How to be a snotty pedant

In Kalamazoo, we sing on the third Sunday of the month. On the third Sunday of December, we sing Advent, Christmas and other Sacred Harp tunes of the season. And we are very likely to sing 273 MILFORD:

If angels sung a Savior’s birth,
On that auspicious morn,
We well may imitate their mirth,
Now He again is born.

Angels, the Savior’s birth, an “auspicious morn,” and joy. What could be more Christmassy?

But is this even a Christmas song?

Chris Brown and Matthew Wojcik pointed out to me long ago that this is, in fact, an Easter song. How do we know?

According to Makers of the Sacred Harp, the poem dates back to the second edition of Playford’s The Divine Companion, in the early 1700s, with eight verses (given below). It shows up in John Arnold’s The Compleat Psalmodist in the 1740s, with slightly different words for the “extra” verses.

First, the title in both Playford and Arnold is “A Hymn for Easter Day.” In the 1741 edition of The Compleat Psalmodist, it is one of several hymns for Easter Day, preceded by hymns for other days of the liturgical year. There is a section of hymns for Christmas Day (including “While shepherds watched their flocks by night”). It is not in that section.

Also, there’s internal evidence: the first verse says “He again is born,” (that is, celebrating Jesus’s resurrection) not “He is born” (celebrating his birth). The meaning of the verse is something like: Knowing how much the angels rejoiced when the Savior was born, how much more should we rejoice at his rebirth at the resurrection. We have, as Sam Adioetomo commented on a draft, “hearty permission to not hold the mirth back.” Knowing that angels rejoiced when the Savior was born, how much more will they rejoice at his rebirth in the resurrection; and we should rejoice as well.

So, now consider: you’re at a Christmas singing, and someone calls 273 MILFORD, what do you do?

If you’re a snotty pedant, you say something like, “That’s not a Christmas song! It’s an Easter song!” and then recite the facts above. More likely than not, they will just brush it off; they already know your pedantry. But if they do reply, they might say something like, “Well, for me it is a Christmas song,” and you’ve got yourself a little feud. 

But I wonder: I think it enriches our understanding of this song to know that it has both Christmas and Easter themes in it—and, in the original text, themes of Creation, Good Friday, and the Last Days, as well. How might one sensitively enhance the group’s understanding?

I might want to say something like, “I never quite understood why it says ‘he again is born,’ until I learned that this poem was written for Easter, and even called “A hymn for Easter Day” in the early books. I like how it connects the Christmas story to the Easter story: Jesus is born at Christmas and born again, raised to new life, on Easter Day.”

But I’m interested in your thoughts. How do you avoid being a snotty pedant?

Appendix A: Text of A Hymn for Easter Day

This is the text, slightly edited, of the poetry in the second edition of Playford’s Divine Companion,

An HYMN for Easter-Day

If Angels sung a Saviour’s Birth,
On that Auspicious morn;
We well may Imitate their mirth,
Now he again is born.

He, frail mortality shook off,
Puts Incorruption on;
And He that Late was crown’d in Scoff,
Now fills th’ Eternal Throne.

Grieve not vain Man, who mortal art,
That thou to Earth must fall;
It was his Portion; ‘twas the Part,
Of Him that Sav’d us all.

Himself he humbl’d to the Grave,
Made Flesh like us, to shew;
That we as certainly shall have,
A Resurrection too.

Let Heav’n and Earth, in Contract joyn’d,
His Boundless mercies Sing;
Ev’n Hell does now a Conq’rour find,
And Death has lost his sting.

If when in Eden Adam fell,
The whole Creation groan’d;
The whole Creation, sure shou’d smile
Now justice is atton’d.

Hence all ye Faithless, far away,
That this great Mystery slight;
They that deny an endless Day,
Will find an endless Night.

Beyond Times short and scanty Bounds,
The Soul shall surely live;
But when the last loud, Trumpet sounds,
You’ll then too late believe.

Appendix B: A grammatical note

The first line, “If angels sung a Savior’s birth” seems grammatically incorrect; it should be “If angels sang a Savior’s birth.” Dr. Johnson comes to our rescue. Apparently, both sung and sang could be used as the “preterit” (simple past tense) of sing.

No fair being a pedant about this.

Appendix C: A note about angels

That’s not how angels look.

Also, thanks to Sam Adioetomo for being an angel and reviewing this before it goes out. She’s an angel.