The Star of Bethlehem

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When marshalled on the nightly plain

Author: Henry Kirke White
Published in 479 hymnals

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Instrumental
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Handbells
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Representative Text

1 When, marshalled on the nightly plain,
The glittering hosts bestud the sky,
One star alone of all the train
Can fix the sinner's wandering eye.

2 Hark! hark! to God the chorus breaks
From every host, from every gem;
But one alone the Saviour speaks,
It is the Star of Bethlehem.

3 In storm and darkness, once I feared,
And, death-struck, ceased the tide to stem,
When suddenly a star appeared,
It was the Star of Bethlehem.

4 It is my guide, my light, my all;
It bids my dark forebodings cease;
And through life's storm and danger's thrall,
It leads me to the port of peace.

5 Thus, safely moored, my perils o'er,
I'll sing first in night's diadem,
For ever, and for evermore,
The Star! the Star of Bethlehem!

Source: Methodist Hymn and Tune Book: official hymn book of the Methodist Church #127

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Author: Henry Kirke White

White, Henry Kirke, a gifted English poet who died early in life, was born in Nottingham, England, March 21, 1785. Very early he manifested a remarkable love for books and a decided talent for composition. But his parents were poor, and he was apprenticed in early boyhood to a stocking weaver, from which uncongenial servitude he escaped as soon as he could and began the study of law; but later he was converted and felt called to the ministry. The story of his conversion from deism to Christianity is briefly but beautifully told in the poem titled "The Star of Bethlehem." He entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1805 as a servitor; but died October 19, 1806, in the second year of his college course, when only twenty-one years of age. In… Go to person page >

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First Line:	When marshalled on the nightly plain
Title:	The Star of Bethlehem
Author:	Henry Kirke White
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain