Scripture Verse

And when they were come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh. Matthew 2:11

Introduction

portrait
William Gardiner (1770–1853)
British Museum
cc-license

Words: Tho­mas Da­vis, Hymns Old and New (Lon­don: Long­man, Green, Long­man, Ro­berts & Green, 1864), num­ber 54.

Music: Ger­ma­ny Sac­red Me­lo­dies, by Will­iam Gar­di­ner, 1815 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

The east­ern sages sought their Lord,
While lov­ing arms His form could fold;
And, free­ly as their hearts adored,
Gave myrrh and frank­in­cense and gold.

They knew the pro­mised in­fant King,
Though mean His dwell­ing, and con­fessed;
Nor would they oth­er trib­ute bring
Than sweet­est, cost­li­est, and best.

And shall not we the Sav­ior own,
And of­fer gifts, when in the sky
He sits on His eter­nal throne,
And rules in glo­ri­ous ma­jes­ty?

O Lord our God, Thy grace im­part;
And teach us al­ways to present,
With will­ing hands and grate­ful heart,
The best Thou boun­te­ous love hath lent.

illustration
Cologne Cathedral—Bayernfenster