Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming

174 Lo! How a Rose E'er Blooming

1 Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming
   From tender stem hath sprung!
   Of Jesse's lineage coming
   As men of old have sung.
   It came, a flower bright,
   Amid the cold of winter
   When half-gone was the night.

2 Isaiah 'twas foretold it,
   The Rose I have in mind:
   With Mary we behold it,
   The virgin mother kind.
   To show God's love aright
   She bore to men a Savior
   When half-gone was the night.

3 This Flower, whose fragrance tender
   With sweetness fills the air,
   Dispels with glorious splendor
   The darkness everywhere.
   True man, yet very God,
   From sin and death He saves us
   And lightens every load
                         German Carol
                         Tr. by Theodore Baker, stanzas 1,2
                         Tr. by Harriet Krauth Spaeth, stanza 3
                         Hymns for the Family of God