122 THE METHODIST HYMN-BOOK ILLUSTRATED

Hymn 121. Jesus, the First and Last.

i CHARLES WESLEY (i).

Short Hymns on Select Passages of Scripture, \ 762 ; Works, xiii. 22 1 . On Rev. i. 11 : The First and the Last.

Hymn 122. Hark! the herald-angels sing. CHARLES WESLEY (i).

Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1739 ; Works, i. 183. Hymn for Christmas Day, in ten verses of four lines. Two are omitted here

8. Now display Thy saving power, Ruin d nature now restore ; Now in mystic union join Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

10. Let us Thee, though lost, regain, Thee, the Life, the Inner Man : O ! to all Thyself impart, Form d in each believing heart.

The lines in the original

Ver. I : Hark how all the welkin rings,

Glory to the King of kings, Ver. 5 : Hail the heavenly Prince of Peace !

were first changed to the present form in Whitefield s Collection, 1753 ;

Ver, 2 : Universal Nature, say,

Christ the Lord is born to-day !

were changed to their present form in Madan s Psalms and Hymns, 1760;

Ver. 4 : Pleased as man with men to appear, Jesus, our Immanuel here,

take their present form in Hymns Ancient and Modern, 1861.

Sir Henry Baker held that though Charles Wesley s orthodoxy was beyond question, appear might be susceptible of a Docetic interpreta tion that Christ was not really made man, but seemed so.

The effect of Charles Wesley s conversion is manifest in a glorious outburst of song. The first hymn in this second part of Hymns and Sacred Poems is

Where shall my wandering soul begin?

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