Love came down at Christmas,
love all lovely, love divine;
love was born at Christmas:
star and angels gave the sign.

Worship we the Godhead,
love incarnate, love divine;
worship we our Jesus,
but wherewith the sacred sign?

Love shall be our token;
love be yours and love be mine,
Love to God and to all men,
love for plea and gift and sign.

About the headline (FAQ)

note: first appeared without a title in Time Flies: A Reading Diary, 1885

Text Authorship:

• by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830 - 1894), "Christmastide", from Verses, first published 1893 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Laurence Mitchell Ager (b. 1904), "Love came down at Christmas", published 1958 [satb chorus a cappella], anthem [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Ruth Bampton (b. 1902), "Love came down at Christmas", published 1961. [medium voice, organ or piano] [
   text not verified 
  ]
• by Seth Daniels Bingham (1882 - 1972), "Love came down at Christmas", published 1960 [satb chorus with descant, organ], carol [
   text not verified 
  ]

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2006-01-27
Line count: 12
Word count: 64