O Fa­ther, Thou who hast cre­at­ed all
In wise­st love, we pray,
Look on this babe, who at Thy gra­cious call
Is en­ter­ing on life’s way;
Bend o’er him in Thy ten­der­ness,
Thine im­age on his soul im­press;
O Fa­ther, hear!

O Son of God, who diedst for us, be­hold,
We bring our child to Thee;
Thou ten­der Shep­herd, take him to Thy fold,
Thine own for aye to be;
Defend him through this earth­ly strife,
And lead him on the path of life,
O Son of God!

O Ho­ly Ghost, who brood­est o’er the wave,
Descend up­on this child;
Give him un­dy­ing life, his spir­it lave
With wa­ters un­de­filed;
Grant him, while yet a babe, to be
A child of God, a home for Thee,
O Ho­ly Ghost!

O Triune God, what Thou com­mand’st is done;
We speak, but Thine the might;
This child hath scarce yet seen our earth­ly sun,
Yet pour on him Thy light,
In faith and hope, in joy and love,
Thou Sun of all be­low, above,
O Tri­une God!