Domine Henricus Selyns
The Poet's Christmas Hymn
1636-1701

The Seal of Domine Selyns

Domine Henricus Selyns, born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 1636, attended the University of Leyden, was ordained a minister in the Reformed Dutch Church in 1660, and sailed for New Amsterdam, now New York, that same year.

His first congregation was at Breuckelen, now Brooklyn, and he also preached at Governor Peter Stuyvesant’s chapel. Selyns returned to Holland in 1664, accepting a position at Wavereen, but went back to America in 1682. Later the Domine served the church in New Amsterdam, which was the stone church of St. Nicholas inside the walls of Fort Amsterdam.

After the death of his first wife Machtilda Specht in 1662, he married Margareta De Riemer in 1686.

Domine Selyns was one of the most accomplished scholars of his time; and was a poet and philosopher as well as a divine. Some of his poetry appears at the beginning of Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi Americana. He wrote the hymn O Kersnacht* in 1663, originally named Bridal Torch for Rev. Ægidius Luyck, for the wedding of Ægidius and Judith Van Isendoorn, which took place in the Reformed Dutch Church of New Amsterdam 9 Dec 1663.*

_____
* 1663. 9 Decemb. AEgidius Luyck, Rector der Latynsche Schole, en Judith Isendoorn, j. d. Van Deventer.

Luyck was the Rector of the Latin School.

O Kersnacht

O Kerstnacht, schooner dan de dagen,
hoe kan Herodes ’t licht verdragen,
dat in uw duisternisse blinkt,
en wordt gevierd en aangebeden!
Zijn hoogmoed luistert naar geen reden,
Hoe schel die in zijn ooren klinkt.

Hij poogt d’onnoozle te vernielen,
door ’t moorden van onnoozle zielen.
En wekt een stad en land geschrei
in Bethlehem en op den akker.
En maakt de geest van Rachel wakker,
die waren gaat door beemd en wei.

Bedrukte Rachel, schort dit waren:
uw kin-dren sterven martelaren.
En eerstelingen van het zaad,
dat uit uw bloed begint te groeien,
en heerlijk tot Gods eer zal bloeien,
en door geen wreedheid en vergaat.

O Christmas Night!

O Christmas night! Day’s light transcending,
Who no beginning had or end
Till He a man became, was God.
Then He Who ne’er before was human
Was born in Bethlehem of woman,
When nips the frost the verdant sod.

This richest Babe comes poor in being,
More pearled within than to the seeing
With diadem and royal power;
He takes no heed of greater places,
But that small spot alone embraces,
Where light illumes the midnight hour.

This Prince, do they desire to find Him?
They’re worn out swaddling clothes that bind Him.
A manger, spread with hay’s His bed.
His throne is higher than the highest,
Yet He among the cattle lieth;
What Him to such a lot has led?

Now seeks He God with chaste affection
Who takes before such crib direction,
Are better than this Bethlehem,
Which Christ no resting place shall give;
For they, the after life, shall live
With Him, in Jerusalem.

That the lyrics were originally written as a wedding song for the wedding of Ægidius Luyck and Judith van Isendoorn is reflected in the omitted fifth verse: