Hark, how all the welkin rings,
“Glory to the King of kings;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
Universal nature say,
“Christ the Lord is born to-day!”
Christ, by highest Heaven ador’d,
Christ, the everlasting Lord:
Late in time behold him come,
Offspring of a Virgin’s womb!
Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate deity!
Pleased as man with men to appear,
Jesus! Our Immanuel here!
Hail, the heavenly Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings,
Risen with healing in his wings.
Mild He lays his glory by,
Born that man no more may die;
Born to raise the sons of earth;
Born to give them second birth.
Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conquering seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface;
Stamp Thy image in its place.
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the life, the inner Man:
O! to all thyself impart,
Form’d in each believing heart.
You can find the 1940 Episcopal Hymnal version here (the 5th stanza is missing). The 1982 Episcopal Hymnal only includes the first three verses (with modified language)–KSH
Duke (i.e. Maddox) critical edition on pp. 206-207 (95-97 in the browser) here:
http://www.divinity.duke.edu/wesleyan/docs/cworiginal/01_Hymns_and_Sacred_Poems_(1739)_CW_Verse.pdf.
http://www.divinity.duke.edu/wesleyan/docs/cworiginal/01_Hymns_and_Sacred_Poems_(1739)_CW_Verse.pdf
This version, then, though reasonably accurate, has been modernized (by the elimination of contractions, changes in punctuation, etc.). Note, too, the notes provided by the Duke edition (there may be others in other printed editions and the companions).
What’s a “welkin”. Guess I’d better go look it up.
#4, this looks interesting:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-wel1.htm
This is the first theology I ever remember learning. ‘Veiled in flesh the Godhead see/ Hail th’incarnate Deity’…. not a bad way to start!
I think we must never underestimate the power of these truths being sung each Christmas – even through bad loudspeakers at the mall. In His goodness, He used hymns of the fathers [and mothers!] of faith to draw me to Himself. I am so grateful!
I love felicitous phrases such as “pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel,” although it is red meat for the Presbyterian Women’s Caucus. I sing it anyway, regardless of what is on the printed page.
Our former Episcopal parish for several years sang eight of Wesley’s verses (omitting verses 8 and 10 of the poem above, with the rest sung as four verses total to Mendelssohn’s amended tune), our having taken the text from [i]The New Oxford Book of Carols[/i], one in which “Hark! how all the welkin rings” had already undergone Whitefield’s amendment to its present form.
We did it mostly for those richly scriptural words about “the woman’s conquering seed” and “Second Adam from above”.
But we didn’t sing this stanza:
[i]Now display thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.[/i]
A pity we didn’t. Could there be a better statement of the theology of [i]theosis[/i] in Western hymnody?