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Thou, JESUS CHRIST, wast consubstantial
With this our perishable clay,

And, by assuming earthly nature,
Exalted'st it to heavenly day.

Thou, That wast as mortal born,

Being GOD ador'd,

Thou That liftest up our horn,
Holy art Thou, LORD!

Rejoice, O Bethlehem, the city

Whence Judah's monarchs had their birth; Where He that sitteth on the Cherubs,

The King of Israel, came on earth :
Manifested this blest morn,

As of old time never,

He hath lifted up our horn,

He shall reign for ever!

ODE IV.

Ράβδος ἐκ τῆς ρίζης.

Rod of the Root of Jesse,

Thou, Flower of Mary born,
From that thick shady mountain (1)
Cam'st glorious forth this morn :
Of her, the Ever Virgin,

Incarnate wast Thou made,

The immaterial Essence,

The GOD by all obeyed!

Glory, LORD, Thy servants pay
To Thy wondrous might to-day!

The Gentiles' expectation,

Whom Jacob's words foretell, Who Syria's pride shall vanquish,

Samaria's power shalt quell;

Thou from the Root of Judah

Like some fair plant dost spring,

To turn old Gentile error

To Thee, its GOD and King!

Glory, LORD, Thy servants pay
To Thy wondrous might to-day!

In Balaam's ancient vision

The Eastern seers were skilled;
They marked the constellations,
And joy their spirits filled :
For Thou, bright Star of Jacob,
Arising in Thy might,

Didst call these Gentile first-fruits

To worship in Thy light.

They, in holy reverence bent,

Gifts acceptable present.

As on a fleece descending
The gentle dews distil,
As drops the earth that water,
The Virgin didst Thou fill.
Tarshish and Ethiopia,

The Isles and Araby,

And Media, leagued with Sheba,
Fall down and worship Thee.

Glory, LORD, Thy servants pay

To Thy wondrous might to-day!

(1.) The reference is to the Song of Habakkuk : (ili. 1), where the lxx. give-" GOD shall come from Teman, and The Holy from the thick and shady mountain of Paran."

ODE V.

Θεὸς ὢν εἰρήνης.

Father of Peace, and GOD of Consolation! The Angel of the Counsel dost Thou send To herald peace, to manifest Salvation,

Thy Light to pour, Thy knowledge to extend;

Whence, with the morning's earliest rays, Lover of men! Thy Name we praise.

Midst Cæsar's subjects Thou, at his decreeing, Obey'd'st and wast enroll'd: our mortal

race,

To sin and Satan slave, from bondage freeing,
Our poverty in all points didst embrace :
And by that Union didst combine
The earthly with the All-Divine.

Behold! The Virgin, prophecy sustaining,
Incarnate Deity conceived and bore:
Virgin in birth, and Virgin still remaining:

And man to GOD is reconciled once more: Wherefore in faith her name we bless, And Mother of our GOD confess.

ODE VI.

σπλάγχνων Ἰωνᾶν.

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.

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