In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:1
Words: Charles Wesley, in A Collection of Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord and for New-Year’s-Day (London: 1806), page 4.
Music: Frances James McGranahan, 1901 (🔊 pdf nwc).
What angel can the grace explain,
That very God is very man!
By love paternal given:
Begins the uncreated Word;
Born is the everlasting Lord;
Who made both earth and Heaven!
Behold Him, high above all height!
Him, God of God, and Light of Light,
In a mean earthly shrine:
Jehovah’s glory dwells with men,
His person in our flesh is seen,
The character divine!
Not with these eyes of flesh and blood,
Yet lo, we still behold the God,
Replete with truth and grace;
The truth of holiness we see,
The grace of full felicity,
In our Redeemer’s face.
Transformed by the ecstatic sight,
Our souls o’erflow with pure delight,
And every moment own;
The Lord our whole protection is,
The Lord is our immortal bliss,
And Christ and Heaven are one.