Hark, hark! the sweet, sweet chim­ing,
Of mer­ry Christ­mas bells!
Their low, me­lo­di­ous hymn­ing
A won­drous sto­ry tells!
Beneath the stars that glist­en
O’er dist­ant Sy­ri­an plains,
The watch­ing shep­herds list­en
To clear, an­gel­ic strains.

To God the high­est glo­ry!
While heav­en­ly arch­es ring,
Responsive to the sto­ry
That Ga­bri­el doth sing:
The peace on earth whose bless­ing
Shall bring good will to men;
And in His name pro­gress­ing,
Shall fill the world again!

And where the dawn is streak­ing
The east­ern sky, afar,
They see the glo­ry break­ing
From off a new­born star!
It shines above the man­ger
Wherein a babe is born,
And for that in­fant Strang­er
Archangels hail the morn!

No king­ly crown awaits Him,
No robe of Ty­ri­an dye,
But hea­v’n­ly choirs His prais­es
Are sound­ing through the sky!
For Beth­le­hem’s low­ly man­ger
The King of kings con­tains!
And glo­ry! Glo­ry! Glo­ry!
The Lord of all He reigns!