Hail the day that sees him rise

Hail the day that sees him rise. Charles Wesley* (1707-1788). First published in Hymns and Sacred Poems (1739), under the title ‘Hymn for Ascension-Day’ and immediately following ‘Christ the Lord is risen today’*. It had ten 4-line stanzas. ‘Alleluia’ was added to every line in G.C. White’s Hymns and Introits (1852) and in this form, though with a multiplicity of minor textual emendations, the hymn has been extensively used throughout the English-speaking world. The full original text is printed in Frank Baker, Representative Verse of Charles Wesley (1962), pp. 16-17. Obviously words such as ‘ravish’d’ and ‘pompous' (stanza 1 line 2, stanza 2 line 1) have changed their meanings from ‘taken...