Christmas Song Story: Jesus, the Light of the World
“Jesus, the Light of the World” was arranged by George D. Elderkin.
It was first published with a collection of Christmas Carols in 1890 in “Gift of Finest Wheat”.
He seems to have arranged this composition from Charles Wesley’s hymn “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing.”
Elderkin’s arrangement drew upon the first two lines of Wesley’s hymns in stanzas 1, 2, 3 and 5–although he leaves out the “Hark!” section in the stanzas.
Little is known about Elderkin’s. He was born in 1845, owned his own publishing company which published four collections of gospel hymns, and died in 1928.
