Now Join We All with Holy Mirth

Now join we all with ho­ly mirth

To ce­le­brate the Sav­ior’s birth

For He has come from Heav’n to earth

In hum­ble guise and low­ly.

The heav’ns the bright­est pla­net lent

That e’er had graced the fir­ma­ment

And wise men from the east were sent

To greet this Babe so ho­ly.

And from the heav­ens all around

Broke forth such strange

ce­les­ti­al sound

Th’entrancèd shep­herds on the ground

Stand spell­bound

in­ly dream­ing;

If such di­vine

me­lo­di­ous hymn

Of cher­ub­im and se­ra­phim

These har­mo­nies that round them swim

Are real

or on­ly seem­ing.

Fear not

O shep­herds! naught but bliss

Can come of heav’n­ly song like this;

The an­gel’s gra­cious mes­sage is

With sweet­est ac­cents blend­ed:

“All glo­ry be to God on high!

And peace on earth

for which a sigh

Hath long been raised

e’en now is nigh

Emmanuel hath des­cend­ed.

For un­to you this Child is born

His swad­dling clothes hold not in scorn

Nor vir­gin mother

so for­lorn

His na­ture He is veil­ing;

The Won­der­ful—the Coun­sel­or

The migh­ty God Him­self is there

Has come your deep­est woes to share—

A Sav­ior

all avail­ing!

Then with the shep­herds we will go—

Come

young and old

come

high and low

We’ll troop to Beth­le­hem

and so

Low bend­ing each con­fess­ing

We’ll cast away our na­ture’s sin

For par­don

grace we’ve come to win

We knock

O Je­sus! take us in

Into Thy fold we’re press­ing.