As Jonah, Issuing From His Three Days' Tomb

As Jonah, issuing from his three days' tomb,

At length was cast, uninjured, on the earth;

So, from the virgin's unpolluted womb

Th'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, giv'n: 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.