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| WHAT earth appeared to Angel eyes | |
| That Sabbath morn in Paradise, | |
| When man before his Father stood, | |
| And God beheld that all was good— | |
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| When Nature, guiltless yet of stain, | 5 |
| Returned her Maker’s smile again, | |
| And over all created things | |
| Lingered the Spirit’s brooding Wings— | |
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| So fair, so fresh, so free from taint, | |
| Beyond all mortal skill to paint, | 10 |
| So calm in growing strength serene, | |
| The Holy Childhood must have been. | |
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| A Garden fed with Heavenly Dew, | |
| Where all things lovely bloomed and grew, | |
| Where knowledge both of good and ill, | 15 |
| But left the heart more holy still. | |
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| But vainly would we seek to raise | |
| The veil that shrouds Christ’s early days, | |
| Each wondrous Act, each Word sublime | |
| That beautified that glorious Prime. | 20 |
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| A few brief lines of Sacred Writ | |
| Contain the whole we know of it; | |
| And where the eye of faith may see | |
| The lowly Home of Galilee, | |
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| Where daily in His Mother’s sight | 25 |
| He grew in Wisdom, and in Might; | |
| The path of meek obedience trod, | |
| In favour both with man and God. | |
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| He grew in Wisdom! who can weigh | |
| The meaning which those Words convey; | 30 |
| Or trace the deep mysterious line | |
| Between the Human and Divine? | |
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| We only know the daily growth | |
| Was that of Mind and Body both, | |
| Until the Perfect Childhood passed | 35 |
| Into the Perfect Man at last. | |
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| Yet one recorded scene alone | |
| A Glory o’er those years hath thrown, | |
| Revealing to His Mother’s Soul | |
| A Realm beyond her Love’s control. | 40 |
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| Teaching both her, who meekly heard | |
| And treasured every sacred Word, | |
| And all His Church from age to age, | |
| Who read them in the Gospel page. | |
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| That far above all earthly claim | 45 |
| Was that great Work for which He came, | |
| And far beyond all earthly tie, | |
| The Sonship of His Deity. | |
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| And if to those who love Him most | |
| His Presence for a while be lost, | 50 |
| And on Life’s crowded road they find | |
| That they have left their Lord behind. | |
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| Let them each erring step retrace, | |
| And seek Him through His Means of Grace | |
| Who, in His Father’s House of Prayer, | 55 |
| Still doth His Work of Mercy there. | |
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