John Francis Wade was undoubtedly focused on the ‘reason for the season’ one year in the mid-18th Century when he is thought to have written the Christmas hymn “O Come All Ye Faithful”. Or, was he? Was he thinking of an earthly king, rather than the Christ-child? Providentially, perhaps, the words carry meaning for those of us today who choose to ignore the politics of the mid-18th Century Britain, and instead focus on someone eternal.
John Francis Wade probably could not help noticing what was going on about him and his countrymen in the 1740s. A struggle over religious freedom for Catholics was engaging the hearts and minds of British islanders, spawning something called the Jacobite Rebellion that sought to return a sovereign to the British throne who was sympathetic to their faith. Jacobus is the Latin (Catholic) translation of the name James, the name of the last Catholic king of England. Was Wade encouraging faith to a Catholic-leaning king (Charles Edward Stuart, commonly called Bonnie Prince Charlie) who had been exiled, when he wrote ‘come and behold Him, born the King…’? Some think so, based on the hymn’s Latin genesis (Adeste Fidelis was its original title, in the language of Catholics), and other potentially coded Jacobite references in the hymn. Not to mention that the king to whom Catholics pledged allegiance was born on 20 December, near the traditional Christmas holiday. So, as John Wade wrote the hymn around 1743-44, he might have thought about this earthly king’s December birthday, some 23 years earlier. But, the words also fit Him above, in fact more completely than they ever would any earthbound, created being. Could Wade have been thinking of a time when religious struggle would wane, a time that turned out to be not too far distant, a generation or two after his composition in fact? Can you sense his religious zeal, although struggling within a human conflict, calling out with hope in a greater Being’s intervention?
John Wade must have recognized authority, and wished for peace among men as much as any man of his time. What is the way to peace? Wade tells us, a way that transcends any earthly events.”O Come All Ye Faithful” travelled to Portugal, becoming known as the “Portuguese Hymn”, and also was translated into English about 100 years after its birth, so it has something special that spoke to those who heard it, took it to other places, and took measures to preserve it. Its central theme: adoration of Him. Knowing that the hymn’s writer may have been thinking of quarrels as he composed doesn’t diminish its message. Perhaps it makes us appreciate its strength, in fact. Two-plus centuries since its origin, which prevails, the struggle of Wade’s time—perhaps the background for the hymn--or the babe some would call helpless?
Information on the song was obtained from the books “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006.
Also see the following website for information on the composer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Francis_Wade
See the following site for additional verses (total of 7), some only rarely sung: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/o/c/o/ocomeayf.htm
See following sites for speculation that they hymn was written with political overtones: http://www.dur.ac.uk/news/newsitem/?itemno=7328
See following site for explanation of Jacobitism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobitism
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