Churches of Christ Heritage Collection

The hymn was published in eleven 4-line stanzas. Wesley did not write the joyful "alleluias" at the end of each line. Those were added later to make the text fit the tune of "Easter Hymn" which had been published anonymously in Lyra Davidica in 1708. On Easter Sunday these immortal words and this stirring tune are still sung in thousands of churches around the globe.

Watts wrote "When I survey the wondrous cross" as a communion hymn and it first appeared in print in his outstanding 1707 collection Hymns and Spiritual Songs. Matthew Arnold, English poet and critic, declared this hymn to be "the greatest hymn in the English language" and it has long been acknowledged as one of the finest hymns ever written.

One evening when they returned from the cemetery, Elizabeth talked about her "unutterable longings to flee from a world that has had for me so many sharp experiences." When she questioned the reality of the love of God, George replied softly, "But it is in times like these that God loves us all the more, just as we loved our own children more when they were sick or troubled or in distress." He encouraged his wife to return God's love.

In May 1758, when he was only 22 years old, Robert Robinson penned "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" for his sermon on Pentecost Sunday. In the following year of 1759, the lyrics of this powerful hymn were included in a small hymnal entitled A Collection of Hymns Used by the Church of Christ in Angel Alley Bishopsgate.

Writing about the continuing influence of "Silent Night" Ian Bradley remarks: "This almost certainly deserves the accolade of the world's favorite carol. It has been translated into 230 languages and is the only carol that I know of to have its own home page on the World Wide Web."

Phillips Brooks was a graduate of Harvard College and Virginia Theological Seminary, and rector of Holy Trinity Church in Philadelphia. He took a sabbatical in the Fall of 1865, and while touring the Middle East visited Jerusalem. On Christmas Eve he borrowed a horse and made the arduous 6-mile journey to Bethlehem to worship in the Church of the Nativity.

This hymn by Charles Wesley (with his own tune) was published in Hymns and Sacred Poems in 1739. It was titled "Hymn for Christmas Day." The original hymn contained ten four-line stanzas and had a different first line.