San Francisco Central Seventh-day Adventist Church

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130 It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

Edmund H. Sears, 1849 (1810-1876)
Richard S. Willis, 1850 (1819-1900)

This hymn was written by Edward Hamilton Sears in 1846 under the title of "Peace on Earth." Sears, a Unitarian minister, often wrote hymns to summarize his sermons so that their message would be remembered.

CAROL, which means to dance in a ring, is an appropriate name of this Christmas hymn. It is an arrangement of a study written in 1850 by Richard Storrs Willis, who was a close friend of Felix Mendelssohn.

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 heavens 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 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.

O 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;
Oh rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing.