The poems and verse-translations of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor For the first time collected and edited after the author's own text: With introduction. By the Rev. Alexander B. Grosart [in Miscellanies of The Fuller Worthies' Library] |
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 | The poems and verse-translations of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor |  |
20
Hymns for Christmas-day.
1.
[Mysterious truth! that the self-same should be]
Mysterious truth! that the self-same should beA Lamb, a Shepherd, and a Lion too!
Yet such was He
Whom first the shepherds knew,
When they themselves became
Sheep to the Shepherd-Lamb.
Shepherd of men and angels, Lamb of God,
Lion of Judah, by these titles keep
The wolf from Thy indangered sheep.
Bring all the world unto Thy fold,
Let Jews and Gentiles hither come
In numbers great that can't be told,
And call Thy lambs that wander, home.
Glory be to God on high,
All glories be to th'glorious Deity.
The Second Hymn; being a Dialogue between Three Shepherds.
Where is this blessed Babe
That hath made
All the world so full of joy
And expectation;
That glorious Boy
That crowns each nation
With a triumphant wreath of blessedness?
That hath made
All the world so full of joy
And expectation;
21
That crowns each nation
With a triumphant wreath of blessedness?
Where should He be but in the throng,
And among
His angel-ministers, that sing
And take wing
Just as may echo to His voyce,
And rejoyce
When wing and tongue and all
May so procure their happiness?
And among
His angel-ministers, that sing
And take wing
Just as may echo to His voyce,
And rejoyce
When wing and tongue and all
May so procure their happiness?
But He hath other waiters now;
A poor cow,
An ox and mule stand and behold,
And wonder,
That a stable should enfold
Him that can thunder.
A poor cow,
An ox and mule stand and behold,
And wonder,
That a stable should enfold
Him that can thunder.
Chorus.
O what a gracious God have we!How good? how great? Even as our misery.
The Third Hymn: of Christ's Birth in an June.
The blessed virgin travail'd without pain,And lodgèd in an inne;
A glorious star the sign,
But of a greater guest then ever came that way;
22
That is the God of night and day,
And over all the pow'rs of heaven doth reign.
It was the time of great Augustus tax,
And then He comes
That pays all sums,
Even the whole price of lost humanity;
And set us free
From the ungodly emperie
Of sin, and Satan, and of death.
O make our hearts, blest God, Thy lodging-place,
And in our brest
Be pleas'd to rest,
For thou lov'st temples better then an inne,
And cause that sin
May not profane the Deity within,
And sully o're the ornaments of grace.
Amen.
[The Fourth] Hymn for Christmas Day.
Awake, my soul, and come away!
Put on thy best array;
Least if thou longer stay,
Thou lose some minitts of so blest a day.
Goe run,
And bid good morrow to the sun:
Welcome his safe return,
to Capricorn;
And that great morne
Wherein a God was borne,
Whose story none can tell
But He Whose every word's a miracle.
To-day Almightiness grew weak;
The Worde itself was mute, and could not speak.
That Jacob's star Which made the sun
To dazle if he durst look on,
Now mantled ore in Beth'lem's night,
Borrowed a star to shew Him light.
He that begirt each zone,
To Whom both poles are one,
Who grasp't the Zodiack in's hand
And made it move or stand,
Is now by nature man,
By stature but a span;
Eternitie is now grown short;
A King is borne without a court;
The water thirsts; the fountain's dry;
And Life being borne, made apt to dye.
Put on thy best array;
Least if thou longer stay,
Thou lose some minitts of so blest a day.
Goe run,
And bid good morrow to the sun:
23
to Capricorn;
And that great morne
Wherein a God was borne,
Whose story none can tell
But He Whose every word's a miracle.
To-day Almightiness grew weak;
The Worde itself was mute, and could not speak.
That Jacob's star Which made the sun
To dazle if he durst look on,
Now mantled ore in Beth'lem's night,
Borrowed a star to shew Him light.
He that begirt each zone,
To Whom both poles are one,
Who grasp't the Zodiack in's hand
And made it move or stand,
Is now by nature man,
By stature but a span;
Eternitie is now grown short;
A King is borne without a court;
The water thirsts; the fountain's dry;
And Life being borne, made apt to dye.
Chorus.
Then let our prayers emulate and vieWith His humilitie:
Since Hee's exil'd from skeyes
That we might rise,—
From low estate of men
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Each man winde up's heart
To bear a part
In that angelick quire, and show
His glory high as He was low!
Let's sing t'wards men good wil and charity,
Peace upon Earth, glory to God on high
Hallelujah, Hallelujah!
| The poems and verse-translations of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor | |