Goodwill To Men?
Of the many beautiful carols and songs that we cherish at Christmastime, a particularly contemplative one is “Christmas Bells” by John Gorka. Although the song’s music was written by Gorka, the lyrics were written by American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1863. Here’s an abridged version:
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
The poem was written during the height of the American civil war, and the poet’s distress while contemplating the carnage of that war animates the verse. But in the last stanza Longfellow expresses his hope that good will triumph in the end, and right will prevail.
The reader can listen to a version of the song sung by Gorka himself through the following link:
Although I have long loved this song, there’s one part of it that has never set well with me, the line “Peace on earth, goodwill to men.” I don’t quibble with the use of the term “men”, as it was clearly meant to refer to “mankind” including women as well as men. And, I am, obviously, not against peace nor good will, but I do take exception to the broad inclusivity the line implies.
The phrase “goodwill to men” derives from the King James Bible translation from the Latin, but this translation loses the sense of the original. The original meaning is best captured in the Latin “Gloria”:
Glória in excélsis Deo
et in terra pax homínibus bonae voluntátis.
The correct translation of which is:
Glory to God in the highest
and peace on earth to all men of good will.
During these troubled times, it is more important than ever to recognize this distinction. We ask and pray for the blessing of peace not for all comers, but, rather, for those men and women of good will. ONLY those with goodwill in their hearts deserve the peace that our Lord can bestow.
As Christmas approaches we learn that the country of Indonesia has had to deploy TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND troops to protect Christians celebrating Christmas from Muslim violence (Source: AFP [Agence France-Presse], 12/17/19). We learned that Muslim Fulani raiders have invaded southern Nigeria and have killed 2,040 Christians in 2018 (figures from 2019 are not yet available) and taken over the Christian villages and homes (Source: Global Terrorism Index). We’ve learned that in the African country of Chad, on December 18, 2019 Muslim Boko Haram murdered 14 Christians (Source: AFP). We’ve learned, on December 16, that there are 43 dead in Congo after “group with links to Islamic State go door-to-door in killing spree,” (Source: Associated Press). And the list goes on and on. And it’s not just Africa. On December 15 we learned that “The Iranian regime has begun cracking down on evangelical Christians in Iran in the run-up to Christmas” (Source: Emily Judd, Al Arabiya, December 15, 2019). Throughout Europe, barriers and bollards have been put up at churches, malls, and even Christmas tree stands to prevent Muslim attacks on Christian worshippers and shoppers. Even America is not exempt from sectarian violence. On December 10th, two members of the so called “Black Hebrew Israelites” attacked a Jewish grocery store in Jersey City, killing four and wounding three. The unbridled malevolence is breathtaking.
So, do we wish peace and goodwill on these purveyors of violence and hate? No. No, we don’t. We wish them, perhaps, a revelation that may soften their very hardened hearts. But, if their hearts remain ugly, we wish them guilt and anguish and torment until such time that they cleanse their hearts and rejoin the human family of compassion and goodwill. And so we say not “Peace on earth and goodwill to men” but, rather, “Peace on earth to men of goodwill.”