Scripture Verse

There was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

Introduction

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William Gadsby (1773–1844)
National Portrait Gallery

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Words: Will­iam Gads­by, The Na­za­rene’s Songs (Man­ches­ter, Eng­land: 1814), num­ber 174.

Music: Christ Church (Steg­gall) Charles H. Steg­gall, 1865 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tunes:

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Charles Steggall
(1826–1905)

Lyrics

Jesus the Lord is born,
To set His peo­ple free,
From Si­nai’s dread­ful storm,
And ev­ery mi­se­ry;
From all that hell and sin can do,
And take them safe to glo­ry, too.

Whatever guest ap­peared,
The pub­lic inn to crowd;
No lodg­ings could be spared
For the in­car­nate Word;
A sta­ble must the birth­place be
Of Him who fills im­men­si­ty.

The sin­ner’s guil­ty heart
For sin pro­vides a home;
Nor with a lust will part,
To give the Sav­ior room;
Just like the bust­ling, crowd­ed inn,
There’s room for all, ex­cept­ing Him.

For pass­ion, lust and pride,
And en­mi­ty to God;
For aught that can de­ride
The Sav­ior’s pre­cious blood,
There’s room and en­ter­tain­ment here,
But none for Him whom dev­ils fear.

Immortal thanks to Him,
Whose match­less, so­ver­eign grace
Breaks down the pow­er of sin
And makes Him­self a place;
He takes pos­ses­sion of the mind,
And proves Him­self su­preme­ly kind.