Thursday, December 21, 2006

Hark the Herald

Hark the herald angels sing” was written by Charles Wesley, brother of John Wesley founder of the Methodist church, in 1739. A sombre man, he requested slow and solemn music for his lyrics and thus “Hark the herald angels sing” was sung to a different tune initially. Over a hundred years later Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) composed a cantata in 1840 to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of the printing press. English musician William H. Cummings adapted Mendelssohn’s music to fit the lyrics of “Hark the herald angels sing” already written by Wesley.


most of us know the original verses....

Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;


Apparently the churches I fellowship with are not the first to modify exisitng lyrics to songs...take a look at these awesome additions...added by no less than George Whitfield...they really do bring the true meaning of Christmas home don't they? wow! His true purpose for coming...the glorious reality that goes far beyond the manger...

"Words: Hark How All The Welkin Rings, Charles Wesley (1707-1788), Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739
Amended by
George Whitfield (1714-1770), 1753
Martin Madan (1726-1790), 1760
And Others"


Come, Desire of nations come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Oh, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart!
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new-born king;
Peace on earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!"
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the new born King!"

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.
Hark! the herald angels sing,
"Glory to the newborn King!"


I pray for each of us...that He has and will continue to make His home in our hearts...that He will continually efface Adam's likeness and replace it with that of His own...that He will impart Himself into our inner man til we look just like Him!
May your hearts be filled with the Light that is Christ this season and every season...MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

25 comments:

Mrs. Mac said...

Thanks for sharing this rendition of Hark The Herald Angels Sing. May you and your family have a blessed Christmas.

Anonymous said...

AMEN! (kaymac)

TJ said...

Wonderful post...as always dear Cheryl!!
Merry Christmas to you!!
:-D

Kim said...

Wow! I love these words. Makes you wonder why we still don't sing them. Thank you Lord, for the blessing of Cheryl. More than that, thank you for Christ in Cheryl!

Merry Christmas!

Vicki said...

Sending warmest Christmas greetings and hugs your way. I so love all the beautiful Christmas hymns. May He impart to all of us a deeper sense of His majesty and holiness. Merry Christmas to one of my most special bloggerly friends.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Cheryl! You are always such a joy and inspiration to me!

Merry, merry Christmas to you and your sweet, wonderful family!

dille2@cableone.net said...

His true purpose for coming...the glorious reality that goes far beyond the manger...

Amen sister. If He stays as a babe to us, we have lost the best we have to receive.,,,Merry Christmas to you, my friend...

HLiza said...

Merry Christmas to you and the family!

Pat said...

How blessed to write words that move so many people...forever. Thank you!
Merry Christmas to you and your precious family!

jayjay said...

Wow, that's pretty impressive. You can tend to forget that once these revelations were fresh for someone, and in their passion they wrote down what they saw. Thanks for passing it on.

Barb said...

Thank you, Cheryl. Thank you for this and thank you for being such a sweet inspiration to all of us.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Live, Love, Laugh said...

oh that we would decrease and He would increase in our lives.

Anonymous said...

At church this past weekend we actually sang the entire verses of Hark the Herald Angels sing...it was awesome...and I am ashamed to admit that I had to follow the screen to sing along. Merry Christmas Dear Friend!!!!

Anonymous said...

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Admin said...

Isn't it amazing to read the beauty of those words...thank you for sharing them.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Bek said...

i love this song. :) COME, desire of nations! merry christmas, Cheryl.

Danielle said...

Merry Christmas and AMEN!!

Kimber said...

Merry Christmas sweet girl!

SuburbanMom said...

Merry Christmas! Hope you have a wonderful time with your family :)

Ame said...

that is beautiful - thank you for sharing it!

may you and your Jada and your family find this Christmas to be especially precious and intimate filled with beautiful memories to treasure for forever :) Have a VERY Merry Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Stopped by to give you a Christmas hug and thank you for always being such a HUGE encouragement to me!!!

Blessings to you and your family!

Heidi Grether said...

This was my favorite as a child (now O Holy Night is my fav!). I love these lyrics. What mastery of the English language the writers of old possessed.

Merry Merry Christmas and Happy and Blessed New Year to you and yours. Thanks for your friendship.

Mrs Zeke said...

Merry Christmas sister

Curious Servant said...

I love the history lesson.

Merry Christmas!

Gina said...

I hope yours was Merry Cheryl!