I have been reviewing some modern worship songs, but I’ve taken a break to explore some Advent and Christmas hymns. 😀. Just when you think Christmas is over, you remind yourself that December 25th is the first of the 12 days of Christmas. So, I’ll wait until January 7th to go back to normal hymns.
Today, I’ve chosen It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.
As with many Christmas hymns, it has various tunes. I like the Noel – 4vv tune from the lyrics video best.
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear was written as a poem in 1849 by Edmund Hamilton Sears, a Unitarian minister in Massachusetts.
We evangelicals see unitarians as heretics 😀. I don’t know if I’ve seen the hymn in any evangelical hymnbooks, but I’m sure we all know it. Unitarians don’t believe that Jesus is God. They view God as one person. It might make sense if you were inventing a religion, but it doesn’t match the Bible’s teaching. Isaiah is just one of many verses that emphasize the deity of Jesus in addition to his humanity.
Isaiah 9:6-7
For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this
In Grudem’s Systematic Theology lectures, the sections on the Trinity (chapter 14) and The Person of Christ (chapter 26) are a good introduction to this. I’m always happy to reject or dismiss church traditions that aren’t based on Scripture, but there is clear Scriptural grounds for the Trinity, though the term itself isn’t in the Bible.
If I were a Unitarian, I can’t see how I would understand or celebrate Christmas. The whole point of Christmas is God becoming man.
If I saw Jesus as a mere moral teacher, I can’t imagine why I’d write a hymn about his birth. But perhaps Edmund Sears didn’t think through all the logic of Unitarianism.
Anyway, here are the lyrics. It makes no mention of Jesus, just the angels:
1 It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, good will to men,
from heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
to hear the angels sing.
2 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.
3 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!
4 For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.
Perhaps some would refuse to sing a song written by a Unitarian, but until now, I didn’t know or care who wrote it. I would think that a good number of hymns and modern worship songs are written by people with dubious views or lifestyles. But the important thing is what the hymn means to us. I don’t remember singing this one much or knowing the details of the lyrics, but it just transforms me to the night of the birth of Jesus and his coming into the world and its significance. Unitarianism is one of many attempts to reinvent Christianity to suit the modern mind. But such movements generally empty churches. By contrast, evangelical churches are growing throughout the world and have a significant influence on broader Christianity.
Here are some other interesting versions of the hymn.
Hibernia Gospel 