Once In Royal David's City

"Once In Royal David's City," by Cecil Frances Alexander, is the next Christmas Carol I would like to share about. Mrs. Alexander was an Anglican bishop's wife, and as she accompanied him throughout Ireland, she worked with many young children. For these children she wrote a number of poems and hymns, including "All Things Bright and Beautiful." In 1848 her most famous collection, Hymns For Little Children, was published, and there "Once In Royal David's City" first appeared. Beginning in 1918, King's College in Cambridge has used this hymn for the processional in their Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on Christmas Eve. Traditionally it is begun with a boy soprano soloist singing the first verse to be followed by the rest of the choir. At my church, we also have a lessons and carols service on Christmas Eve, and a young boy standing at the back of the sanctuary singing into a mic normally starts off this song. Until today, I did not know that it was a tradition begun at King's College. Here are the words and a video of the King's College Choir singing this beautiful hymn. I encourage you to read the words of this carol and think about the amazing fact that Christ was God and Man, and how wondrous a mystery that is.

Once in royal Davids 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.

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 cares when we are sad,
And he shares when we are glad.

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.