Countless rays of heavenly glory
Shine through spirit pent in clay,
On the wise men at their labors,
On the children at their play.
Man has gazed on heavenly secrets,
Sunned himself in heavenly glow,
Seen the glory, heard the music,
We are wiser than we know.
LISTEN, all ye Christian people,
Let no fears your souls dismay;
God's own Son, the Lord, the Saviour,
He was born on Christmas day.
All the earth was bound in sadness,
Darkness lay upon the land,
And the silence of the midnight,
When the moment was at hand;
When through all the midnight darkness,
Through the world's sad heart forlorn,
Passed a thrill of life ecstatic ;
And the Christ! the Christ was born!
Nature owned the glad emotion; And the simple shepherd folk, 23
As if day shone out above them,
With the joyful impulse woke ;
Woke, and lo! a glorious vision
Filled their souls with wondering awe,
And ten thousand holy angels,
Thronging all the heavens, they saw.
And they heard them sing, as never
Skylark sang above the corn,
"Peace on earth, and endless blessing!
For the Christ! the Christ is born!
"Sons and daughters of affliction,
Join great Nature's choral voice!
Thou, the captive; thou, the stranger ;
Thou, the poor, rejoice! rejoice!
Weeping mother, cease thy anguish,
For thy first-born gone astray;
Christ is born, the dear Redeemer,
Who will save the castaway!
Little toiling orphan children,
Heirs of destiny forlorn,
Weep not, for the true Consoler
Christ, the mourner's Friend
"Sinner, conscious of transgression,
Scorned of men, outcast and vile,
Christ is born, whose blood shall cleanse thee,
And to God shall reconcile !
Noble spirit, patriot, poet,
Thirsting to be great and free,
Christ is born, thy true ensample,
Dying on the Cross for thee!"
Thus they sang, those holy angels,
'Mid the pallid stars of morn,
"Peace on earth, and endless blessing! For the Christ! the Christ is born!"
NAME her not, the guilty one,
Virtue turns aside for shame
At the mention of her name:
Very evilly hath she done.
Pity is on her misspent:
She was born of guilty kin,
Her life's course hath guilty been;
Never unto school she went,
And whate'er she learned was sin;
Let her die!
She was nurtured for her fate;
Beautiful she was, and vain;
Like a child of sinful Cain,
She was born a reprobate.
Lives like hers the world defile;
Plead not for her, let her die,
As the child of infamy,
Ignorant and poor and vile,
Plague-spot in the public eye;
THE HEART OF THE OUTCAST.
I AM young, alas! so young!
And the world has been my foe;
And by hardship, wrong, and woe,
Hath my bleeding heart been stung.
There was none, O God, to teach me
What was wrong and what was right.
I have sinned before Thy sight;
Let my cry of anguish reach Thee,
Piercing through the glooms of night,
God of love!
Man is cruel, and doth smother
Tender mercy in his breast;
Lays fresh burdens on the oppressed; Pities not an erring brother,
Pities not the stormy throes
Of the soul despair hath riven,
Nor the brain to madness driven.
No one but the sinner knows
What it means to be forgiven,
Therefore will I put my trust
In thy mercy and I cleave
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