It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Arr. Robert Rice)

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 heaven'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 heavenly music floats

O'er the weary world

Above its sad and lowly plains

They bend on hovering wing

And quiver not its Babel sounds

The blessed angels sing

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

Oh, hush the noise ye men of strife

And hear the 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

Or rest beside the weary road

And hear the angels sing

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 over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling

And all the world give back the song

Which now the angels sing