Christmas - Various

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on earth,

       Born is God's Son so dear

       Going over the hills,

       Through the milk-white snow,

       Heard I ewes bleat

       While the wind did blow.

       Nowell, &c.

       Shepherds many an one

       Sat among the sheep;

       No man spake more word

       Than they had been asleep.

       Nowell, &c.

       Quoth I 'Fellows mine,

       Why this guise sit ye?

       Making but dull cheer,

       Shepherds though ye be?

       Nowell, &c.

       'Shepherds should of right

       Leap and dance and sing;

       Thus to see ye sit

       Is a right strange thing.'

       Nowell, &c.

       Quoth these fellows then

       'To Bethlem town we go,

       To see a Mighty Lord

       Lie in manger low.'

       Nowell, &c.

       'How name ye this Lord,

       Shepherds?' then said I.

       'Very God' they said,

       'Come from Heaven high.'

       Nowell, &c.

       Then to Bethlem town

       We went two and two,

       And in a sorry place

       Heard the oxen low.

       Nowell, &c.

       Therein did we see

       A sweet and goodly May,

       And a fair old man;

       Upon the straw she lay.

       Nowell, &c.

       And a little CHILD

       On her arm had she;

       'Wot ye who this is?'

       Said the hinds to me.

       Nowell, &c.

       Ox and ass him know,

       Kneeling on their knee:

       Wondrous joy had I

       This little BABE to see.

       Nowell, &c.

       This is CHRIST the Lord,

       Masters, be ye glad!

       Christmas is come in,

       And no folk should be sad.

       Nowell, &c.

      THE ADORATION OF THE WISE MEN

      CECIL FRANCES ALEXANDER

      Saw you never in the twilight,

       When the sun had left the skies,

       Up in heaven the clear stars shining,

       Through the gloom like silver eyes?

       So of old the wise men watching,

       Saw a little stranger star,

       And they knew the King was given,

       And they follow'd it from far.

       Heard you never of the story,

       How they cross'd the desert wild,

       Journey'd on by plain and mountain,

       Till they found the Holy Child?

       How they open'd all their treasure,

       Kneeling to that Infant King,

       Gave the gold and fragrant incense,

       Gave the myrrh in offering?

       Know ye not that lowly Baby

       Was the bright and morning star,

       He who came to light the Gentiles,

       And the darken'd isles afar?

       And we too may seek his cradle,

       There our heart's best treasures bring,

       Love, and Faith, and true devotion,

       For our Saviour, God, and King.

      THE SHEPHERDS IN JUDEA

      MARY AUSTIN

      Oh, the Shepherds in Judea,

       They are pacing to and fro,

       For the air grows chill at twilight

       And the weanling lambs are slow!

       Leave, O lambs, the dripping sedges, quit the bramble and the brier,

       Leave the fields of barley stubble, for we light the watching fire;

       Twinkling fires across the twilight, and a bitter watch to keep,

       Lest the prowlers come a-thieving where the flocks unguarded sleep.

       Oh, the Shepherds in Judea,

       They are singing soft and low—

       Song the blessed angels taught them

       All the centuries ago!

       There was never roof to hide them, there were never walls to bind;

       Stark they lie beneath the star-beams, whom the blessed angels find,

       With the huddled flocks upstarting, wondering if they hear aright,

       While the Kings come riding, riding, solemn shadows in the night.

       Oh, the Shepherds in Judea,

       They are thinking, as they go,

       Of the light that broke their watching

       On the hillside in the snow!—

       Scattered snow along the hillside, white as springtime fleeces are,

       With the whiter wings above them and the glory-streaming star—

       Guiding-star across the housetops; never fear the Shepherds felt

       Till they found the Babe in manger where the kindly cattle knelt.

       Oh, the Shepherds in Judea!—

       Do you think the Shepherds know

       How the whole round earth is brightened

       In the ruddy Christmas glow?

       How the sighs are lost in laughter, and the laughter brings the tears,

       As the thoughts of men go seeking back across the darkling years

       Till they find the wayside stable that the star-led Wise Men found,

       With the Shepherds, mute, adoring, and the glory shining round!

      CHRISTMAS CAROL

      JAMES S. PARK

      So crowded was the little town

       On the first Christmas day,

       Tired Mary Mother laid her down

       To rest upon the hay.

       (Ah, would my door might have been thrown

       Wide open on her way!)

       But when the Holy Babe was born

       In the deep hush of night,

       It seemed as if a Sabbath morn

       Had come with sacred light.

       Child Jesus made the place forlorn

       With his own beauty bright.

      

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