Joy Fills Our Inmost Hearts Today!

For Christmas

Alternate Title: Emmanuel, God With Us

Words: William Chatterton Dix

Music: "Gaudete," Samuel Smith (1821-?), 1874
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF

Source: William Chatterton Dix, Four Joyful Hymns for Christmas Tide (London: G. J. Palmer, 1865), p. 3, and Hymns and Carols for Children (London: W. Knott, 1869), #17, p. 15, et al.

1. Joy fills our inmost hearts today!
    The Royal Child is born:
And Angel hosts in glad array
    His advent keep this morn.

Refrain
Rejoice, rejoice, the Incarnate Word
    Has come on earth to dwell ;
No sweeter sound than this is heard,
    Emmanuel! Emmanuel! ¹

2. Low at the cradle throne we bend,
    We wonder and adore;
And think² no bliss can ours transcend,
    No rapture³ sweet before. Refrain

3. For us the world must lose^3b its charms
    Before the manger shrine,
Where folded⁴ in Thy mother’s arms,
    Thou sleepest,⁵ Babe divine. Refrain

4. Angels are thronging round Thy bed,
    Thine infant grace to see;
The stars are paling o'er Thy head,
    The Day-spring dawns with Thee. Refrain

5. Thou art the Very Light of light,
    Enlighten us, Sweet Child;⁶
That we may keep Thy birthday bright,
    With service undefiled. Refrain

Sheet Music "Gaudete" by Samuel Smith from Rev. Charles Lewis Hutchins, Carols Old and Carols New (Boston: Parish Choir, 1916), Carol #6

Sheet Music by Henry Gadsby from Charles L. Hutchins, Carols Old and Carols New (Boston: Parish Choir, 1916), Carol #49
MIDI / Noteworthy Composers/ PDF

Sheet Music by Henry Gadsby from Henry Ramsden Bramley and John Stainer, Christmas Carols New and Old, Third Series (London: Novello, Ewer & Co., ca 1878), #46, pp. 98-99.
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer/ PDF

Footnotes:

1. This refrain was found in Dix, Four Joyful Hymns for Christmas Tide (1865), p. 3, Dix, Hymns and Carols for Children (1869), #17, p. 15, and Christmas Carols & Christmas Customs (1870), "The Church's Thanksgiving," #15, "Emmanuel," p. 4. Other refrains include:

Hutchins #6, and others:

Refrain
Rejoice, rejoice! Th’ incarnate Word
    Has come on earth to dwell;
No sweeter sound than this is heard
    Emmanuel!

The following is reportedly found in Church Times (1865) and is found in Bramley and Stainer, Christmas Carols New and Old, Series 3, #46, pp. 98-99 (London: Novello, 1878):

Refrain
The Holy One is Mary's Son,
    God comes on earth to dwell,
With joy proclaim His glorious Name,
    Emmanuel, Emmanuel.                  Return

2. Or: And feel Return

3. Or: No joy was Return

3b. Or: loose it's charms, as in Dix's Christmas Carols & Christmas Customs (1870). Return

4. Or: When, folded Return

5. Or: We see Thee, Return

6. Or:

Thou Light of uncreated Light,
    Shine on us, holy Child;

Also from Church Times (ca. 1865):

Thou Light of uncreated Light,
    Enlighten us, sweet Child

 Return

Editor's Note.

Dr. Julian reported that this carol was first published in Church Times, circa 1865, and thereafter in several of Dix's pamphlets and collections. We have been unable to find that issue of Church Times to date (January 13, 2018), however, we've chosen not to pay for access to their archives.

In Dix's Christmas Carols & Christmas Customs (ca. 1870), Hymn #15, p. 4, Dix noted that the music was from "MS," meaning manuscript, but he did not specify either the manuscript or the name of the tune.

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