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| Title: | Angels From the Realms of Glory |
| Author: | James Montgomery (1816) |
| Meter: | 8.7.8.7.8.7 |
| Refrain First Line: | Come and worship, come and worship |

| Title: | Angels From the Realms of Glory |
| Author: | James Montgomery (1816) |
| Meter: | 8.7.8.7.8.7 |
| Refrain First Line: | Come and worship, come and worship |
| Full hymn text | Information about this text |
|---|---|
Angels from the realms of glory, Shepherds, in the field abiding, Sages, leave your contemplations, Saints, before the altar bending, Sinners, wrung with true repentance, Sacred Poems and Hymns, 1854 | Scripture References: A writer of many Christian hymns, James Montgomery (PHH 72) composed this Christmas and Epiphany text and published it on Christmas Eve, 1816, in the Sheffield Iris, a newspaper he edited. Montgomery based the text in part on the French carol "Angels We Have Heard on High" (347); it was sung to that tune for over fifty years. Entitling it "Good Tidings of Great Joy to All People," Montgomery republished the text with small alterations in his Christian Psalmist (1825). Perhaps because he knew the psalms so well, Montgomery expresses a cosmic sense in this text: he reaches from Christ's incarnation to the final great day. The text successively incorporates all creatures–the angels (st. 1), the shepherds (st. 2), the wise men (st. 3), all nations (st. 4), and all people (st. 5)–in the call to “come and worship Christ, the newborn King!” The text was originally in five stanzas, although many hymnals now delete the fifth stanza. Stanzas 1-3 are from Montgomery's text, which was inspired by the Christmas stories in Luke 2 and Matthew 2. Stanza 4 comes from another Montgomery carol inspired by Philippians 2. Stanza 5 is a doxology (not written by Montgomery) from the Salisbury Hymn Book (1857). Liturgical Use: --Psalter Hymnal Handbook |