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It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

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Words: Edmund Hamilton Sears (b. Apr. 6, 1810; d. Jan. 14, 1876)
Music: Carol, by Richard Storrs Willis (b. Feb. 10, 1819; d. May 7, 1900)

Note: Edmund Sears served as the pastor of several small Unitarian churches in Massachusetts. The carol was written at the request of his friend and fellow pastor in Quincy, W. P. Lunt. The original title was “Peace on Earth.”

(1) It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
“Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From heaven’s all gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Perhaps the startling thing about this Christmas carol is that it does not make a single reference to Christ or His birth, in any of its five original stanzas. All the stranger since it’s about the angel’s message to the shepherds, which begins by telling them the One in whom “peace” can be found (Lk. 2:11). Perhaps we might be inclined to put that down to the fact that Sears was a Harvard-graduated Unitarian, and that group does not believe in the deity of Christ. However, Pastor Sears seems to have been a Unitarian more in name than in practice, since he believed and preached that Christ is God the Son.

There is another strain in this carol that not all evangelicals would espouse. It’s among the first American hymns to be rooted in the social gospel, the idea that if we just do good works, correct social wrongs, and love their neighbours, “the age of gold” (5) will be ushered in, a kind of heaven on earth. And therefore that the church should put its focus on helping the poor and downtrodden, rather than on calling people to eternal salvation through Christ.

The social gospel seems to have been a particularly American phenomenon, and the middle of the nineteenth century was a great breeding ground for it. Opposition to slavery was seething and there was a growing unrest as north and south took sides–conflict that would eventually lead to the Civil War. In addition, 1849 brought the California Gold Rush, with its passionate greed for gain, and attendant wickedness. After nearly two millennia, the peace and good will of the angelic announcement of Christ’s birth (Lk. 2: 14) seemed farther away than ever.

(3) Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

There are a couple of issues that need to be addressed, with regard to this emphasis:

  1. The Gospel. To put our focus on preaching the gospel of imperishable grace, and on the need for sinners to prepare for eternity, does not mean Christians should fail to be concerned about what is going on around them in society. It’s a matter of emphasis and focus. Helping the poor, and speaking out against social wrongs must not replace the mandate of the church to preach the gospel (Mk. 16:15). And the gospel is not, at its core, a message of temporal social betterment. Here is the gospel:

“I declare to you the gospel…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15:1, 3). “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16).

The gospel (the good news) is that through faith in Christ we can be delivered from eternal condemnation and receive God’s gift of everlasting life (Jn. 3:16; cf. Eph. 1:7, 13-14; Col. 1:3-5; II Tim. 1:9-10). Whatever else we do, in compassion and mercy to others in need, we cannot forget or minimize that.

  1. The Golden Age. As (5) proclaims, there is indeed an “age of gold” coming up ahead. But it will not be brought about by social action, or peace treaties, or any of the feeble and faltering efforts of man. It will be ushered in at the return of Christ, when He rules over the earth, bringing in the Kingdom Age of peace and plenty. The “prophet-bards foretold” it, many times (e.g. Isa. 2:1-4; 9:6-7; Dan. 7:13-14; Amos 9:11-15; cf. Rev. 20:1-4).

But, that is not how the Bible portrays the present age, as we look forward to Christ’s return. “In latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons” (I Tim. 4:1). “Evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (II Tim. 3:13).

In the last days perilous times will come: for men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power.

II Tim. 3:1-5

Yes, a better day is coming with the return of the glorified Son of God. But not yet. And we pray with John, “Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).

Questions:

  1. Even when world “peace” eludes us, what aspects of peace can we experience now, by the grace of God?
  2. How can Christians and local churches maintain a balance between social action on the one hand, and the mandate of the Great Commission on the other?

Links:

While Shepherds Watched

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Words: Nahum Tate (b. _____, 1652; d. Aug. 12, 1715)
Music: Christmas, by George Frederick Handel (b. Feb. 23, 1685; d. Apr. 14, 1759)

Note: The hymn tune Christmas is a common one for this carol in our hymn books. But also associated with it is Winchester Old, from Este’s Psalter, published in 1592.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Nahum Tate did not have a great reputation as to his character. One writer describes him as intemperate and careless, another as a drunkard and a spendthrift. However, as a poet, he did work with Nicholas Brady (1659-1776) to produce a new metrical version of the Psalms in 1700, one superior to what the church had used previously.

Tate and Brady also added a Supplement to the book containing a number of hymns of their own creation. As well as this hymn for Christmas, there were others for Easter, and for the Lord’s Supper.

