Many of our most well-known and beloved Christmas songs have origins in other countries (and in other languages), but there are a few that were written in America. One of these songs “made in America” is “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”
The Story
The words of this song were written in 1849 by Edmund Sears (1810-1876), a pastor who lived in Wayland, Massachusetts. Sears served at a large church, but after suffering a breakdown returned to Wayland and was only working part-time when he wrote this hymn. Thus, this song originated in the midst of a challenging season in his life. It was also a challenging season in the world, as there were revolutions and wars raging, including the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). This background is helpful in making sense of the words of this song.
The song’s music originated in 1850 from a different individual: Richard Storrs Willis (1819-1900). He trained under Felix Mendelssohn, who is often credited with the music to “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” (though the tune is one of his that was adapted for this carol). A different tune is typically paired with these words when sung in England, a song called “Noel” by Arthur Sullivan.
Something to know about Edmund Sears is that he was a pastor in Unitarian Churches. These churches reject the doctrine of the Trinity and thus the deity of Christ, typically believing Jesus to be a good man but not divine. This fact has caused some to question if this song is appropriate to sing. However, it appears that Sears himself did believe in the deity of Christ, as he is purported to have said, “Though I was educated in the Unitarian denomination, I believe and preach the divinity of Christ.” Even if he did not have proper beliefs about Jesus, it seems best not to reject a song simply because of the beliefs or statements made by the authors but rather to examine the song itself.
The Song
This song is a bit different from many other Christmas songs as most celebrate and recount the events that occurred at Jesus’s birth. This song does contain a reference to one aspect of the Christmas story – the message that the angels proclaimed that day – as the opening verse quotes these words of the angels: “Peace on the earth, good will to men” (Luke 2:14). However, it does not really refer to any other element of the Christmas story. In fact, at times it seems to inject some ideas that are not directly referenced in the text. Most notably, it talks about this message being proclaimed on a clear night, when the biblical text does not describe the weather on that night. Could it have been clear? Maybe. It does seem more fitting that it was a clear day rather than a cloudy or rainy day, but we don’t know for sure. In addition, after quoting Luke 2:14, it adds “From heaven’s all-gracious King.” This is definitely a true statement, but this is not stated in the announcement (it is interesting that Sears adds these words rather than including the first part of the angelic announcement – “Glory to God in the highest”). Other details are less about the night itself and more about the angels, as it references them “touching their harps of gold” and having “peaceful wings” and “hovering wings.” These details about angelic harps and wings reflect popular imaginations about them but are not directly drawn from biblical descriptions of angels.
I don’t think the song’s goal was to teach about angels, but rather to serve as a reflection upon those words of the angels (“peace on the earth, goodwill to men”) in the lack of peace that was seen and felt in Sears’ time and life. This is made clear in the second verse, as it notes that “Still through the cloven skies they come” (“cloven” is the past tense of “cleave,” a word meaning divided). This verse notes the present condition of the world in which “their heavenly music floats,” as it is “o’er all the weary world” and “o’er its Babel-sounds,” which refers to the events of Genesis 11 in which God then confused the languages of the people after their tried to build a tower to heaven.
Sears’ third verse is not often sung today, but it furthers this reflection on the seeming disconnection between the angels’ message of peace and the realities of this world. For example, “with the woes of sin and strife/the world has suffered long” and that there has been “two thousand years of wrong” as reflected in wars; people are ignoring the “love-song which they bring.” This verse concludes with a call for the “men of strife” to be quiet (“hush the noise”) so that they might “hear the angels sing.”
The fourth verse, often sung as the third, also ends with the call to “hear the angels sing,” after noting that people are “bending low” “beneath life’s crushing load” so that they “toil along…with painful steps and slow.” The song of the angels is thus an invitation to “rest beside the weary road,” finding peace in these trials.
The final verse looks beyond the events of Christmas and Sears’ time as it notes that “the days are hastening on/by prophet bards foretold,” highlighting that there will be a time “when peace shall over all the earth/its ancient splendors fling.” In this “age of gold” we will see “the whole world give back the song/which now the angels sing.” Thus the song is a reminder that Christ brings peace now in a world that desperately needs it, but that complete and total peace on the earth will only come upon his return.
While the song features extra-biblical images and details about the night of Jesus’s birth and angels, its overall message is biblical in that it highlights the “already” and “not yet” reality we experienced as Christians because of Jesus’s arrival. Because he is here, we already experience the hope of salvation, but we live in a world in which it is not yet complete and thus await a glorious future and the ultimate fulfillment of the promises. “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” is valuable in that it offers a different tone and perspective from other Christmas songs and can help us move from the sentimentality that can surround Christmas into the reality that it can also be a time of struggle.
While different from most Christmas songs, it is not wholly unique in reflecting on the disjunction between the angels’ message and the realities of this world. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow did something similar in his 1863 poem “Christmas Bells” that is put to music in the song “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Morning” (a song I have not yet posted on but others have such as this insightful post by Justin Taylor at The Gospel Coalition). Of the two songs, I like “I Heard the Bells” a little more but also know it is probably less familiar. That said, my study of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” has helped me gain a new appreciation for it. We need songs liked “Angels We Have Heard On High” that joyfully celebrate the angel’s announcement and give “glory to God in the highest,” but we also need those like “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” that remind us of how we need to hear and understand the angel’s message of “peace on the earth, goodwill to men” for a broken and hurting world. May we find the hope and peace that the birth of Jesus gives us when we sing this song.
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