Why Christmas Carols? (What Child is This?)

Sometimes the chorus is so familiar we neglect the rest of the words.

William Dix was an insurance company manager in Glasgow, Scotland. A devoted father and follower of Jesus, Dix recognized a need in England at the time for music during Christmas that focused on the birth of Jesus Christ.

In England, during the late 19^th century, Christmas was a relatively pagan holiday. Good Christian households would intentionally ignore the Feast of the Nativity in protest to the excesses of their neighbors. Two hundred years before Dix composed this carol, Oliver Cromwell officially made Christmas celebrations illegal. (Before we judge too quickly, 40 years after Dix wrote this poem, the puritanical pressure in the United States made the consumption of alcohol illegal.)

Dix dared ask a question like Charles Wesley before him and Larry Norman of the 1970’s – Why should the devil have all the good music? Why should a celebration of the birth of Jesus, the redeemer of the world, be sidelined because of others’ misunderstandings?

Recognizing how few truly “Christmas” songs and poems there were, Dix set out and composed a poem: “The Manger Throne” phrases of which became the outline for his carol: “What Child is This?”

See especially the care with which Dix writes the “refrain” in each verse:

What Child is this who, laid to rest
On Mary’s lap is sleeping?
Whom angels greet with anthems sweet,
While shepherds watch are keeping?
This, this is Christ the King,
Whom shepherds guard and angels sing;
Haste, haste, to bring Him laud,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

 

Why lies He in such mean estate,
Where ox and ass are feeding?
Good Christians, fear, for sinners here
The silent Word is pleading.
Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,
The cross be borne for me, for you.
Hail, hail the Word made flesh,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

 

So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh,
Come peasant, king to own Him;
The King of kings salvation brings,
Let loving hearts enthrone Him.
Raise, raise a song on high,
The virgin sings her lullaby.
Joy, joy for Christ is born,
The Babe, the Son of Mary.

~ by sholander on December 12, 2007.