Overview
Introduction
"It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" (1849) — sometimes rendered as "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" — is a poem and Christmas carol written by Edmund Sears, pastor of the Unitarian Church in Wayland, Massachusetts. Sears' lyrics are most commonly set to one of two melodies: "Carol," composed by Richard Storrs Willis, or "Noel," adapted from an English melody.
History
Edmund Sears composed the five-stanza poem in Common Metre Doubled during 1849. It first appeared on December 29, 1849, in the Christian Register in Boston.
Sears served the Unitarian congregation in Wayland, Massachusetts before moving on to a larger congregation in Lancaster. After seven years of hard work, he suffered a breakdown and returned to Wayland. He wrote It Came Upon the Midnight Clear while serving as a part-time preacher in Wayland. Writing during a period of personal melancholy, and with news of revolution in Europe and the United States' war with Mexico fresh in his mind, Sears portrayed the world as dark, full of "sin and strife," and not hearing the Christmas message.
Sears is said to have written these words at the request of his friend, William Parsons Lunt, pastor of United First Parish Church, Quincy, Massachusetts for Pastor Lunt's Sunday School. One account says the carol was first performed by parishioners gathered in Sears' home on Christmas Eve, but it is unknown to what tune as Willis' familiar melody was not written until the following year.
According to Ken Sawyer, Sears' song is remarkable for its focus not on Bethlehem, but on his own time, and on the contemporary issue of war and peace. Written in 1849, it has long been assumed to be Sears' response to the just ended Mexican–American War.
Lyrics
《圣诞夜歌》
缅想当年时方夜半
忽来荣耀歌声
天使屈身俯向尘寰
怡然手拨金琴
地上平安 人增友谊
天赐特殊奇恩
当晚世界沉寂之中
静听使歌声
直到如今依旧天开
天使依旧来临
天使依旧欢奏天乐
声彻疲乏尘瀛
依旧欣然展开天翼
俯视愁苦群生
万邦嘈杂群音之上
仍闻天使歌声
世界万千劳苦民众
负担重压身心
人群进化难若登山
步步辛苦万分
当知所望黄金时代
不久便要来临
崎岖道上请息片时
静听天使歌声
因为岁月周行不息
世事积极前进
黄金时代一定来临
先知早已说明
到时新天新地生灵
共戴和平之君
普天之下齐声酬应
今日天使歌声
阿们
