Dost Thou In A Manger Lie

Above:  Jesus in a Manger

Image in the Public Domain

Original Latin Text by Jean Mauburn (1450-1503), 1494

English Translation (1858) by Elizabeth Rundle Charles (1828-1876)

Hymn Source = The Hymnal 1940 (1943), The Episcopal Church

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Dost thou in a manger lie,

Who hast all created,

Stretching infant hands on high,

Saviour, long awaited?

If a monarch, where thy state?

Where thy court on thee to wait?

Royal purple, where?

Here no regal pomp we see;

Naught but need and penury:

Why thus cradled here?

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“Pitying love for fallen man

Brought me down thus low;

For a race deep lost in sin,

Came I into woe.

By this lowly birth of mine,

Sinner, riches shall be thine,

Matchless gifts and free;

Willingly this yoke I take,

And this sacrifice I make,

Heaping joys for thee.”

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Fervent praise would I to thee

Evermore be raising;

For thy wondrous love to me

Thee be ever praising.

Glory, glory be for ever

Unto that most bounteous Giver,

And that loving Lord!

Better witness to thy worth,

Purer praise than ours on earth,

Angels’ songs afford.

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