Beside the Manger

She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Adoration of the Shepherds
Gerard van Honthorst
1590–1656

Words: S. J., in The Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, Australia: March 27, 1858), page 4. Source was given as the Weekly Register.

Music: Saint Cross Frank Lambert, in Arundel Hymns, edited by Henry Fitzalan-Howard & Charles T. Gatty, 1902, number 41 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

Clermont William S. Rockstro, in Arundel Hymns, edited by Henry Fitzalan-Howard & Charles T. Gatty, 1902, number 41 (🔊 pdf nwc)

If you know the author’s name, or where to get a good picture of him or Lambert (head-and-shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),

There in the narrow manger, cold and bleak
My Lord, Thou art;
And there within those hands, so soft and weak,
I lay my heart.
Beneath those tiny feet I bow my head,
O blessèd Child.
And kiss the straw that forms Thy chilly bed
In winter wild.

Show me thy wondrous Babe, O mother-maid,
Foretold of yore;
The treasure on thy virgin bosom laid
Let me adore.
That small hand place upon my prostrate brow,
O mother dear;
For crouching in His infant presence
I quake with fear.

A sinner kneeling at an infant’s cot,
I call on Thee;
A sinner at the cross, forget me not,
But plead for me.
And thus in faith assured I leave my heart,
Blest Child, with Thee;
A worthless gift with which Thou wilt not part
Eternally.

Scripture Verse

Introduction

Lyrics