Jay Spears: Ho Ho Ho! Merry Xmas!

    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.

~ instrumental ~

    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.

    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!

Lyric by Edmund Sears 1849; melody by Richard Storrs, 1850