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When great events occur, or only such
As do concern our selves, we think not much
To print their memories upon that day,
Yearly wherein they happen, that it may
Become a living History, and tell
To after ages what long since befell
But this great Day’s Inscription doth out-vie
And silenceth all other historys,
It bears the memory of that great day
Under this curse of God, th’ Eternal Word1
Did here assume our flesh, and nature’s Lord
Subscribe to nature’s laws, is born and Dyes
To refuse us that were his Enemys
Immanuel’s birth2 , the day spring from on high,
Though glimmering before in propheits,
And swadled up in-types so many years
Now dawns, and like the morning doth appear,
A new unheard of Hesperus3 , a star,
This Rising sun to usher, and prepare
Mens minds with wonder, is design’d and sent
Into the East: The Wisemen saw, and went
To Bethle’m4 , where their tribute they do pay
Unto the prince of peace who thought he Lay
Meanly Inthron’d, yet majesty divine
Though all those veils of poverty did shine
And now, as by the guidance of a star,
The Eastern Wisemen thus conducted are
To Jacob’s star5 ; so this great news is sent
To meany men, by means more eminent:
The birth of Israels shepherd yet unknown
To simple shepherds by angel’s flown
And while the shepherds watch their sheep the night
To entertain this news by heaven’s light
Is chang’d to day and a celestial quire
Of heavenly citizens, who no less admire
The news then they, to whom they tell it, sing
The happy tidings of this new born king
Glory to God on high, on the earth peace
To men, their comfort and their hopes in crease
And ever blessed by thy glorious name
O thou eternal, that contriv’d this frame
Of wonder, and of Love, to send thy son
Partaker of our nature to become,
That thy lost creatures may become partakers
By him of light and glory with their maker
By Sir Matthew Hale (As transcribed from Elizabeth Newell’s manuscript)
Footnotes
1 From the gospel of St. John 1:14- “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and trueth.” (1611 King James Bible) Back to text.
2 From Isaiah 7:14- “Behold a Virgine shall conceive and beare a Sonne, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (1611 King James Bible). This was widely believed to prophesize the birth of Christ since the name Immanuel means “God is with us.” Back to text.
3 Hesperus was the son of Eos in Greek mythology, who is the embodiment of the evening star otherwise known as the planet Venus (Greek and Roman Mythology by Malcolm Couch) Back to text.
4From Luke 2:15- “And it came to passe, as the Angels were gone away from into heaven, the shepheards [wisemen] said to one another, Let us now go even into Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass [the birth of Christ]” (1611 King James Bible). Back to text.
5From Numbers 24:17- “I shall see him but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: There shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel…” (1611 King James Bible). The poem compares the star the wisemen followed to witness the birth of Christ as the same star out of Jacob that establishes Israel’s dominance over its surrounding region. Back to text.