December 2 

Of the Father’s Love Begotten 

TEXT: Aurelius Clemens Prudentius

Translated, John Mason Neale, 1854 and Henry W. Baker, 1859

b. 348, Spain

d. 413, Spain

This is the oldest hymn text in our collection of carols and quite possibly in all hymnals. It is originally from an ancient Latin poem, Corde natus, by the poet Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, who was born into an upper-class Christian family in a Roman province in northern Spain and became a lawyer, twice serving as the governor of his province. He even received a high office in the court of the Christian Emperor Theodosius. Prudentius was loyal to the Roman Empire and considered it to be an “instrument in the hands of Providence for the advancement of Christianity.”¹⁴ At the age of fifty-seven, he decided that his public work was of little value and retired to write religious poetry. Many of his poems became hymns and were important to Christians in the Middle Ages.

The version we sing was first translated into English by John Mason Neale. Neale helped translate over 400 hymns and is well-known for his English carol “Good King Wenceslas.” Henry Baker later edited and extended it to the present version. Baker, an English clergyman, served as the editor-in-chief of the Anglican Hymns Ancient and Modern, a historic hymnal that sold sixty million copies. The original poem had nine stanzas including one to encourage all generations to sing. “Thee let old men, thee let young men, Thee let boys in chorus sing; Matrons, virgins, little maidens, With glad voices answering: Let their guileless songs re-echo, And the heart its music bring, evermore and evermore!”

TUNE: 12th Century Plainsong

This may also be the oldest tune in our hymnal. For centuries, the music in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches consisted of plainsong or chant. Plainsong is monophonic (mono: “one”; phonic: “sound”), which means there is a single, unaccompanied melodic line. It has a freer rhythm, unlike the metered rhythm of Western music as we know it. Plainsong DIVINUM MYSTERIUM, a divine mystery, was paired with this poem and first appeared in a Finnish songbook in 1582.

As you sing this hymn … this chantlike melody offers a sense of wonder and awe. Its rise and fall pull back the curtain, revealing a truth beyond reason or logic. The tune is well-named as a divine mystery. The apostle Paul uses the word mystery twenty-one times throughout his writings. For instance, he observes, “Beyond all question, the mystery from which true godliness springs is great” (1 Tim. 3:16 NIV). What is the mystery? It’s the good news formerly concealed but now revealed in Jesus Christ. Paul continues, “He appeared in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” It is no wonder, then, that the hymn’s text points to the superlatives of God’s nature. He is the Alpha and Omega, the source and the ending of all things.

Concerning this mystery, the hymn writer declares, “Let no tongue on earth be silent.” From “evermore to evermore” we will grow in our understanding and wonder. But while on this earth we will never, nor do we need to, fully understand the mystery. Only to accept it with gratitude!