THE TUNE.
There is no certainty as to the original tune of Theodulph's Hymn, or how long it survived, but various modern composers have given it music 28 / 8 in more or less keeping with its character, notably Melchior Teschner, whose harmony, “St. Theodulph,” appears in the new Methodist Hymnal. It well represents the march of the bishop's Latin.
Melchior Teschner, a Prussian musician, was Precentor at Frauenstadt, Silesia, about 1613.
“ALL PRAISE TO THEE, ETERNAL LORD.”
Gelobet Seist du Jesu Christ.
This introductory hymn of worship, a favorite Christmas hymn in Germany, is ancient, and appears to be a versification of a Latin prose “Sequence” variously ascribed to a 9th century author, and to Gregory the Great in the 6th century. Its German form is still credited to Luther in most hymnals. Julian gives an earlier German form (1370) of the “Gelobet,” but attributes all but the first stanza to Luther, as the hymn now stands. The following translation, printed first in the Sabbath Hymn Book, Andover, 1858, is the one adopted by Schaff in his Christ in Song:
All praise to Thee, eternal Lord,
Clothed in the garb of flesh and blood;
Choosing a manger for Thy throne,
While worlds on worlds are Thine alone!
Once did the skies before Thee bow;
A virgin's arms contain Thee now;
Angels, who did in Thee rejoice,
Now listen for Thine infant voice.
A little child, Thou art our guest,
That weary ones in Thee may rest;
Forlorn and lowly in Thy birth,
That we may rise to heaven from earth.
Thou comest in the darksome night,
To make us children of the light;
To make us, in the realms divine,
Like Thine own angels round Thee shine.
All this for us Thy love hath done:
By this to Thee our love is won;
For this we tune our cheerful lays,
And shout our thanks in endless praise.