HEU! QUID JACES STABULO, OMNIUM CREATOR?

The oldest form of this Christmas carol is found in a Benedictine Processional belonging to the beginning of the fourteenth century.

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Zion is glad this glorious morn:
A babe in Bethlehem is born.
See where He lies in manger low,
Whose kingly reign no end shall know.
The ox and ass that filled the stall,
Knew that the babe was Lord of all.
Out from the east the sages bring
Their treasures for an offering.
They humbly seek the lowly place,
And worship there the King of grace:
The Son of God, who made the earth,
A virgin mother gave Him birth.
No poison from the serpent stains
The human blood that fills His veins;
And though our flesh He meekly wears,
No mark of sin His nature bears;
That He might man to God restore,
And give the grace that once He wore.
Come while our hearts are full of mirth
And bless the Lord of lowly birth.
The Holy Trinity we'll praise,
And give our thanks to God always.

By Jean Momboir, with Johannes Mauburnus for the Latin, and John Mauburn for the English form of his name. Born in 1460 at Brussels; a Canon Regular of the Brethren of the Common Life in the Low Countries; died Abbot of the Cloister of Livry, not far from Paris, in 1502 or
1503. In his large work, the "Spiritual Rose-garden," there is a rosary on the birth of Christ, consisting of thirteen stanzas, which commence, Eja, mea anima, Bethlehem eamus. The hymn beginning as above consists of three stanzas taken from that poem. The detached stanzas passed into many of the older German hymn-books, met with great favour in the early Reformed Churches, so long as the practice of singing Latin compositions survived among them, and still retain a place in some German hymnals in an old translation, with for opening line, Warum liegt im Krippelein.

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(Loquitur peccator)
Wherefore in the lowly stall,
O Thou great Creator,
Dost Thou raise Thine infant call,
Glorious Renovator?
Where Thy purple if a King?
Where the shouts Thy subjects bring?
Where Thy royal castle?
Here is want with all her train,
Poverty proclaims her reign--
These Thy court and vassal.
(Jesus respondit)
Hither, by My love impelled,
Have I come to save thee;
Sin has long thy nature held,
Powerful to enslave thee.
By My emptiness and woe,
By the grace that I bestow,
Do I seek to fill thee.
By My humble, lowly birth,
By this sacrifice on earth,
Blessing great I will thee.
(Laudant fideles)
Songs of praise, ten thousand songs,
Sing I will and laud Thee;
For such grace my spirit longs,
Ever to applaud Thee.
Glory, glory let there be,
Lover of mankind to Thee,
In the heaven supernal.
Let this testimony fly
Over earth, and sea, and sky,
Borne by songs eternal.