JESUS CHRIST >> Birth
SDAH 119
Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o`er all the earth;
Ye, who sang creation`s story,
Now proclaim Messiah`s birth;
Text
1
Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o`er all the earth;
Ye, who sang creation`s story,
Now proclaim Messiah`s birth;
Come and worship, Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
2
Shepherds, in the field abiding,
Watching o`er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing;
Yonder shines the Infant Light;
Come and worship, Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
3
Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar;
Seek the great Desire of nations;
Ye have seen His natal star;
Come and worship, Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
4
Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord, descending,
In His temple shall appear;
Come and worship, Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the newborn King.
Hymn Info
Biblical Reference
(a) Luke 2:10, 1 (b) Luke 2:8; John 1:14 (c) Matt 2:1, 2; Hag 2:7 (d) Mal 3:1
Author
James Montgomery (1771-1854)
Year Published
1816
Hymn Tune
REGENT SQUARE
Metrical Number
8.7.8.7.8.7.
Composer
Henry Smart (1813-1879)
Year Composed
1867
Theme
BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST
Get the hymn sheet in other keys here
Notes
Get to know the hymns a little deeper with the SDA Hymnal Companion. Use our song leader’s notes to engage your congregation in singing with understanding. Even better, involve kids in learning this hymn with our homeschooling materials.
This poem was written in 1816 by James Montgomery (1771-1854; see Biographies), and printed in the December 24 issue of the newspaper Sheffield Iris, when he was a member of the staff. The title was “Nativity.” It first appeared in print as a hymn in Thomas Cotterill’s Selection of Psalms and Hymns, eighth edition, 1819. It was printed in Montgomery’s Christian Psalmist, 1 825, with very few changes but a different title, namely: “Good Tidings of Great Joy to All People.”
REGENT SQUARE was composed specially for a hymn by Horatius
Bonar (see SDAH 79) entitled “Glory Be to God and Father,” in Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship, 1867, of which Henry Thomas Smart was the music editor. This was a Presbyterian hymnal edited by James Hamilton, minister of St. Philip’s Presbyterian Church in Regent Square, London. Smart named the tune after the location of his church, which is known as the “cathedral of London Presbyterianism.” Smart had been organist there for five years.
Smart, born October 26, 1813, in Marylebone, London, had a musical father. As a boy he was very much interested in organ construction and in playing the organ. He was mainly self-taught, and after practicing law for four years, gave that up and devoted his life entirely to music. Unfortunately, his sight began to dim at the early age of 1 8, but nevertheless he was appointed as organist in Blackburn in Lancashire. After five years there, he received other appointments, all in London, as church organist in several different places. One of them was St. Philip’s, where he served for seven years. In the early 1860s he became blind, but his remarkable memory and his gift for improvisation and composition enabled him to retain his position as organist for another five years. Smart designed and built organs, was a music critic and music editor, and composed numerous cantatas and two operas. He is chiefly remembered, however, for his tunes contributed to Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861, for his organ music, and for his church choral music. He died in Hampstead, London, on July 6, 1879.
Another tune by Smart is LANCASHIRE, SDAH 619.
-from Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White
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