Scripture Verse

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. Luke 2:14

Introduction

Words: Al­ice A. C. Phipps. The first known men­tion of The Glo­ria Ca­rols, the pamph­let where this an­them was pub­lished, was an ar­ti­cle in the The Chris­tian Re­gis­ter, a week­ly pub­li­ca­tion ed­it­ed by George Bat­che­lor, vol­ume 84, num­ber 46 (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Chris­tian Re­gis­ter As­so­cia­tion, 16 Nov 1905), page 1291. The ar­ti­cle stat­ed the pamph­let was for sale by the Uni­ta­ri­an Sun­day School So­ci­ety.

This an­them al­so ap­peared in the Sun­day School Hym­nal, ed­it­ed by Mrs. L. Wes­ton Att­wood (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: Uni­ver­sal­ist Pub­lish­ing House, 1912), num­ber 138.

Music: Ar­thur F. Bur­nett (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Phipps’ full name, or where to get a good pho­to of her or Bur­nett (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Soft the light of ear­ly morn­ing,
Fell o’er hills of far Ju­dea,
While ’midst glo­ries of the dawn­ing,
Thrilled thro’ earth—The King is here!
Shepherds gazed in awe and won­der,
Wise men, eag­er tra­veled on,
Angel hosts thro’ clouds asun­der,
Singing, came, Lo, Christ is born.
Glory to God in the high­est.

See! an­gel­ic hosts ad­vanc­ing,
Glorious in their bright ar­ray;
Light ce­les­ti­al from them glanc­ing,
Where the Babe in man­ger lay.
Bethl’hem’s Babe in won­drous fa­shion
Came from Heav’n God’s will to do,
Saves man­kind from sin and pas­sion;
Glorious news, for­ev­er new.
Glory to God in the high­est.

Sing Ho­san­na in the high­est,
Peace on earth, good will to men.
Sing Ho­sanna in the high­est,
Christmas day is come again.
Hail! to Thee, Thou Prince of Peace,
Earth for Thee has wait­ed long,
Since from Heav’n Thou hast re­lease,
Reign, to con­quer ev­ery wrong.
Glory to God in the high­est.