Some appreciated the new songs, others did not. On one occasion, Tate was visiting in the home of friends when it came time for family devotions. The maid explained her refusal to sing with the others by saying, “Sir, as long as you sung Jesus Christ’s Psalms I sung along with ye; but now that you sing Psalms of your own invention, ye may sing by yourselves!” Even so, this Christmas hymn gained early acceptance, likely because it is close to a word-for-word rendering of Scripture passage (Lk. 2:8-14).

There is a lesson in this. “The word of God is living and powerful” (Heb. 4:12). Even when it is recited by unregenerate lips, or put on paper by the pen of a drunken wastrel, the Spirit of God can use it. Years ago I worked in an advertising company managed by a well-known Canadian agnostic named Charles Templeton. My parents had known him years before, when he laboured as a clergyman. My father’s gospel quartet sang in his church. But those days were long gone.

During the years I worked with him, he would occasionally reminisce about those bygone times, and we’d sing a hymn or two as we worked. He knew the words, but his heart was unchanged. Charles confessed to me that he never believed what he was preaching. To him, it was all for show, and an ego trip. My dad continued to pray each day–for decades–that the man would repent and be truly saved but, as far as I know, he died far from Christ.

However, when I later trained for the ministry, and began serving in a church, I met a fellow-pastor who said he was saved under Charles Templeton’s ministry. Amazing! The Word had borne fruit in His heart by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So, am I saying it doesn’t matter whether a preacher is a believer or not? No. Hardly. I’m sure Charles misled many people by his hypocrisy, or his open defection from the faith. And he himself missed the joy of serving the Lord Jesus Christ wholeheartedly. But it remains true that God will sometimes speak, in sovereign grace, through some strange instruments. After all He did that one day with Balaam’s donkey (Num. 22:22-35)!

As to the angelic announcement to the shepherds, it was means of tying the Old Testament and the New together. Bethlehem is only five miles south of Jerusalem. It’s almost certain that the sheep raised there were going to be used for temple sacrifices. Sacrifices that had been offered since ancient times, foreshadowing the great and final Sacrifice to come. How wonderful for those men to hear the news that the Saviour had been born, the One John the Baptist would later call, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29).

You were…redeemed with…the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

I Pet. 1:18-19

Further, Christ’s humble beginning, with a manger for His cradle, would be a symbol of welcoming grace. Even the shepherds, rendered ceremonially unclean by their occupation, were summoned to Him and went joyfully (Lk. 2:15-16). When He began His earthly ministry, “many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples; for there were many, and they followed Him,” and “the common people heard Him gladly” (Mk. 2:15; 12:37). God’s grace is extended to all.

(3) “To you, in David’s town, this day
Is born of David’s line
A Saviour, who is Christ the Lord,
And this shall be the sign.

(4) “The heavenly Babe you there shall find
To human view displayed,
All meanly wrapped in swathing bands,
And in a manger laid.”

(6) “All glory be to God on high,
And to the earth be peace;
Good will henceforth from heav’n to men
Begin and never cease.”

Questions:

  1. Can you think of an instance in recent times when God blessed His Word, in spite of the sinful (and perhaps unregenerate) nature of the human instrument?
  2. In the shepherds, we have an example of those who shared the gospel message (cf. Lk. 2:11, and 17) though they surely didn’t fully understand what it meant. What lesson is there for us in that?

Links:

Ivory Palaces

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Words: Henry Barraclough (b. Dec. 14, 1891; d. Aug. ____, 1983)
Music: Henry Barraclough

Note: You can learn more about Mr. Barraclough in the Wordwise link below, as well as reading of the strange association of the Bible text involved here with a common household product. Henry Barraclough wrote a few more hymns and tunes, but as far as I know this is the only one that has continued to be used. The Cyber Hymnal gives part of the story behind this hymn. A fuller account was provided by Billy Graham in 1967, for the book Crusade Hymn Stories (pp. 25-26).

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Briefly, what led to the writing of the hymn is this. Presbyterian evangelist and Bible teacher Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman was preaching in 1915 at the Montreat Conference Center, in North Carolina. The team also consisted of song leader Charles Alexander, soloist Albert Brown, and their young accompanist Henry Barraclough.

One evening that summer Dr. Chapman spoke on Psalm 45, a royal wedding song, which also has a secondary application to the Messiah. (More about the text in a moment.) After the service, twenty-four-year-old Barraclough was a passenger in the car that drove them away from the meeting place. The phrases of a new song’s refrain began to take shape in his mind.

Having nothing else to write on, he took a business card and scribbled the refrain on the back. Later, at their hotel, he added the first three stanzas and the music. The song was sung at the meeting the next morning by Alexander and Brown. Then, at Dr. Chapman’s request, Henry Barraclough added a fourth stanza speaking of the second coming of Christ.

