Scripture Verse

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:10

Introduction

Words: Charles Wes­ley, Hymns for the Na­ti­vi­ty of Our Lord (Lon­don: Will­iam Stra­han, 1745), num­ber 8, alt.

Music: Sher­brook ano­ny­mous, in the Me­tho­dist Hymn and Tune Book (To­ron­to, Ca­na­da: Me­tho­dist Book and Pub­lish­ing House, 1894), num­ber 202 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know when the mu­sic was writ­ten, the com­pos­er, or where to get a good pic­ture of him (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

Lyrics

Away with our fears!
The God­head ap­pears
In Christ re­con­ciled,
The Fa­ther of mer­cies
In Je­sus the Child.

He comes from above,
In ma­ni­fest love;
Desire of our eyes,
The meek Lamb of God in
A man­ger He lies.

Immanuel’s birth,
What tri­umph on earth!
Yet could it af­ford
No bet­ter a place for
Its hea­ven­ly Lord?

The An­cient of Days
To save a lost race,
From glo­ry comes down;
Self-humbled to car­ry
Us up to a crown.

Made flesh for our sake,
That we might par­take
The na­ture di­vine,
Again in His im­age,
His ho­li­ness shine.

A hea­ven­ly birth,
Experience on earth,
And rise to His throne,
And life with our Je­sus
Eternally one.

Then let us be­lieve,
And glad­ly re­ceive
The tid­ings they bring
Who pub­lish to sin­ners
Their Sav­ior and king.

And while we are here,
Our king shall ap­pear,
His Spir­it im­part,
And form His full im­age
Of love in our heart.