While shepherds watched their flocks by night, All seated on the ground, The angel of the Lord came down, And glory shone around. And glory shone around. “Fear not!” said he; for mighty dread had seized their troubled mind, “Glad tidings of great joy I bring To you and all mankind, To you and all mankind. “To you, in David’s town this day, Is born of David’s line, The Savior who is Christ the Lord, And this shall be the sign: And this shall be the sign: “The heav’nly Babe you there shall find To human view displayed, All meanly wrapped in swathing bands, And in a manger laid; And in a manger laid. “All glory be to God on high, And to the earth be peace; Good will henceforth from heav’n to men, Begin and never cease, Begin and never cease.” Along with his friend Nicholas Brady, Nahum Tate was a pioneer in church music. At the end of the 17th century, the Church of England still did most of its singing from the Psalter compiled by Sternold and Hopkins in 1652. Tate and Brady recast the psalms in more “modern” language, publishing the New Version of the Psalter in 1696. Even though the old Psalter was often unpoetic and hard to sing, many resisted attempts to change it and resented Tate and Brady for trying to improve it. Eventually, though, King William III of England endorsed Tate and Brady’s New Version, and it became the standard psalter in both England and America. Ironically, many people later protested when translators tried to improve on Tate and Brady! In 1700 Tate and Brady published a supplement of sixteen new hymns to go along with their psalms. This Christmas carol, retelling of the shepherds’ story, was in that collection.
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It came upon the midnight clear, That glorious song of old, From angels bending near the earth To touch their harps of gold: “Peace on the earth, goodwill to men, From heav’n’ all-gracious King!” The world in solemn stillness lay To hear the angels sing. Still through the cloven skies they come With peaceful wing...s, unfurled, And still their heav’nly music floats O’er all the weary world: above its sad and lowly plains They bend on hov’ring wing, And ever o’er its babel sounds The blessed angels sing. And ye, beneath life’s crushing load, Whose forms are bending low, Who toil along the climbing way With painful steps and slow, Look now! For glad and golden hors Come swiftly on the wing: O rest beside the weary road And hear the angels sing. For lo, the days are hast’ning on, By prophets seen of old, When with the ever-circling years Shall come the time foretold, When the new heav’n and earth shall own The Prince of Peace their King, And the whole world send back the song Which now the angels sing. Edmund Sears was a Unitarian minister. Unlike many of his colleagues, he did believe in the deity of Christ. He also believed in the angels’ message of “peace on earth.” This hymn, written in Massachusetts in 1849, focuses on the angels’ song of “peace n earth.” Like many other hymns written in American during the mid-1800s, it might be called a “horizontal hymn.” Such hymns called people to live well, to be at peace, and to honor God, but God was neither the recipient of praise nor the central focus of the song. The focus was on the human struggle in this world. Peace was a timely topic when Sears penned these words. Tensions were rising in America, leading toward the Civil War. But the peace promised by the angel is not only national; it is personal as well. Sears’s third stanza encourages the weary travel to draw hope from the angels’ song. December 9. “Away in a Manger” – American (1885)
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head; The stars in the sky looked down where He lay, The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay. The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes, But little Lord Jesus no crying He makes, I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky,... And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay Close by me forever, and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care, And fit us for heaven, to live with Thee there. Children enjoy Christmas more than any other time of year, and adults share that special joy. “Away in a Manger” is usually considered a children’s carol, yet its beauty and power is loved equally by people of all ages. All of us can pray, “I love you, Lord Jesus! Stay close to me tonight.” For many years this hymn was attributed to Martin Luther. The song first appeared in a Lutheran hymnal in the mid-1800s. The next publisher to pick it up called it “Luther’s Cradle Hymn,” assuming that since it was anonymous and in a Lutheran hymnal, it must be Luther’s. But regardless of its author, the beauty of this carol is the beauty of Christmas. It is simple. Christmas is not the gold or glitter, the wrappings or trappings. It is the story of God humbling Himself to become a baby, born in crude circumstances to a young woman in ancient Palestine. Sing this carol softly. It is what Christmas is all about. |
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