O Saviour, Whom this holy morn. Bishop R. Heber. [Christmas.] Published in the Christian Observer, Nov., 1811 (p. 697), in 5 stanzas of 4 lines and headed, "Christmas Day." The opening stanza reads:—
”Oh Saviour! Whom this holy morn
Gave to our world below;
To wandering and to labour born,
To weakness and to woe!"
In Heber's posthumous Hymns, &c, 1827, p. 13, it was given with alterations, the first stanza reading:—
"Oh Saviour, Whom this holy morn
Gave to our world below;
To mortal want and labour born,
And more than mortal woe!"
Each stanza, except stanza ii., is altered in like manner, the result being two distinct texts. Of these texts that of 1827 is almost absolutely followed by hymn book compilers. Very few, however, give it in its complete form. The Hymnal Companion is an exception in favour of the full 1827 text, with the change of stanza v. l. i., "Through fickle fortune's various scene," to" Through this world's fickle various scene." Other forms of the hymn are:—
1. 0 Saviour, Whom this joyful morn. This text is very much altered throughout. The opening stanza is the 1811 text with alterations; the rest are altered from the text of 1827. In this form it was given in Bickersteth's Christian Psalmody, 1833, No. 301; Elliott's Psalms & Hymns, 1835 ; and again in recent hymn books.
2. O God, Whose Holy Child this morn. This altered form of the 1827 text appeared in Martineau's Hymns, 1840.
3. Incarnate Word! by every grief. This, beginning with stanza ii. of the 1827 text, is No. 318 in the American Baptist Praise Book, N. Y., 1871.
4. Jesus, Thou man of Sorrows born. This is found in several modern collections, including Common Praise, 1879, and others, and is the 1811 text slightly altered.
When these various forms of the text are taken into account it is found that the use of this hymn is extensive. It is, however, far from being one of Heber's best productions.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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