Methinks I See an Heavenly Host

 I don't have sheet music for this song. My college choir sang it. I found the lyrics in a wonderful old book of hymns published in 1908. (I scanned all the pages of the book from Hymnary.org website.) Each stanza consists of two parts, with different alternating tunes.

Complete original lyrics:

1

Methinks I see an heav'nly host,

Of angels on the wing!

Methinks I hear their cheerful notes,

So merrily they sing,

So merrily they sing.

Let all your fears be banish'd hence,

Glad tidings I proclaim;

For there is a savior born today,

And Jesus is His name,

And Jesus is his name.

2

Lay down your crooks, and quit your flocks,

To Bethlehem repair;

And let your wand'ring steps be squar'd

By yonder shining star,

By yonder shining star.

Seek not in courts or palaces,

Nor royal curtains draw;

But search the stable, see your God

Extended on the straw,

Extended on the straw.

3

Then learn from hence ye rural swains,

The meekness of your God,

Who left the boundless realms of joy

To ransom you with blood,

To ransom you with blood.

The master of the inn refus'd

A more commodious place;

Ungen'rous soul of savage mould,

And destitute of grace,

And destitute of grace.

4

Exult ye oxen, low for joy,

Ye tenants of the stall,

Pay your obeisance, on your knees

Unanimously fall,

Unanimously fall.

The Royal Guest you entertain,

Is not of common birth,

But second to the Great I Am,

The God of heav'n and earth,

The God of heav'n and earth..

5

Then suddenly a heav'nly host,

Around the shepherds throng,

Exulting in the threefold God

And thus address their song,

And thus address their song.

To God the Father, Christ the Son,

And Holy Ghost ador'd:

The First and Last, the Last and First,

Eternal praise afford,

Eternal praise afford.

WILLIAM BILLINGS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiWiQCg9jkA&list=RDIiWiQCg9jkA&start_radio=1