(1726-1790)
to--

Hark! the herald angels sing
Glory to the new-born King!

Other changes by the same hand modified the three following stanzas, and
a fifth stanza was added by John Wesley--

Hail the heavenly Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris'n with healing in His wings.

_THE TUNE._

"Mendelssohn" is the favorite musical interpreter of the hymn. It is a
noble and spirited choral from Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's cantata,
"Gott ist Licht."

"JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD IS COME!"

This inspirational lyric of Dr. Watts never grows old. It was written in
1719.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy.

Dr. Edward Hodges (1796-1867) wrote an excellent psalm-tune to it which
is still in occasional use, but the music united to the hymn in the
popular heart is "Antioch," an adaptation from Handel's Messiah. This
companionship holds unbroken from hymnal to hymnal and has done so for
sixty or seventy years; and, in spite of its fugue, the tune--apparently
by some magic of its own--contrives to enlist the entire voice of a
congregation, the bass falling in on the third beat as if by intuition.
The truth is, the tune has become the habit of the hymn, and to the
thousands who have it by heart, as they do in every village where there
is a singing school, "Antioch" is "Joy to the World," and "Joy to the
World" is "Antioch."

"HARK! WHAT MEAN THOSE HOLY VOICES?"

This fine hymn, so many years appearing with the simple sign "Cawood" or
"J. Cawood" printed under it, still holds its place by universal
welcome.

Hark! what mean those holy voices
Sweetly sounding through the skies?
Lo th' angelic host rejoices;
Heavenly hallelujahs rise.

Hear them tell the wondrous story,
Hear them chant in hymns of joy,
Glory in the highest, glory,
Glory be to God on high!

The Rev. John Cawood, a farmer's son, was born at Matlock, Derbyshire,
Eng., March 18, 1775, graduated at Oxford, 1801, and was appointed
perpetual curate of St. Anne's in Bendly, Worcestershire. Died Nov. 7,
1852. He is said to have written seventeen hymns, but was too modest to
publish any.

_THE TUNE._

Dr. Dykes' "Oswald," and Henry Smart's "Bethany" are worthy expressions
of the feeling in Cawood's hymn. In Amer