Thursday, 25 December 2008

• From Heaven to the Hay. . .

  
  
  
  
  
  
  (For music, click on highlighted text.)
  

  
  First, a more well-known Christmas hymn:
  
  Angels, from the realms of glory,
  Wing your flight o'er all the earth;
  Ye who sang creation's story,
  Now proclaim Messiah's birth:
  Come and worship, Come and worship,
  Worship Christ, the newborn King.
  
  Shepherds, in the field abiding,
  Watching o'er your flocks by night,
  God with man is now residing;
  Yonder shines the infant light:
  Come and worship, Come and worship,
  Worship Christ, the newborn King.
  
  Sages, leave your contemplations,
  Brighter visions beam afar;
  Seek the great Desire of nations;
  Ye have seen His natal star:
  Come and worship, Come and worship,
  Worship Christ, the newborn King.
  
  Saints, before the altar bending,
  Watching long in hope and fear,
  Suddenly the Lord, descending,
  In His temple shall appear:
  Come and worship, Come and worship,
  Worship Christ, the newborn King.
  
  Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
  Doomed for guilt to endless pains,
  Justice now revokes the sentence,
  Mercy calls you, breaks your chains:
  Come and worship, Come and worship,
  Worship Christ, the newborn King.
  
  (by James Montgomery)
  
  
  
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  Now, one that might or might not be familiar:
  -----------------------------
  Come, Thou long expected Jesus,
  Born to set Thy people free:
  From our fears and sins release us,
  Let us find our rest in Thee.
  
  Israel's strength and consolation,
  Hope of all the earth Thou art;
  Dear Desire of every nation,
  Joy of every longing heart.
  
  Born Thy people to deliver,
  Born a child, and yet a King,
  Born to reign in us forever,
  Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
  
  By Thine own eternal Spirit,
  Rule in all our hearts alone,
  By Thine all-sufficient merit,
  Raise us to Thy glorious throne.
  (Charles Wesley)
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  These next two I'd never heard or seen before
   until I found them in an old hymnal today.
   
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  Hark, the glad sound! the Saviour comes,
  The Saviour promised long;
  Let every heart prepare a throne,
  And every voice a song.
  
  He comes, the prisoner to release,
  In Satan's bondage held;
  The gates of brass before Him burst,
  The iron fetters yield.
  
  He comes, from thickest films of vice
  To clear the mental ray,
  And on the eyes oppressed with night
  To pour celestial day.
  
  He comes, the broken heart to bind,
  The wounded soul to cure,
  And, with the treasures of His grace,
  To enrich the humble poor.
  
  Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace,
  Thy welcome shall proclaim;
  And Heaven's eternal arches ring
  With Thy beloved name.
  
  (Phillip Doddridge, 1735)
  
  
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  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?
  
  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?
  
  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 lifeblood flowed.
  
  O 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 Coxe)
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