Once in Royal David's City

 

Cecil Frances Humphreys was born in 1818 and married Reverend William Alexander in 1850. Two years earlier, at the age of 30, she published a book of poems called Hymns for Little Children. A year later, one of those poems, "Once in Royal David's City," was set to music by Henry John Gauntlett and became his most well-known melody.

Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed
Where a mother laid her baby in a manger for his bed
Mary was that Mother mild
Jesus Christ her little Child

He came down to earth from heaven, who is God and Lord of all
And his shelter was a stable, and his cradle was a stall
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy

And through all His wondrous childhood he would honor and obey
Love and watch the lowly maiden in whose gentle arms he lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He

For he is our childhood's pattern; day by day like us he grew
He was little, weak, and helpless; tears and smiles like us he knew
And he feeleth for our sadness
And he shareth in our gladness

And our eyes at last shall see him through his own redeeming love
For that Child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone

Not in that poor lowly stable with the oxen standing by
We shall see him: but in heaven, set at God's right hand on high
Where like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around

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Truth is...Oddly enough, though it has been published in over 400 hymnals, I have never sung this...and I think I'm a lesser person because of that. Its simple telling of not only Christ's birth but his life and our eternal destiny is a fitting meditation for the modern heart.