Scripture Verse

[He] took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. Philippians 2:7

Introduction

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Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Words: Charles Wes­ley, in Hymns for the Na­ti­vi­ty of Our Lord (Lon­don: Will­iam Stra­han, 1745), num­ber 4, alt.

Music: El­la­combe, Ge­sang­buch der herz­ogl. wir­tem­berg­isch­en ka­tho­lisch­en Hof­ka­pel­le (Würt­tem­berg, Ger­ma­ny: 1784). Adapt­ed & har­mo­nized by Will­iam H. Monk in the 1868 ap­pendix to Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, num­ber 366 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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William H. Monk (1823–1889)

Lyrics

Glory be to God on high,
And peace on earth des­cend;
Now God comes down, He bows the sky,
And shows Him­self our friend!
God the in­vi­si­ble ap­pears,
God the blest, the great I AM,
He so­journs in this vale of tears,
And Je­sus is His name.

Him by the an­gels all adored,
Their mak­er and their king;
Lo, tid­ings of their hum­bled Lord
They now to mor­tals bring;
Emptied of His ma­jes­ty,
Of His daz­zling glo­ries shorn,
Our be­ing’s Source be­gins to be,
And God Him­self is born!

See the eter­nal Son of God
A mor­tal Son of Man,
Now dwell­ing in an earth­ly clod
Whom Hea­ven can­not con­tain!
Stand amazed, ye hea­vens, look at this!
See the Lord of earth and skies
Low hum­bled to the dust He is,
And in a man­ger lies!

We the sons of men re­joice
The Prince of Peace pro­claim,
With Hea­ven’s host lift up your voice,
And shout Im­ma­nu­el’s name;
Knees and hearts to Him we bow;
Of our flesh, and of our bone,
Jesus is our bro­ther now,
And God is all our own!