Scripture Verse

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is He that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east, and are come to worship Him. Matthew 2:1

Introduction

Words: Ri­chard R. Chope, Car­ols for Use in Church (Lon­don: Will­iam Clowes & Sons, 1894), num­ber 28.

Music: Ok­la­ho­ma Ci­ty Hen­ry J. Gaunt­lett (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Henry Gauntlett
(1805–1876)
National Portrait Gallery

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Lyrics

The wise men saw a light afar
Shine out on Christ­mas morn­ing,
And taught by faith they hailed the star
Of Christ on Christ­mas morn­ing.
Then jour­neyed they, those princ­es three,
On Christ­mas in the morn­ing,
To Da­vid’s town, his Lord to see,
The Babe in glo­ry’s morn­ing!

Whom did ye see, ye shep­herds, say,
On Christ­mas in the morn­ing?
Whose voice heard ye, this peace­ful day,
Sweet sing­ing in the morn­ing?
We heard their car­ols in the sky,
On Christ­mas in the morn­ing,
And saw the an­gel host on high
In robes of light, this morn­ing!

And whom see ye, good Chris­tians all,
On Christ­mas in the morn­ing?
Whose voice hear we, this fes­tiv­al,
In tones of love and warn­ing?
We hear the Church, our mo­ther dear,
On Christ­mas in the morn­ing;
And see her spouse, for faith sees clear,
Th’Incarnate Word, this morn­ing.

Then lift ye up your hearts aright,
This Eu­cha­ris­tic morn­ing!
Come, come, where al­tars beam with light,
And choirs sing sweet, this morn­ing;
Glory to God, to God our king,
On Christ­mas in the morn­ing!
Peace, peace, let all good peo­ple sing,
Goodwill to men this morn­ing!