An Hymn On the Nativity Of My Saviour
Alternate Title: Ben Jonson's Carol
From Ben Jonson (1573-1637) (Underwoods) ed. 1756, London, vol. vi. pp. 340-1
Compare I Sing the Birth Was Born Tonight - Version 1
I Sing the Birth Was Born Tonight - Version 2
Source: William Sandys, Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (London: Richard Beckley, 1833),
Identical to the version reproduced by George Radcliffe Woodward, ed, Songs of Syon (London: Schott & Co., Third Edition, 1908), # 33. Woodward gives attribution.
1. I sing the birth was born to-night,
The author both of life and light;
The angels so did sound it.
And like the ravish'd shepherds said,
Who saw the light, and were afraid,
Yet search'd, and true they found it.
2. The Son of God, th' eternal king,
That did us all salvation bring,
And freed the soul from danger;
He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven and earth did make,
Was now laid in a manger
3. The Father's wisdom will'd it so,
The Son's obedience knew no No,
Both wills were in one stature;
And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made flesh indeed,
And took on him our nature.
4. What comfort by him do we win,
Who made himself the price of sin,
To make us heirs of glory!
To see this babe, all innocence;
A martyr born in our defence:
Can man forget the story?
Sheet Music from Martin Shaw and Percy Dearmer, The English Carol Book, Second Series (London: A. R. Mowbray & Co., Ltd., 1919), Carol #35
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF
Sandys' Note: From Ben Jonson (Underwoods) ed. 1756, London, vol. vi. pp. 340-1.
Note from Joshua Sylvestre, Christmas Carols - Ancient and Modern (circa 1861, reprinted A. Wessels Company, New York, 1901): The following carol, or hymn, was written by Ben Jonson, about the year 1600.
Note: Hugh Keyte, an editor of The New Oxford Book of Carols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992) believes that "Joshua Sylvestre" is a pseudonym for a collaboration between William Sandys (1792-1874) and William Henry Husk (1814-1887). See Appendix 4.
Also found in Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), p. 272.
