20b. From east to west, from shore to shore

1 From east to west, from shore to shore,
Let every heart awake and sing
The holy Child whom Mary bore,
The Christ, the everlasting King.

2 Behold, the world's creator wears
The form and fashion of a slave,
Our very flesh our Maker shares,
His fallen creature, man, to save.

3 For this how wondrously he wrought!
A maiden, in her lowly place,
Became, in ways beyond all thought,
The chosen vessel of his grace.

4 She bowed her to the angel's word
Declaring what the Father willed,
And suddenly the promised Lord
That pure and hallowed temple filled.

5 He shrank not from the oxen's stall,
He lay within the manger-bed,
And he whose bounty feedeth all,
At Mary's breast himself was fed.

6 And while the angels in the sky
Sang praise above the silent field,
To shepherds poor, the Lord most high,
The one great Shepherd was revealed.

7 All glory for that blessèd morn
To God the Father ever be,
All praise to thee, O Virgin-born,
All praise, blest Spirit, unto thee. Amen.

Text Information
First Line: From east to west, from shore to shore
Latin Title: A solis ortus cardine
Author: Caelius Sedulius, c. 450
Translator: John Ellerton, 1826-93
Meter: LM
Language: English
Publication Date: 1986
Topic: The Christian Year: Christmas; Office Hymn
Notes: Alternative tune PUER NOBIS NASCITUR, 19b
Tune Information
Name: VOM HIMMEL HOCH
Harmonizer: J. S. Bach, 1685-1750
Meter: LM
Key: C Major
Source: Schumann's Geistliche Lieder, 1539



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