| AS Christ the Lord was passing by, | |
| He came, one night, to a cottage door. | |
| He came, a poor man, to the poor; | |
| He had no bed whereon to lie. | |
| |
| He asked in vain for a crust of bread, | 5 |
| Standing there in the frozen blast. | |
| The door was locked and bolted fast. | |
| ‘Only a beggar!’ the poor man said. | |
| |
| Christ the Lord went further on, | |
| Until He came to a palace gate. | 10 |
| There a king was keeping his state, | |
| In every window the candles shone. | |
| |
| The king beheld Him out in the cold. | |
| He left his guests in the banquet-hall. | |
| He bade his servants tend them all. | 15 |
| ‘I wait on a Guest I know of old.’ | |
| |
| ‘’Tis only a beggar-man!’ they said. | |
| ‘Yes,’ he said; ‘it is Christ the Lord.’ | |
| He spoke to Him a kindly word, | |
| He gave Him wine and he gave Him bread. | 20 |
| |
| Now Christ is Lord of Heaven and Hell, | |
| And all the words of Christ are true. | |
| He touched the cottage, and it grew; | |
| He touched the palace, and it fell. | |
| |
| The poor man is become a king. | 25 |
| Never was man so sad as he. | |
| Sorrow and Sin on the throne make three, | |
| He has no joy in mortal thing. | |
| |
| But the sun streams in at the cottage door | |
| That stands where once the palace stood. | 30 |
| And the workman, toiling to earn his food, | |
| Was never a king before. | |
