O Source of All Good,

What shall I render to thee for the Gift of gifts,

thine own dear Son begotten, not created,

my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,

His self-emptying incomprehensible,

His infinity of love beyond the heart’s grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:

He came below to raise me above,

was born like me that I might become like Him.

Herein is love;

when I cannot rise to Him He draws near on wings of grace,

to raise me to Himself.

Herein is power: when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart

He united them in indissoluble unity, the Uncreate and the created,

Herein is wisdom;

when I was undone, with no will to return to Him,

and no intellect to devise recovery,

He came, God-incarnate to save me to the uttermost,

as man to die my death,

to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,

to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and

enlarge my mind;

let me hear good tidings of great joy,

and hearing , believe, rejoice praise, adore,

my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,

my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;

place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,

to look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,

and in Him account myself delivered from sin;

let me with Simeon clasp the new-born Child to my heart,

exulting that He is mine and I am His.

In Him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

from The Valley of Vision