Scripture Verse

The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory…full of grace and truth. John 1:14

Introduction

Words: John F. Wade, cir­ca 1743 (Ades­te fi­del­es). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John C. Earle in An­nus Sanc­tus, Vol­ume 1, ed­it­ed by Or­by Ship­ley (Lon­don and New York: Burns & Oates, 1884), pag­es 28–29.

Music: Gam­bia (Fill­more) Fred­er­ick A. Fill­more, 1893 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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

portrait
Frederick A. Fillmore (1856–1925)

Lyrics

In tri­umph, joy and ho­ly fear,
Draw near, ye faith­ful souls, draw near;
The in­fant King of Heav’n is here:
None treads aright but Beth­le­hem-ward;
Come hi­ther and adore the Lord.

A maid­en pure—oh, won­drous sight—
Has borne the ve­ry Light of light:
God is be­got­ten out of night:
All grace is in this In­fant stored;
Come hi­ther, come, adore the Lord.

By an­gels called that bliss to taste,
The shep­herds leave their flocks and haste
To see Him in a man­ger placed:
Then need we fur­ther be im­plored
To hast­en and adore the Lord?

The wise men too—a star their guide—
By Her­od sent, from Sa­lem ride,
With in­cense, gold and myrrh sup­plied:
And with their gifts our hearts be poured
At those dear feet of Christ the Lord.

The glo­ry of th’eter­nal Sire
Veiled un­der flesh we shall ad­mire,
Nor quail be­fore His aw­ful fire:
That In­fant swathed shall be adored:
Come hi­ther, come, ’tis Christ the Lord.

Such love as this—who would not yearn
To love the lov­er in re­turn?
Behold, with re­ver­ent zeal we burn
To see the Babe proud kings ig­nored,
And kiss the feet of Christ our Lord.

Ye choirs of bliss­ful an­gels, sing;
Ye vaults of Heav’n, re­spons­ive ring,
All glo­ry to our God and king;
Let floods of har­mo­ny be poured
From men be­low to Christ the Lord.

To Thee be glo­ry who, to­day
In Beth­le­hem born, dost live al­way:
Jesus, let none their steps de­lay
To vi­sit Thee, th’eter­nal Word
Made flesh, and wor­ship Christ the Lord.