While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night.
WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS 1-While shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground The angel of the Lord came down and glory shone around
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night
In 1696, tradition was a way of life in the Church of England. Although the Reformation had rocked most of Europe, England was slow to change. The only singing that was allowed in the church was the singing of the Psalms.
Some felt that the time was right to change the music of the church but the Anglican Church couldn’t just change overnight. Change had to be subtle.
Nahum Tate was ready to get that done. Tate was a well respected poet. In fact, he was the Poet Laureate of England. Nicholas Brady was a wildly popular clergyman. Together, they introduced a new Psalter to the church. Their Psalter included the traditional Psalms but there was something new about this book. Included in its pages was a new song that wasn’t a Psalm at all.
It was a carefully written hymn about the birth of Christ. Not only did it follow the words of Luke 2:8-14, making it very much like the Psalms that were being sung, but it included references to David and his home city, Bethlehem.
Although some complained against this new idea, the hymn was a success and it opened the door for change. It was the only non-Psalm allowed to be sung in the church.
It was the transition that was needed. Hymns were soon an acceptable form of worship and, within a few years, Isaac Watts and Charles Wesley would begin changing the face of church music forever by writing thousands of hymns.
The door of change was opened by a single Christmas Carol called “The Song of the Angels.” It has always been a favorite of mine but I had no idea how old it was or it’s place in history. Mostly, it has always surprised me that almost none of my friends seem to know it. I always want to sing it but nobody else ever seems to have heard of it.
It is sung to the tune of a Handel aria, which makes it all the more beautiful. The name we know it by is, “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night.” If you still don’t know it, scroll down to the comments section and I will post a couple of versions for you to listen to.
I hope you will like it as much as I have over the years. At the very least, I hope you can appreciate that it paved the way for the Golden Age of Hymns that produced so much of what we sing in the church today.
WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED THEIR FLOCKS
1-While shepherds watched their flocks by night all seated on the ground
The angel of the Lord came down and glory shone around
2- “Fear not!" said he, for mighty dread had seized their troubled minds
“Glad tidings of great joy I bring to you and all mankind
3-To you in David's house this day is born of David's line
The Savior who is Christ the Lord and this shall be the sign
4-The heavenly babe you there shall find to human view displayed
All meanly wrapped in swaddling bands and in a manger laid"
5-All glory be to God on high and to the earth be peace
Goodwill henceforth from God to men begin and never cease.
