Scripture Verse

Woman, why weepest thou? John 20:15

Introduction

Words: Au­thor un­known, prob­ab­ly from the Mid­dle Ages (Po­ne Luc­tum, Mag­da­le­na). Trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by Her­bert Kyn­as­ton, Oc­ca­sion­al Hymns (Lon­don: R. Clay, Son, & Taylor, 1862), num­ber 48.

Music: Fi­des Cle­ment C. Schole­field, in Church Hymns, 1874 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Kyn­as­ton (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els), or a bet­ter one of Schole­field,

portrait
Clement C. Scholefield (1839–1904)

Lyrics

Weep no more this ho­ly morn­ing,
Mary, put away thy fears;
In this feast there is no scorn­ing,
No re­pent­ance for thy tears:
Joy, O joy, a thou­sand plea­sures,
All thy soul’s re­cov­ered trea­sures—
Alleluia!—Christ ap­pears.

Smile again, thou watch­er wea­ry,
Wreath thy lu­cid brow with bloom,
Death has fled, thou art not drea­ry,
Angels shine athwart the gloom;
Christ has freed the world from pain­ing,
Lo, He comes, His life re­gain­ing—
Alleluia!—from the tomb.

Joy to thee, He soars a­scend­ing,
He who all thy sins for­gave;
All thy sor­rows now are end­ing,
Magdalene, He comes to save;
Whom thou sought­est lost and dy­ing,
Welcome now with an­gels cry­ing
Alleluia!—o’er His grave.

Mary, lift those brows de­clin­ing,
Turn to see who stands be­hind,
See His face with glo­ry shin­ing,
See the pear­ly wounds en­shrined,
Porches five, for all thy heal­ing,
Life eter­nal each un­seal­ing—
Alleluia!—to man­kind.

Life in all His life’s re­sum­ing,
Mary, all thy light re­store,
All thy heart with joy il­lum­ing,
Death is driv­en from the door:
Night has had his night of sor­row,
Joy re­turn­eth with the mor­row—
Alleluia!—ev­er­more.