Hymn Guide: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
The majestic Christmas carol, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” celebrates both the birth of Christ and the saving work he came to do. First written by Charles Wesley, with small but significant modifications by George Whitefield, it reflects the confidence of the Great Awakening in the glorious grace of God. Today it is sung throughout the world during Christmastide, at every service of Lessons & Carols, and even by Charlie Brown!
The tune, named MENDELSSOHN after its composer, was never intended for hymnody. Written for a celebration of Gutenberg’s printing press, Mendelssohn said, “It will never do to sacred words” (as quoted in Westermeyer p.156). Perhaps his point was that the hymn would not work with a somber or a didactic theme, which is true enough. But there’s not so much difference between its original purpose and its use in this carol. The angels are just doing another kind of publishing: proclaiming glory to God and peace to earth.
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Verse by Verse
Charles Wesley was an Anglican priest, hymn writer, and brother to John Wesley, the Anglican priest and itinerant preacher who founded the Methodist movement. Charles published this hymn in 1739, right at the beginning of the Great Awakening.
Verse 1
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 Biblical context for the first verse is Luke 2, where the angels announce to the shepherds the birth of Christ.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
Luke 2:8-14
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
While it doesn’t say that the angels actually sang, they announced glory, peace, and the savior’s coming to Bethlehem. And, in the voices of angels, would that not be as beautiful as singing?
What Wesley adds to the story is an explanation of this salvation, of “mercy mild” in which “God and sinners” are “reconciled.” Wesley thereby embeds within this Christmas carol a pointer to the cross. The language is reminiscent of Romans 5:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us… For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Romans 5:8,10
Refrain
Hark! the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King”
The refrain, which repeats the opening lines, was added when the hymn was paired with Mendelssohn’s tune in 1857.
In Wesley’s first version of the hymn, the opening line was “Hark how all the Welkin rings.” Welkin is an archaic word referring to the creatures of heaven, so the meaning is roughly the same. But George Whitefield, another itinerant preacher of the Great Awakening, realized that this line was difficult to understand and to sing. So Whitefield made the revision in his 1753 edition.
Verse 2
Christ by highest heaven adored
Christ, the everlasting Lord
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of the virgin’s womb
Veiled in flesh the god-head see
Hail the incarnate Deity!
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Immanuel:
Hark! the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King”
The second verse gives the backstory to the birth of Christ, beginning with Christ as the eternal Son and everlasting Lord. It is like the Nicene creed, emphasizing that Jesus, who was born of Mary, was already “eternally begotten of the Father.”
A seminary friend of mine criticized the Christology of this verse, a criticism expressed in his own couplet:
Veiled in flesh the god-head see?
Docetistic heresy!
While I don’t think the theology here is irredeemable, being aware of a false reading is worthwhile. Docetism is an ancient heresy that emphasized the divinity of Christ to the exclusion of his humanity, claiming that he did not have a real body. My seminary classmate was reacting against the idea that Jesus’ flesh is merely a veil to some more fundamental or hidden divinity. In fact, when Jesus took on human flesh, he united his divinity to our human body such that the two can never be separated.
But I’m happy to sing Wesley’s hymn with gusto, partly because the next line makes this very theological point: “Hail the incarnate deity!” The deity is incarnate; he has taken on flesh.
Verse 3
Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all he brings
Risen with healing in his wings
Mild he lays his glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth:
Hark! the herald angels sing
“Glory to the newborn King”
The hymn crescendos into a third verse of triumphant praise of Christ. We hail him, who is the Prince of Peace, the Sun (and Son) of righteousness. Evoking John 1, he brings light and life to men.
The paradox of the kingdom of God is that the things that seem least glorious turn out to be the most glorious. Yes, Jesus “lays his glory by,” or as Paul puts it, he “emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). Yet we now glorify with great joy the one who lay his glory by, for he was “born that man no more may die.” We celebrate the birth of Christ because by it, we receive our “second birth.”
May we who sing this hymn not only remember the Great Awakening and its call for a new birth in Christ but may we also be drawn to Christ by the paradoxical glory of the baby in a manger.
On Video
The first video is from the Boys Choir at King’s College, Cambridge. It is sung yearly as part of their famous service of Lessons and Carols. Note the beautiful arrangement with the descant on the final verse by Willcocks. The second video is a rendition on guitar by Anglican musician Wendell Kimbrough. This is not an easy hymn to do well on the guitar, but Wendell includes a tutorial for those who would like to learn. And finally, yes, here’s Vince Guaraldi’s rendition, at the conclusion of A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Image: Annunciation to the Shepherds by Cornelis Saftleven (1630). Courtesy of Canva. Digital editing by Peter Johnston.
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