ADAM and EVE's unhappy, sinful, Race,
Late heirs apparent of the fiery lake,
To you, great joy is come - your sorrows chase,
And from your stupid lethargy awake!

To-day (says th' angel Gabriel, ever-true,
The faithful bearer of Jehovah's will)
Was Jesus Christ, the Saviour, born to you,
Your chief support in each incumbent ill,

Then let us shout aloud, rejoice, and sing,
And with Hosannahs make the skies resound;
For now, to earth, th' Almighty peace did bring,
And his Good-will did tow'rds mankind abound.

This is the prop, the branch, the woman's Seed,
For Adam's comfort, by God's promise, given,
To crush beneath his heel the serpent's head,
When he from Eden's blissful groves was driven.

This is old Sarah's Seed, Jehovah deign'd
To promise Abraham, all his race to bless,
From Age to Age, 'till royal David reign'd,
The noblest branch sprung from the root of Jesse!

This is the Shiloh, Jacob erst foretold,
To be the solace of the mournful Jews,
When they the crown, their monarchs wore of old,
Shou'd to an Idumean stranger lose!

This is the Prince, th' Emmanuel benign,
The virgin-mother's long-expected boy,
Promis'd to Ahaz by the Word divine,
To lead us to the realms of endless joy!

This is the Judge, foretold in Micah's page,
From Bethlehem's little city to arise!-
This is the eternal Chief, from age to age
Ordain'd to lead his vot'ries to the skies!

This is the Prophet and the promis'd King!
This is the Priest, decreed to quell the foe!
This is the Victim, offer'd for our sin,
And doom'd the works of Satan to o'erthrow!

You've heard how Satan erst, with wiles replete,
Old mother Eve in Paradise deceiv'd,
Rashly of the forbidden fruit to eat,
And how her husband part from her receiv'd!

When thus the Fiend our Parents overcame,
And taught them God's commandment to transgress;
Subject to death, both they and we, became,
And to each form and species of distress.

From Death and Hell no person cou'd be found
Our souls, by his own suff'rings, to relieve,
But God's own Son, for Justice most renown'd-
That God, whom by our sins so oft we grieve!

This very Son of God most high was doom'd
The worst of deaths to suffer on the tree;
When He our flesh had readily assum'd,
To set us from his Sire's displeasure free:

And had not God out of his mercy deign'd
This Son to give - to save us all from Hell:
All there, without exception, had remain'd,
For ever forc'd in endless pains to dwell.

God soon did at our wretched state relent,
With tender pity and compassion mov'd;
And, as he promis'd, to redeem us sent
His only Son, whom more than all He lov'd.

To earth, from the delightful realms above,
When he perceiv'd the proper time was come,
God sent the object of his dearest love,
Our flesh and human nature to assume.

A human body, in a happy hour,
Our Saviour took from Mary, still a maid,
Who, by a marvelous and sacred pow'r
Conceiv'd - without a thought of fleshly aid.

Wonder of wonders! - without sin, or blame,
Our Lord was born, from one to man unknown -
A perfect man, whom th' Holy Ghost did frame
Without man's help, by pow'r divine alone!

Mary, when she conceiv'd our Saviour first,
Was still a maid - a maid e'en at his birth -
When marry'd, still a maid - and when she nurst -
And still a maid, e'en when she left the earth.

But as our guilt Christ undertook to bear,
His very birth was subject to distress;
A wretched stable was his palace, here -
A swathe, and some poor clothes, his richest dress.

Yet, howe'er humble his appearance here,
That all to Him might proper homage show,
God caus'd a star in heaven to appear,
Bright as the sun, to wait on Him below.

Three royal Sages, from the distant East,
E'en from Chaldea, came to seek the Lord,
Who, on their knees, the swaddled Babe address'd,
And as their Sov'reign King and God ador'd.

With three rich presents, they the Babe did greet,
Which to Christ's offices did all belong,
And humbly laid them at his sacred feet -
Gold, myrrh, and frankincense, of fragrance strong.

Descending angels also came, and told
That He was the Messiah, promis'd man
To be his Saviour from the days of old,
By God himself, just as the world began.

Heav'n op'd, earth shone, at his stupendous birth,
And th' angel cry'd, on that auspicious morn,
'Glory to God above, and peace on earth,
'This Day the Saviour of the World is born.'

Whate'er, thro' her neglect, old Eve once lost,
When she at first the law divine transgress'd,
We now (as we most happily may boast)
By the Messiah's birth, have repossess'd.

Our Saviour left the glorious realms of bliss,
On purpose to defeat our wily foe,
To thwart his views, to save us from th' abyss,
And to preserve us from all pain and woe.

So great was the Almighty Father's love
For us, old Eve's vile, sin-polluted race,
That He dispatch'd our Saviour from above,
Out of mere pity to our woeful case.

So anxious too was Christ our souls to save,
Which now obnoxious to damnation lie,
That his own life and soul He freely gave,
And for his flock the shepherd deign'd to die.

The Death, which we deserv'd, for us He bore,
And clear'd our debts, which unaccounted stood,
He paid the forfeit, and the writing tore,
And dearly bought our pardon with his Blood -

His heart's best Blood He for an off'ring laid,
And for our sake reproach and shame endur'd:
So God was reconcil'd, our ransom paid,
And our Salvation perfectly secur'd -

That pardon, which with his own Life He bought,
When to release lost sinners from their chains,
He laid it down, tho' void of any fault,
And sav'd the world from everlasting pains.

If then on Him our confidence be laid,
Certain remission shall for us be found,
Nor need we of those torments be afraid,
With which the yelling vaults of hell resound.

For Satan is destroy'd, and Death subdu'd,
And Hell of its assured prey despoil'd;
The souls of men by mercy are renew'd,
And all the fiends by the Messiah foil'd.

Old Adam hurl'd us to the deep abyss,
From Paradise with ev'ry pleasure blest;
But Christ restor'd us to the seats of bliss,
Where we shall ever with th' Almighty rest.

He is the guiltless Lamb, which in their ire
The Jews erst slew, Jehovah's gracious Heir!
The wish of nations, and the world's desire!
Our only joy and solace in despair!

He is the reprobated Corner-stone,
The Rock, ordain'd to give the Jews offence;
But precious as a pearl, to us that own
Him, for our true Messiah and our Prince.

Though, beyond measure, our foul sins extend,
And, like Gomorrah's citizens, we live;
If we believe, and our bad lives amend,
He'll get us all a free and full reprieve.

One sacred drop, of the blest Blood He shed,
Can wash away our vile offences quite,
Tho' as the purple, deep - as scarlet, red -
And make them than the drifted snow more white.

If then we place our trust in Christ alone,
And humbly serve Him - He our souls will bring
To Heav'n's blest mansions, near his sacred throne,
To chant the praises of th' eternal King -

Those mansions, where sweet pleasure and delight,
Where peace and joy in such excess abound,
As ear ne'er heard of - nor e'er bless'd the sight -
Nor e'er in thought in any heart were found.

Then let us laud, with all our might and main,
Our Saviour Christ, to us for ever dear,
Who, thro' Death's bitter pangs, our souls from pain
Reliev'd, and from Hell's dungeons dark and drear.

O let us still each blessed Person praise,
Which in the sacred Trinity is found,
So ready, ever since old Adam's days,
To bring men's souls to heav'n from hell profound.