Her Virgin eyes saw God incarnate born

Her Virgin eyes saw God incarnate born. Thomas Ken* (1637-1711). The source of this hymn is a long pastoral poem on religious themes entitled ‘Sion, or Philothea’, which is found in The Works of Thomas Ken (1721), edited by William Hawkins, Volume 4, pp. 366-373. The extract of four verses was made for EH. The poem includes an extended account of the life of the Virgin Mary. In the hymn, verses 1-3 contain images of flowing. This is even more apparent in the original, where six additional lines ending ‘Heav’n in sweet deluge on her spirit flow’d’ follow the first verse. Eve’s sin is fountain-like (‘fontal’), and the flowing of her tears represents the flowing of sin through her posterity...