On a Day When Men Were Counted

On a day when men were count­ed

God be­came the Son of Man

That His name in ev­ery cen­sus

Should be en­tered was His plan.

God

the Lord of all cre­ation

Humbly takes a crea­ture’s place;

He whose form no man has wit­nessed

Has to­day a hu­man face.

On a night

while si­lent shep­herds

Watched their flocks up­on the plain

Came a mes­sage with its sum­mons

Brought by song of an­gel train:

Lo

in Beth­lehem’s lit­tle vil­lage

Has ar­rived the shep­herd King

And each shep­herd to his mas­ter

Must his sheep as of­fer­ing bring.

When there shone the star of Da­vid

In the span­gled east­ern sky

Kings ar­rived to pay their hom­age

To the Christ

the Lord most high.

Yet not all

for lo

there sound­eth

Through the streets a fear­ful cry;

For a king who will not wor­ship

Has de­creed that Christ must die.

Yet it’s Christ­mas

and we greet Him

Coming ev­en now to save;

For the Lord of our sal­va­tion

Was not cap­tive to the grave.

Out of Egypt came the Sav­ior

Man’s Im­ma­nu­el to be—

Christmas shines with East­er glo­ry

Glory of eter­ni­ty.