1. All-wise, all-good, almight Lord,
JESUS, by highest Heaven ador'd,
E'er Time its Course began,
How did thy glorious Mercy stoop
To take the fallen Nature up,
When Thou thyself wert Man?
2. Th' Eternal GOD from Heav'n came down,
The King of Glory dropp'd his Crown,
And veil'd his Majesty,
Empty'd of all but Love He came;
JESUS, I call Thee by the Name
Thy Pity bore for me.
3. O holy Child, still let thy Birth
Bring Peace to us poor Worms of Earth,
And Praise to GOD on high!
Come, Thou who didsts my Flesh assume,
Now to the abject Sinner come,
And in a Manger lie.
4. Didst Thou not in thy Person join
The Natures Human and Divine,
That GOD and Man might be
Henceforth inseparably One?
Hast then, and make thy Nature known
Incarnated in me.
5. In my weak sinful Flesh appear,
O GOD, be manifested here,
Peace, Righteousness, and Joy,
Thy Kingdom, Lord, set up within
MY faithful Heart, and all my Sin,
The Devil's Works destroy.
6. I long thy Coming to confess
The mystic Power of Godliness,
The Life Divine to prove,
The Fulness of thy Life to know,
Redeem'd from all my Sins below,
And perfected in Love.
7. O CHRIST, my Hope, make known to me
The great, the glorious Mystery,
The hidden Life impart:
Come, thou Desire of Nations, come,
Form'd in a spotless Virgin's Womb,
A pure believing Heart.
8. Come quickly, dearest Lord, that I
May own, tho' Antichrist deny,
Thy Incarnation's Power,
May cry, a Witness to my Lord,
"Come in my Flesh is CHRIST, the Word,
And I can sin no more!"
One brief textual note: in stanza 7 of the 1st ed. (1745), the first line reads: "...make known IN me..." Though 'in' and 'to' can drastically change the meaning of a phrase, I'm not sure that there is really that much difference here because they both are appropriate requests. Charles may have switched the language to "to" because in the order of things, the 'mystery' of the 'hidden life' must be made known to us before they can be made known (or imparted) in us.
Now, if you'll please forgive a pop culture reference, I couldn't help but be reminded of the movie 'A Knight's Tale' upon reading this hymn, especially the line "The King of Glory dropp'd his Crown, and veil'd his Majesty." For the most part the movie is rather silly (it's set in Medieval times and the opening scene has the crowd watching a jousting match making the appropriate noises to the song 'We Will Rock You' by Queen), but the part that redeems for me is the role of the prince. The prince is taking part in the dangerous jousting games and whenever his opponents discover his veiled identity, they always forfeit, which disappoints the prince because he really wants to compete and for someone to compete with him. The only one who does not forfeit upon finding out is another character (the main character, William, played by the late Heath Ledger) who also happens to be veiling his identity of a peasant because peasants are not allowed to compete in the games. When the movie's arch-villain, also a jouster who feels threatened by the successes of William, discovers his true identity, he broadcasts it and William is arrested, bound, and displayed for the public to shame him. The crowds that surround him in his public binding are the peasants in the area from which he comes. The crowds ridicule him, throwing tomatoes (again the silliness), but everyone is silenced when three hooded characters take down their hoods to reveal that it is the prince and two of his guards. Everyone bows in the midst and the prince goes up to William, identifies with him, and sets him free. But he does more than this. He declares that he has discovered that William comes from a noble line, which makes him eligible to perform in the games. And as coming directly from royalty, this declaration is deemed true and irrefutable.
I don't pretend that this storyline does justice to the Wesley hymn, much less to the Gospel story that begins in a manger of a lowly town in ancient Israel. But I must confess that that moment in the movie redeemed it for me as I found a very small hint of an analogy of our True King who arrives but veils his 'Majesty' so that he may redeem the entire world, declaring that we are of royalty (more than nobility) and the declaration (justification) is not a fiction because the declaration is such that the King embraces us as his own and enables us to really become (sanctification) royalty. Of all the things that the King of Glory leaves aside to become Incarnate as a baby, the one thing he does not leave behind is Love. All other virtues that Christ has stems from this: Love. It is, as John Wesley said, his "reigning," his "darling attribute."
Much of the rest of the hymn echoes much of what I've reflected upon before, but I want to include but one more thought. In the last stanza we see once again the true meaning of Advent, connecting the Incarnation and the eschaton. We should not read the statement about Antichrist in this hymn as a reference to the second coming per se, but as referring to what 1 John says about the spirit of the Antichrist, which denies that "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" (1 John 4.2-3). That spirit denies the Incarnation, denies the Nativity, and in so doing denies the bodily resurrection, which is our future hope. Accordingly, Charles closes the hymn with the 'witness' of the Spirit from God which affirms that Christ HAS "Come in my Flesh" and enables us to sin no more.
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