Mirth Inclined or The Sinner's Redemption

For Christmas

Words: English Traditional
See: All You That Are To Mirth Inclined - Notes

Music: English Traditional

Meter: 88 88

Source: G. Walters, A Good Christmas Box (Dudley: G. Walters, 1847; reprinted Ashley: Michael Raven, 2007), pp. 15-18.

All you that are to mirth inclin'd,
Consider well and bear in mind;
What our Great God for us hath done,
In sending his beloved Son.

Let all your songs and praises be,
Unto his heavenly Majesty,
And evermore among your mirth,
Remember Christ our Saviour's birth.

The five-and-twentieth of December,
Great cause have we for to remember,
In Bethlehem upon that morn,
There was our blessed Saviour born.

Here Bethlehem did shepherds keep,
Their herds and flocks a keeping sheep,
To whom God's angels did appear,
Which put the shepherds in great fear.

Prepare and go the angel said,
To Bethlehem, be not afraid,
There shall you see this blessed morn,
The heavenly babe, sweet Jesus born.

With thankful hearts and joyful mind,
The shepherds went this babe to find,
And as the heavenly angel told,
They did our Saviour Christ behold.

Within a manger he was laid,
The Version Mary by him staid,
Attending on the Lord of life,
Being both mother, maid, and wife.

If choirs of Angels did rejoice,
Will may mankind with heart and voice,
Sing praises to the God of heaven,
Who us his Son hath given.

Moreover, let us every one.
Call unto mind and think upon.
His righteous life, and how he died,
To have poor sinners justified.

Suppose,. O man, that thou should'st lie
In prison strong, condemned to die,
And that no friend upon the earth
Could ransom thee from cruel death.

Except you can some party find,
That for your sake will be so kind,
His own heart's blood for to dispense,
And lose his life in your defence.

Such was the love of Christ when we
Were lost from heaven eternally,
To save us from eternal woe,
Himself did much pain undergo.

While on the earth he did remain,
He never spent one hour in vain,
In fasting and in prayer divine,
He daily spent his precious time.

He in the Temple daily taught,
And many wondrous strange he wrought,
He gave the blind their perfect sight,
And made the lame to walk upright.

He cured the lepers of their evils,
And by his power cast out devils;
He raised Lazarus from the grave,
And to the sick their health he gave.

Yet for these wonders that he wrought,
Ungrateful Jews his ruin sought,
Treacherous Judas was the man.
That with a kiss betrayed him then.

Then he was led to the judgment hall,
Like one despised by them all,
And had his sentence given that he,
Should suffer death upon a tree.

Then to the cross through hands and feet,
They mailed our blessed Saviour sweet,
And further to augment the smart,
With bloody spears they pierced his heart.

Thus have you heard and seen aright,
The love of Christ the Lord of might,
And how he spent his precious blood,
Only to do poor sinners good.

Editor's Note: There are a number of carols on this website with similar titles or lyrical themes, and some of which are derived from a single source. See: All You That Are To Mirth Inclined - Notes.

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