Text: | This Little Babe So Few Days Old |
Author: | Robert Southwell, 1561-95 |
Tune: | DAS NEUGEBORNE KINDELEIN |
Composer: | Melchior Vulpius, c. 1570-1615 |
1 This little Babe so few days old
Is come to rifle Satan's fold;
All hell doth at his presence quake,
Though he himself for cold do shake;
For in this weak unarmed wise
The gates of hell he will surprise.
2 With tears he fights and wins the field
His naked breast stands for a shield;
His battering shot are babish cries,
His arrows looks of weeping eyes,
His martial ensigns Cold and Need,
And feeble Flesh his warrior's steed.
3 His camp is pitchèd in a stall,
His bulwark but a broken wall;
The crib his trench, haystalks his stakes;
Of shepherds he his muster makes;
And thus, as sure his foe to wound,
The angels' trumps alarum sound.
4 My soul, with Christ join thou in fight;
Stick to His tents that he hath pight.*
Within his crib is surest ward;
This little Babe will be thy Guard.
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from this heavenly Boy.
* pight=pitched, set up
Text Information | |
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First Line: | This little Babe so few days old |
Title: | This Little Babe So Few Days Old |
Author: | Robert Southwell, 1561-95 |
Meter: | 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8 |
Publication Date: | 1969 |
Topic: | The Christian Year: Christmastide |
Tune Information | |
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Name: | DAS NEUGEBORNE KINDELEIN |
Composer: | Melchior Vulpius, c. 1570-1615 |
Meter: | 8. 8. 8. 8. 8. 8 |
Key: | C Major |