God's Dear Son

Version 2

Words and Music: English Traditional, 15th or 16th Century
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF

Source: Martin Shaw and Percy Dearmer, The English Carol Book, First Series (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd., 1913), Carol #12

1. God's dear Son without beginning,
Whom the wicked Jews did scorn,
The only wise without all sinning,
On this blessed day was born;
To save us all from sin and thrall,
When we in Satan's chains were bound.
And shed his blood to do us good,
With many a purple bleeding wound.

2. At Bethlehem, King David's city,
Mary's Babe had sweet creation;
God and man endued with pity,
And a Saviour of each nation.
Yet Jewry land with cruel hand
Both first and last his power envied;
When he was born they did him scorn,
And shewed him malice when he died.

3. No kingly robes nor golden treasure
Decked the birthday of God's Son;
No pompal train at all took pleasure
To this King of kings to run.
No mantle brave could Jesus have
Upon his cradle for to lie;
No music's charms in nurse's arms,
To sing the babe a lullaby.

4. Yet as Mary sat in solace,
By our Saviour's first beginning,
Hosts of angels from God's palace
Sounded sweet from Heaven singing;
Yea, Heaven and earth, for Jesus' birth,
With sweet melodious tunes abound,
And everything for Jewry's King
Upon the earth gave cheerful sound.

5. Then with angels' love inspired,
Three wise princes from the East,
To Bethlehem as they desired,
Came whereas the Lord did rest:
And there they laid before the maid,
Before her Son, our God and King,
Their offerings sweet, as was most meet,
Unto so great a power to bring.

6. Now to him that hath redeemed us,
By his precious death and passion:
And us sinners so esteemed us,
To buy dearly this salvation.
Yield lasting fame, that still the name
Of Jesus may be honoured here;
And let us say that Christmas Day
Is still the best day of the year.

Sheet Music from Shaw and Dearmer

See and play the Noteworthy Composer score if you have installed the NoteWorthy Composer Browser Plug-in God's Dear Son Without Beginning - Shaw & Dearmer Only tested by Noteworthy for Netscape, Opera, and IE Browsers (Versions 4 or 5) In my experience, it also works with Firefox.

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