| ONCE IN ROYAL DAVID'S CITY |
Once in royal David's city, Stood a lowly cattle shed, Where a mother hid her baby In a manger for his bed; Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child. He came down to earth from heaven, Who is God and Lord of all, And His shelter was a stable, And His cradle was a stall: With the poor, and mean, and lowly, Lived on earth our Saviour holy. And thro' all His wondrous childhood, He would honor and obey, Love and watch the lowly maiden In whose gentle arms He lay; Christian children all must be Mild, obedient, good as He. For He is our childhood's pattern, Day by day like us He grew, He was little, weak and helpless, Tears and smiles like us He knew: And He feeleth for our sadness, And He shareth in our gladness. And our eyes at last shall see Him, Through His own redeeming love, For that Child so dear and gentle Is our Lord in heaven above: [{416}] And He leads His children on To the place where He is gone. Not in that poor lowly stable, With the oxen standing by, We shall see Him; but in heaven, Set at God's right hand on high; When like stars His children crowned All in white shall wait around. |
| --Mrs. C. F. Alexander. |
| MADONNA AND CHILD |
| "Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown When Thou camest to earth for me; But in Bethlehem's home there was found no room For Thy holy nativity. O come to my heart, Lord Jesus, There is room in my heart for Thee." |
| --Emily Elizabeth Elliott. |
| CALM ON THE LISTENING EAR OF NIGHT |
Calm on the listening ear of night Come heaven's melodious strains, Where wild Judea stretches far Her silver-mantled plains; Celestial choirs from courts above Shed sacred glories there; And angels with their sparkling lyres Make music on the air. The answering hills of Palestine Send back the glad reply, And greet from all their holy heights The Dayspring from on high. O'er the blue depths of Galilee There comes a holier calm; And Sharon waves in solemn praise, Her silent groves of palm. "Glory to God!" the lofty strain The realm of ether fills; How sweeps the song of solemn joy O'er Judah's sacred hills. "Glory to God!" the sounding skies Loud with their anthems ring: "Peace on the earth; good will to men, From heaven's eternal King." Light on thy hills, Jerusalem! The Saviour now is born! More bright on Bethlehem's joyous plains Breaks the first Christmas morn; [{420}] And brighter on Moriah's brow, Crowned with her temple-spires, Which first proclaim the newborn light, Clothed with its orient fires. This day shall Christian tongues be mute, And Christian hearts be cold? O catch the anthem that from heaven O'er Judah's mountains rolled! When nightly burst from seraph-harps The high and solemn lay,-- "Glory to God; on earth be peace; Salvation comes to-day!" |
| --Edmund Hamilton Sears. |