The Holy Child Jesus

Author: Reginald Heber

Reginald Heber was born in 1783 into a wealthy, educated family. He was a bright youth, translating a Latin classic into English verse by the time he was seven, entering Oxford at 17, and winning two awards for his poetry during his time there. After his graduation he became rector of his father's church in the village of Hodnet near Shrewsbury in the west of England where he remained for 16 years. He was appointed Bishop of Calcutta in 1823 and worked tirelessly for three years until the weather and travel took its toll on his health and he died of a stroke. Most of his 57 hymns, which include "Holy, Holy, Holy," are still in use today. -- Greg Scheer, 1995… Go to person page >

Abash'd be all the boast of Age. Bishop R. Heber. [Epiphany.] Appeared in his posthumous Hymns, &c, 1827, pp. 27-8, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines as the first of two hymns for the First Sunday after Epiphany. In its original form it is not in common use, but stanzas ii.-v. as—"O Wisdom, whose unfading power"—is given in Kennedy, 1863, No. 229 (with alterations), and the Methodist Sunday School Hymn Book 1879,No.77, also slightly altered.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)