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 Saviour holy.

And though all his wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love, and watch the lowly maiden
In whose gentle arms he lay.
Christian children all should be
Kind, obedient, good as he.

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,
When, like stars, his children crowned
All in white shall gather round.