Scripture Verse

Good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Luke 2:10

Introduction

Words: E. A. Bes­ley, in The Par­ish Choir (Med­ford, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Charles L. Hut­chins), Vol­ume 8, num­ber 389, 1888, page 1553.

Music: S. M. Nourse (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Bes­ley or Nourse’s full name, or where to get good pho­tos of them (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Joyful tid­ings of a Sav­ior came this day
To the world, as in dark­ness and sin it lay;
Angel voic­es sang soft and clear
Through the mid­night air.
The bells send forth their peace­ful strain,
And tell that joy­ful news again,
Far ov­er the snow.

Refrain

Sweetly sing, then, with the an­gels,
Soft and clear;
Let your voic­es be borne on the chill night air;
Carol soft­ly, ca­rol sweet­ly, peace pro­claim
Through the birth of a Sav­ior in Beth­le­hem.

Holy trib­utes to the man­ger let us bring;
Let us wel­come the Sav­ior, our Lord and king;
While the earth with pure snow is clad
Let pure hearts be glad.
And bells ring out their joy­ful peal,
And ang­el voices gent­ly steal
Far through the still night.

Refrain

Humbly shel­tered in a sta­ble Jesus lay;
May He like­wise be found in our hearts this day;
Holy Sav­ior, do Thou be near,
Bring Thou ho­ly cheer;
And we will sing in glad ac­cord
With joy­ful bells and an­gels’ word,
Both now and for aye.

Refrain