Two poems by Cecil Francis Alexander:
1. “Once In Royal David’s City”
2. “There Is A Green Hill Far Away”
Once In Royal David’s City
Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle-shed,
Where a mother laid her baby
In a manger for his bed.
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.
He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all;
And his shelter was a stable,
And his cradle was a stall:
With the poor and mean and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy.
And through all his wondrous childhood
He would honour and obey,
Love, and watch the lowly mother
In whose gentle arms he lay:
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as he.
For he is our childhood’s pattern:
Day by day like us he grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us he knew;
And he feeleth for our sadness,
And he shareth in our gladness.
And our eyes at last shall see him,
Through his own redeeming love;
For that child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And he leads his children on
To the place where he is gone.
Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see him, but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high,
When, like stars, his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.
Cecil Francis Alexander
There Is A Green Hill Far Away
There is a green hill far away,
Outside a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.
He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heaven,
Saved by His precious blood.
There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin;
He only could unlock the gate
Of heaven, and let us in.
O dearly, dearly has He loved!
And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.
Cecil Francis Alexander