I Emmanuel, come! we call for Thee; Come, set Thy captive Israel free, Who, sore at heart, in exile wait Their absent Lord, who tarries late. Joy, joy, Emmanuel shall be born For thee, O Israel, forlorn. II Come, Root of Jesse! for our foes In cruel snare our souls enclose; Bring us, we pray, from hell’s dark cave, From gulf profound Thy people save. Joy, joy, &c. III Come, come, O Harbinger of day! Cheer Thou our hearts with heavenly ray, Dispel the clouds of night that roll, The dark of death that fills the soul. Joy, joy, &c. IV Come, Key of David! in Thy might Unlock for us the realms of light; Make safe the path that upward tends, Close Thou the way that downward wends. Joy, joy, &c. V Come, come, O Thou Almighty Lord! From Sinai once went forth Thy word, When in the midst of eddying flame, Thou didst Thy law in might proclaim. Joy, joy, &c. _Christmas_ NATO NOBIS SALVATORE By Adam of St. Victor. A native of either Britain or Brittany, probably the latter; educated at Paris; became, about 1130, a monk in the Abbey of St. Victor, then in the suburbs, afterwards absorbed in the city of Paris; there he passed the remainder of his life, and died somewhere between the years 1172 and 1192. In liturgical services the Gradual or Antiphon, sung between the Epistle and Gospel, ended on festival days with the word _Alleluia_. The final syllable of this vocable was prolonged in a number of musical notes called sequentia, and by the ninth century it became common to adapt words to these notes, which words are now called “sequences.” Adam of St. Victor was one of the most voluminous composers of this kind of sacred Latin verse. I Let us tune our hearts and voices— All creation wide rejoices, For a Saviour has been born; Given to man, his weakness wearing, Dwelling with the sad despairing, Light and health our life adorn. II From the midst of Eden’s gladness Came the dower of death and sadness, But the Saviour’s life is ours. Banished now are death and sorrow; Life and joy from Christ we borrow, More dwelt in Eden’s bowers. III From the height of heaven above us, God looked down on earth to love us, And He sent His only Son. Now no more His face concealing, Bridegroom like, His grace revealing, Came He forth His work begun. IV Swift and strong, a giant glorious, O’er our death He came victorious, Girt with power His course to run. Came he forth salvation willing, Law and prophecy fulfilling, Till the task assayed is done.