hearts that seek Thee lead Thou, With Thy most sweet and ten der love.

2 O Fount of grace redeeming,

O River ever streaming

From Jesus' holy side:
Come Thou, Thyself bestowing
On thirsting souls, and flowing

Till all their wants are satisfied.

3 Jesus, this feast receiving,
Thy word of truth believing,
We Thee unseen adore:
Grant, when our race is ended,
That we, to heaven ascended,
May see Thy glory ever more.
Anon, Latin, 1661

2 Savior of infants, Thou didst rest,
Helpless, upon Thy mother's breast;
Savior of children, Thou didst play,
And grow beside her, day by day.
All human life to soothe and save,
Up from the cradle to the the grave.
3 Savior, as low as Thou didst bend
From heaven to be the sinner's friend,
So high our nature lift with Thine,
Till human things become divine.
And Thy eternal love once more
God's image to the soul restore.

4 And when we cling too close to earth,
Forgetful of our heavenly birth,
And for the love of its poor dross,
Despise Thy crown or shun Thy cross.
O let this festal day reprove

Such wrong to Thine incarnate love.

J. S. B. Monsell, 1857

Mary, virgin un- de - filed, Did God be stow His

vor; She bore a son, the spot-less child, To him be praise for

2 Were all the sages here below
All human wisdom showing,
The mystery of Christ to know
Were far beyond their knowing;
For full of grace and truth is He;
O may He be

Our comfort in our dying!

3 Inspired of God the prophets spake,
And faithful proved their saying,

That Christ the bonds of sin doth break,
Deliverance conveying

To all by Satan's wiles enslaved;

All shall be saved

Who trust in Him, believing.

4 O Root of Jessé, David's Son,
And Jacob's Star of heaven!

Thou art the Christ, the blessed One;
Thy name all praise be given:
By grace Thou hast redeemed us all
From Adam's fall,

And Thou wilt guide and tend us.

5 O could I speak in every tongue,
The Scripture's deep expounding,
Were in my mouth the angels' song
That through high heaven is sounding,
I on my knees would humbly fall,
On Jesus call,

And worship Him forever!

6 My sins are countless as the sands,
My crimes, O God, are crying,
Deliver me from sin's dread bands
And save me, Lord, when dying;
O let me not, for evil past,
Be lost at last,

Grant me Thy grace, I pray Thee!

Anon., H, Thomissön, 1569

291

L. M.

German, 1539

From east to west, from shore to shore, Let every heart a-wake and sing

The Holy Child whom Ma-ry bore, The Christ, the ever last-ing King.

2 Behold! the world's Creator wears
The form and fashion of our frame;
Our very flesh our Maker shares,
To save a fallen world He came.

3 For this how wondrously He wrought!
A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became, in ways beyond all thought,
The chosen vessel of His grace.
4 She bowed her to the angel's word,
Declaring what the Father willed,
And suddenly the promised Lord
That pure and hallowed temple filled.
5 He shrank not from the oxen's stall,
He lay within the manger bed,
And He whose bounty feedeth all
At Mary's breast Himself was fed.
6 And while the angels in the sky
Sang praise above the silent field,
To shepherds poor the Lord most high,
The one great Shepherd, was revealed.

7 All glory for this blessed morn
To God the Father ever be;
All praise to Thee, O Virgin-born,
All praise, O Holy Ghost, to Thee.
C. Sedulius, 5th Century