Billy Graham adds a personal footnote to this story. When he was beginning his ministry as an evangelist in 1945, it was Albert Brown who introduced Billy to a young musician named Cliff Barrows, who continued to work with him in his evangelistic crusades for decades afterward.

As to the Bible text involved, its poetic imagery can only be fulfilled in part by a mortal king of ancient times. Its fullest sense was to be captured by the Messiah-King, the Lord Jesus Christ. In confirmation of this, we see vs. 6-7 of the psalm quoted in Hebrews 1:8-9, as God the Father speaks to God the Son:

“To the Son He says: ‘Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of Your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.’”

Hebrews 1:8-9

The grace and beauty of the King are celebrated (Ps. 45:1-2), and His glorious victories (vs. 3-5). The latter verses of the psalm (vs. 10-17) give attention to the beautiful bride. In its New Testament application this would apply to the church, the body of Christ. Dr. Chapman’s central text that evening was vs. 8 of the psalm.

“All Your garments are scented with myrrh and aloes and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, by which they have made You glad.”

Psalm 45:8

The text is a poetic description of the king in his resplendence, coming from his palace for his wedding. As he proceeds on his way, the fragrance of his garments is shed abroad. Mr. Barraclough’s hymn takes a stanza to describe each of the spices mentioned in Psalm 45:8. There is the fragrance of myrrh (1), and of aloes (2), and of cassia (3).

Myrrh and cassia were two of the principle ingredients of the anointing oil referred to in vs. 7 (cf. Exod. 30:22-25). It was used in inaugurating the priests and kings of Israel. And myrrh and aloes are mentioned in the marriage preparations of King Solomon (S.S. 4:14).

The spices which perfumed the king’s robes also have a connection to the Lord Jesus. Myrrh was one of the gifts of the wise men brought to the Baby Jesus (Matt. 2:11). And myrrh and aloes were used to embalm the body of Christ at His burial (Jn. 19:39).

(1) My Lord has garments so wondrous fine,
And myrrh their texture fills;
Its fragrance reached to this heart of mine
With joy my being thrills.

Out of the ivory palaces,
Into a world of woe,
Only His great eternal love
Made my Saviour go.

(4) In garments glorious He will come,
To open wide the door;
And I shall enter my heav’nly home,
To dwell forevermore.

Questions:

  1. In what ways is King Jesus superior to the earthly monarch celebrated in the psalm?
  2. What can we say about the experience of the bride at such a wedding (cf. Rev. 19:7, 9)?

Links:

Who Is He in Yonder Stall?

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Words: Benjamin Russell Hanby (b. July 22, 1833; d. March 16, 1867)
Music: Benjamin Russell Hanby

Note: This hymn was published in 1866, the year before Hanby’s death. Originally, each couplet was a stanza on its own, making ten of them. When he was editing the Worship and Service Hymnal (a fine mid-twentieth century hymn book, published in 1957), Donald Hustad decided to combine two couplets for each stanza, making five in all.

There’s a certain irony in the fact that, two years before he wrote his hymn, Mr. Hanby wrote the first ever song about Santa Claus! Sadly, now, each Christmas, there’s more about Santa going over the airwaves than about the Lord Jesus. Hanby’s song begins:

Up on the housetop reindeer pause,
Out jumps good old Santa Claus,
Down through the chimney with lots of toys,
All for the good little girls and boys.

Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn’t go?
Ho, ho ho! Who wouldn’t go?
Up on the housetop, click, click, click
Down through the chimney with good Saint Nick.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

A bit more about the Hanby family should be of interest. And another  secular song by Benjamin Hanby will give you a something of a picture of the man.

Benjamin Hanby’s father, Bishop William Hanby (United Brethren in Christ) was active in the underground railway, as was his son. They sought to help enslaved African Americans to escape to freedom in the north, and up into Canada.

One of the son’s most famous songs was not this hymn, but a sad ballad called My Darling Nellie Gray. It told the true story of Nellie, the beloved of a slave named Joseph Selby (or Shelby). Joseph was a slave in Kentucky, but he heard that Nellie had been sold south into Georgia, where the treatment was notoriously harsher.

One night I went to see her but she’s gone, the neighbours say,
And the white man had bound her with his chain;
They have taken her to Georgia for to wear her life away,
As she toils in the cotton and the cane.

Oh, my darling Nellie Gray, they have taken you away
I’ll never see my darling anymore;
They have taken you to Georgia, for to work your life away,
And you’re gone from that old Kentucky shore.

