An Old Christmas Carol for 2020

Wallpaper Description:

Reverend Edmund Sears wrote this carol in 1849. He had a deep faith in God, and the belief that through the centuries God sent his angels to earth with a resounding message of peace. Although he doesn't mention the birth of Jesus directly, the first verse of the song quotes some of the words that the angels proclaimed to the shepherds in the fields in Luke 2:14.

Reverend Sears wrote this carol while recovering from severe illness and from the depths of profound despair. At that time, the United States was reeling from the aftermath of the Mexican War. Also at that time, the issue of human slavery bitterly divided the country; in 10 years it would ignite the Civil War. Europe reverberated with revolutions. People all over the world warred with themselves and each other.

In short, Edmund Sears was struggling with many of the same things that we are experiencing today. If anyone from the past can understand the stress, worry, and strife we are going through in 2020, it would be this man.

I only was able to put the first verse of this carol on my wallpaper, so I've put all of the verses below, as well as a link to this beautiful carol. I believe that the singers are Italian, which is likely the reason that a few words are mispronounced, but they sing it beautifully. Read the words and listen to the song. It will be like medicine to your soul.

Merry Christmas.

CollieSmile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ljrf6G1kmto

It came upon a 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

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

All 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 prophecy foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Shall come the time foretold
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
and then the world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.