Thursday, December 20, 2007

O come, O come, Emmanuel


O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things mightily; To us the path of knowledge show, And teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny; From depths of hell Thy people save, And give them victory over the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here; Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heavenly home; Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, O come, great Lord of might,Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height In ancient times once gave the law In cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree,An ensign of Thy people be;Before Thee rulers silent fall;All peoples on Thy mercy call.

Rejoice! Rejoice!Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!

O come, Desire of nations, bind In one the hearts of all mankind; Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, And be Thyself our King of Peace!

6 comments:

Isaac said...

This is actually a hymn the source of which goes back into when the West was Orthodox, although I hate to burst your bubble-- it's not a Christmas hymn, but an Advent one (these no longer having a distinction in our culture, I know, but for Catholic and Orthodox there still is, and the Christmas season doesn't properly begin until December 25).

Veni, veni, Emmanuel,
Captivum solve Israel,
Qui gemet in exhilio,
Privatus Dei Filio!
Gaude! Gaude! Emmanuel,
Nascetur pro te, Israel.

irreverend fox said...

since the dates of Advent and Christmas are both traditions of men I'm not too worried about it.

irreverend fox said...

also I reject the notion that “western” Christianity is heterodox. in fact I reject any east/west distinction to start with…there is only one Church and it is Invisible yet Catholic, Orthodox and ever Reforming.

Isaac said...

Oh, but Gary-- you should be worried. ;^) Haha, I guess I just thought you'd like to know.

It's not westernness that makes something heterodox, but foreignness to the original... it is only incidental to the West because of the development of monarchical papacy and the renaissance humanism which sparked the Reformation.

But in case you are interested in knowing, what I meant was: back when the Western Church was in communion with the East, before the schism of 1054, before the West diverted from the ancient path.


Thus says the LORD: Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16

irreverend fox said...

zac,

renaissance humanism did not spark the Reformation, the Holy Spirit did and I praise the Lord He did!

irreverend fox said...

btw,

very interesting verse to quote...the problem with Eastern Orthodoxy is that it isn't ancient enough. It might even be roughly 1,800 years old…but that’s about it. Eastern Orthodoxy certainly does not teach what we know the Apostles taught, it therefore, an apostate religion which teaches a cursed message (another gospel).