echoing their joyous strains
“Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God…” — Luke 2:13
Douglas Wilson has done it again. Merry Christmas!
What Child is this, now laid to rest,
Within a rustic stall?
We hail the Sun of righteousness,
A gift of God, forever blest,
To gain his everlasting Hall.This little town of Bethlehem,
Obscured in darkness lies,
But angel hosts did not condemn;
They praise the royal diadem
And joined the triumph of the skies.O come, O come, Emmanuel,
Let justice, mercy kiss,
Deliver us from death and Hell,
And ransom captive Israel,
For Jesus Christ was born for this.While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
The virgin toiled and gave
The one desire of nations bright,
To bring us from eternal light,
A Savior who could fully save.So, Savior of the nations, come,
Let earth receive her king.
And let us total up the sum
Of mercies in that kingdom come,
And echo why the angels sing.These angels fill the skies with praise,
And mountains in reply,
And promise that through endless days
We all will sing what glory weighs
And offer it to God Most High.Now see him in a manger laid,
That pure one undefiled.
He came to give what could not fade,
He came to see the ransom paid,
With God and sinners reconciled.So veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Let heav’n and nature sing.
A wooden box, a golden key,
Will bring us to the crystal sea,
Where God’s cathedral bells all ring.It came up upon a midnight clear—
Proclaim that holy birth.
To banish guilt and shame and fear,
The Christ of God has now appeared
And brings good will and peace to earth.And so from realms of endless day
From tender stem hath sprung
A bud to bloom in our cold gray.
What Satan and his Herods say,
We answer with our myriad tongues.Sing praises to our heav’nly Lord,
The Son of love’s pure light.
In manger and on throne adored,
Before him all our anthems soared
And there expressed redeemed delight.So God imparts to human hearts,
The gift of life again.
We sing in true harmonious parts,
And mimic high angelic arts.
God rest ye merry, gentlemen!