Benjamin wrote the lyrics in 1856, and his sister composed the melody. Though it might be dismissed as merely a sentimental ballad, it does represent the heartbreak of slavery, and the song made it more real and poignant to all who heard and sang it. Bishop Handby was trying to raise money to buy Nellie’s freedom, and this music was a powerful weapon for that, and the fight against slavery in general.

Benjamin Hanby became a clergyman in the same denomination as his father. But he seems to have had some progressive ideas that alienated his denomination. He left the ministry and became more active in writing and publishing music. He died of tuberculosis at the age of thirty-four.

Though his hymn is sometimes listed with Christmas carols, because of the first two lines, Who Is He in Yonder Stall? covers all of the life of Christ from His birth to His resurrection. Unfortunately, the tune is monotonously repetitious, since the melody of the first line is the same as that of the second–which means it gets repeated ten times!

To relieve the monotony, you might try having part of the congregation sing one line of a stanza, and another part of the congregation respond with the other. Then all could join in singing the chorus. It would also work to have two soloists sing the stanzas, and the congregation answer with the refrain.

The song is not without merit, in spite of this problem. It takes us through the life of Jesus and emphasizes His identity with the refrain. He is the Lord, “the King of glory,” worthy of our humble worship. Hanby’s repeated contrast of the pain and distress Christ suffered, with the love and kindness He showed to those around Him, is striking. This is even more stark and grievous when we are reminded over and over that this One is the Lord of glory.

(1) Who is He in yonder stall
At whose feet the shepherds fall?
Who is He in deep distress,
Fasting in the wilderness?

‘Tis the Lord! O wondrous story!
‘Tis the Lord! the King of glory!
At His feet we humbly fall,
Crown Him! crown Him, Lord of all!

(4) Lo! at midnight, who is He
Prays in dark Gethsemane?
Who is He on yonder tree
Dies in grief and agony?

(5) Who is He that from the grave
Comes to succour, help, and save?
Who is He that from His throne
Rules through all the world alone?

Questions:

  1. What other hymns come to mind that contrast who the Lord Jesus is with the shameful way He was treated?
  2. What other hymns can you think of that cover more than one period or aspect of the life of Christ?

Links:

A Thousand Years Have Come and Gone

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Words: Thomas Toke Lynch (b. July 5, 1818; d. May 9, 1871)
Music: Noel, a traditional tune arranged by Arthur Seymour Sullivan (b. May 13, 1842; d. Nov. 22, 1900)

Note: Because the hymn was published in 1868, the opening line is correct for the time. It wasn’t quite two thousand years since the birth of Christ. However, twenty-first-century congregations can update the line by rendering it: “A thousand years have come and gone, and still a thousand more.”

Sir Arthur Sullivan’s tune is also used sometimes with the carol It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, and it can be used with Edmund Sears other Christmas hymn, Calm on the Listening Ear of Night.

Eminent hymn historian, John Julian, in his Dictionary of Hymnology, calls Pastor Lynch’s hymns “a valuable contribution to cultured sacred song,” and says this about his poetical style:

“Lynch’s hymns are marked by intense individuality, gracefulness and felicity of diction, picturesqueness, spiritual freshness, and the sadness of a powerful soul struggling with a weak and emaciated body.”

Dictionary of Hymnology pg. 706

There is certainly a quaint charm in many phrases found in this hymn. For example, the author gives us: “happier light from heaven…a joy most joyful stirred” (1); “angels on their starry way…meek mercy’s rising light” (C2); and “on wintry earth a summer change began” (3).

Thomas Lynch’s influence reached far beyond his own small congregation, not only because of his hymns and other writings, but because of his preaching. Many visited his church to sit under his ministry and witnessed to the freshness and spiritual power of his sermons. However, as Julian notes, he was troubled by ill health. From 1856 to 1859 he had to withdraw from ministry because of this, but resumed his pastoral duties in 1860 and continued this until his death in 1871 at the age of fifty-three.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

The hymn draws our attention to the two millennia that have passed since the coming of Christ. (This is mentioned again in (4)). We can roughly mark the two thousand years before His coming with two key events: the birth of Abraham around 2000 BC, and the birth of David around 1000 BC–both of whom are prominent in the earthly ancestry of the Saviour (Matt. 1:1).

The birth of Christ thus becomes a great dividing line in the midst of these four millennia. And Thomas Lynch notes the transforming power of the incarnation, and makes it both a focus both of joyful praise and hopeful promise.

(1) A thousand years have come and gone, and near a thousand more,
Since happier light from heaven shone than ever shone before:
And in the hearts of old and young a joy most joyful stirred.
That sent such news from tongue to tongue as ears had never heard.

