How lovely on the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who announces peace And brings good news of happiness, Who announces salvation, And says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
In this third installment of Considering Carols At Advent we are looking at one of the more traditional carols – O Holy Night. I really do like this carol; it clearly has been composed from scripture. In a recent communication, a friend and brother, Bruce Cooper told me it was his favorite too. I was in for a surprise when I researched the background of this carol.
The history of this famous carol is amazing, the English language version (1847) was translated from the original French by John Sullivan Dwight (1813-1893) from Boston USA. The original was composed by Placide Cappeau (1808-1877), the son of a French cooper (barrel-maker). Placide was a wine merchant and a poet, who was asked to write a piece by the family priest to celebrate the renovation of the church organ, regardless of the fact that he was a self-professed atheist. Surprisingly he agreed and composed the poem from his studies of the gospel of Luke. The music was composed and added by a Jewish acquaintance and the finished carol was sung at several masses to great acclaim until the church leaders found out that the composer was an atheist and tried to ban it – but its popularity only grew stronger.
The stanzas of the text take us to that Holy Night, to gaze in amazement at the sight before us – God’s Son, our Messiah in a stable. Placide beckons us to not only a scene but to the awe of the Divine work that is being worked out in that stable; a sinful world meeting their Savior:
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!
It is clear that there can be no other response from mortal men other than to fall on their knees before God, His angelic choir, and His beloved Son. Remember these words were written by an atheist!
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our Friend.
He knows our need— to our weakness is no stranger.
Dear Reader, these in my opinion have got to be some of the most evangelistic words that we sing each Christmas, often without much thought. I suggest that this carol would be a worthy and fulfilling meditation to us, now and at any time of year.
Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother,
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Devotional Treasures
[…] Open the full article on the kingdomwinds.com site […]