The Hymns and Carols of Christmas

Gabriel's Message Does Away

Version 1; Compare Version 2 from Woodward's The Cowley Carol Book, First Series

Words: Piae Cantiones, 1582; translated by John Mason Neale (1818-1866)

Music: Angelus Emittitur
Meter: 777 with refrain

1. Gabriel's message does away
Satan's curse and Satan's sway,
out of darkness brings our Day:

Chorus:
So, behold,
All the gates of heaven unfold.
[1]

2. He that comes despised shall reign;
he that cannot die, be slain;
death by death its death shall gain: Chorus

3. Weakness shall the strong confound;
by the hands, in grave clothes wound,
Adam's chains shall be unbound. Chorus

4. By the sword that was his own,
by that sword, and that alone,
shall Goliath be o'erthrown: Chorus

5. Art by art shall be assailed;
to the cross shall Life be nailed;
from the grave shall hope be hailed: Chorus