(2) Then angels on their starry way felt bliss unfelt before,
For news that men should be as they to darkened earth they bore;
So toiling men and spirits bright a first communion had,
And in meek mercy’s rising light were each exceeding glad.

By “news that men should be as they” Lynch is not suggesting that we’ll all turn into angels. Angels are spirit beings, while humans are a unique combination of the material and the spiritual. The author may be speaking of our incorruptible resurrection bodies, of the day when we’ll be like Christ, and perfected in holiness (I Cor. 15:42-44; I Jn. 3:2; Rev. 22:11).

(3) And we are glad, and we will sing, as in the days of yore;
Come all, and hearts made ready bring, to welcome back once more
The day when first on wintry earth a summer change began,
And, dawning in a lowly birth uprose the Light of man.

With the birth of Christ “the Light of the world” appeared (Jn. 8:12), and with His ascension back into heaven we have One, seated at the Father’s right hand, who is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, since He shared in our experiences, though without sin (Heb. 4:15). What a great witness will be borne, not only through the years of time, but for all eternity, praising God for deliverance from sin (Rev. 5:9-10; 13).

(4) For trouble such as men must bear from childhood to fourscore,
He shared with us, that we might share His joy forevermore;
And twice a thousand years of grief of conflict, and of sin,
May tell how large the harvest sheaf His patient love shall win.

This stanza calls to mind (3) in Edmund Sears’ carol It Came Upon the Midnight Clear:

Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The lovesong which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

It’s unfortunate that many are unfamiliar with Pastor Lynch’s hymn. It appears in very few non-denominational hymn books. A Thousand Years Have Come and Gone is a different kind of Christmas carol. It looks at the big picture, and the reason for Christ’s coming, rather than simply focusing on those long-ago events.

Questions:

  1. What other carols best help us to see God’s purpose in the birth of Christ?
  2. How would this kind of emphasis help to make our praise at Christmas more meaningful?

Links:

Somthing Missing

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Note: This post was originally written on the 16th of December 2012.

Several events have been juxtaposed recently that have me thinking. In a city near us, a man wrote a letter of protest because some city buses posted the words “Merry Christmas.” Apparently it conflicted with his own religious views. But so what? Nobody was asking him to change what he believes. Predictably and thankfully, many citizens contacted city hall, telling the powers that be to leave the greetings right where they are.

Far more seriously, I know of a funeral taking place this afternoon. Called a “Gathering” (what we used to call a wake), it simply involves family and friends visiting with one another, sharing remembrances of the departed loved one. Nothing wrong with that, of course. But for me there’s something missing. As far as I know, there will be no message of comfort from the Word of God, no encouragement from the great hymns of the faith, no prayer. Just conversation. That was the choice of the immediate family, and the choice was theirs to make. But how sad it is.

These events, one more trivial (except in its implications), the other more significant in my view, come on the heels of the horrific massacre this week, at the elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. A deranged gunman took the lives of twenty children and six adults, including his own mother, before shooting himself.

Understandably there was an outpouring of grief, not only by those immediately involved, but by commentators and politicians and more. But there was something else. Repeated calls for prayer to be offered for the sorrowing. And prayer vigils, where hymns were sung. Today being Sunday, I know there will be church services where believers call upon God to give comfort and wisdom, healing and hope, and earnest pastors will open the Scriptures to share what the Lord has to say to them.

Whether it’s trying to do away with any remembrance of the birth of our Saviour, or determining to strip a time of deep need of anything that might be of spiritual benefit, the loss is beyond reckoning. If God is not in our lives, if we have no incarnate Saviour, we have no hope (Eph. 2:12).

I awoke in the night with Thomas Moore’s beautiful hymn running through my mind.

Come, ye disconsolate, where’er ye languish,
Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel.
Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish;
Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.

Joy of the desolate, light of the straying,
Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure!
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying,
“Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot cure.”

We are spiritual creatures, whether we’re willing to admit it or not. And through God’s Son, our Saviour, and through the ministrations of His Holy Spirit our heavenly Father has provided grace for our times of need, grace and mercy for the asking (Heb. 4:14-16).

“Earth has no sorrow that heaven cannot heal.” That will be fulfilled in the ultimate and eternal sense when the saints are called into His presence. In the heavenly city there will be no more tears or sorrow, no more pain or death (Rev. 21:4).

But it’s true in the immediate sense as well. There is help available today and every day. In and through Christ, “Our God and Father…has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace” (II Thess. 2:16). If we are “walking in the fear of the Lord,” we will also experience “the comfort of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 9:31). Oh, please! Don’t miss out! “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you” (Ps. 55:22).

