CHRISTMAS.

C. M.

GEORGE FREDERICK HANDEL.

192 Good tidings of great joy.-Luke ?: 19.

1 WHILE shepherds watched their flocks by night,

All seated on the ground,

The angel of the Lord came down,

And glory shone around.

2 "Fear not," said he,-for mighty dread Had seized their troubled mind,"Glad tidings of great joy I bring, To you and all mankind..

3 "To you, in David's town, this day
Is born, of David's line,

The Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:

4 "The heavenly babe you there shall find To human view displayed,

All meanly wrapped in swathing-bands,
And in manger laid."

5 Thus spake the seraph; and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng

Of angels, praising God on high,
Who thus addressed their song:

6 "All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace:

Good-will henceforth from heaven to men, Begin and never cease.'

193

TATE AND BRADY,

Glory to God in the highest.

1 MORTALS, awake, with angels join, And chant the solemn lay;

CAROL. C. M. D.

Joy, love, and gratitude combine,
To hail the auspicious day

2 In heaven the rapturous song began,
And sweet seraphic fire

Through all the shining legions ran,
And strung and tuned the lyre.

3 Swift through the vast expanse it flew. And loud the echo rolled;

The theme, the song, the joy, was new, 'Twas more than heaven could hold.

4 Down through the portals of the sky
The impetuous torrent ran;
And angels flew, with eager joy,
To bear the news to man.

5 Hark! the cherubic armies shout,
And glory leads the song:

Good-will and peace are heard through

out

The harmonious heavenly throng.

6 With joy the chorus we repeat, "Glory to God on high!'

Good-will and peace are now complete, Jesus was born to die.

7 Hail, Prince of life, forever hail! Redeemer, Brother, Friend!

Though earth, and time, and life shall

fail,

Thy praise shall never end.

SAMUEL MEDLEY.

RICHARD STORES WILLIS.

1 IT came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold;
"Peace on the earth, good-will to men,
From heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

2 Still through the cloven skies they come With peaceful wings unfurled,

And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

3 But with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!

4 And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,

Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing:
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

5 For lo! the days are hastening on
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

EDMUND H. SEARS.

195 Christmas anthem.

1 CALM on the listening ear of night,
Come heaven's melodious strains,
Where wild Judea stretches far
Her silver-mantled plains;
Celestial choirs from courts above
Shed sacred glories there;

And angels, with their sparkling lyres,
Make music on the air.

2 The answering hills of Palestine
Send back the glad reply,

And greet from all their holy heights
The Dayspring from on high:
O'er the blue depths of Galilee
There comes a holier calm;

And Sharon waves in solemn praise
Her silent groves of palm.

3 "Glory to God!" the lofty strain
The realm of ether fills;

How sweeps the song of solemn joy O'er Judah's sacred hills! "Glory to God!" the sounding skies Loud with their anthems ring: "Peace on the earth; good-will to men, From heaven's eternal King."

4 Light on thy hills, Jerusalem!
The Saviour now is born:

More bright on Bethlehem's joyous plains
Breaks the first Christmas morn;
And brighter on Moriah's brow,
Crowned with her temple spires,
Which first proclaim the newborn light,
Clothed with its orient fires.

5 This day shall Christian tongues be mute, And Christian hearts be cold?

O catch the anthem that from heaven
O'er Judah's mountains rolled!
When nightly burst from seraph-harps
The high and solemn lay,-
"Glory to God; on earth be peace;
Salvation comes to-day!"

EDMUND H. SEARS.

NOEL. C. M.

LOWELL MASON.

196

Patience of Jesus.

1 WHAT grace, O Lord, and beauty shone Around thy steps below!

What patient love was seen in all
Thy life and death of woe!

2 For, ever on thy burdened heart
A weight of sorrow hung;
Yet no ungentle, murmuring word
Escaped thy silent tongue.

3 Thy foes might hate, despise, revile,
Thy friends unfaithful prove;
Unwearied in forgiveness still,
Thy heart could only love.

