Christmas a little early
My wife is preparing an advent calendar, and came across this old English carol by Thomas Pestel in my English Hymnal. It is sung to the tune THIS ENDRIS NYGHT.
Behold the great Creator makes
Himself a house of clay,
A robe of virgin flesh He takes
Which He will wear for ay.
Hark, hark, the wise eternal Word,
Like a weak infant cries!
In form of servant is the Lord,
And God in cradles lies.
This wonder struck the world amazed,
It shook the starry frame;
Squadrons of spirits stood and gazed,
Then down in troops they came.
Glad shepherds ran to view this sight;
A choir of angels sings,
And eastern sages with delight
Adore this King of kings.
Join then, all hearts that are not stone,
And all our voices prove,
To celebrate this holy One
The God of peace and love.
posted by Ryan Martin at 11/17/2005 09:24:00 PM
3 Comments:
When is the bloke that wrote it from? The first two lines of the second stanza are straight out of Lancelot Andrewes!
Thomas Pestel, 1584-1659.
I hope you do this regularly. I've listened to the continuous thing on cyberhymnal for an hour so I could learn this. Its a good one.
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