Midnight’s sa­ble hour is pass­ing,
Silence o’er cre­ation reigns;
Nature rests in soft­est slum­bers,
Stars adorn th’ethe­re­al plains;
Now Ju­dea’s gen­tle shep­herds
Watch their sleep­ing flee­cy care;
When the hea­ven­ly por­tals op­en,
And soft mur­murs wake the air.

Then be­hold a glo­ri­ous an­gel
Down from Heav’n di­rects his flight;
And around the rur­al watch­men
Sheds an ov­er­whelm­ing light;
“Hail! ye shep­herds! fear no ev­il,
I to you glad tid­ings bring;
Tidings now thro’ Heav’n re­sound­ing,
Praise to your eter­nal king.

Go to Beth­le’m, Dav­id’s ci­ty,
On this hap­py, hap­py morn,
Jesus, Lord of men and an­gels,
There for you to­day is born!
Go to Beth­le­hem; there the In­fant
In a hum­ble man­ger laid,
Where you find Him there ad­ore Him,
To Him end­less praise be paid.

Heave their hearts with glad emo­tion,
While they list­en to his word;
When he ceased, a choir of an­gels
Sang most sweet­ly of their Lord;
Glory to Je­ho­vah, glo­ry,
Glory to Je­ho­vah’s Son;
Peace on earth and heav’n­ly bless­ing,
Man’s re­demp­tion is be­gun!