Away in a Manger

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Words: (author unknown)
Music: (composer unknown)

Note: In 1887, hymn writer and music publisher James Ramsey Murray produced a book of children’s music called Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses. Included in the book was Away in a Manger, under this heading: “Luther’s Cradle Hymn, composed by Martin Luther for his children, and still sung by German mothers to their little ones.”

Another author goes even further, saying the hymn: “Is thought to be written for his [Luther’s] small son Hans (John), for a Christmas Eve festival, perhaps in 1530.” (Stories of Hymns We Love, by Cecilia Margaret Rudin, p. 7).

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

It is a touching picture. But it never happened. Martin Luther wrote neither the words nor the tune. And the song is much less than four or five centuries old.

To accuse Mr. Murray of lying would be going too far. But wherever he got his information, he was certainly misinformed. Nothing in all of the reformer’s copious writings bears any resemblance to the carol. And the song Luther wrote for his five-year-old son Hans seems rather to be From Heaven Above to Earth I Come, not the much more recent Away in a Manger.

In 1945, an American reference librarian named Richard S. Hill wrote a lengthy article called “Not So Far Away in a Manger.” After meticulous research, his conclusion was that the carol in question was likely written around 1883, by an anonymous Lutheran living in Pennsylvania. (Appropriately, 1883 was the four hundredth anniversary of Luther’s birth.) Mr. Hill also identified many different tunes that have been used with the song.

The earliest known printing of the hymn is found in the Little Children’s Book for Schools and Families, 1885. The original carol had only two stanzas. It has been claimed that the last was written around 1905 by a Methodist clergyman named John Thomas MacFarland (1851-1913). However, even this is now in some doubt (in spite of the story in the Cyber Hymnal).

The origin of the tune, as well, is something of a mystery. In hymn books it is sometimes called Mueller, having been attributed to someone named Carl Mueller in Worship and Song, published in 1921. However, there are serious doubts as to whether such a person even existed. Some credit James Murray with the melody–the man who popularized the notion that the carol came from Luther. But we’ll likely never know.

We do somewhat better with the tune Afton, which is frequently used with Away in a Manger. Lawyer (and later, Presbyterian clergyman) Jonathan Edwards Spilman (1812-1896) wrote that tune in 1837 to go with Robert Burns poem Flow Gently, Sweet Afton. It fits the carol beautifully,

Sometimes the last line of the second stanza is changed to “And stay by my side until morning is night”–ostensibly to make the song suitable for more than young children. However, it is quite clearly a children’s hymn, and should be treated as such. There is a gentle beauty to the song which makes it worthy of our use at Christmas time.

(1) reminds us of the Saviour’s humble birth. As the Bible declares, “[Mary] brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk. 2:7). In this, the Lord Jesus “humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8).

(1) Away in a manger, no crib for a bed,
The little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head.
The stars in the bright sky looked down where He lay,
The little Lord Jesus, asleep on the hay.

(2) implies, without stating it, the Lord’s later exaltation to the right hand of God the Father, where He “looks down from the sky.” As the Bible tells us, “[He] being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3).

God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Phil. 2:9-11

(2) The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;
I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky
And stay by my cradle till morning is nigh.

(3) is more of a personal prayer, appealing for the continuing presence of Christ, and for His love and blessing, not only for the singer, but for “all the dear children in Thy tender care.” There is also a desire to be fitted for heaven, that the individual may live eternally with Him. Like Paul, the child of God will surely have “a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better” (Phil. 1:23), and we look forward to Christ’s return to take us there (Jn. 14:2-3).

(3) Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray;
Bless all the dear children in Thy tender care,
And fit us for heaven to live with Thee there.

Questions:

  1. In your experience, how much can little children understand about the true meaning of Christmas, and what it can mean to them spiritually?
  2. What other carols do you believe are within the understanding of children?

Links:

Angels We Have Heard on High

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Words: a traditional French carol, Les Anges dans Nos Campagnes, (“The Angels in Our Countryside”) translated by James Chadwick (b. Apr. 24, 1813; d. May 14, 1882)
Music: Gloria (or Barnes), an old French carol melody, arranged by Edward Shippen Barnes (b. Sept. 14, 1887; d. Feb. 14, 1958)

Note: This popular carol, whose original author is unknown, was likely written in French in the 1700s. The French version begins:
Les anges dans nos campagnes
Ont entonné l’hymne de cieux,
Et l’echo de nos montagnes
Redit ce chant mélodieux:
Gloria in excelsis Deo.

James Chadwick published his English translation in 1862. The carol is macaronic, meaning part of it is in one language and part in another, with the Latin of the chorus quoting the angels’ words, “Glory to God in the highest.” The rather monotonous melody is helped somewhat by the rolling glorias in the refrain (great for singing in parts).

