Naturas Deus regulis
Certis astringi statuit,
Et a prescriptis formulis
Nullo conatu potuit
Ultra naturam progredi
Vel per se citra regredi;
Sed his ligari vinculis
Ipsorum auctor noluit,
Qui retrahit et tribuit
Naturis, quod vult, singulis,
Sic ergo nostris seculis
Mortalis nasci voluit,
Quod eternus apparuit.

Carnem sumens ex virgine
Triplex pandit misterium:
Mortalis est ex homine,
Quando partus egreditur;
Spiritalis ostenditur
Quod sine patris semine,
Quod non habet initium,
Eternum tenens solium;
Sub divo sine tegmine
Non egens medicamine
Ducit virgo filium,
Quia salus est omnium.

Benedicamus Domino.
Hic per mundum ingreditur,
Qui rebus preest omnibus,
Et abiectus egreditur
Potens pre terre regibus,
Se ipsum exinaniens,
Suo patri obediens
Humiliter exsequitur,
Ut sic par sit humilibus,
Insinuans hominibus;
Quod porta celi clauditur,
Et infernus exponitur,
Superbe resistentibus,
Se extra se querentibus,
Quos ab Egypti cophino
Deus potentialiter
Redemit et humiliter;
Pro servitutis termino
Benedicamus Domino.

God ordained that nature
Be bound by fixed laws,
And that from such prescribed formulae
It would be impossible
To go beyond nature
Or return within (the limits of nature) of one’s own accord;
But by these chains the creator
Of these laws was unwilling to be bound,
He who in turn takes away or gives
To nature what he wills;
Thus to our age, therefore,
He willed himself to be born mortal,
Because he was manifest eternally.

Assuming flesh from a virgin,
He lays bare a triple mystery:
He takes on mortality from man,
When the child comes forth;
He is shown to be of the spirit,
Because without a father’s seed,
Because he has no beginning,
He holds the eternal throne.
The virgin bears a son,
In the open, without cover,
Yet preserving her healing powers,
Because he is the salvation of all.

Let us bless the Lord.
He comes into the earth,
He who rules all things,
And rejected he leaves,
Powerful beyond all the kings of earth,
Making himself empty,
Obedient unto his father,
Humbly he follows,
That thus he might be equal to the humble,
Making himself known to man;
Because the gate of heaven is closed
And hell lies open
To those proudly resisting,
And seeking themselves beyond him,
God powerfully
And humbly redeems
Them from the Egyptian basket;
For this end of servitude,
Let us bless the Lord.