The Gift of Gifts

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 uncreated 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,
    embrace him with undying faith,
    exulting that he is mine and I am his.
In him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth Trust, 2013, pg. 16.
Photo credit: Workshop of Rembrandt [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons