In 1739, Charles Wesley penned "Hark! how all the Welkin (Heaven) rings." George Whitefield suggested the first line be changed to "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing." The song was put to the music of Lutheran composer Felix Mendelssohn, grandson of the notable Jewish philosopher, Moses Mendelssohn. "Hark! the Herald Angels Sing" was first published in 1739 in the collection Hymns and Sacred Poems. It was republished in George Whitefield's Collection of Hymns for Social Worship in 1754.
On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1914, an estimated 100,000 British, French and German troops near Ypres in Belgium along the Western Front, ceased fighting.
Washington made the password for his operation "Victory or Death."This reflected Washington's General Orders, which he had issued months before on July 2, 1776: "The time is now near at hand which must probably determine whether Americans are to be freemen or slaves; whether they are to have any property they can call their own ... The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army."
"Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." -The American Crisis, December, 1776; "Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid." - Ronald Reagan
