It Came Upon the Midnight (The English Hymnal No. 26)

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 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 ther 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 sind and strife/ The wolrd 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! 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,/ Comes round the age of gold;/ When peace shall voer all the earth/ Its ancient splendours fling,/ And the whole world send back the song/ Which now the Angels sing./ Amen. Words: Edmund Hamilton Sears. Music: Traditional, adapted by Arthur Sullivan. Keyboard: Michael-Hubert Lamla (etc.). Dr.Lamla, keyboard.