Scripture Verse

He bowed the heavens…and came down. Psalm 18:9

Introduction

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John M. Neale (1818–1866)
Wikipedia

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Words: Cos­mas the Me­lo­dist, 8th Cen­tu­ry (Χρισ­τὸς γεν­νᾶ­ται δο­ξά­σα­τε). Trans­lat­ed from Greek to Eng­lish by John M. Neale, Hymns of the East­ern Church (Lon­don: Spot­tis­woode, 1862).

Music: Her­mann R. Schroe­der, in Great Hymns of the Church Com­piled by the Late Right Rev­er­end John Free­man Young, ed­it­ed by John H. Hop­kins (New York: James Pott, 1887), num­ber 67 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Schroe­der (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

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Cosmas the Melodist

Lyrics

Christ is born! Tell forth His fame!
Christ from Hea­ven! His love pro­claim!
Christ on earth! Ex­alt His name!
Sing to the Lord, O world, with ex­ul­ta­tion!
Break forth in glad thanks­giv­ing, ev­ery na­tion!
For He hath tri­umphed glo­ri­ous­ly!

Man, in God’s own im­age made,
Man, by Sa­tan’s wiles be­trayed,
Man, on whom cor­rup­tion preyed,
Shut out from hope of life and of sal­va­tion,
Today Christ mak­eth him a new cre­ation,
For He hath tri­umphed glo­ri­ous­ly!

For the Mak­er, when His foe
Wrought the crea­ture death and woe,
Bowed the heav’ns, and came be­low,
And in the vir­gin’s womb His dwell­ing mak­ing,
Became true Man, man’s ve­ry na­ture tak­ing;
For He hath tri­umphed glo­ri­ous­ly!

He, the Wis­dom, Word, and Might,
God, and Son, and Light of light,
Undiscovered by the sight
Of earth­ly mon­arch, or in­fer­nal spi­rit,
Incarnate was, that we might Heav’n in­her­it:
For He hath tri­umphed glo­ri­ous­ly!