Once in royal David's city
Stood a lowly cattle shed
Where a mother laid her Baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that mother mild
Jesus Christ her little Child
He came down to earth from heaven
Who is God and Lord of all
And His shelter was a stable
And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly
Lived on earth our Saviour holy
And our eyes at last shall see Him
Through His own redeeming love;
For that Child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above
And He leads His children on
To the place where He is gone
Not in that poor lowly stable
With the oxen standing by
We shall see Him; but in heaven
Set at God's right hand on high;
When like stars His children crowned
All in white shall wait around
Once in Royal David’s City was written by Henry Gauntlett.