I recently ran across this traditional English folk carol online, and thought I would share it here. According to the Hymns and Carols of Christmas site, the earliest known appearances of this carol “are on a pair of Broadsides printed in Birmingham in the early 1800s. Both had 8 eight-line verses, which were later printed as 16 four-line verses.” When Cecil Sharp collected this song, he made notes on how the traditional singers sang it.
1. This is the truth sent from above,
The truth of God, the God of love;
Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
But hearken all both rich and poor.
The truth of God, the God of love;
Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
But hearken all both rich and poor.
2. The first thing that I will relate,
That God at first did man create
The next thing which to you I tell,
Woman was made with him to dwell.
3. Then after that, ’twas God’s own choice
To place them both in Paradise,
There to remain from evil free
Except they ate of such a tree.
4. But they did eat, which was a sin,
And then their ruin did begin —
Ruin’d themselves, both you and me,
And all of their posterity.
5. Thus we were heirs to endless woes,
Till God the Lord did interpose
For so a promise soon did run
That he’d redeem us with a Son.
Here are two versions of the carol:
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