It Came Upon The Midnight Clear
It Came upon the Midnight Clear
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, goodwill to men,
From heav’n’s all-gracious King!”
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.
Still through 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.
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.
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 the new heav’n and earth shall own
The Prince of Peace their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
EDMUND SEARS was a Unitarian minister. Unlike many of his colleagues, he did believe in the deity of Christ. He also believed in the angels’ message of “peace on earth.”
This hymn, written in Massachusetts in 1849, focuses on the angels’ song of “peace on earth.” Like many other hymns written in America during the mid-1800s, it might be called a “horizontal hymn.” Such hymns called people to live well, to be at peace, and to honor God, but God was neither the recipient of praise nor the central focus of the song. The focus was on the human struggle in this world.
Peace was a timely topic when Sears penned these words. Tensions were rising in America, leading toward the Civil War. But the peace promised by the angel is not only national; it is personal as well. Sears’s third stanza encourages the weary traveler to draw hope from the angels’ song.
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
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