As Jonah, issuing from his three days’ tomb,

At length was cast, uninjured, on the earth;

So, from the Virgin’s unpolluted womb

The Incarnate WORD, That dwelt there, had His Birth:

For He, Who knew no taint of mortal stain,

Willed that His Mother spotless should remain.

CHRIST comes, Incarnate GOD, amongst us now,

Begotten of the FATHER ere the day:

And He, to Whom the sinless legions bow,

Lies cradled, ‘midst unconscious beasts on hay:

And, by His homely swaddling-bands girt in,

Looses the many fetters of our sin.

Now the New Child of Adam’s race draws nigh,

To us, the faithful, given: This, this is He

That shall the Father of Eternity,

The Angel of the Mighty Counsel, be:

This the eternal GOD, by Whose strong hands

The fabric of the world supported stands.