The Child Jesus.

87

THE CHILD JESUS.

A CORNISH CAROL.

Welcome that star in Judah's sky,
That voice o'er Bethlehem's palmy glen!
The lamp far sages hailed on high,

The tones that thrilled the shepherd men :
Glory to God in loftiest heaven!

Thus angels smote the echoing chord;
Glad tidings unto man forgiven,
Peace from the presence of the Lord.

The Shepherds sought that birth divine,
The Wise Men traced their guided way;
There, by strange light and mystic sign,
The God they came to worship lay.
A human Babe in beauty smiled,

Where lowing oxen round Him trod:
A maiden clasped her awful Child,
Pure offspring of the breath of God.

Those voices from on high are mute,
The star the Wise Men saw is dim;
But hope still guides the wanderer's foot,
And faith renews the angel hymn:

Glory to God in loftiest heaven!

Touch with glad hand the ancient chord; Good tidings unto man forgiven,

Peace from the presence of the Lord.

Robert Stephen Hawker.

Long Ago.

89

LONG AGO.

In the bleak mid-winter

Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,

Snow on snow,

In the bleak wind-winter

Long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold Him,

Nor earth sustain;

Heaven and earth shall flee away

When He comes to reign:

In the bleak mid-winter

A stable-place sufficed The Lord God Almighty,

Jesus Christ.

Enough for Him whom cherubim
Worship night and day,

A breastful of milk

And a mangerful of hay; Enough for Him whom angels Fall down before,

The ox and ass and camel

Which adore.