Who Is This Babe So Lowly?

 For Christmas Eve, Christmas

Words: Rev. W. D. Springett, D.D.

Source: Edgar Pettman, ed., Modern Christmas Carols (London: Weekes & Co., 1892), #4

Who is this babe so lowly,
Here laid in a manger bed,
Room in the Inn denied Him,
But cradled in cattle shed?
This is the Lord Almighty,
Messiah Saviour-king,
Whose praises Holy Angels
With ceaseless worship sing!

Who is this Babe so tender,
To toil and suffering born,
Whom men will treat unkindly,
With cruelty and scorn?
This is the Lord Almighty,
Whom hosts in Heaven adore,
Who with His word could scatter
His foes for evermore!

Who is this Babe so gentle,
This Babe, so pure and sweet,
Who wears a smile so loving,
His visitors to greet?
This is our only Saviour
Who deigns o earth to come
That He may open for us
The great eternal Home.

Sheet Music from Edgar Pettman, ed., Modern Christmas Carols (London: Weekes & Co., 1892), #4:

Pettman notes: "No. IV.—The first half (in A minor) may be sung as a duet for Trebles and Altos; all joining in the second part (in A major), care being taken to sing the cadence as directed."

Note:

Springett has a carol in this collection, and in Pettman's other collection, The Westminster Carol Book (London: Houghton & Co., 1899), Carol No. 48, p. 64:

Come, See a Child of Low Estate

Rev. Springett was also active in historical and archaeological pursuits in the areas in which he lived and worked.

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