It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
words by Edmund H. Sears, music by Richard S. Willis


Verse 1:

Ab      Ab+  Db     Ab  Eb7   Ab
It came up - on the mid-night clear,

     Db       Bb7     Eb
That glorious song of old,

     Ab     Db      Ab   Eb7  Ab
From angels bending near the  earth

   Db    Bbm   Eb7      Ab
To touch their harps of gold:

       C7                Fm   C  Fm
"Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,

     Eb           Bb7      Eb
From heaven's all-gracious King";

Eb7  Ab    Ab+  Db     Ab   Eb7  Ab
The  world in   solemn stillness lay

   Db       Eb7    Ab
To hear the angels sing.


Verse 2:

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 load,
And hear the angels sing.


Verse 3:

Fo lo, the days are hastening on,
By prophet seen of old,
When, with the ever-circling years,
Shall come the time foretold,
When the new heaven and earth shall own
the Prince of Peace their King,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.


#197 in Hymns for the Family of God