It Came Upon the Midnight Clear Large Print Lyrics: Free PDF

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear in large print: words and download

It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

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 heaven's 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 heavenly wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

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!

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 give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Words: Edmund H. Sears (1849). Music: Richard Storrs Willis (1850). Public domain in the United States: words published 1849 (US, published 1929 or earlier).

Download PDF: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

The words above are set the way this site sets every song: left aligned, one column, plain type with no italics, and a blank line between stanzas. The sheet has 4 stanzas and 32 lines. It Came Upon the Midnight Clear is one of the songs in our large print Christmas carols collection, where you can print it with others in one PDF, and the whole set of texts is listed on the large print prayers and hymns page.

Who wrote It Came Upon the Midnight Clear and when?

Edmund Sears was pastor of the Unitarian church in Wayland, Massachusetts. Wikipedia says he wrote the five-verse poem in 1849, and that it first appeared on 29 December 1849 in The Christian Register in Boston. It was written in a period of personal low spirits, with news of European revolutions and the recently ended war with Mexico fresh in his mind, and it looks at the world of his own day rather than at Bethlehem.

In 1850 Richard Storrs Willis, who had trained under Mendelssohn, wrote the tune called Carol, and the pairing is still the usual one in the United States. In Commonwealth countries the words are usually sung to Noel, an English melody adapted by Arthur Sullivan in 1874. Some hymnals leave out one of the five verses.

When is It Came Upon the Midnight Clear sung?

It is a favorite for the weeks of Advent and for Christmas Eve, and it suits a quiet gathering better than a loud one. If you are planning a folder of songs for the same occasion, the sheets for O Little Town of Bethlehem, Joy to the World and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing use the same layout, so they sit well together.

How do you print It Came Upon the Midnight Clear for a service, a sing-along or a care-home visit?

In our layout tests on US Letter paper, It Came Upon the Midnight Clear takes 2 pages at 18 point, 2 at 24 point and 4 at 28 point. On 11 x 17 paper at 24 point it takes 2 pages. Eighteen point is the smallest size we offer, because the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) says print below 18 point is not large print, and our page on what large print is explains the reasons for 18, 24 and 28 point.

Count the singers first. For a church service, print one copy for each place and keep a small stack at the door. For a sing-along, one for each person. For a care-home visit, one for each resident plus the helpers, printed single-sided so the sheet lies flat on a lap tray. It has four verses of eight lines. Number the pages in pencil in the corner, so a folder of loose sheets stays in order when carols are swapped in and out.