Words: S. C. Clarke, in Car­ols Old and Car­ols New, by Charles Lew­is Hutch­ins (Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts: Par­ish Choir, 1916), num­ber 284.

Music: G. H. Greg­o­ry.

If you know the au­thor or com­pos­er’s full name, or where to get pho­tos of them


A virgin did come from lowliest home,
And shelter she fain in a manger would find;
For full was the inn, and no room was within,
Save where to the stalls the mute oxen they bind.

Refrain

O how wondrous the love and the deep humility
Of Him Who was laid in the manger for me.

That Babe was a King, mystic gifts, lo, they bring,
Sure tokens they were of some great One to be;
To Bethlehem led, Eastern sages have sped
From afar “The Desire of all nations” to see.

Refrain

Accomplished their hope, their treasures they ope—
Gold, frankincense, myrrh, to that Infant they brought,
Gifts costly and rare, full of meaning they were,
Though not yet unveiled were the great truths they taught.

Refrain

No tokens of state round that royal Babe wait,
Seeming least, and yet greatest, of monarchs was He;
But in reverence low, princely Magi did bow,
As though they divined all His true dignity.

Refrain