The Celebration Hymnal

251

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 thro' the cloven skies they come  
With peaceful wings unfurled,  
And still their heav'nly music floats  
O'er all the weary world;  
Above its sad and lowly plains  
they bend on hov'ring wing,  
And ever o'er its Babel sounds  
The blessed angels sing.  

3 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.  

4 For lo! the days are hast'ning on,  
By prophets seen of old,  
When with the ever-circling years  
Shall come the time foretold,  
When peace shall over all the earth  
Its ancient splendors fling,  
And the whole world give back the song  
Which now the angels sing.

WORDS: Edmund H. Sears
MUSIC: Richard S. Willis
Theme: Christ: Birth