Ye sons of men, oh, heark­en:
Your heart and mind pre­pare;
To hail th’al­migh­ty Sav­ior,
Oh sin­ners, be your care.
He who of grace alone
Our life and light was giv­en,
The pro­mised Lord from Hea­ven,
Unto our world is shown.

Prepare the way be­fore Him;
Prepare for Him the best.
Cast out whate’er of­fend­eth
This great, this heav’n­ly Guest.
Make straight, make plain, the way:
The low­ly val­leys rais­ing,
The heights of pride abas­ing,
His path all ev­en lay.

The hum­ble heart and low­ly
God lift­eth up on high;
Beneath His feet in ang­uish
The haugh­ty soul shall lie.
The heart, sin­cere and right,
That heeds God’s in­vi­ta­tion
And makes true pre­pa­ra­tion,
It is the Lord’s de­light.

Prepare my heart, Lord Je­sus,
Turn not from me aside,
And grant that I re­ceive Thee
This bless­èd Ad­vent­ide.
From stall and man­ger low
Come Thou to dwell with­in me;
Loud prais­es will I sing Thee
And forth Thy glo­ry show.