Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little child
He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all;
And his shelter was a stable
And his cradle was a stall:
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy
And through all his wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love and watch lowly maiden
In whose gentle arms he lay:
Christian children all should be
Mild, obedient, good as he
For he is our childhood's pattern:
Day by day like us he grew,
He was little, weak and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew;
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness
And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love,
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in Heaven above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone
Not in that poor lowly stable
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him, but in heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high;
Where like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around