Ancient Christmas Carols



 

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• When Christ was born of Mary free,
• In Bethlehem, in that fair city,
• Angels sang there with mirth and glee,
• “In Excelsis Gloria”

• Herdsmen beheld these Angels bright
• To them appearing with great light,
• Who said, “God's son is born this night;
• In Excelsis Gloria”

• This King is come to save mankind,
• 10In scripture as we find;
• Therefore this song have we in mind—
• “In Excelsis Gloria”

• Lord, out of thy great grace
• Let us, in bliss, look on thy face,
• There we may sing to thy solace—
• “In Excelsis Gloria”

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• Blessèd be that maid Mary;
• Born he was of her body,—
• God's son that sitteth on high,—
• nostro ex virili semine.

• In the manger of an ass
• Jesus layed and lulled was,
• Hard pains for to pass
• pro peccante homine.

• Kings came from divers lands
• 10With great gifts in their hands
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• There they found him in swaddling-bands,
• Stella ducti lumine.

• Man and child, both old and young,
• Do joy in his blissful coming;
• To that child now we sing,
• “Gloria tibi Domine.”

• Noel! Noel! In this hall
• Make merry, I pray ye all;
• Unto that child we may call
• 20Ullo sine crimine.

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• Even this night I saw a sight
• All in my sleep:
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• Mary the May she sang lullay
• And sore did weep;
• To keep she sought full fast about
• Her son from cold.
• Joseph said, “Wife, my joy, my life,—
• Say what ye wold,
• No room, my spouse, is in this house
• 10For any pay:
• My son (a King that made all thing)
• Must lie in hay.”
• Ah my dear Son!

• “My mother dear, amend your cheer,
• And now be still;
• Thus for to lie, it is soothlily
• My father's will.
• Derision,—great passion
• Infinitely,—
• 20(As it is found) and many a wound
• Suffer shall I.
• On Calvary that is so high—
• There shall I be
• (Man to restore) nailed full sore
• Upon a tree.”
• Ah my dear Son!

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• Lord and Ladies, all bidden
• For your goodness and honour,—
• I will sing to you of a Queen;
• Of all women she is the flower.

• There came an angel bright of face
• Flying from Heaven with a great light,
• And said: “Hail, Mary, full of grace,
• For thou shalt bear a man of might;
• Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!”
• 10This said the Angel Gabriel.

• Astonied was that lady free,
• And had marvel of that greeting:
• “Angel,” she said, “how may that be,
• For never of man had I knowing?”
• “Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!”
• This said the Angel Gabriel.

• “Dread thou nothing, Mary mild,—
• Thou art fullfilled with great virtue;
• Thou shalt conceive and bear a child
• 20That shall be named sweet Jesu.
• Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!”
• This said the Angel Gabriel.

• She kneeled down upon her knee:
• “As thou hast said, so may it be;
• With heart, thought, and mild cheer,
• God's handmaid I am here.”
• Noel! Noel! Noel! Noel!”
• This said the Angel Gabriel.

   

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• Out of heaven I come to tell
• The best news that ere befell;
• To ye such tidings true I bring,
• And of them I will say and sing.

• This day to you is born a child
• Of Mary Virgin, meek and mild;
• That blessèd child, gracious and kind,
• Shall you rejoice both heart and mind.

• Ye shall him find sans mark or ring,
• 10Full simple in a cribb lying;
• So lieth he who us hath wrought
• And all the world made out of nought.

• O God, that made all creäture,—
• How art thou become so poor,
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• On the hay and the straw to lie
• Among the asses, oxen, and kye.

• Were the world ten times as wide,
• Clad over with gold and stones of pride,
• Unworthy still it were of thee—
• 20Under thy feet a stool to be.

• The silk and sandell, thee to ease,
• Are hay and simple swathing-claes,
• Wherein thou gloriest, greatest King,
• As thou in Heaven satt'st in thy ring.

• O my dear Heart, young Jesus sweet,
• Prepare thy cradle in my spirit,
• And I shall rock thee in my heart
• And never more from thee depart.

• But I shall praise thee evermore
• 30With sweet songs unto thy gloire;
• The knees of my heart I shall bow,
• And sing that right Balulalow.

• Glory be to God eternally,
• Who gave his only son for me!
• The angels are gladdened when they hear
• The gracious gift of this new Year.

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• Give way, give way, ye gates, and win
• An easy blessing to your kin
• And basket by our entering in.

• May both with manchet stand repleat;
• Your larders, too, so hung with meat
• That thereof them and folk may eat.

• Next, may your dairies prosper so
• As that your pans no ebb may know;
• But if they do, the more to flow.

• 10Like to a solemn sober stream
• Bankt all with lilies, and the cream
• Of sweetest cowslips, filling them.

• Then may your plants be prest with fruit,
• Nor beehive that you have be mute
• But sweetly sounding like a lute.

• Next, may your duck and teeming hen
• Both to the cock's-trend say Amen,
• And for their two eggs render ten.

• Last, may your harrows, shares, & ploughs,
• 20Your stacks, your stocks, your sweetest mows
• All prosper by your virgin-vows.

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• The Angel Gabriel from God
• Was sent to Galilee
• Unto a Virgin fair and dear
• Whose name was called Mary:
• And when the Angel thither came,
• He fell down on his knee,
• And looking up in the Virgin's face
• He said “All hail, Mary.”
• Then sing we all, both great and small,
• 10Noel! Noel! Noel!
• We may rejoice to hear the voice
• Of the Angel Gabriel.

• Mary anon looked him upon,
• And said, “Sir, what are ye?
• I marvel much at these tidings
• Which thou hast brought to me.
• Married I am to an old man,
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• As the lot fell unto me;
• Therefore I pray, depart away.
• 20For I stand in doubt of thee.”
• Then sing, &c.

