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Text:Bethlehem of noblest cities
Author:Prudentius, 348-510
Translator:Edward Caswall, 1814-78
Tune:STUTTGART

48. Bethlehem of noblest cities

1 Bethlehem, of noblest cities
None can once with thee compare;
Thou alone the Lord from heaven
Didst for us incarnate bear.

2 Fairer than the sun at morning
Was the star that told his birth;
To the lands their God announcing,
Seen in fleshly form on earth.

3 By its lambent beauty guided
See the eastern kings appear;
See them bend, their gifts to offer,
Gifts of incense, gold and myrrh.

4 Solemn things of mystic meaning:
Incense doth the God disclose,
Gold a royal child proclaimeth,
Myrrh a future tomb foreshows.

5 Holy Jesu, in thy brightness
To the Gentile world displayed,
With the Father and the Spirit
Endless praise to thee be paid. Amen.

Text Information
First Line: Bethlehem of noblest cities
Latin Title: O sola mangarum urbium
Author: Prudentius, 348-510
Translator: Edward Caswall, 1814-78
Language: English
Publication Date: 1986
Topic: The Christian Year: Epiphany
Tune Information
Name: STUTTGART
Meter: 87 87
Key: G Major
Source: C. F. Witt's Harmonia Sacra, Gotha, 1715 (adapted)



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