home | board | compass | prayer | eCard

[Main Index]

12/22/2002 Entry: "A hymn for the nativity"

Time for a bit more from Charles Wesley, this time a hymn which his brother John apparently thought his best about the Nativity. In it, Wesley sees the birth of Christ as the dawn of a new heaven and a new earth, recalling the vision of the prophet Isaiah.

ALL glory to God in the sky,And peace upon earth be restored!O Jesus, exalted on high,Appear our omnipotent Lord!Who, meanly in Bethlehem born,Didst stoop to redeem a lost race,Once more to thy creatures return,And reign in thy kingdom of grace.

When thou in our flesh didst appear,All nature acknowledged thy birth;Arose the acceptable year,And heaven was opened on earth:Receiving its Lord from above,The world was united to blessThe giver of concord and love,The Prince and the author of peace.

O wouldst thou again be made known!Again in thy Spirit descend,And set up in each of thine ownA kingdom that never shall end.Thou only art able to bless,And make the glad nations obey,And bid the dire enmity cease,And bow the whole world to thy sway.

Come then to thy servants again,Who long thy appearing to know,Thy quiet and peaceable reignIn mercy establish below;All sorrow before thee shall fly,And anger and hatred be o'er,And envy and malice shall die,And discord afflict us no more

No horrid alarum of warShall break our eternal repose,No sound of the trumpet is there,Where Jesus's Spirit o'erflows;Appeased by the charms of thy grace,We all shall in amity join,And kindly each other embrace,And love with a passion like thine.