This happy morn.
Come, shepherds, come,
Let none remain behind,
Come see the wretched sinners' friend,
The Saviour of mankind.
When they hear the good news, sung to a quaint and inspiriting air in their own language, the shepherds hesitate no longer, but set off for Bethlehem in a body. One of them, it is true, expresses some doubts as to what will become of the flocks in their absence; but a veteran shepherd strikes his crook upon the ground and sternly reproves him for being anxious about the sheep when a heavenly messenger has declared that "God has made Himself the Shepherd of mankind." They leave the dais, and march out of the church, the whole of which is now considered as being the stable. After a while the shepherds knock for admittance, and their voices are heard in the calm crisp midnight air chaunting these words to sweet and solemn strains:
Master of this blest abode,
O guardian of the Infant God,
Open your honoured gate, that we
May at His worship bend the knee.