25 December 2010

Stamp Thine Image in its Place

by Charles Wesley [and others]



Hark! The herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King;
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled!”
Joyful, all ye nations rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th’angelic host proclaim,
“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored;
Christ the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail th’incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris’n 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.

Come, Desire of nations, come,
Fix in us Thy humble home;
Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring Seed,
Bruise in us the serpent’s head.
Now display Thy saving power,
Ruined nature now restore;
Now in mystic union join
Thine to ours, and ours to Thine.

Adam’s likeness, Lord, efface,
Stamp Thine image in its place:
Second Adam from above,
Reinstate us in Thy love.
Let us Thee, though lost, regain,
Thee, the Life, the inner man:
O, to all Thyself impart,
Formed in each believing heart.

Hark! the herald angels sing,
“Glory to the newborn King!”



5 comments:

The Bible Christian said...

Amen!

J♥Yce Burrows said...

RE*JOY*CE!

Stefan Ewing said...

Praise God and Merry Christmas!

Jim Crigler said...

As someone pointed out a while back, it's a shame we almost never sing the last 2 verses …

Eric said...

Great hymn text, too often neglected. We used it (the common Whitfield edited version) on Christmas day, but I chose to eliminate Wesley's allusion to eradication of the sin nature and changed it to: "Adam's likeness now subdue; In Thine image make us new." Hymnology purists may complain, but I'd rather be clear, especially in a text with such great doctrine overall.