Though the roots of this carol are somewhat ambiguous, it seems to have been well known by the time Charles Dickens published his famous A Christmas Carol (1843) when Ebenezer Scrooge heard it being sung outside the door of his office on Christmas Eve. The most common version with eight stanzas appeared in Christmas Carols Ancient and Modern (London, 1833) by William Sandys (1792-1874), the source upon which most hymnals have based their selection of stanzas. His collection included, according to the subtitle, “the most popular [carols] in the West of England, and the airs to which they are sung. Also specimens of French Provincial Carols.”¹ 

God rest ye merry, gentlemen
Let nothing you dismay
Remember, Christ, our Saviour
Was born on Christmas day
To save us all from Satan’s power
When we were gone astray

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O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy
O tidings of comfort and joy

In Bethlehem, in Israel,
This blessed Babe was born
And laid within a manger
Upon this blessed morn
The which His Mother Mary
Did nothing take in scorn

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From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed Angel came;
And unto certain Shepherds
Brought tidings of the same:
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by Name.

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“Fear not then,” said the Angel,
“Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure Virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in Him
From Satan’s power and might.”

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The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a-feeding
In tempest, storm and wind:
And went to Bethlehem straightway
The Son of God to find.

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And when they came to Bethlehem
Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay;
His Mother Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray.

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 With sudden joy and gladness
The shepherds were beguiled,
To see the Babe if Israel,
Before His mother mild,
O then with joy and cheerfulness
Rejoice, each mother’s child.

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Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
This holy tide of Christmas
All other doth deface.

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¹https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/articles/history-of-hymns-god-rest-you-merry-gentleman