Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Christmas Carol of Mystic Union

Published by

Matt Stone

2008-12-21

The carol we know as "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" has undergone a few wee reworkings in the years since it was originally composed by Charles Wesley. I was thinking a few of you might find these two stanzas from the original thought provoking:

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
Universal nature say,
“Christ the Lord is born to-day!”

Now display thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to thine.

Tags Christmas

6 responses to “Christmas Carol of Mystic Union”

Ben

2008-12-22

Not really up on my Carol lyrics – what has this been replaced with in the modern version?

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Andii Bowsher

2008-12-22

You’ve been given a ‘superior scribbler’ award. For more info, visit http://nouslife.blogspot.com/2008/12/superior-scribbler.html

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Kay

2008-12-22

I’d love to see the original and the most recent versions side by side. I definitely like the wording above.
Did you know that I’m on your blogroll twice?

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Pseudonym

2008-12-22

Does anyone know what a “whelkin” actually is?

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Steve Hayes

2008-12-23

Hark, the Herald Tribune sings
advertising wondrous things
(Tom Lehrer)

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Matt Stone

2008-12-30

Pseudonym, wikipedia says “welkin” is “an archaic term for the vault of heaven; the sky, deriving from the Middle English ‘welken’, a cloud.” World Wide Words says “the set phrase make the welkin ring, meaning to make a very loud sound. What supposedly rings in this situation is the vault of heaven, the bowl of the sky. In older cosmology this was thought to be one of a set of real crystal spheres that enclosed the Earth, to which the planets and stars were attached, so it would have been capable of ringing like a bell if you made enough noise.”
See http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-wel1.htm

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