A Prayer at Christmas

This prayer is so beautiful and rich, I just had to share! I have been enjoying this amidst the excitement of this time of year. It is untitled and the author is unknown, but the words have continued to stir my heart since I first read them.

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 more
That heaven can give no more.

A Puritan prayer