CHRISTMAS.
O holy, happy morning,
That saw the Saviour’s birth!
The star, thy brow adorning,
Beams mercy on the earth.
For shepherds, and for sages,
Thy cheer, impartial, free,—
The travail of the ages
Finds recompense in thee.
My soul, be thou believing,—
No more thy past deplore;
In Christ all loss retrieving,
Rejoice for evermore.
By love unknown attended,
Thy weary watch and ward,—
Behold! the vision splendid!
The angel of the Lord!
And hark! the herald angel!
The radiant, rapturous throng!
The ravishing evangel
Floods all the hills with song:
“To God in heaven, glory,
Good will to men below;”
Speed, speed the blessed story,
That all the world may know.
Repeat it softly, slowly,
For still, in hut and hall,
Are lonely hearts, and lowly,
That hunger for it all.
Again—again the story!
Till sin and sorrow cease—
“To God, the Father, glory,
And to his children, peace.”
GOLD, AND FRANKINCENSE, AND MYRRH.
Faithful, followed they the star
Faintly glimmering afar,
Till it rested o’er the way,
Where the Lord of glory lay.