(1) Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o’er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.

Gloria, in excelsis Deo!
Gloria, in excelsis Deo!

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Each of the first three stanzas of this hymn speak of the Christmas angels singing. This is a common assumption behind a number of our Christmas hymns, for example in Hark, the Herald Angels Sing, Angels from the Realms of Glory, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, and Silent Night. So, do angels really sing? Yes, that is indicated elsewhere in the Scriptures. God Himself tells us that at creation:

The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.

Job 38:4, 7

There the Hebrew poetic form uses parallelism, in which “the sons of God” (angelic beings, in Job) and “the morning stars” likely refer to the same thing. Also, in heaven, four “living creatures” (elsewhere called cherubim) accompany the saints when they sing praises to God (Rev. 5:8-10).

Music may in fact be a common language of heaven. But what about the Christmas angels? It would certainly have been appropriate for them to sing at such a momentous event, and the wording of Luke Chapter 2 allows at least the possibility. Verse 13 speaks of the heavenly host “praising God and saying.” The Greek verb aineo means to praise. But it can also mean to sing praises. And “saying” (lego in Greek) is not restricted to talking. It simply means to declare or affirm. Thus we could have,

“There was…a multitude of the heavenly host singing praises to God, declaring, ‘Glory to God in the highest…’”

The Greek word for “glory” is doxa, which gives us the familiar word doxology. It stands for praise, honour and worship. And God is acclaimed in the angel’s declaration from the highest heaven down to the humblest of the human family on earth for the wonder of the incarnation. Williams New Testament has, “Glory to God in highest heaven! And peace on earth to men who please him.”

Williams follows some versions that put the oneness on individuals to be rightly related to God in order to enjoy His peace. However, the other reading also has its adherents: that, by the grace of God, His favour is bestowed upon all, at least potentially, through Christ.

One commentator calls vs. 14 a “sublime hymn,” adding that the structure suggests responsive (or antiphonal) singing, with parts of the choir responding to one another, filling the heavens with music. One group of angels would perhaps sing, “Glory to God in the highest,” and another would answer with, “And on earth peace,” with perhaps a third adding, “Good will toward men.” That would have been wonderful to hear!

(3) Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee,
Christ the Lord, the newborn King.

(4) See Him in a manger laid,
Jesus, Lord of heav’n and earth!
Mary, Joseph, lend your aid,
With us sing our Saviour’s birth.

Questions:

  1. Why would all in heaven rejoice at the news of the Saviour’s birth?
  2. What is your favourite Christmas carol?

Links:

Good Christian Men, Rejoice

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Words: Heinrich Suso (b. _____,1295; d. _____1366); English paraphrase by John Mason Neale (b. Jan. 24, 1818; d. Aug. 6, 1886)
Music: In Dulci Jubilo (In Sweet Rejoicing, or Jubilation), a 14th-century German melody

Note: Heinrich Suso was a Dominican monk. The earliest known version of his text is found in a manuscript from 1400 (thirty-four years after his death). There is a legend that Suso heard angels singing the carol, and joined them in a heavenly dance of joy. Legends aside, the carol gives us a vehicle for the joyful celebration of the birth of Christ.

Neale’s free rendering was published in 1853, and he made two changes in the text that have no parallel in the original.

¤ He began each stanza with a line not in the original, “Good Christian men, rejoice”–which the gender police are wont to change to “Good Christians all, rejoice.
¤ Thomas Helmore, the music editor of Neale’s collection, made an error in the transcription of the tune, which Mr. Neale accommodated by adding a two-syllable fourth line to each stanza–“News! News!,” “Joy! Joy!” and “Peace! Peace!

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

There is a great deal of joy associated with the incarnation of the Son of God. When an angel announced to Zacharias that his wife would give birth to John, the forerunner and herald of Christ’s coming, he was told, “you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth” (Lk. 1:14; cf. 1:57-58).

When the angel Gabriel visited Mary to reveal God’s plan, he greeted her with “Rejoice, highly favoured one!” (Lk. 1:28). John the Baptist, still in the womb of Elizabeth, “leaped…for joy” when Elizabeth met the pregnant Mary (Lk. 1:44). Mary herself “rejoiced in God my Saviour” at what the Lord was doing (Lk. 1:47).

At the birth of Christ, an angel announced to shepherds on the Bethlehem hillside “tidings of great joy which shall be to all people” (Lk. 2:10). Later, when the wise men saw the Bethlehem star that was to lead them to “He who has been born King of the Jews” (Matt. 2:2), “they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy” (Matt. 2:10).

(1). The wonderful “News! News!” that caused such cascading joy was “Jesus Christ is born today.”

