Once did the skies before Thee bow;
A virgin's arms contain Thee now;
Angels, who did in Thee rejoice,
Now listen for Thine infant voice.

A little child, Thou art our guest,
That weary ones in Thee may rest;
Forlorn and lowly in Thy birth,
That we may rise to heaven from earth.

Thou comest in the darksome night,
To make us children of the light;
To make us, in the realms divine,
Like Thine own angels round Thee shine.

All this for us Thy love hath done:
By this to Thee our love is won;
For this we tune our cheerful lays,
And shout our thanks in endless praise.


_THE TUNE._

The 18th century tune of "Weimar" (_Evangelical Hymnal_), by Emanuel
Bach, suits the spiritual tone of the hymn, and suggests the Gregorian
dignity of its origin.

Karl Philip Emanuel Bach, called "the Berlin Bach" to distinguish him
from his father, the great Sebastian Bach of Saxe Weimar, was born in