Like most good hymns, this one was written by Charles Wesley. He wrote thousands. What many people do not know, however, is that usually they were originally much longer than the different versions that have ended up in our hymnals. Here is "Hark!" in its close-to-original form, courtesy of the Cyber Hymnal:
Hark! The herald angels sing,I particularly like the last two sets of verses, which sadly are rarely sung. "Rise the woman's conquering seed/bruise in us the serpent's head" refers to the protoevangelion of Gen. 3.15 and reflects the Christus victor theme of the work of Christ, not just the putting away of sin but his triumph over the powers of evil. These two sets also portray a powerful understanding of salvation and the desire for a holy, transformed life. Salvation is not simply God pardoning us few wretched sinners over against the masses of the hopeless lost. Rather, salvation is God pardoning and restoring and gloriously uniting himself to all who call upon him in faith.
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
Refrain:
Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.Refrain
Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n 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.Refrain
Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring 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.Refrain
Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine 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,
Formed in each believing heart.Refrain
May we all, in the coming year, desire and seek after such transformative grace for our lives.
1 comments:
Thanks for pointing out the extra two verses. I got to give a Christmas talk for a 4th grade public school class and was pleased to find that most of the class already knew how to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing". I still haave a hard time comprehending how this song was sung prior to Mendelssohn writing the tune.
The teacher was allowed to invite an outside speaker in to talk about Christmas from a Christian perspective, but she also had to invite in someone to talk about Kwanzaa from a Kwanzaan perspective and Hannukah from a Hannukan perspective. I guess we aren't totally out of the US public school system.
Merry Christmas!
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