Hark, how the welkin rings

[Marnie]

When Charles Wesley became a true believer, he started expressing his new-found faith in song. Did you know he wrote in excess of 6,000 hymns? Talk about a prolific over-achiever! History tells us that Wesley wrote constantly, in bed, in the tub and on horseback. He was even known to visit strangers who he thought might have writing materials when had none, so he could record his thoughts. His hymns, to this day, are among the most theologically profound ones in the hymnal.

Funny thing about Wesley, though, he hated when people embellished his music. There were no copyright laws or writer's unions back then, so one day, Charles Wesley wrote these words in one of his hymnals:

I beg leave to mention a thought which has long been on my mind, and which I should long ago have inserted in the public papers, had I not been unwilling to stir up a nest of hornets. Many gentlemen have done my brother and me (though without naming us) the honor to reprint many of our hymns. Now they are perfectly welcome to do so, provided they print them just as they are. But I desire they would not attempt to mend them, for they are really not able. None of them is able to mend either the sense or the verse. Therefore, I must beg of them two favors: either to let them stand just they are, to take things for better or worse, or to add the true reading in the margin, or at the bottom of the page, that we may no longer be accountable for the nonsense or for the doggerel of other men.

Well, one man obviously missed this and he, by "mending" one of Charles' hymns, did the world a great favor. In his early 30's, Charles Wesley wrote a hymn that began:

Hark, how all the welkin rings,

"Glory to the King of kings;

Peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled.

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

Join the triumph of the skies;

Universal nature say,

"Christ the Lord is born to-day!"

"Welkin" was an awkward, old English word that referred to "the vault of heaven." An evangelist, who in 1753 published his own collection of hymns, so loved this hymn that he wanted to include it in his work. He felt "the vault of heaven" just didn't flow with the rest of the words, so he changed the words to the ones we sing to this day, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!" His name was George Whitfield, and he was also a close friend of both Charles and John Wesley.

More hynmology at Marnieland.

[EricH]

Neat background

[Guest Biblicist]

Boy, ya learn sumtin new every day. Thanks for sharing that information Marnie.

[GloryToGod!]

Well, I learned something new today!

Thank You,

Kathy

[Hunterpoet]

That was worthwhile.........thank you

one of my favorites at this time of year.

[sheya joie]

That's my all-time favorite. My son has been learning American History, including the Great Awakening.

I didn't know that about the rewriting though.