(1) Good Christian men, rejoice,
With heart and soul, and voice;
Give ye heed to what we say:
News! News!
Jesus Christ is born today;
Ox and ass before Him bow;
And He is in the manger now.
Christ is born today!
Christ is born today!

(2). There is “Joy! Joy!” because “He has oped [opened] the heavenly door,” and provided access into the very presence of God.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

Heb. 10:19-22

(3). The believer has peace with God (Rom. 5:1), reconciled to Him through the sacrifice of Christ. This provides a great reason for inner peace, in that we are freed from condemnation, and are assured of a place in the heavenly kingdom. The “everlasting hall” is a way of describing heaven, with the thought of it being a large building or room for assembled worshippers. As a more literal rendering of the original puts it: “We should all be lost / Through our crimes, / But He has gained for us / Joys of heaven.”

(3) Good Christian men, rejoice,
With heart and soul and voice!
Now ye need not fear the grave:
Peace! Peace!
Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all,
To gain His everlasting hall:
Christ was born to save!
Christ was born to save!

Questions:

  1. What are some reasons for joy and peace at the birth of Christ?
  2. What other carols do you know and use that have a strong emphasis on these themes?

Links:

Go Tell It on the Mountain

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Words:  John Wesley Work, Jr. (b. Aug. 6, 1872; d. Sept. 7:1925)
Music: traditional melody

Note: John Work was, among other things, a music historian who sought to preserve the traditional music of African America. The refrain of this carol had been sung for many years in the Appalachian Mountains, but the words of the stanzas had been lost by the time of John Wesley Work, Jr. He added stanzas of his own, and published the song in 1907, in his book Folk Songs of the American Negro.

Work graduated from Fisk University with a Masters degree, and later taught Latin and Greek there. It became the custom for the students at Fisk to gather early Christmas morning, before sunrise, and walk from building to building singing this carol.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

The imagery of the refrain is found in the Word of God in several places. It pictures runners or heralds, in ancient times, carrying important news to various communities, even crossing mountains to bear the tidings afar. Notice how, in the biblical use of the imagery, there is a background of release from slavery and justice for the oppressed. These themes appealed to those enslaved in nineteenth-century America.

  1. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’” (Isa. 52:7; cf. 40:9-10).

Here is the spreading of the joyful news that the Jews are returning from exile. And, though the return from captivity in Babylon was a foreshadowing, the prophecy here also points to the final gathering of Israel from worldwide dispersion at the second coming of Christ to reign–“when all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (vs. 10).

  1. “Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings, who proclaims peace! O Judah, keep your appointed feasts, perform your vows. For the wicked one shall no more pass through you; he is utterly cut off” (Nah. 1:15).

When the city of Jerusalem was besieged by Assyria, King Hezekiah took the crisis situation to the Lord, and God delivered them (II Chron. 32:1-22), and in this second text is the announcement of Assyria’s doom (focusing on Nineveh, the capital), and a resumption of normal life in Jerusalem. Again, it points forward to Israel’s final deliverance under her Messiah King.

  1. “As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’” (Rom. 10:15).

In this last text, the Apostle Paul borrows the Old Testament imagery to picture the proclamation of the gospel of grace in his own time. “And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:14, 17). The birth of Christ is a part of this good news.

Go, tell it on the mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere
Go, tell it on the mountain,
That Jesus Christ is born.

(1) While shepherds kept their watching
O’er silent flocks by night
Behold throughout the heavens
There shone a holy light.

(3) Down in a lowly manger
The humble Christ was born
And God sent us salvation
That blessèd Christmas morn.

When we sing carols and Christmas hymns to mark the birth of Christ, when we hold services and pageants, when we send Christmas cards and do other things, we are, as Christians, once again assuming the role of the ancient heralds and announcing the good news of the Saviour’s coming.

Through Christ, “God sent us salvation.” As John puts it, “we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world” (I Jn. 4:14). In effect, the angels were the first heralds of the good news (Lk. 2:8-14), and we are to carry on their work today.

Think of some of the characteristics of a herald (or “ambassador,” II Cor. 5:20) for Christ.

  • A herald has to have pertinent knowledge, news to share.
  • A herald has to be obedient to the One who sends him (or her).
  • A herald should recognize the difficulty of the task (the mountains), being willing to sacrifice to accomplish it, and trusting in the Lord for His grace.
  • A herald should reflect the nature of the news being carried–in this case sharing the gospel with joyful enthusiasm.

Questions:

  1. What are some things that make the coming of Christ good news, worthy to be shared?
  2. What are some ways Christians can share the good news at Christmas time?

Links:

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