Lo! He comes with clouds descending

The text has its origins in a hymn "Lo! He cometh, countless Trumpets" by John Cennick published in his Collection of Sacred Hymns of 1752. This was substantially revised by Charles Wesley for publication in Hymns of intercession for all mankind of 1758. Some hymnals present a combination of the two texts. In the 19th century it was considered one of the 'Great Four Anglican Hymns' on the basis of a survey Anglican Hymnology published by the Rev. James King in 1885. King surveyed 52 hymnals from the member churches of the Anglican Communion around the world and found that 51 of them included this hymn (alongside "All Praise to Thee, my God, this Night", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" and "Rock of Ages"). Antisemitism allegations The second verse has been criticised for its antisemitic overtones. In Wesley's original wording, "Those who set at nought and sold him", the pronoun 'those' is traditionally understood as referring to the Jews, thus perpetuating the notion of collective Jewish responsibility for the death of Christ. The description of those who gave him [Jesus] the "glorious scars" as "deeply wailing" may reinforce this interpretation, echoing apocalyptic imagery of Israel mourning its rejected Messiah; however other academics, such as Linda Woodhead, question this interpretation. ==Tunes==

Helmsley The hymn tune "Helmsley" is usually attributed to Thomas Olivers, a Welsh Methodist preacher and hymn-writer. Anecdotal stories about the tune's composition suggest Olivers heard the tune whistled in the street and derived his melody from that; the most likely source is an Irish concert song "Guardian angels, now protect me". The tune of "Guardian Angels" is as follows: { \time 2/2 \relative c'' { \repeat volta 2 { c4 e8 g b,8. a16 g4 | a( b16 a) c8 g8. f16 e4 | g4. g8 c4. d8 | e8 g f e \grace e4 d2 } d4( e16 d) e8 f4 e | c( d16 e) d8 e[ d] c4 | e( f16 e) g8 f[ e] d4 | c4. e8 g,4. f'16 a | e4 d c2 \bar "||" } } Crawford disproves the suggestion that the tune is based on a hornpipe from the burlesque Golden Pippin of , noting the chronology makes it likely that the hornpipe was based on the hymn tune, or at least derived from the shared source "Guardian angels". Madan's version is a combination mostly comprising Wesley's text, but substituting some of Cennick's verses. The 1982 Lutheran Worship hymnal sets it to the considerably more sombre tune "Picardy". Brooke Foss Westcott, Bishop of Durham, recalled in 1901 that Queen Victoria was displeased after an organist played a different tune at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, and requested only Helmsley in future. ==References==