Sweetly sang the Angels in the clear calm night

Sweetly sang the Angels in the clear calm night

Author: John Julian
Published in 13 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 Sweetly sang the angels
In the clear, calm night,
On their white wings resting
In the heavenly light;
Sent by God the Father,
Who our love has sought,
Unto men and children
Tidings glad they brought.

Refrain"
Children, blend your voices,
In sweet concord sing;
Hail the Lord’s anointed,
Christ, the children’s king.

2 To the gentle shepherds
It was first revealed,
Watching ’mid the darkness
In the open field.
That in David’s city,
On that holy morn,
In a lowly stable
Christ, our king, was born. [Refrain]

3 Gladdened by the tidings,
Hastily they sped
To the crowded city
And the manger bed;
There they found the Savior
With His mother mild;
Him they loved and worshipped,
Though a lowly child. [Refrain]

4 In His simple childhood,
And His sacred youth,
All His ways were holy,
All His ways were truth;
For our sins He suffered,
And, thro’ grief untold,
All His lambs He purchased
For His sacred fold. [Refrain]

5 Jesus, meek and gentle,
Make us like to Thee;
Loving, true, and tender,
Thou wouldst have us be;
Blessings rich and holy,
On this festal day,
Pour Thou out upon us,
Lord we humbly pray. [Refrain]

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #9130

Author: John Julian

Born: Jan­u­a­ry 27, 1839, St. Ag­nes, Corn­wall. Died: Jan­u­a­ry 22, 1913, Thirsk, York­shire, Eng­land. Educated pri­vate­ly, Ju­li­an grad­u­at­ed from Dur­ham Un­i­ver­si­ty (MA 1887), Lam­beth (DD 1894), and How­ard Un­i­ver­si­ty in Wash­ing­ton, DC (LLD 1894). He took Ho­ly Or­ders in 1866, and served as Vi­car of Win­co­bank (1876-1905) and Vi­car of Top­cliff, York­shire (1905-). How­ev­er, he is best known as a hymn­ol­o­gist. The stand­ard ref­er­ence work in this field is his ma­ssive Dic­tion­ary of Hym­nol­o­gy: Or­i­gin and His­to­ry of Chris­tian Hymns and Hymn­writ­ers of All Ag­es and Na­tions, To­ge­ther with Bi­o­graph­ic­al and Cri­ti­cal No­ticÂ… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Sweetly sang the Angels in the clear calm night
Author: John Julian
Language: English
Refrain First Line: Children, blend your voices
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Sweetly sang the angels, In the clear, calm night. J. Julian. [Christmas.] Written Nov. 7, 1873, and first printed in the Preston Herald [Lancashire], Nov. 11th, 1873 in an article entitled "Table Talk." It was in 5 stanzas of 8 lines, with a refrain of 4 lines. In 1874 it was included in the Hymn Book published for the use of St. Mary's Church Sunday School, Preston; in Dec. 1874, in an article on "Christmas Hymns" in the Churchman's Shilling Magazine; again in Horder's Congregational Hymns, 1884, and other collections. It is also set as a part song by A. J. Caldicott, Mus. B., No. 147 of The Choral Handbook, London, J. Curwen.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

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The Cyber Hymnal #9130

Include 12 pre-1979 instances
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