The mer­ry bells are gai­ly ring­ing,
Hear their joy­ous chime;
They wel­come in the Hope of na­tions
Born this Christ­mas time;
While choirs of an­gels sing ex­ult­ing,
Let our voic­es rise
In notes of praise to the eter­nal
Lord of earth and skies.

Refrain

Hail! all hail! bless­èd birth;
The blest de­sire of ev­ery na­tion
Comes at last to earth;
Hail! all hail! Christ your king,
The holy One, the great Re­deem­er,
Life and light doth bring.

Repeat to all the won­drous tid­ings,
Sweetest ev­er heard;
The Shi­loh com­eth to His tem­ple,
God re­deems His word;
In hu­man form He now des­cend­eth,
Mystery of love;
O hail the source of ev­ery bless­ing,
Throned in light above.

Refrain

Awake! awake! ye slum­ber­ing na­tions,
Christ is at your door;
The roy­al Babe of Beth­l’hem’s man­ger,
Praise Him ev­er­more;
All glo­ry in the high­est sing­ing,
Now His pow­er con­fess;
Crown Him! the Prince of Peace tri­um­phant,
Lord of Right­eous­ness.

Refrain