Scripture Verse

Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Hebrews 2:14–15

Introduction

portrait
Ernest E. Dugmore
1843–1925

Words: Er­nest E. Dug­more. First pub­lished by Long­hurst (Lon­don: cir­ca 1870), then in Hymns and Li­ta­nies (Park­stone Press, 1885).

Music: Her­ga Per­cy C. Buck, in Hymns An­cient and Mo­dern, 1904 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

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

Lyrics

Christians, sing the in­car­na­tion
Of th’eter­nal Son of God,
Who, to save us, took our na­ture,
Soul and bo­dy, flesh and blood;
God, He saw man’s cru­el bond­age,
Who in death’s dark dun­geon lay;
Man, He came to fight man’s bat­tle,
And for man He won the day.
Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia
To th’in­car­nate Son of God,
Who for man as Man hath con­quered
In our own true flesh and blood.

King of kings and Lord of an­gels,
He put off His glo­ry-crown,
Had a sta­ble-cave for pa­lace,
And a man­ger for His throne;
Helpless lay, to whom cre­ation
All its life and be­ing owed,
And the low­ly He­brew maid­en
Was the mo­ther of her God.
Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia
To th’in­car­nate Son of God,
Who con­cealed His daz­zling God­head
’Neath the veil of flesh and blood.

Through a life of low­ly la­bor
He on earth was pleased to dwell,
All our want and sor­row shar­ing;
God with us, Em­ma­nu­el:
Yet, a dear­er, clos­er un­ion
Jesus in His love would frame;
He, the Pass­ov­er ful­fill­ing,
Gave Him­self as pas­chal Lamb.
Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia
To th’in­car­nate Son of God,
Who the heav’n­ly gifts be­queathed us
Of His own true flesh and blood.

Then, by man re­fused and hat­ed,
God for man vouch­safed to die,
Love di­vine its depth re­veal­ing
On the heights of Cal­va­ry;
Through His dy­ing the do­min­ion
From the ty­rant death was torn,
When its vic­tim rose its vic­tor
On the re­sur­rect­ion morn.
Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia
To th’in­car­nate Son of God,
Who through His eter­nal Spi­rit
Offers His own flesh and blood.

Forty days of mys­tic con­verse
Lived on earth the Ris­en One,
Speaking of His earth­ly king­dom,
Ere He sought His heav’n­ly throne:
Then, His lat­est words a bless­ing,
He as­cend­ed up on high,
And through rank on rank of an­gels
Captive led cap­ti­vi­ty.
Alleluia, Al­le­lu­ia
To th’in­car­nate Son of God,
Who the ho­li­est place hath en­tered
In our flesh and by His blood.

Now up­on the gold­en al­tar,
In the midst be­fore the throne,
Incense of His in­ter­ces­sion
He is of­fer­ing for His own.
And on earth at all His al­tars
His true pre­sence we adore,
And His sac­ri­fice is plead­ed,
Yea, till time shall be no more.
Alleluia, Al­le­luia
To th’in­car­nate Son of God,
Who, abid­ing Priest for­ev­er,
Still im­parts His flesh and blood.

Then, adored in high­est Hea­ven,
We shall see the vir­gin’s son,
All cre­ation bowed be­fore Him,
Man upon th’eter­nal throne:
Where, like sound of ma­ny wa­ters
In one ev­er ris­ing flood,
Myriad voic­es hymn His tri­umph,
Victim, Priest, in­car­nate God.
Worthy He all praise and bless­ing
Who, by dy­ing, death o’er­came;
Glory be to God for­ev­er!
Alleluia to the Lamb!