visible angels mourn'd with drooping plumes: Nor didst thou mount on high,

From fatal Calvary,

With all thine own redeem'd outbursting from their tombs.

For thou didst bear away from earth

But one of human birth,

The dying felon by thy side, to be

In Paradise with thee.

Nor o'er thy cross the clouds of vengeance brake;
A little while the conscious earth did shake
At that foul deed by her fierce children done;
A few dim hours of day

The world in darkness lay;

Then bask'd in bright repose beneath the cloudless sun:

While thou didst sleep within the tomb,

Consenting to thy doom;

Ere yet the white-robed angel shone
Upon the sealed stone.

And when thou didst arise, thou didst not stand
With devastation in thy red right hand,
Plaguing the guilty city's murtherous crew
But thou didst haste to meet

Thy mother's coming feet,

And bear the words of peace unto the faithful few. Then calmly, slowly didst thou rise

Into thy native skies,

Thy human form dissolved on high

In its own radiancy.

MILMAN/

HYMN.

BEHOLD! the' Ambassador divine,
Descending from above,

To publish to mankind the law
Of everlasting love!

On him, in rich effusion pour'd,
The heavenly dew descends;
And truth divine he shall reveal
To earth's remotest ends.

No trumpet-sound, at his approach,
Shall strike the wondering ears;
But still and gentle breathe the voice
In which the God appears.

By his kind hand the shaken reed
Shall raise its falling frame;
The dying embers shall revive,
And kindle to a flame.

The onward progress of his zeal
Shall never know decline,
Till foreign lands and distant isles
Receive the law divine.

He who spread forth the arch of heaven,

And bade the planets roll,

Who laid the basis of the earth,
And form'd the human soul,-

Thus saith the Lord, Thee have I sent,
A Prophet from the sky,
Wide o'er the nations to proclaim

The message from on high.

'Before thy face the shades of death
Shall take to sudden flight;
The people who in darkness dwell
Shall hail a glorious light;

'The gates of brass shall sunder burst,
The iron fetters fall;
The promised jubilee of Heaven
Appointed rise o'er all.

And lo! presaging thy approach,
The heathen temples shake,
And trembling in forsaken fanes,
The fabled idols quake.

'I am Jehovah: I am One:

My name shall now be known;
No idol shall usurp my praise,
Nor mount into my throne.'
Lo, former scenes, predicted once,
Conspicuous rise to view;
And future scenes, predicted now,
Shall be accomplish'd too.

Now sing a new song to the Lord!
Let earth his praise resound:
Ye who upon the ocean dwell,
And fill the isles around.

O city of the Lord! begin
The universal song;
And let the scatter'd villages
The joyful notes prolong.

Let Kedar's wilderness afar
Lift up the lonely voice;
And let the tenants of the rock

With accent rude rejoice.

O, from the streams of distant lands
Unto Jehovah sing!

And joyful from the mountains' tops
Shout to the Lord the King!

Let all combined with one accord
Jehovah's glories raise,

Till in remotest bounds of earth
The nations sound his praise.

LOGAN.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

THE shepherds went their hasty way,
And found the lowly stable-shed
Where the Virgin-Mother lay:

And now they check'd their eager tread,
For to the Babe, that at her bosom clung,
A mother's song the Virgin-Mother_sung.

They told her how a glorious light,
Streaming from a heavenly throng,
Around them shone, suspending night!
While sweeter than a mother's song,
Bless'd angels heralded the Saviour's birth,
Glory to God on high! and peace on earth.

She listen'd to the tale divine,

And closer still the Babe she press'd; And while she cried, the Babe is mine! The milk rush'd faster to her breast:

Joy rose within her, like a summer's morn; Peace, peace on earth! the Prince of Peace is born.