valuable addition to our collection of Christmas hymns in

his

O LITTLE TOWN OF BETHLEHEM

O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie;

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by;

Yet in thy darkness shineth

The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary,

And gathered all above,

While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together

Proclaim the holy birth!

And praises sing to God our King,
And peace to men on earth.

How silently, how silently,

The wondrous gift is given!
So God imparts to human hearts
The blessings of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

O holy Child of Bethlehem!
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us today.
We hear the Christmas angels,
The great glad tidings tell:
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel!

The hymn was written in 1868. It is both a tribute and

a prayer. Its poetical merit and devotional character make it worthy of the high favor in which it stands.

Another American clergyman has furnished us with a classic Christmas hymn. We refer to the hymn by the Rev. Edwin Hamilton Searles, which, in spite of the fact that its author was a Unitarian clergyman, yet is a hymn in which there is a very joyful note for the child of faith. Written. in 1860, Mr. Searle's words stir the imagination and bring to the ear and eye of the singer most wonderful scenes and harmonies of heaven.

A UNITARIAN'S CHRISTMAS HYMN

It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,

From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:

"Peace on the earth, good-will to men

From heaven's all-gracious King";

The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world.

Above its sad and lowly plains

They bend on hovering wing,

And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

O ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow!
Look now, for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing;

O rest beside the weary road,

And hear the angels sing.

For lo! the days are hastening on,

By prophets seen of old,

When with the ever-circling years,
Shall come the time foretold.

When the new heaven and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace their King,

And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing. Amen.

Add to the above his earlier Christmas hymn, written in 1834, namely,

"Calm on the listening ear of night,"

and we have two hymns which give to Mr. Searles a high and deserved place among the great American hymn writers. In speaking of "It came upon the midnight clear," Dr. Duffield says: "It is absolutely wedded to its appropriate tune." What a mistake so many make when they give new and unfamiliar tunes for old standard hymns! On the other hand, there are times when old standard tunes are violently torn from their proper words and connected with mere doggerel. To do either is to hinder worship and is like defaming a sacred shrine.

The Christmas hymns are almost without number, and our readers may add indefinitely. We must, however, tell the story of one other hymn of which many have precious memories of singing it in a darkened church or home while watching the lighting of the Christmas tree, which found its present beautiful place and use during the time of the great Protestant Reformation. The hymn, which was written by Joseph Mohr in 1818, is the well known

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SILENT NIGHT

Silent night! Holy night!
All is calm, all is bright,
Round yon Virgin Mother and child!
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

|| Sleep in heavenly peace:||

Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight!
Glories stream from Heaven afar,
Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia,

|| Christ, the Saviour, is born! : ||

Silent night! Holy night!
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy Face,
With the dawn of redeeming grace,

|| Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth. :||

The story of the origin of this hymn is beautiful. It was a clear, starry Christmas Eve. Everything was joyful and festive save in the home of Joseph Mohr, where there was great sorrow, for on that day the wife and mother had gone to celebrate Christmas in heaven. All was sadness. Mr. Mohr sat with bowed head. Going to a window he looked out upon the snow-clad nature, while in an adjoining room he could see his little motherless children quietly sleeping. A sigh came to his lips as he thought of the Christmas without the mother. Just then he heard merry voices singing the very songs he and his wife and the children were wont to sing. The thought rushed in upon him that she was singing them and blending her voice with the angels. Musing thus, he was impressed with the quiet beauty of the night. He turned quickly, sat down and in a few moments penned his now famous

"Stille Nacht." As soon as it was written he handed it to his organist who was keeping vigil with him, a Mr. Gruber, and with a choking voice said, "Go, friend, make music to this and bring it to me." He went into the church and sat at the organ. In the morning he called together his choir and rehearsed the melody, which floated out from the church choir loft on that Christmas day for the first time.

Made in the night, it seemed to the congregation, as it should seem to us, as if the angels themselves had infused their own spirit into writer, composer and singers. This beautiful song is sung wherever Christmas is kept in the good old way. It is seldom that it does not bring to the hearts of those who listen a measure of the same feeling which Gruber's choir awoke in the good people of old Salzburg that Christmas morning so long ago.