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.