Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
- Angels from the realms of glory,
Wing your flight o’er all the earth,
Ye who sang creation’s story,
Now proclaim the Messiah’s birth;
Chorus
Come and worship,
Worship Christ, the new-born King.
- Shepherds, in the field, abiding,
Watching o’er your flocks by night,
God with man is now residing,
Yonder shines the infant-light: Chorus - Sages, leave your contemplations,
Brighter visions beam afar,
Seek the great Desire of Nations;
Ye have seen his natal star; Chorus - Saints, before the altar bending,
Watching long in hope and fear,
Suddenly the Lord descending,
In His temple shall appear; Chorus - Sinners, wrung with true repentance,
Doom’d for guilt to endless pains,
Justice now revokes the sentence,
Mercy calls you — break your chains. Chorus
The original final stanza is usually omitted in hymnals:
While such language seems harsh and indeed seems to end the Christmas hymn on in on a depressing note, it completes a thoughtful progression from the first to the last stanzas. Montgomery reminds us that the Nativity was more than a sweet manger scene.
The Angels song (stanza one) leads to the Shepherds’ adoration (stanza two), and Sages’ gifts (stanza three), and Saints’ praise in heaven (stanza four), and finally, to the Sinners’ repentance on earth (stanza five).
This final original stanza, “appealing to the sinners, is highly appropriate because it echoes the Psalm for Christmas morning, Psalm 85, especially verse 10: ‘Mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other.’”
The themes of justice and mercy as well as the image of broken chains are also appropriate in the context of the poet’s life. His newspaper denounced the social evils of his day, especially the slave trade. Montgomery was even jailed for his radical views: once for publishing a poem that celebrated the fall of the Bastille, and another time for denouncing the actions of the Sheffield police during a riot. He used the time in prison to write poetry.
As many texts from Isaiah and the prophets remind us, the Incarnation was an event celebrating the liberation of oppressed peoples by a just and merciful God taking on human form.