God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen


God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is in the Roxburghe Collection, and is listed as no. 394 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
It is also known as Tidings of Comfort and Joy, and by variant incipits as
Come All You Worthy Gentlemen; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; God Rest Ye, Merry Christians; or God Rest You Merry People All.
It is one of the oldest extant carols, dated to the 16th century or earlier.
The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. 1760.
The traditional English melody is in the minor mode; the earliest printed edition of the melody appears to be in a parody, in the 1829 Facetiae of William Hone. It had been traditional and associated with the carol since at least the mid-18th century, when it was recorded by James Nares under the title "The old Christmas Carol".
The carol is referred to in Charles Dickens' 1843 A Christmas Carol: "... at the first sound of 'God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!', Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost."
This carol also is featured in the second movement of the 1927 Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson.

Lyrics

The first recorded version is found in Three New Christmas Carols, dated c. 1760. Its first verse reads:
The transitive use of the verb :wikt:rest|rest in the sense "to keep, cause to continue, to remain" is typical of 16th- to 17th-century language. Etymonline.com notes that the first line "often is mis-punctuated" as "God rest you, merry gentlemen" because in contemporary language, rest has lost its use "with a predicate adjective following and qualifying the object". This is the case already in the 1775 variant, and is also reflected by Dickens' replacement of the verb rest by bless in his 1843 quote of the incipit as "God bless you, merry gentlemen".
The adjective :wikt:merry|merry in Early Modern English had a wider sense of "pleasant; bountiful, prosperous".
Some variants give the pronoun in the first line as ye instead of you, in a pseudo-archaism. In fact, ye would never have been correct, because ye is a subjective pronoun only, never an objective pronoun.
A variant text was printed in 1775 in The Beauties of the Magazines, and Other Periodical Works, Selected for a Series of Years. This text was reproduced from the song-sheet bought from a caroler in the street. This version is shown here alongside the version reported by W. B. Sandys and the version adopted by Carols for Choirs, which has become the de facto baseline reference in the UK.
The Beauties of the Magazines Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern, W. B. Sandys Carols for Choirs

1. God rest you, merry gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas-day
To save poor souls from Satan's power,
Which long time had gone astray.
1. God rest you merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
For Jesus Christ, our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray.
1. God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day,
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray:
2. From God that is our Father
The blessed angels came
Unto some certain shepherds,
With tidings of the same;
That he was born in Bethlehem
The Son of God by name.
2. In Bethlehem, in Jury
This blessed babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which his mother Mary
Nothing did take in scorn.
2. From God our heavenly Father
A blessed angel came,
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name:
3. Now when they came to Bethlehem,
Where our sweet Saviour lay,
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay.
The blessed Virgin kneeling down
Unto the Lord did pray.
3. From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came,
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.
3. The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed Babe to find:
4. With sudden joy and gladness,
The shepherds were beguil'd,
To see the Babe of Israel
Before his mother mild.
O then with joy and cheerfulness
Rejoice each mother's child.
4. Fear not, then said the Angel,
Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of virtue, power and might;
So frequently to vanquish all
The friends of Satan quite.
4. But when to Bethlehem they came,
Whereat this Infant lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His mother Mary kneeling,
Unto the Lord did pray:
5. Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place
Like we true loving brethren,
Each other to embrace,
For the merry time of Christmas
Is coming on a-pace.
5. The Shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding
In tempest, storm and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway,
This blessed babe to find.
5. Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface:

6. But when to Bethlehem they came,
Whereas this infant lay,
They found him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay,
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray.
7. Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.