XXIV.
GOD rest you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day.
In Bethlehem, in Jury,
This blessed babe was born,
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn;
The which his mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn.
O tidings, &c.
From God, our Heavenly Father,
A blessed angel came,
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
That there was born in Bethlehem
The Son of God by name.
Fear not then, said the Angel,
Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright;
So frequently to vanquish all
The friends of Satan quite.
O tidings, &c.
The shepherds at these tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding
In tempest, storm, and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed Babe to find.
O tidings, &c.
But when they came to Bethlehem,
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen fed on hay;
His mother, Mary, kneeling,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings, &c.
Now to the Lord sing praises
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All others doth deface.
O tidings, &c.