Advent Calendar – 20th December, 2020
Merry Christmas!
Danielle and Dave’s Advent Calendar
20th December, 2020
God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen
The first appearance in print of this carol was on a broadsheet in 1760 but it is thought to date from the 16th century. The carol even has the distinction of being mentioned by Charles Dickens in ‘A Christmas Carol’ of 1843.
There have been some variants of the words over the years, but those most well known today are as they appear in Sir David Willcocks’ version of this in Carols for Choirs published in 1961.
God rest ye merry gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day
To save us all from Satan’s pow’r
When we were gone astray
O tidings of comfort and joy
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
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.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
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
The Son of God to find.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
But when to Bethlehem they came,
Whereat this infant lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy
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 efface.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy.
Recorded on Ortega Classical guitar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
/God_Rest_You_Merry,_Gentlemen