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Many of the most popular carols have been around for centuries. Here are some of the favorites and information about them from AUstin C. Lovelace's Hymn Notes for Church Bulletins.
The text to Away in a Manger is often attributed to Martin Luther, the leader of the Protestant Reformation in Germany. Though Luther did write a long Christmas hymn - From Heaven Above to Earth I Come - for his children, the author of this text is anonymous. It was first published in 1885 in Little Children's Book for Schools and Family.
God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an 18th century English story carol. The hymn first tells people to be merry because they have been saved from Satan by Christ's coming. It then tells the Christmas story. Like many carols, the chorus, or refrain, was for the people to sing after listening to the various stanzas telling the story. It was first published in 1770 in Roxburghe Ballads.
Edmund Hamilton Sears, a Unitarian minister who lived from 1810 to 1876, penned the words for It Came Upon the Midnight Clear. Based on Luke 2:13-14, it is the first hymn that calls for social action. The hymn asks people to respond to the angels and to send back to heaven the message that there is peace on earth. It was first published in 1849 in Christian Register.
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