Behold What Splendour
For the Christmas-tide
Words: English Traditional
Music: Not Stated
Source: A Selection of Carols, Pieces, and Anthems, Suitable for Christmas. (London: W. Kent and Co.; Penzance: F. Rodda, ca. 1872), p. 17.
Behold what splendour, hear that shout,
Heaven opens, angels issue out,
And throng the nether sky.
What joyful tidings do they bring:
Rap't at the approach of Israel's King :
They speak their monarch nigh.
Why doth the King approach our land:
Comes he with terror in his hand,
The merits of our crimes ?
ty, Shepherds be glad, he comes with peace,
Not wrath but universal grace,
To bless earth's distant climes.
See heaven's great heir a Virgin's Son,
Behold a manger for his throne,
Though spotless he must die,
Yours is the guilt but his the pain,
His is the sorrow, yours the gain,
Then let his praise be high.
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