Lo! He Comes, An Infant Stranger

Representative Text

1 Lo! He comes, an infant stranger,
Of a lowly mother born;
Swathed and cradled in a manger,
Of His pristine glory shorn!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise ye God’s incarnate Son.
Lo! He comes, the great Creator,
Calling all the world’s to own
Him the judge and Lord of nature,
Seated on His Father’s throne!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise ye Him the Living One!

2 Lo! He comes to man unfriended,
Fain with stabled beasts to rest;
Shepherds who their night-fold tended,
Hailed alone the newborn guest!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise ye Jesse’s tender rod!
Lo! He comes, around Him pouring
All the armies of the sky;
Cherub, seraph hosts adoring,
Swell His state and loudly cry,
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise ye Christ the Son of God.

3 Lo! He comes constrained to borrow
Shelter from yon stabled shed;
He who shall through years of sorrow
Have not where to lay His head!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise Him, slighted by His own!
Lo! He comes, all grief expelling
From the hearts that Him receive;
He to each with Him a dwelling
In His Father’s house will give!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise Him on the glory throne!

4 Man of human flesh partaking,
Offspring of the virgin’s womb,
Who, the hopeless wand’rer seeking,
Deigned in lowly guise to come!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise ye the incarnate Word,
Son of the eternal Father,
Who again in pow’r shall come;
Round Him shall the nations gather,
Finding life, or waiting doom!
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise ye Him the living Word!

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #11065

Author (attributed to): Richard Mant, 1776-1848

Mant, Richard D.D., son of the Rev. Richard Mant, Master of the Grammar School, Southampton, was born at Southampton, Feb. 12, 1776. He was educated at Winchester and Trinity, Oxford (B.A. 1797, M.A., 1799). At Oxford he won the Chancellor's prize for an English essay: was a Fellow of Oriel, and for some time College Tutor. On taking Holy Orders he was successively curate to his father, then of one or two other places, Vicar of Coggeshall, Essex, 1810; Domestic Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, 1813, Rector of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate, London. 1816, and East Horsley, 1818, Bishop of Killaloe, 1820, of Down and Connor, 1823, and of Dromore, 1842. He was also Bampton Lecturer in 1811. He died Nov. 2, 1848. His prose works were numerou… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Lo! He comes, an infant stranger
Title: Lo! He Comes, An Infant Stranger
Author (attributed to): Richard Mant, 1776-1848
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

HELMSLEY

John Wesley attributed the tune HELMSLEY to Thomas Olivers in Wesley's 1765 Sacred Melodies with his brother's text of "Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending." However, Olivers is said to have heard the tune on the street somewhere. Since the first line resembles a tune by violinist and composer Thoma…

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The Cyber Hymnal #11065
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The Cyber Hymnal #11065

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