Scripture Verse

A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14

Introduction

Words: From 14th Cen­tu­ry La­tin, in The­saur­us Hym­no­lo­gic­us, by Her­mann Ad­al­bert Da­ni­el, 1841–55. Eng­lish trans­la­tion in the Cow­ley car­ol Book, re­vised and en­larged edi­tion, com­piled by George R. Wood­ward (Lon­don: A. R. Mow­bray, 1922), num­ber 3, alt.

Music: Würt­tem­berg at­trib­ut­ed to Jo­hann Ro­sen­müll­er (1615–1684) (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Ro­sen­müll­er (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Childling of a maid­en bright
Life to­day hath brought to light;
And hath put the prince of night
With his flock of fiends to flight:
Chris­tus na­tus ho­die.

Whoso aught hath done amiss,
And it rue him sore for this,
Mary’s Babe will shrive iwis,
Gentle as a Lamb He is:
Miserere, Do­mi­ne.

He at Beth­le­hem was born,
Salem gave Him crown of thorn,
Life of want and death of scorn—
All for love of man for­lorn.
Ergo be­ne­di­ci­te.

On this In­fant may we call,
Born for man in ox­en stall;
He vouch­safes us bliss with­al
In His ev­er­last­ing hall.
Cum Ma­ria Vir­gi­ne.