Scripture Verse

They were saying to one another, Who will roll back the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb? Mark 16:3

Introduction

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

Words: La­vi­nia E. Brauff, in Up­lift­ed Voic­es, ed­it­ed by Ad­am Gei­bel and R. Frank Leh­man (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Gei­bel & Leh­man, 1901), num­ber 181.

Music: Kra­ków Ad­am Gei­bel (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Adam Geibel
1855–1933

Lyrics

The sepulcher was empty,
The women stood without;
Their hearts were filled with sorrow,
With wonder, fear and doubt;
They came with fragrant spices
That blessèd Easter day;
They said, The stone is heavy,
Who’ll roll the rock away?

Fear not, the angels whispered,
May peace your spirits cheer;
The Lord you love is risen,
Your master is not here;
Go tell all His disciples
Their Savior lives again,
Who for the sins of many
On Calvary was slain.

Sometimes life’s heavy crosses
Seem more than we can bear;
Sometimes our footsteps falter
Beneath the load of care;
When trials overtake us,
Let us look up and pray:
No cross will be too heavy
For Christ to roll away.