It appears that this Christmas Carol is one I have never covered.
The text and music are noted to be of traditional English origin.
The text below has some emendations as found in this hymnal.
This is a fine tune and text and I suspect it may be avoided in church because of a lost comma and changes in the meanings of English words over centuries. The gentleman aren’t “merry”, nor are they so “merry” they need to rest. They are to be full of the joy of Christmas and stay strong (ie rest merry), because of the birth of the Saviour.
I suspect the idea of merry gentlemen may be why it so often sung in a secular setting. Then again it is in an awful lot of hymnals, so someone is singing it in church.
1 God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray:Refrain:
O tidings of comfort and joy,
comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy.2 In Bethlehem, in Jewry
This blessed babe was born,
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn:
Which poverty his mother Mary
Did not shun nor scorn: [Refrain]3 From God our heavenly Father
A blessed angel came,
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
the Son of God by name: [Refrain]4 The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding,
In tempest, storm, and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed Babe to find: [Refrain]5 But when to Bethlehem they came,
Wherein this infant lay,
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay;
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray: [Refrain]6 Now to the Lord sing praises
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All evil should displace. [Refrain]
