Scripture Verse

Let the little children come to Me. Luke 18:16

Introduction

portrait
Christoph von Schmid
1768–1854

Words: Chris­toph von Schmid, 1794 (Ihr Kin­der­lein, kom­met, o kom­met doch all). Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Me­la­nie Schulte (1885–1922). Click here for more back­ground in­for­ma­tion on the hymn.

Music: Schulz Jo­hann A. P. Schulz, 1790 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

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Johann A. P. Schulz
1747–1800

Lyrics

Oh, come, lit­tle child­ren, oh, come, one and all,
To Beth­le­hem’s sta­ble, in Beth­le­hem’s stall.
And see with re­joic­ing this glo­ri­ous sight,
Our Fa­ther in Hea­ven has sent us this night.

Oh, see in the man­ger, in hal­low­èd light
A star throws its beam on this ho­li­est sight.
In clean swad­dling clothes lies the hea­ven­ly Child,
More love­ly than an­gels, this Ba­by so mild.

Oh, there lies the Christ Child, on hay and on straw;
The shep­herds are kneel­ing be­fore Him with awe.
And Ma­ry and Jo­seph smile on Him with love,
While an­gels are sing­ing sweet songs from above.