1 O Savior, who in love didst take
A human body, for our sake;
To share with us the griefs of life,
Its watchings, weariness, and strife:
All that belong to man but sin,
Thou didst this day Thyself begin.
2 Savior of infants, Thou didst rest,
Helpless, upon Thy mother's breast;
Savior of children, Thu didst play,
And grow beside her, day by day.
All human life to soothe and save,
Up from the cradle to the grave.
3 Savior, as low as Thou didst bend
From heaven to be the sinners' friend,
So high our nature lift with Thine,
Till human things become divine.
And Thy eternal love once more
God's image to the soul restore.
4 And when we cling too close to earth,
Forgetful of our heavenly birth,
And for the love of its poor dross,
Despise Thy crown or shun Thy cross.
O let this festal day reprove
Such wrong to Thine incarnate love.
Source: The Lutheran Hymnary #288
John Samuel Bewley Monsell (b. St. Colomb's, Londonderry, Ireland, 1811; d. Guilford, Surrey, England, 1875) was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and served as a chaplain and rector of several churches in Ireland after his ordination in 1835. Transferred to England in 1853, he became rector of Egham in Surrey and was rector of St. Nicholas Church in Guilford from 1870 until his death (caused by a construction accident at his church). A prolific poet, Monsell published his verse in eleven volumes. His three hundred hymns, many celebrating the seasons of the church year, were issued in collections such as Hymns and Miscellaneous Poems (1837), Spiritual Songs (1857), Hymns of Love and Praise (1863), and The Parish Hymnal (1873).
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