The Cyber Hymnal ‎#3085

3085. It Came upon the Midnight Clear

1. It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven’s all gracious King.
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.

2. Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.

3. Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.

4. And ye, beneath life’s crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!

5. For lo! the days are hastening on,
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Text Information

• First Line: It came upon the midnight clear
• Title: It Came upon the Midnight Clear
• Author: Edmund Hamilton Sears (1849)
• Language: English
• Source: Christian Register (Boston, Massachusetts: December 29, 1849), volume 28, number 52, page 206
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, W. P. Lunt, a minister in Quincy, Massachusetts; the hymn was first sung at the 1849 Sunday School Christmas celebration. Alternate tune: NOEL, arranged by Arthur S. Sullivan, 1871

Tune Information

• Name: CAROL
• Composer: Richard Storrs Willis (1850)
• Incipit: 53721 65655 67112
• Key: B♭ Major
• Source: Church Chorals and Choir Studies, 1850
• Copyright: Public Domain