Scripture Verse

Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Fa­ther, the Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Introduction

Words: Orig­in­al­ly in Some An­cient Christ­mas Ca­rols, ed­it­ed by Da­vis Gil­bert (Lon­don: John Ni­chols & Son, 1822). Da­vis’ ver­sion had on­ly four stan­zas—Ri­chard San­dys pu­blished an ex­pand­ed ver­sion in Christ­mas Ca­rols, An­cient and Mo­dern (Lon­don: Ri­chard Beck­ley, 1833), pag­es 145–47.

Music: Church Tri­um­phant James W. El­li­ott, 1874 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Hark! hark! what news the an­gels bring!
Glad tid­ings of the new­born King;
The pro­mised Sav­ior of man­kind;
Sinners, in Him sal­va­tion find.

This is the day, and this the morn,
Which hailed the al­migh­ty Sav­ior born,
Born of the ho­ly vir­gin pure,
Born with­out sin, from guilt se­cure.

Hail bless­èd vir­gin, full of grace!
Blessèd above all mor­tal race,
Whose bless­èd womb brought forth in one,
A God, a Sav­ior, and a Son.

Hail! per­fect God and per­fect Man,
Thy won­drous birth what mind shall scan?
In vain the high­est se­raph tries
To search Thy love’s deep mys­te­ries.

Arise, my soul, and then, my voice,
In hymns of praise ear­ly re­joice,
His fame ex­tol and mag­ni­fy,
Upon these er­rands an­gels fly.

If an­gels sang at Je­sus’ birth
What cause for ho­ly joy on earth!
For us our fee­ble flesh He took,
For us the realms of light for­sook.

Dear Christ, Thou didst Thy­self de­base,
Thus to des­cend to hu­man race,
And leave Thy Fa­ther’s throne above:
Lord, what could move Thee to this love?

Man that was made out of the dust,
He found a pa­ra­dise at first;
But see the God of Hea­ven and earth
Laid in a man­ger at His birth.

Surely the man­ger where He lies
Doth fig­ure out His sac­ri­fice,
And by His birth all men may see
A pat­tern of hu­mil­i­ty.

Stupendous Child! my God and King!
The won­ders of Thy love I’ll sing;
To grate­ful ac­cents tune my voice,
And, while I live, in Thee re­joice.

My soul, learn by Thy Sav­ior’s birth
For to de­base thy­self on earth,
That I may be ex­alt­ed high,
To live with Him eter­nal­ly.

I am re­solved whilst here I live,
As I’m in du­ty bound, to give
All glo­ry to the De­ity,
One God alone in per­sons three.