• “Mary,” he said, “be not afraid,
• But do believe in me:
• The power of the Holy Ghost
• Shall overshadow thee;
• Thou shalt conceive without any grief,
• As the Lord told unto me;
• God's own dear Son from Heaven shall come
• And shall be born of thee.
• 30Then sing, &c.

• This came to pass as God's will was,
• Even as the Angel told.
• About midnight an Angel bright
• Came to the shepherds' fold,
• And told them then both where and when
• Born was the child our Lord,
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• And all along this was their song—
• “All Glory be given to God.”
• Then sing, &c.

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• Joseph was an old man
• And an old man was he,
• And he married Mary
• Queen of Galilee.

• When Joseph was married
• And his cousin Mary got,
• Mary proved big with child,—
• By whom Joseph knew not.

• As Joseph and Mary
• 10Walked through the garden gay
• Where the cheries they grew
• Upon every tree,

• O then bespoke Mary
• With words both meek and mild:
• “Gather me some cherries, Joseph,—
• They run so in my mind;
• Gather me some cherries,
• For I am with child.”

• O then bespoke Joseph
• 20With words that reviled:
• “Let him gather thee cherries
• That got thee with child.”

• O then besoke Jesus,
• All in his mother's womb:
• “Go to the tree, Mary,
• And it shall bow down;

• Go to the tree, Mary,
• And it shall bow to thee,
• Yea the highest branch of all
• 30Shall bow down to Mary's knee,

• “And she shall gather cherries
• By one, by two, by three.”
• “Now look you,” she said, “Joseph,
• Those cherries were for me.”

• O! eat your cherries, Mary,
• O! eat your cherries now,
• O! eat your cherries, Mary,
• That grow on the bough.

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• As Joseph was a-walking,
• 40He heard an angel sing—
• “This night shall be born
• Our heavenly King;

• “He neither shall be born
• In housen, nor in hall,
• Nor in the place of Paradise
• But in an ox's stall;

• “He neither shall be clothed
• In purple nor in pall,
• But in fair linen
• 50As are babies all;

• “He neither shall be rocked
• In silver nor in gold,
• But in a wooden cradle
• That rocks on the mould;

• “He neither shall be christen'd
• In white wine nor in red,
• But with the spring-water
• Wherewith we were christenèd.”

• Then Mary took her young Son
• 60And set him on her knee:
• “I pray thee now, dear Child,
• Tell how this world shall be.”

• “This world shall be like
• The stones in the street,
• For the sun and the moon
• Shall bow down at thy feet.

• And upon a Wednesday
• My vow I will make,
• And upon Good Friday
• 70My death I will take;

• And upon the third day
• My uprising shall be,
• And the sun and the moon
• Shall rise up with me.”

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• What is that which is but one?
• We have but one God alone
• In Heaven above sits on His throne.

• What are they which are but two?
• Two Testaments, as we are told;
• The one is New and the other Old.

• What are they which are but three?
• Three Persons in the Trinity,—
• The Father, Son, and Ghost Holy.

• 10What are they which are but four?
• Four Gospels written true,—
• John, Luke, Mark, and Matthew.

• What are they which are but five?
• Five senses we have to tell;
• God grant us grace to use them well.

• What are they which are but six?
• Six ages this world shall last;
• Five of them are gone and past.

• What are they which are but seven?
• 20Seven days in the week have we,—
• Six to work, and the seventh holy.

• What are they which are but eight?
• Eight beatitudes are given:
• Use them well and go to Heaven.

• What are they which are but nine?
• Nine degrees of Angels high
• Which praise God continually.

• What are they which are but ten?
• Ten Statutes God to Moses gave,
• 30Which kept or broke do spoil or save.

• What are they which are but eleven?
• Eleven with Christ in Heaven do dwell;
• The twelfth for ever burns in Hell.

• What are they which are but twelve?
• Twelve are attending on God's son:
• Twelve make our creed. The dial's done.

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• O fair, O fair Jerusalem!
• When shall I come to thee?
• When shall my sorrows have an end?
• Thy joys when shall I see?

• Thy fields were green as green could be,
• When from his glorious seat
• The Lord our God he watered us
• With his heavenly dew so sweet.

• And for the saving of our souls
• 10Christ died upon the cross:
• We ne'er shall do for Jesus Christ
• As he hath done for us.

• The life of man is but a span,—
• It is cut down in its flower;
• We are here to-day, and to-morrow are gone;
• We are all dead in an hour.

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• Mary Mother, be not adread;
• Jesus is in thy body bred,
• And of thy breast he will be fed.

• Mary Mother, the fruit of thee
• For us was nailed on a tree:
• In Heaven is now his majesty.

• Mary Mother, the third day
• Up he rose as I now say;
• To hell taking his righteous way.

• 10Mary Mother, after this soon
• Up to his Heaven he took thee home.
• The Angels were glad when thou wert come.

   

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• Nay, ivy, nay, it shall not be, I wis;
• Let holly have the mastery, as the manner is.

• Holly stands in the hall, fair to behold;
• Ivy stands without the door; she is full sore a-cold.

• Holly and his merry men, they dance & they sing;
• Ivy and her maidens, they weep & they wring.

• Holly hath berries as red as any rose,
• That foster the hunters and keep them from dews.

• Ivy hath berries as black as any sloe;—
• 10There come the owls, and eat them as they go.

• Holly hath birds, a full fair flock,—
• The nightingale, the popinjay, the gentle laverock.

• Good ivy, what birds hast thou?
• None but the howlet that cries “how how.”

• Nay, ivy, nay, it shall not be, I wis;
• Let holly have the mastery, as the manner is.

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