He has waked the earth’s dull bosom with a high ecstatic beat,
The allusion was probably to the marching feet of the armed multitude. The new version,
He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment-seat:
is more direct and simple, hence accords better with the deeply religious tone of the poem.
In the last stanza,
In the whiteness of the lilies he was born across the sea,
now reads,
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
A number of people have asked the meaning of this line. The allusion is evidently to the lilies carried by the angel, in pictures of the annunciation to the Virgin, these flowers being the emblem of purity.
The original version of the second line read,