Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS DAY, by JOHN BYROM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS DAY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: On this auspicious, memorable morn
Last Line: We are, in christ, eternally alive.
Subject(s): Christmas Carols; Gifts & Giving; Holidays; Jesus Christ; Religion; Theology


ON this auspicious, memorable morn,
God and the virgin's holy child was born;
Offspring of Heav'n, whose undefiled birth
Began the process of redeeming earth;
Of re-producing paradise again,
And God's lost image in the souls of men.

Adam, who kept not his first state of bliss,
Rend'red himself incapable of this;
Nor could he, with his outward helpmate Eve,
This pure, angelic, virgin birth retrieve:
This, in our nature, never could be done,
Until a virgin should conceive a Son.

Mary, prepar'd for such a chaste embrace,
Was destin'd to this miracle of grace;
In her unfolded the mysterious plan
Of man's salvation, God's becoming man;
His power, with her humility combin'd,
Produc'd the sinless Saviour of mankind.

The height and depth of such amazing love
Nor can we measure, nor the blest above;
Its truth whoever reasons right will own;
Man never could be sav'd by man alone:
Salvation is, if rightly we define,
Union of human nature with divine.

What way to this, unless it had been trod
By the new birth of an Incarnate God?
Birth of a life that triumphs over death,
A life inspir'd by God's immortal breath;
For which Himself, to save us from the tomb,
Did not abhor the virgin mother's womb.

O may this Infant Saviour's birth inspire
Of real life a humble, chaste desire!
Raise it up in us! Form it in our mind,
Like the blest Virgin's, totally resign'd!
A mortal life from Adam we derive;
We are, in Christ, eternally alive.





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