Hymns for the Nativity: IX

Hymn IX of Charles Wesley's 'Hymn for the Nativity of Our Lord':

1. Father, our Hearts we lift

Up to thy Gracious Throne,

And bless Thee for the precious Gift

Of thine Incarnate Son;

The Gift unspeakable

We thankfully receive,

And to the World thy Goodness tell,

And to thy Glory live.

2. JESUS, the holy Child,

Doth by his Birth declare,

That GOD and Man are reconcil'd,

And One in Him we are.

Salvation thro' his Name

To all Mankind is given,

And loud his Infant-Cries proclaim

A Peace 'twixt Earth and Heaven.

3. A Peace on Earth He brings,

Which never more shall end:

The Lord of Hosts, the King of Kings,

Declares Himself our Friend,

Assumes our Flesh and Blood,

That we his Sp'rit may gain,

The everlasting Son of GOD,

The mortal Son of Man.

4. His Kingdom from above

He doth to us impart,

And pure Benevolence and Love

O'erflow the faithful Heart:

Chang'd in a Moment we

The sweet Attraction find,

With open Arms of Charity

Embracing all Mankind.

5. O might they all receive

The new-born Prince of Peace,

And meekly in his Spirit live,

And in his Love increase!

Till He convey us home,

Cry every Soul aloud,

Come, Thou Desire of Nations come,

And take us all to GOD!

For some reason words associated with speech in stanzas 1-3 are standing out to me: "unspeakable," "tell," "declare(s)" (2x), "loud...Cries proclaim." Paradox, once again, fills the first part of the hymn. How is it that the "Incarnate Son" (St. John calls him the "Word") is an "unspeakable" gift? Our speech is inadequate to define or describe this Jesus, yet we are still called to proclaim him to the nations. Furthermore, how is it that in becoming an infant Jesus "declares" something? These "Infant-Cries" declare reconciliation and proclaim peace. That is the nature of what our speech should entail: that God & human are reconciled in Christ's birth...and that peace now exists between Earth & Heaven. Aren't these two ways of saying the same thing? Parallelism?

"Peace" is what connects stanzas 2 & 3. And Jesus "declares" himself our Friend. Is there anything that could demonstrate or declare peace more acutely than to know that Jesus is our friend, that he has "assumed our flesh and blood"? This declaration of friendship is another way of expressing the idea of reconciliation that has so richly inhabited the hymns of this collection.

Then there's a shift where the emphasis moves from "speech" to "embrace." The shift happens after the declaration of friendship. There is the notion of "giving" in that he "imparts" his kingdom into our hearts with "benevolence and love." And this so fills our hearts that we join the Divine embrace by "embracing all mankind." If, as we have seen in other hymns and as is clearly manifest in Wesleyan theology that we have a "Universal Saviour," then shouldn't that affect our mission, our theology, our worship? We want all to join this divine "embrace," as it were, by "receiving" the Prince of Peace.