All That 'Lieve1 In Christmas Lay

All That 'Lieve¹ In Christmas Lay
Worship Every Christmas Day

Words and Music: English Traditional, Fifteenth Century

Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), pp. 164-5.

1. A man² was the first guilt,
And therefore he was spilt;³
The prophecy was never (fulfilled),⁴
Till on the Christmas day.

2. The first day that lily sprung,
Jesus Christ be us among,
Ever we thought it was too long,
Till on the Christmas day.

3. It was dark, it was dim,
For men that lived in great sin,
Lucifer was us all within,
Till on the Christmas day.

4. There was weeping, there was woe,
For every man to hell gan go.
There was little merry so,⁵
Till on the Christmas day.

Notes from Rickert:

1. Believe. Return

2. O' man, i.e., Of man, Return

3. Destroyed. Return

4. Text repeats split. Return

5. Text: tho=then. Return