Scripture Verse

The shepherds said to one another, Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, who was lying in the manger. Luke 2:15–16

Introduction

Words: John F. Wade, cir­ca 1743 (Ades­te fi­de­les). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John R. D. Beste, 1849. Pub­lished in An­nus Sanc­tus, Vol­ume 1, ed­it­ed by Or­by Ship­ley (Lon­don & New York: Burns & Oates, 1884), pag­es 32–33, alt.

Music: Ade­ste Fi­de­les at­trib­ut­ed va­ri­ous­ly to John Wade, John Read­ing, or Mar­co An­ton­io Si­mao (Por­to­gal­lo) (1762–1830) (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

Lyrics

Hasten, ye faith­ful, joy­ful, glad, and ho­ly,
O speed ye to Beth­le­hem to hon­or the Word;
There is the King of an­gels, born so low­ly—

Refrain

Oh, come and kneel be­fore Him;
Oh, come and all adore Him;
Oh come, oh come, re­joic­ing to hon­or the Lord.

God of the God­head, true Light una­bat­ed,
See, Ma­ry the vir­gin has borne the Ad­ored;
True God eter­nal, born yet un­cre­at­ed—

Refrain

Sing, all ye an­gels, ech­oes loud re­bound­ing
Now swell through your halls, to for­ev­er be heard;
Glory to God, thro’ Hea­ven far re­sound­ing—

Refrain

Praise to the In­fant, who this day de­scend­ed;
All glo­ry to Thee, bless­èd Je­sus ad­ored;
Word with two na­tures, join­ing, yet un­blend­ed—

Refrain