When in silence, o’er the deep,
Darkness kept its deathlike sleep,
Soon as God His mandate spoke,
Light in wondrous beauty broke.

But a beam of holier light
Gilded Bethlehem’s lonely night,
When the glory of the Lord,
Mercy’s sunlight, shone abroad.

“Peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Burst the glorious anthem then;
Angels, bending from above,
Joined that strain of holy love.

Floating o’er the waves of time,
Comes to us that song sublime,
Bearing to the pilgrim’s ear
Words to soothe, sustain, and cheer.

For creation’s blessed light,
Praise to Thee, Thou God of might!
Seraph-strains Thy name should bless
For the Sun of Righteousness!