"Fear not," said he,--for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind;
Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.
"To you, in David's town, this day
Is born, of David's line,
The Savior, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:-
"The heavenly babe you there shall find To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands, And in a manger laid."
Light on thy hills, Jerusalem!
The Savior now is born!
And bright on Bethlehem's joyous plains
Breaks the first Christmas morn.
From heaven above to earth I come,
To bear good news to every home;
Glad tidings of great joy I bring,
Whereof I now will say and sing:-
To you this night is born a child
Of Mary, chosen mother mild;
This little child of lowly birth,
Shall be the joy of all your earth.
The message was for you and me,
And all the world beside.
And this is what the angel said,
That lovely Christmastide;
"Fear not, for behold I bring
Tidings of joy and love;
For unto you is born this day,
The Lord from heaven above.
A little infant ye shall see
Within a manger laid;
Go ye, and find your Savior now,
And be no more dismay'd."
Though Christ a thousand times
In Bethlehem be born,
If He's not born in thee,
Thy soul is still forlorn.
Ah! would thy heart but be
A manger for the birth,
God would once more become
A child upon the earth.
ANGELUS SILESIUS
Ah, dearest Jesus, Holy Child,
Make Thee a bed soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee.
MARTIN LUTHER
Hail we now the newborn King,
Whose throne is in the sky;
Again He comes, a welcome guest,
To every lowly manger-breast;
And "Glory be to God," we sing,
While heaven and earth with anthems ring,
And we with angels vie.
HENRY M. KING, D. D.
God bowed to man, and still doth bow;
For Christ is born again, and now,
In those who seek in Him the way,
As when in Judah's stall He lay.
O Father! plant in us to-night
This living Christ, our life, our light,
And send thine angels down again
With peace on earth, good-will to men.
CHARLES A. HUMPHREYS
O heart! what helps it that the knee
Upon His natal spot is bended?
What helps it reverently to see
The grave from which He soon ascended?
Let Him within thee find his birth;
And do thou die to things of earth,
And live Him; let this be for aye
Thy Bethlehem and Golgotha.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of
the heavenly host, praising God.-Luke II: 13.
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