LYRICS
| Meter: | 8 6 8 6 D (D.C.M.)
| | Writer(s): | Edmund Hamilton Sears
| | Transl/Adapt: |
| | Dates: | 1849-12-29
| | Bible Refs: | Lk 2:14; Lk 2:8-9
| Anglican Hymn Book 1965
| 1965
| 104
| Baptist Hymn Book
| 1962
| 101
| Baptist Hymnal
| 1956
| 71
| Church Hymnal (Church of Ireland) 1919
| 1919
| 85
| Church Hymnal (Church of Ireland) 1960
| 1960
| 63
| Church Hymnal (Church of Ireland) 2000
| 2000
| 164
| Church Hymnal Revised
| 1920
| 56
| Common Praise (Anglican C. of Canada)
| 1998
| 140
| Common Praise: Hymns Ancient & Modern
| 2000
| 56
| Complete Mission Praise
| 2000
| 345
| Hymnal - A Worship Book
| 1992
| 195
| Hymnal Comp to Book of Common Prayer
| 1890
| 90
| Hymns Ancient & Modern, New Standard
| 1983
| 41
| Hymns Ancient & Modern, Revised
| 1950
| 66
| Hymns and Psalms with SA Sup.
| 1983
| 108
| Hymns for Worship and Celebration
|
| 128
| Hymns Old & New, Complete Anglican Editi
| 2000
| 330
| Hymns Old & New, New Anglican Edition
| 1996
| 253
| Methodist Hymn Book - Hymns
| 1954
| 130
| New English Hymnal
| 1985
| 29
| Presbyterian Hymn Book
| 1990
| 38
| Sarum Hymnal
| 1869
| 38
| Songs of Fellowship 1
| 1991
| 251
| Songs of Praise
| 1925
| 273
| Songs of Praise, Enlarged Edition
| 1931
| 76
| STELBAP
|
| 989
| The Book of Common Praise
| 1908
| 514
| The Book of Common Praise - Revised
| 1938
| 319
| The Church Hymnal for the Christian Year
| 1917
| 103
| The English Hymnal
| 1906
| 26
| The Hymn Book of Angl & Unit Ch Canada
| 1971
| 427
| The Hymnal 1916
| 1916
| 79
| The Hymnal 1940
| 1940
| 19
| The Hymnal 1982
| 1982
| 89
| Trinity Hymnal
| 1961
| 157
| United Methodist Hymn Book
| 1989
| 218
| Universal Hymn Book
| 1885
| 236
|
MUSIC
American Catholic Hymnbook
| 240
| No key
| Hymns for Worship and Celebration
| 128
| Bb
| Baptist Hymnal
| 71
| Bb
|
Alternate Tunes
| NOEL (SULLIVAN) | 8 6 8 6 D (D.C.M.) | English Traditional Melody & Arthur Seymour Sullivan | | ST. URSULA | 8 6 8 6 D (D.C.M.) | Frederick Westlake |
|
| 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 the 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 their heavenly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever over its Babel sounds
The blessèd angels sing.
3. 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;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.
4. All 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 over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
|