Straightway provide a welcome wide,
Nor wonder why they came;
They stand outside our hearts and bide
Knocking in Jesus' name.
For trouble cold, and dreary care,
Are angels in disguise;
And greeted fair, with trust and prayer,
As peace and love they rise.
They are the manger, rude and low,
In which a Christ-child lies;
O welcome guest, thy cradle nest
Is always God's surprise.
Jane Andrews and W. C. Gannett.
Ir came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold :-
'Peace to the earth, goodwill to men
From heaven's all-gracious King.'
The world in solemn stillness lay
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world.
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend, on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel-sounds
The blessed angels sing.
But 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.
For lo, the days are hastening on,
By prophet bards foretold,
When, with the ever-circling years,
Comes round the age of gold ;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendours fling,
And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.
IN the old time, runs the story,
There was once a wondrous night,
When from out the unseen glory
Burst a ray of glad delight:
It was when the stars were gleaming,
Shepherds watched their flocks, and then
In their waking, or their dreaming,
Angels sang, 'Goodwill to men,
Since that day the children's voices
Have caught up the glad refrain;
And to-day the heart rejoices
That the hour comes round again
And the children are our angels;
With one loud acclaim they cry,
Answering back the glad evangel's
'Glory be to God on high.'
Each new child's a new Messiah,
Whether cot or palace born,
Leading on the race still higher
Toward the glad redemption morn ;
Each new child's a word new spoken,
God to earth come down again
With His promise never broken,
'Peace on earth, goodwill to men.'
M. J. Savage.
CALM, on the listening ear of night,
Come heaven's melodious strains,
Where wild Judæa stretches forth
Her silver-mantled plains.
Celestial choirs, from courts above,
Shed sacred glories there;
And angels, with their sparkling lyres,
Make music on the air.
The answering hills of Palestine
Send back the glad reply ;
And greet, from all their holy heights,
The day-spring from on high;
O'er the blue depths of Galilee,
There comes a holier calm :
And Sharon waves, in solemn praise,
Her silent groves of palm.
'Glory to God.' The lofty strain
The realm of ether fills,
How sweeps the song of solemn joy
O'er Judah's sacred hills.
'Glory to God.' The sounding skies
Loud with their anthems ring,
'Peace on the earth; goodwill to men
From heaven's Eternal King.'
This day shall Christian tongues be mute,
And Christian hearts be cold?
O catch the anthem that from heaven
O'er Judah's mountains rolled,
When burst upon that listening night
The high and solemn lay :
'Glory to God, on earth be peace,'
Salvation comes to-day.
TO-DAY be joy in every heart,
For lo, the angel throng
Once more above the listening earth
Repeats the advent song :
'Peace on the earth, goodwill to men!'
Before us goes the star
That leads us on to holier births
And life diviner far.
Ye men of strife, forget to-day
Your harshness and your hate;
Too long ye stay the promised years
For which the nations wait.
And ye upon the tented field,
Sheathe, sheathe to-day the sword;
By love, and not by might, shall come
The kingdom of the Lord.
O star of human faith and hope,
Thy light shall lead us on,
Until it fades in morning's glow,
And heaven on earth is won.
THROUGH the starry midnight dim
O'er the hills of Bethlehem,
Loud awoke the angels' hymn,
And the shepherds who their sheep
Kept among the meadows steep,
Feared, but soon had joy as deep.
Hallelujah.
'Fear not,' cried the angel bright,
'There is born to you this night
A Saviour, Jesus, King of Light.'
Hallelujah.
'He is Christ the Lord; arise,
Seek Him where He lowly lies,
In a manger, hid from eyes.'
Joyful were the shepherds then,
When the Gospel tidings ran,
'Peace on earth, goodwill to Man.'
Hallelujah.
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