Scripture Verse

Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:5–7

Introduction

Words: Cae­li­us Se­du­li­us, 5th Cen­tu­ry (A So­lis Or­tus Car­di­ne). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Ri­chard Mant, An­cient Hymns from the Ro­man Bre­vi­ary (Lon­don: J. G. & F. Riv­ing­ton, 1837), num­ber 32, alt. Orig­in­al first line: From the faint days­pring’s east­ern goal.

Music: Hua­chu­ca James W. Mill­er, 1918 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

portrait
Richard Mant (1776–1848)

Lyrics

From day­spring’s faint­est east­ern goal
Far as the ut­most west,
Come, sing we Christ, the Sav­ior born
Of vir­gin mo­ther blest:
The Fa­ther of the age to come,
In ser­vant’s form ar­rayed,
That Man He might for man atone,
And ran­som whom He made.

Within that mo­ther’s spot­less frame
Celestial fa­vor reigns,
A sec­ret load, she weened not of,
The maid­en pure sus­tains:
Her bo­som chaste at once be­comes
The tem­ple for her God;
And she, who knew not man, is made
A hea­ven­ly Babe’s abode.

He comes, He comes, the vir­gin-born
To Ga­bri­el’s pro­mise true;
He, whom, as yet un­born, o’er­joyed
The un­born Bap­tist knew:
Nor reeks He of His bed of hay,
Nor He the man­ger heeds;
Enough the mil­ky breast for Him,
Who all the ra­vens feeds.

A shep­herd to the shep­herds’ fold
The Lord of all is showed,
Celestial cho­rist­ers re­joice,
And an­gels sing to God.
Now glo­ry, Je­sus, be to Thee,
Whom a pure vir­gin bore,
With Fa­ther, and with Ho­ly Ghost,
Henceforth for ev­er­more.