Edmund Sears (1810-1876), was a Unitarian pastor in Wayland, Massachusetts, and the author of a number of books, including Regeneration (1853) and The Fourth Gospel: the Heart of Christ (1872). He wrote this poem in 1849, intending it as a bittersweet reflection on “the weary world” with its “sad and lowly plains” and its “woes of sin and strife” that comprise “life’s crushing load.”

Yet it became a popular Christmas carol, with a sense of bright hope. In the United States it is commonly sung to the tune Carol composed by Richard Willis (1819-1900); he composed a number of hymn tunes, and translated the well-known “Fairest Lord Jesus” from the original German. In the United Kingdom “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” is sung to the tune Noel arranged by Arthur Sullivan (of Gilbert and Sullivan fame) from a traditional English folk melody.

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, goodwill 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 o’er 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. 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 give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

Here are two recordings. This one is an old Frank Sinatra recording, with the Richard Willis tune Carol.

And this one is the Winchester Cathedral choir, singing the Arthur Sullivan tune Noel.