Christians, awake, sa­lute the hap­py morn
Whereon the Sav­ior of the world was born.
Rise to adore the mys­te­ry of love
Which hosts of ang­els chant­ed from above,
With them the joy­ful tid­ings first be­gun
Of God in­car­nate and the vir­gin’s son.

Then to the watch­ful shep­herds it was told,
Who heard th’an­gel­ic her­ald’s voice, Be­hold,
I bring good tid­ings of a Sav­ior’s birth
To you and all the na­tions of the earth;
This day hath God ful­filled His pro­mised Word;
This day is born a Sav­ior, Christ the Lord.

He spoke; and straight­away the ce­les­ti­al choir
In hymns of joy, un­known be­fore, con­spire;
The prais­es of re­deem­ing love they sang,
And Heav’n’s whole orb with al­le­lu­ias rang.
God’s high­est glo­ry was their an­them still,
Peace on the earth and un­to men good will.

To Beth­l’hem straight th’en­light­ened shep­herds ran
To see the won­der God had wrought for man
And found, with Jo­seph and the bless­èd maid,
Her son, the Sav­ior, in a man­ger laid;
Then to their flocks, still prais­ing God, re­turn,
And their glad hearts with ho­ly rap­ture burn.

Like Ma­ry let us pon­der in our mind
God’s won­drous love in sav­ing lost man­kind!
Trace we the Babe, who hath re­trieved our loss,
From His poor man­ger to His bit­ter cross,
Tread in His steps, as­sist­ed by His grace,
Till man’s first heav’n­ly state again takes place.

Then may we hope, th’an­gel­ic hosts among,
To sing, re­deemed, a glad tri­um­phal song.
He that was born up­on this joy­ful day
Around us all His glo­ry shall dis­play.
Saved by His love, in­ces­sant­ly we sing
Eternal praise to Heav’n’s al­migh­ty king.