Advent Calendar #26

Lo! He Comes, An Infant Stranger

TO BE SUNG BY TWO ALTERNATE COMPANIES.

"Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.        He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest."— Luke i., 31, 32.

First Company.

Lo ! He comes, an infant stranger, 
Of a lowly mother born, 
Swathed and cradled in a manger, 
Of his pristine glory shorn ! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah. 
Praise ye God's incarnate Word !

Second Company.

Lo ! He comes, the great Creator, 
Calling all the world to own 
Him, the Judge and Lord of nature, 
Seated on his Father's throne! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise ye Him, the living Lord !

First.

Lo ! He comes by man unfriended, 
Fain with stabled beasts to rest; 
Shepherds, who their night-fold tended, 
Hailed alone the new-born guest! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise ye Jesse's tender rod !

Second.

Lo ! He comes, around him pouring
All the armies of the sky, 
Cherub, seraph hosts adorning.
Swell his state, and loudly cry, 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise ye Christ, the Son of God !

First

Lo ! He comes, constrained to borrow 
Shelter from yon stabled shed ; 
He who shall, through years of sorrow. 
Have not where to lay his head! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise Him, slighted by his own !

Second.

Lo ! He comes, all grief expelling 
From the hearts that Him receive ! 
He to each with Him a dwelling 
In his Father's house will give ! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise Him on his glory's throne !

First.

Lo ! He comes, to slaughter fated
By a tyrant's stern decree : 
From the sword, with blood unsated, 
Forced in midnight haste to flee ! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise Him in affliction's hour !

Second.

Lo ! He comes ! at his appearing
All his foes before him fall! 
Proudest kings, his summons hearing,
On the rocks for shelter call! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise Him, girded round with power!

First.

Lo ! He comes! but who the weakness
Of his coming may declare, 
When, with more than human meekness,
More than human woes he bare? 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise Him, emptied of his might!

Second.

Lo ! He comes ! what eye may bear him, 
In his unveiled glory shown ? 
Mightiest angels marshalled near Him, 
Serve, and Him their mightier own ! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise Him with his crown of light!

First.

Man of human flesh partaking, 
Offspring of the Virgin's womb, 
Who, the hopeless wanderer seeking, 
Deigned in lowly guise to come! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise ye the incarnate Word !

Second.

Son of the Eternal Father,
Who again in power shall come,
Round him all mankind to gather.
And pronounce the unerring doom ! 
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, 
Praise ye Him, the living Lord !

Christmas Carols, or Sacred Songs, Suited to the Festival of our Lord's Nativity 
 (London: John William Parker, 1833), pp. 27-29.