Service Book and Hymnal of the Lutheran Church in America ‎#23

23. 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 o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

3 Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world hath 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,
Shall come the Age of Gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its heavenly splendors fling,
And all the world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Text Information

• First Line: It came upon the midnight clear
• Author: Edmund Hamilton Sears, 1810 - 76
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1958
• Topic: The Church Year: Christmas

Tune Information

• Name: CAROL
• Composer: Richard Storrs Willis, 1819 - 1900
• Meter: C. M. D.
• Key: B♭ Major