Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
Although Lewis Redner’s tune has been traditionally used for this hymn, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) paired this text with the British folk tune FOREST GREEN for The English Hymnal (1906) and is widely used in America. Redner’s tune was derided by British hymnologist Erik Routley as “broken-backed and paralytic.”
The first two stanzas recall Brooks’ journey to Bethlehem. Verse 3 gets to the theological meaning of Christ’s birth “in this world of sin”. Verse 4 recalls Brooks in 1865, the misery of the Civil War, Lincoln’s assassination, and his rejuvenation in Bethlehem. “The dark night wakes, the glory breaks, And Christmas comes once more.” Verse 5 makes the story universal on Christmas “o come to us, abide with us, Our Lord Emmanuel.” This hymn excels first in its encouragement of charity and faith, and then the coming of Christ into the human heart.
- O little town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie!
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by.
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.
- O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth!
And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.
For Christ is born of Mary
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep the Angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
- How silently, how silently,
The wondrous gift is given;
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His Heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,
Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.
- Where children pure and happy
Pray to the blessed Child,
Where misery cries out to Thee,
Son of the Mother mild;1
Where Charity stands watching
And Faith holds wide the door,
The dark night wakes, the glory breaks,
And Christmas comes once more.
- O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray!
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels,
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!