Music on Christmas Morning

Music I love -­ but never strainCould kindle raptures so divine,So grief assuage, so conquer pain,And rouse this pensive heart of mine -­As that we hear on Christmas morn,5Upon the wintry breezes borne.Though Darkness still her empire keep,And hours must pass, ere morning break;From troubled dreams, or slumbers deep,That music kindly bids us wake:10It calls us, with an angel's voice,To wake, and worship, and rejoice;

To greet with joy the glorious morn,Which angels welcomed long ago,When our redeeming Lord was born,15To bring the light of Heaven below;The Powers of Darkness to dispel,And rescue Earth from Death and Hell.

While listening to that sacred strain,My raptured spirit soars on high;20I seem to hear those songs againResounding through the open sky,That kindled such divine delight,In those who watched their flocks by night.

With them, I celebrate His birth -­25Glory to God, in highest Heaven,Good-will to men, and peace on Earth,To us a Saviour-king is given;Our God is come to claim His own,And Satan's power is overthrown!30

A sinless God, for sinful men,Descends to suffer and to bleed;Hell must renounce its empire then;The price is paid, the world is freed,And Satan's self must now confess,35That Christ has earned a Right to bless:

Now holy Peace may smile from heaven,And heavenly Truth from earth shall spring:The captive's galling bonds are riven,For our Redeemer is our king;40And He that gave his blood for menWill lead us home to God again.