Behold the great Creator

At this time of the year we sing hymns about the incarnation. Yesterday we sang this striking one from New Christian Hymns (198)

1. Behold the great Creator makes

Himself a house of clay,

A robe of virgin flesh He takes

Which He will wear for aye.

2. Hark, hark, the wise eternal Word,

Like a weak infant cries!

In form of servant is the Lord,

And God in cradles lies.

3. This wonder struck the world amazed,

It shook the starry frame;

Squadrons of spirits stood and gazed,

Then down in troops they came.

4. Glad shepherds ran to view this sight;

A choir of angels sings,

And eastern sages with delight

Adore this King of kings.

5. Join then, all hearts that are not stone,

And all our voices prove,

To celebrate this holy One

The God of peace and love.

It's from a poem by Thomas Pestel[l] (c1586-1667), in Sermons and Devotions Old and New (1639). The above are stanzas 5-9 of A Psalm for Christmas Day Morning. The first 4 verses (printed in a book of his poems in 1940) are as follows:

Fairest of morning lights, appear, Thou blest and gaudy day,

On which was born our Saviour dear; Arise and come away.

See, see, our pensive breasts do pant, Like gasping land we lie,

Thy holy dews our souls do want. We faint, we pine, we die.

Let from the skies a joyful rain Like mel or manna fall

Whose searching drops our sins may drain, And quench our sorrows all.

This day prevents His day of doom; His mercy now is nigh;

The mighty God of Love is come, The dayspring from on high.

[Gaudy = feast; mel = honey; prevents = comes before; doom = judgment]

Some biographical detail for Pestel in another post, I hope.