THE CHURCH
CONGREGATIONAL HYMNS

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

by (87.87) R. C. H. 59

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
Still through the clover 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 it Babel sounds.
The blessed angels sing.
But 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.