Once in royal David's city,
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her Baby,

In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ, her little Child.


He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,

And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall:
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,

Lived on earth our Savior holy.

For He is our childhood's pattern;

Day by day, like us, He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles, like us He knew;

And He cares when we are sadness,
And he shares when we are gladness.


And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle,

Is our Lord in heaven above:
And He leads His children on,
To the place where He is gone.


Not in that poor lowly stable.
With the oxen standing by;

We shall see Him but in Heaven,
Set at God's right hand on high;
Where like stars His children crowned,

All in white shall wait around.