Advent and Hymnody – Glory to the new born King

You could choose any of the three verses as we now sing it, and given the first line, most of us would know it by heart.

Hark the herald angels sing
Glory to the new born king,
Peace on Earth and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled,
Joyful all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies,
With the angelic host proclaim
Christ is born in Bethlehem.

The original by Charles Wesley was very different, and the carol as we now have it is a triumph of interference and coincidence. In the 1850's a young organist, formerly learning his trade under Felix Mendelssohn, brought together the tune we now instantly recognise (Mendelssohn's), and the words we now know by heart. Those words in every hymn book carry the abbreviation 'altd' after the name of Charles Wesley. Truth is, Wesley may well sue those later would be editors because as John noted in the preface to the first Wesley Hymn Book: "we do not wish to be held responsible either for the nonsense or doggerel of other men."

In fairness, this is one of those hymns that has improved and evolved to make a hymn of mixed quality into a carol which includes Wesley's best lines and amends or excludes the less successful ones.

So what we now have is a carol of concentrated theology and biblical allusion. Almost every line has an echo in the biblical text. Of the first 6 lines quoted above, lines 2-5 are as Wesley wrote them. I read them, sing them, hum them, and they become a prayer for a world where peace on earth, mercy mild, and reconciliation seem further away than ever. But that's what Advent is – the triumph of faith over resignation, hope over despair, love over hate, and mercy over vengeance.