A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 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 mid-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 Enough for Him whom cherubim 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. Angels and archangels May have gathered there, In her maiden bliss Worshipped the Beloved What can I give Him, I would bring a lamb, If I were a wise man I would do my part.- "THE LOVE OF CHRIST WHICH PASSETH I KNOWLEDGE.” BORE with thee long weary days and nights, Through many pangs of heart, through many tears; I bore with thee, thy hardness, coldness, slights, For three-and-thirty years. Who else had dared for thee what I have dared? I plunged the depth most deep from bliss above; I not My flesh, I not My spirit spared: Give thou Me love for love. For thee I thirsted in the daily drouth, For thee I trembled in the nightly frost: Much sweeter thou than honey to My mouth : Why wilt thou still be lost? I bore thee on My shoulders and rejoiced: Thee did nails grave upon My hands, thy name A thief upon My right hand and My left; At length in death one smote My heart and cleft Nailed to the racking cross, than bed of down |