CAROL C. M. D.

6 8

R. Storrs Willis, 1849

A-men.

IT

T 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,
All 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's Babel-sounds
The blessed 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 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 over all the earth

Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Edmund H. Sears, 1850

10

LITTLE town of Bethlehem,
How still we see thee lie;

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by:

Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light;

The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee to-night.

2 For Christ is born of Mary;

And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep, the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.
O morning stars, together
Proclaim the holy birth;

And praises sing to God the King,
And peace to men on earth.

3 How silently, how silently,

The wondrous gift is given!

So God imparts to human hearts
The blessing of His heaven.
No ear may hear His coming,
But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him still,
The dear Christ enters in.

4 O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our our sin, and enter in,
Be born in us to-day.
We hear the Christmas angels
The great glad tidings tell;
O come to us, abide with us,
Our Lord Emmanuel.

Phillips Brooks, 1868