Scripture Verse

I bring you good tidings of great joy. Luke 2:10

Introduction

Words: Will­iam C. Dix, in Church Times, cir­ca 1865.

Music: Gau­de­te Sam­uel Smith, in Church Hymns with Tunes, ed­it­ed by Ar­thur S. Sul­li­van (Lon­don: So­ci­ety for Pro­mot­ing Chris­tian Know­ledge, 1874), num­ber 83 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Smith (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Dix,

portrait
William C. Dix
(1837–1898)

Lyrics

Joy fills our in­most hearts to­day!
The roy­al Child is born:
And an­gel hosts in glad ar­ray
His ad­vent keep this morn.

Rejoice, re­joice! Th’in­car­nate Word
Has come on earth to dwell;
No sweet­er sound than this is heard
Emmanuel!

Low at the cra­dle throne we bend,
We won­der and ad­ore;
And feel no bliss can ours trans­cend,
No joy was sweet be­fore.

Refrain

For us the world must lose its charms
Before the man­ger shrine,
When, fold­ed in Thy moth­er’s arms,
We see Thee, Babe di­vine.

Refrain

Thou Light of un­cre­at­ed Light,
Shine on us, ho­ly Child;
That we may keep Thy birth­day bright,
With ser­vice un­de­filed.

Refrain