Scripture Verse

He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Matthew 28:6

Introduction

Words & Mu­sic: George P. Gran­tham (1833–1885) (🔊 pdf nwc). Ap­peared in Ca­rols Old and Ca­rols New, ed­it­ed by Charles L. Hutch­ins (Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts: The Par­ish Choir, 1916), num­ber 122.

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Gran­tham (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

illustration
The Holy Women at the Tomb
William Bouguereau (1825–1905)

Moonbeams are stream­ing,
When at dawn of East­er Day,
Angel forms gleam­ing
To ho­ly wo­men say,
Christ is up­risen
From death’s dark pri­son;
Come, view the ho­ly place
Where Je­sus lay!

Magdalen weep­ing
Sees two an­gels of the sky
Watch soft­ly keep­ing,
As Je­sus draw­eth nigh.
Rise, Ma­ry, speed thee!
Lone hearts now need thee;
Go, tell My breth­ren I
Ascend on high!

To Peter wail­ing
Who his Lord hath thrice de­nied,
Comes Love un­fail­ing—
Comes Christ, the Cru­ci­fied.
Dark scru­ples clear­ing
With ac­cents cheer­ing,
All Pe­ter’s pe­ni­ten­tial
Tears He dried!

Two sad ones walk­ing,
Sorrowing for Christ’s dear sake,
He join­eth, talk­ing,
And with them bread doth break.
Faith their sight aid­eth,
As His form fad­eth:
Burned not their hearts with­in
Them while He spake?

Ten saints des­pair­ing
Meet for mu­tu­al so­lace kind;
Comes Je­sus, bear­ing
Fair hope and joy en­twined.
Sweet peace be­queath­ing,
Then on them breath­ing,
Preach ye, bap­tize ye all,
Absolve and bind!

Golden the sto­ry
Of the se­raphs, as they sing
Redemption’s sto­ry,
The tri­umph of their king.
With joys abound­ing,
Bright notes re­sound­ing,
Hark, how the sil­ver bells
Of Hea­ven ring!