O sing a song of Bethlehem

O sing a song of Bethlehem. Louis F. Benson* (1855-1930). Written in 1899, and included in The School Hymnal of the Presbyterian Church of the USA (Philadelphia, 1899), which Benson edited, with the title ‘Early life of Jesus’. The first line suggests that it is a Christmas hymn, but the three succeeding stanzas cover the life of Christ up to and including the crucifixion and the resurrection: ‘O sing a song of Nazareth’, ‘O sing a song of Galilee’, and ‘O sing a song of Calvary’. It has been frequently reprinted, although the British RS omits the ‘Nazareth’ verse on the grounds that it does not have, like the other stanzas, a scriptural origin. In Britain it was included, in its four...