1 Hark! eastward and westward the message is winging;
The Promised of ages, Messiah, is born!
Oh, haste, let us find Him! all Heaven is singing;
The choirs angelic proclaiming the morn!
Where sleeps He in purple, surrounded with splendor,
This King out of Heaven forsaking His throne?
The virgin, His mother, what monarchs attend her,
To whom the Almighty such favor hath shown?
2 Can this be His dwelling, His cradle, this manger?
Can this be His mother, this maiden so meek?
Comes He to His own in this guise of a stranger
Unsheltered and friendless— the Prince whom we seek?
Behold where He lieth, in Bethlehem hidden!
The Son of the Highest, most lowly His birth!
And no one to welcome or serve Him is bidden
Who counteth as dust all the pomp of the earth.
3 Oh! vast condescension! Almighty, eternal,
He stoops to the lowest, by seraphs adored;
And, One with His Father in glory supernal,
Our flesh He hath taken and hath not abhorred!
His name is called Jesus. Yes, Thou art our Jesus,
Sweet Babe whose appearing the angels proclaim!
From sin and from death thou art come to release us;
Thou bearest for us that adorable name!
Source: The Cyber Hymnal #12740
Kimball, Harriet McEwan, a native and resident of Portsmouth, Newhaven, is the author of Hymns, Boston, 1866; Swallow Flights of Song, 1874, &c. Her hymns include:—
1. At times on Tabor's height. Faith and Joy
2. Dear Lord, to Thee alone. Lent.
3. It is an easy thing to say. Humble Service.
4. We have no tears Thou wilt not dry. Affliction. Appeared in the Poets of Portsmouth, 1864, and the Unitarian Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and others. In Miss Kimball's Hymns, 1866, this hymn begins with stanza iii. of "Jesus the Ladder of my faith."
Several of Miss Kimball's poems were included in Baynes's Illustrated Book of Sacred Poems, 1867. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]
--John Julian, Diction… Go to person page >
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