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It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Words and music by Edmund Sears & Richard Willis · 1849

Key of Eb · 80 BPM · 6/8 · Christmas,Hope · Luke 2:14

Verse 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.

Verse 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 hov'ring wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds The blessèd angels sing.

Verse 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.

Verse 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!

Verse 5

For lo! the days
are hast'ning 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.

Public domain. Free for churches.