How grand and how bright
That won­der­ful night,
When an­gels to Beth­le­hem came!
They burst forth like fires,
They struck their gold lyres,
And min­gled their song with the flame.

The shep­herds were mazed,
The pret­ty lambs gazed
At dark­ness thus turned in­to light:
No voice was there heard
From man, beast or bird,
So sud­den and so­lemn the sight.

And then, when the sound re­ech­oed around,
The hills and the dales all awoke:
The moon and the stars
Stopped their fie­ry cars,
And list­ened while Ga­bri­el spoke:

I bring you, said he,
From the glo­ri­ous Three,
Good tid­ings to glad­den man­kind;
The Sav­ior is born,
But He lies for­lorn
In a man­ger, as soon you will find.

At men­tion of this,
(The source of all bliss)
The an­gels sang loud­ly and long;
They soared to the sky,
Beyond mor­tal eye,
But left us the words of their song:

All glo­ry to God,
Who laid by His rod,
To smile on the world through His Son:
And peace be on earth,
For this won­der­ful birth
Wonderful con­quests has won;

And good will to man,
Though his life’s a span,
And his thoughts so ev­il and wrong;
Then pray, Chris­tians, pray;
But let Christ­mas day
Have your sweet­est and ho­li­est song.