Back to: The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear is one of the earliest social gospel hymns written in the United States. The movement gathered strength leading up to the 20th century, influenced by the writings of Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) and hymns such as Washington Gladden’s “O Master, let me walk with thee” (1879) and Frank Mason North’s “Where cross the crowded ways of life” (1903). Sears’ context was the social strife plaguing the country with the approaching Civil War.
First Stanza
- 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 Heav’n’s all-gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
The central theme of the hymn contrasts the scourge of war with the song of the angels’ peace to God’s people on earth. The first stanza establishes the thematic content of the hymn, painting a majestic and gentle picture of “angels bending near the earth,/to touch their harps of gold,” as they sing, “Peace on the earth, goodwill to men,/from heaven’s all-gracious King.” For a moment, the world stops, lies in “solemn stillness,” and listens to the angels’ song.
Second Stanza
- Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heav’nly music floats
O’er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hov’ring wing,
And ever o’er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.
The second stanza of the carol presents a touching picture of the angels singing above the earth to the shepherds:
The repetition of the word ‘still’ highlights the enduring presence of the angels and the continued significance of the birth of Christ. In this present moment, the angels are singing and praising the Savior. Even now they pray for peace on earth and goodwill to men. On that night, the skies split (‘cloven’)–perhaps Sears is hinting at the tearing of the temple veil at the death of Christ–and the use of the particular words emphasizes the drawing near of the heavenly, of the Deity, to the created world and the natural.
Third Stanza
- 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;
Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.
Additionally, Sears’ use of language further reveals the tension between the heavenly peace of which the angels sing and the ‘Babel sounds’ and warring of men. This distinction increases in the original stanza three, often omitted from modern hymnals, sheds light on the poet’s concerns about the social situation in the mid-19th century:
As It Came Upon a Midnight Clear recounts since that angelic declaration of peace there have been “two thousand years of wrong,” because “man, at war with man, hears not the love-song which they bring.” We don’t hear the love song–the Good News of Christ’s birth, death, and resurrection–preferring to chart our own course and be our own gods and saviors. Thus, the gentle, admonitory call continues: “O hush the noise, ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing.”
Stanza Four
- 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.
Oh, rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
Stanza three in The United Methodist Hymnal, initially stanza four in Sears’ poem, poignantly articulates the situation of so many with powerful images of pain, suffering, and hardship.
In this stanza, the hymnist speaks directly to those burdened “beneath life’s crushing load.” For four hundred years, the world had waited for the Lord to speak. Many began to doubt the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament, falling into despair. The Roman Empire arose and conquered, with cruelty and bloodshed, the majority of the known world. Sin ran rampant–disease and warfare claimed thousands of lives. Some were sold into slavery while others roamed the streets in abject poverty.
Stanza Five
- 5 For lo! the days are hast’ning on,
By prophet seen of old,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold
When Christ shall come and all shall own
The Prince of Peace, their King,
And saints shall meet Him in the air,
And with the angels sing.
And yet, Christ came. In a moment of intense yearning, anticipation, and near desperation, the Messiah was born to a virgin, in a small town in the Jewish countryside. The Word became flesh and the “glad and golden hours” arrived.
The final stanza of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear brings the theme and carol to a resounding conclusion. We rejoice with the knowledge that one day, the “age of gold” shall come. When Christ returns, “peace shall over all the earth/its ancient splendors fling.” For now, we merely listen to the angels’ chorus, living in the already-but-not-yet Kingdom of God. We wait and pray for the day when we shall sing with the heavenly hosts, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth goodwill to men.”
It is right that we should joyfully sing Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World each Christmas season, but there are always moments when we realize the message of peace has not yet been fully realized on earth. Then we truly understand the message of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, and the power of the Incarnation and the message of the gospel touches us even more deeply