God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay.
Remember Christ our Savior,
Was born on Christmas Day;
To save us all from Satan’s power,
When we were gone astray.

Chorus
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy;
O tidings of comfort and joy.

In Bethlehem, in Jewry,
This blessed Babe was born,
And laid within a manger,
Upon this blessed morn;
The which His mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn. Chorus

From God our heavenly Father,
A blessed angel came.
And unto certain shepherds,
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born,
The Son of God by name. Chorus

Fear not, then said the Angel,
Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Savior,
Of virtue, power, and might;
So frequently to vanquish all,
The friends of Satan quite.  Chorus

The shepherds at those tidings,
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding,
In tempest, storm, and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed babe to find.  Chorus

But when to Bethlehem they came,
Whereas this infant lay
They found him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His mother Mary kneeling,
Unto the Lord did pray. Chorus

With sudden joy and gladness
The shepherds were beguiled,
To see the Babe if Israel,
Before His mother mild,
O then with joy and cheerfulness
Rejoice, each mother's child.  Chorus

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood,
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas,
All other doth deface. Chorus

God bless the ruler of this house,
And send him long to reign,
And many a merry Christmas
May live to see again;
Among your friends and kindred
That live both far and near.

Alternate Chorus:
And God bless you and send you a happy new year,
And God send you a happy new year.

NOTES: 
1. Most hymnals do not include verses 4-7 and 9, nor the alternate chorus ending.
 
William Hone lists this as one of the 89 "Christmas carols now annually printed" in 1823.  It was certainly well-known to Charles Dickens; it was the Christmas carol of his A Christmas Carol (1843), a notable distinction indeed. Ebenezer could have saved himself quite an adventurous night — if only he had heeded these words when he first heard them.

It certainly has always been a popular carol.  William Studwell observed that it was most appropriate that Dickens chose this particular song, "for no other carol has had a stronger cultural effect on London and on England as a whole than the spiritual piece which infringed on Scrooge's grouch privacy." Studwell believed that London, and its Waits, were probably the source of this carol in the fertile sixteenth century.  An old broadside copy, with three other "choice carols for the Christmas holidays," was said to have been found in the 1770 Roxburgh Collection in the British Museum. It's popularity was such that William Sandys included it in his 1833 collection Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern. Edward Francis Rimbault also included it in his 1846 A Little Book of Carols. Joshua Sylvestre, in 1861, wrote that "This is perhaps the greatest favorite of all the carols now sung at Christmas."  A. H. Bullen wrote in 1885 that it was "the most popular of Christmas carols."

There is, of course, the comma.  Hardly has a song been more beset by confusion of punctuation than this one.  The correct usage is to place the comma after the word "merry" rather than before it.  The meaning, of course, changes significantly depending on where it is placed. The original intent was to wish those gentlemen be merry, or, as Studwell observed, "God keep you in good spirits, gentlemen."  If the comma is placed before the word "merry," then the intent becomes to wish those merry gentlemen some rest (however appropriate the latter might be, particularly if the gentlemen have been too merry). According to Studwell, this completely misreads the tone of the carol, which is religious in content.

Source:  http://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com

 

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