Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceus) ©WikiC in nest

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2:6-7 KJV)

Words by Em­i­ly E. El­li­ott, 1864. This hymn was first used at St. Mark’s Church in Bright­on, Eng­land, where El­li­ott’s fa­ther was rec­tor. In 1870, it was pub­lished in the Church Mis­sion­a­ry Ju­ve­nile In­struct­or, which El­li­ott ed­it­ed.

Music: Margaret, Tim­o­thy R. Mat­thews, 1876

Birds in Christmas Hymns

Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown,
When Thou camest to earth for me;
But in Bethlehem’s home was there found no room
For Thy holy nativity.

Refrain

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

Heaven’s arches rang when the angels sang,
Proclaiming Thy royal degree;
But of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth,
And in great humility.

Refrain

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest
In the shade of the forest tree;
But Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God,
In the deserts of Galilee.

Refrain

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

Thou camest, O Lord, with the living Word,
That should set Thy people free;
But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn,
They bore Thee to Calvary.

Refrain

O come to my heart, Lord Jesus,
There is room in my heart for Thee.

When the heavens shall ring, and the angels sing,
At Thy coming to victory,
Let Thy voice call me home,
Saying Yet there is room,
There is room at My side for thee.

My heart shall rejoice, Lord Jesus,
When Thou comest and callest for me.

Protection and feeding at the nest by Anthony

Em­i­ly E. El­li­ott (1836-1897) – Emily’s fa­ther was Ed­ward Bi­shop El­li­ott, Rec­tor of St. Mark’s Church in Bright­on, and her aunt was hymn­ist Char­lotte El­li­ott. For six years, Em­i­ly served as ed­it­or of The Church Mis­sion­a­ry Ju­ve­nile In­struct­or.

Tim­o­thy R. Mat­thews (1826-1910) – Son of the rec­tor of Colm­worth, Matt­hews at­tend­ed the Bed­ford Gram­mar School and Gon­ville and Cai­us Coll­ege, Cam­bridge (MusB 1853). Or­dained the same year, he be­came pri­vate tu­tor to the fam­i­ly of Rev. Lord Wri­oth­es­ley Rus­sell, a can­on of St. George’s Cha­pel, Wind­sor Cast­le, where he stu­died un­der the or­gan­ist, George El­vey, sub­se­quent­ly a life­long friend.

Matthews served as Cur­ate (1853-1859) and Cur­ate-in-Charge (1859-1869) of St. Ma­ry’s Church, Not­ting­ham. Dur­ing this time he found­ed Not­ting­ham’s Work­ing Men’s In­sti­tute. In 1869, he be­came Rec­tor at North Coates, Lin­coln­shire. He re­tired in 1907 to live with his eld­est son at Tet­ney vi­car­age.

Matthews ed­it­ed the North Coates Sup­ple­ment­al Tune Book and The Vil­lage Or­gan­ist. He com­posed Morn­ing and Ev­en­ing Serv­ices, chants and re­sponses, and earned a rep­u­ta­tion for sim­ple but ef­fect­ive hymn tunes, writ­ing over 100. William How­ard re­quest­ed six tunes from him for a child­ren’s hym­nal, and Mat­thews com­plet­ed them with­in a day. Mat­thews al­so com­posed a Christ­mas car­ol and a few songs. His sons Nor­ton and Ar­thur Per­cy were al­so known as hymn tune com­pos­ers.

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More Birds in Hymns

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Most information from The Cyber Hymnal – Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne

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