The Easter Gift/The Nativity
THE NATIVITY.
PAINTED BY SIR J. REYNOLDS. ENGRAVED BY A. W. WARREN
FISHER, SON & CO. LONDON, 1834 |
THE NATIVITY.
"Lo, the star which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was."
"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy."
"And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child, with Mary his mother, and fell down and worshipped him."
Matthew ii. 9-11.
Far in the desert east it shone,
A guiding-star, and only one;
The other planets left the sky,
Trembling, as if rebuked on high.
The moon forsook her silvery height,
Abash'd before that holier light:
The storm clouds that on ether lay
Melted before its glorious ray;
Till half the heaven shone pure and clear,
Like some diviner atmosphere
Than ours, where heavy vapours rise
From the vile earth, to dim the skies;
Meet herald of that promised day,
When soul shall burst the bond of clay,
And, purified from earth-stains, come
Radiant to its eternal home.
On rolled the star, nor paused to shed
Its glory o'er the mountain's head,
Whereon the morning's sunshine fell,
Where eve's last crimson loved to dwell;
The gilded roof, the stately fane,
The garden, nor the corn-hid plain,
The camp, where red watch-fires were keeping
Guard o'er a thousand soldiers sleeping.
But temple, palace, city past,
That star paused in the sky at last.
It paused where, roused from slumbers mild,
Lay 'mid the kine a newborn child.
Are there no clarions upon earth
To toll mankind their monarch's birth?
Are there no banners to unfold,
Heavy with purple and with gold?
Are there no flowers to strew the ground,
Nor arches with the palm-branch bound?
Nor fires to kindle on the hill?
No! man is mute—the world is still.
Ill would all earthly pomp agree
With this hour's mild solemnity;
The tidings which that infant brings,
Are not for conquerors nor for kings;
Nor for the sceptre, nor the brand,
For crowned head, nor red right hand.
But to the contrite and the meek,
The sinful, sorrowful, and weak:
Or those who, with a hope sublime,
Are waiting for the Lord's good time.
Only for those the angels sing,
"All glory to our newborn King,
And peace and good-will unto men,
Hosanna to our God! Amen."