Page:Our American Holidays - Christmas.djvu/327

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GOD REST YOU, MERRY GENTLEMEN

OLD CAROL

God rest you, merry gentlemen,
    Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
    Was born upon this day.
To save us all from Satan’s pow’r
    When we were gone astray.
        O tidings of comfort and joy!
        For Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
        Was born on Christmas Day.

In Bethlehem, in Jewry,
    This blessed Babe was born.
And laid within a manger,
    Upon this blessed morn;
The which His mother, Mary,
    Nothing did take in scorn.

From God our Heavenly Father,
    A blessed angel came;
And unto certain shepherds
    Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
    The Son of God by name.

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