288

GEORGE F. HANDEL.

27, 74, 70.

2 "Fear not," said he,-for mighty dread
Had seized their troubled mind,-
Glad tidings of great joy I bring
To you and all mankind.

3 "To you, in David's town this day
Is born, of David's line,

The Saviour, who is Christ the Lord;
And this shall be the sign:

4 "The heavenly babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All humbly wrapped in swathing-bands,
And in a manger laid."

5 Thus spake the seraph; and forthwith
Appeared a shining throng
Of angels, praising God on high,
Who thus addressed their song:

6 "All glory be to God on high,

And to the earth be peace;
Good-will henceforth from heaven to men,
Begin and never cease."

Tate and Brady.

1 MORTALS, awake, with angels join,
And chant the solemn lay;
Joy, love, and gratitude combine,
To hail the auspicious day.

2 In heaven the rapturous song began,
And sweet seraphic fire
Through all the shining legions ran,
And strung and tuned the lyre.

2 Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

3 But with the woes of sin and strife

The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love song which they bring:
O cease, ye mortals, cease your strife,
And hear the angels sing!

Edmund H. Sears.

1 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.

2 The answering hills of Palestine
Send back the glad reply,
And greet from all their holy hights
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.

3 "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."

4 To-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 sweetly burst from seraph-harps
The high and solemn lay,-

"Glory to God; on earth be peace;
Salvation comes to-day!"

Edmund H. Sears.

293

9:34

With the angel host proclaim,

9:

9

828, 901, 464.

2 Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord;

In the manger born a king,

While adoring angels sing,
"Peace on earth, to men good-will;"
Bid the trembling soul be still,
Christ on earth has come to dwell,
Jesus, our Emmanuel!

3 Hail! the heaven-born Prince of peace! Hail! the Sun of righteousness!

Life and light to all he brings,

Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild he lays his glory by,

Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,

294

Born to give them second birth. Charles Wesley.

828, 464, 901,

1 HE has come! the Christ of God Left for us his glad abode, Stooping from his throne of bliss To this darksome wilderness.

295

9:4

HENRY SMART.

si-lence broken

1 HARK! what mean those holy voices,
Sweetly warbling in the skies?
All the heavenly host rejoices,
Loudest hallelujahs rise.

2 Listen to the wondrous story,

Which they chant in hymns of joy,"Glory in the highest, glory;

Glory be to God most high!

3 "Peace on earth, good-will from heaven,
Reaching far as man is found;
Souls redeemed, and sins forgiven;
Loud our golden harps shall sound.
4 "Christ is born, the great Anointed;
Heaven and earth his glory sing;
Glad receive whom God appointed,
For your Prophet, Priest, and King.

5 "Hasten, mortals! to adore him; Learn his name and taste his joy; Till in heaven you stand before him, And his praise your tongues employ."

John Cawood.

1 ANGELS, from the realms of glory, Wing your flight o'er all the earth; Ye who sang creation's story,

Now proclaim Messiah's birth.
CHO. Come and worship, come and worship,
Worship Christ, the new-born King.

2 Shepherds in the field abiding,
Watching o'er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing,
Yonder shines the infant light.

3 Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen his natal star.

298

JOHANN C. W. A. MOZART.

men old the guiding

behold;

beaming

with

S

9

1114, 685, 244,

2 As with joyful steps they sped To that lowly manger-bed,

There to bend the knee before

Him whom heaven and earth adore;
So may we with willing feet
Ever seek the mercy-seat.

3 As they offered gifts most rare
At that manger rude and bare;
So may we with holy joy,