Behold a little Child, Laid in a manger bed

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Behold a little Child, Laid in a manger bed

Author: William Walsham How
Published in 18 hymnals

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Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Behold a little Child
Laid in a manger bed,
The wintry blasts blow wild . . .
Around His infant head;
But who is this so lowly laid?
'Tis He by whom the worlds were made.

2 Alas! in what poor state
The Son of God is seen;
Why doth the Lord so great
Choose out a home so mean?
That we may learn from pride to flee,
And follow His humility.

3 Where Joseph plies his trade,
Lo! Jesus labours too;
The hands that all things made
An earthly craft pursue,
That weary men on Him may rest,
And faithful toil in Him be blest.

4 Among the doctors see
The Boy so full of grace:
Say, wherefore taketh He
The scholar's lowly place?
That Christian boys with reverence meet
May sit and learn at Jesus' feet.

5 Christ! once Thyself a boy,
Our boyhood guard and guide;
Be Thou its light and joy,
And still with us abide;
That Thy dear love, so great, so free,
May draw us evermore to Thee.

Amen.

Source: Voices of Praise: for school and church and home #55

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Author: William Walsham How

William W. How (b. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, 1823; d. Leenane, County Mayo, Ireland, 1897) studied at Wadham College, Oxford, and Durham University and was ordained in the Church of England in 1847. He served various congregations and became Suffragan Bishop in east London in 1879 and Bishop of Wakefield in 1888. Called both the "poor man's bishop" and "the children's bishop," How was known for his work among the destitute in the London slums and among the factory workers in west Yorkshire. He wrote a number of theological works about controversies surrounding the Oxford Movement and attempted to reconcile biblical creation with the theory of evolution. He was joint editor of Psalms and Hymns (1854) and Church Hymns (1871). While rec… Go to person page >

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