On The Morning of Christ's Nativity - Poem

Poem

By Stanza VII, nature stands back, and Christ's birth causes the sun to refuse to take its place:

And though the shady gloom

Had given day her room,

The Sun himself withheld his wonted speed

And hid his head for shame,

As his inferior flame;

He saw a greater sun appear

Than his bright throne, or burning axle-tree could bear (lines 77–84)

The poem transitions into The Hymn for a new set of stanzas. Christ's role, even as a baby, is apparent and made clear within Stanzas XV and XVI:

Yea Truth and Justice then

Will down return to men

...

And Heav'n as at some festival,

Will open wide the gates of her high palace hall.

But wisest Fate says no,

This must not yet be so,

The babe lies yet in smiling infancy,

That on the bitter cross

Must redeem our loss;

So both himself and us to glorify; (lines 141–142, 147–154)