4 O give us hearts to love like thee,
Like thee, O Lord, to grieve
Far more for others' sins, than all
The wrongs that we receive.

5 One with thyself, may every eye
In us, thy brethren, see

That gentleness and grace that spring
From union, Lord, with thee.

1 THE chosen three, on mountain height,
While Jesus bowed in prayer,
Beheld his vesture glow with light,
His face shine wondrous fair.

2 And lo! with the transfigured Lord,
Leader and seer they saw;
With Carmel's hoary prophet stood
The giver of the law.

3 From the low-bending cloud above,
Whence radiant brightness shone,
Spake out the Father's voice of love,
"Hear my beloved Son!"

4 Lord, lead us to the mountain height;
To prayer's transfiguring glow;
And clothe us with the Spirit's might
For grander work below.

DAVID H. ELA.

AMES. L. M.

43

199 The Transfiguration. 10 WONDROUS type! O vision fair Of glory that the Church shall share, Which Christ upon the mountain shows, Where brighter than the sun he glows! 2 From age to age the tale declare, How with the three disciples there, Where Moses and Elias meet,

The Lord holds converse high and sweet.

3 With shining face and bright array,
Christ deigns to manifest to-day
What glory shall be theirs above,
Who joy in God with perfect love.

4 And faithful hearts are raised on high
By this great vision's mystery;
For which in joyful strains we raise
The voice of prayer, the hymn of praise.

5 O Father, with the Eternal Son,
And Holy Spirit, ever One,
Vouchsafe to bring us by thy grace
To see thy glory face to face.

10 MASTER, it is good to be
High on the mountain here with thee,
Where stand revealed to mortal gaze
Those glorious saints of other days,
Who once received on Horeb's height
The eternal laws of truth and right,
Or caught the still small whisper, higher
Than storm, than earthquake, or than fire.
20 Master, it is good to be

Entranced, enwrapt, alone with thee;
And watch thy glistering raiment glow
Whiter than Hermon's whitest snow;
The human lineaments that shine
Irradiant with a light divine;

Till we too change from grace to grace,
Gazing on that transfigured face.
30 Master, it is good to be
Here on the holy mount with thee:
When darkling in the depths of night,
When dazzled with excess of light,

We bow before the heavenly voice
That bids bewildered souls rejoice,
Though love wax cold, and faith be dim,
"This is my Son, O hear ye him."

ARTHUR P. STANLEY.

201 Receive thy sight.-Luke 18: 42.

1 WHEN the blind suppliant in the way, By friendly hands to Jesus led, Prayed to behold the light of day, "Receive thy sight," the Saviour said. 2 At once he saw the pleasant rays That lit the glorious firmament; And, with firm step and words of praise, He followed where the Master went. 3 Look down in pity, Lord, we pray, On eyes oppressed by moral night, And touch the darkened lids, and say The gracious words, "Receive thy sight." 4 Then, in clear daylight, shall we see Where walked the sinless Son of God; And, aided by new strength from thee, Press onward in the path he trod.

202

WILLIAM C. BRYANT.

Meekness of Christ.

1 How beauteous were the marks divine,
That in thy meekness used to shine,
That lit thy lonely pathway, trod
In wondrous love, O Son of God!

2 O who like thee, so mild, so bright,
Thou Son of man, thou Light of light?
O who like thee did ever go
So patient, through a world of woe?
3 O who like thee so humbly bore
The scorn, the scoffs of men, before?
So meek, so lowly, yet so high,
So glorious in humility?

4 And death, that sets the prisoner free,
Was pang, and scoff, and scorn to thee;
Yet love through all thy torture glowed,
And mercy with thy life-blood flowed.
50 wondrous Lord, my soul would be
Still more and more conformed to thee,
And learn of thee, the lowly One,
And like thee, all my journey run.

A. CLEVELAND COXx.