20 what glory, far exceeding

All that eye has yet perceived!
Holiest hearts for ages pleading,
Never that full joy conceived.
God has promised, Christ prepares it,
There on high our welcome waits;
Every humble spirit shares it,

Christ has passed the eternal gates.

3 Life eternal! heaven rejoices,

Jesus lives who once was dead;
Join, O man, the deathless voices,
Child of God, lift up thy head!
Patriarchs from the distant ages,

Saints all longing for their heaven,
Prophets, psalmists, seers and sages,
All await the glory given.

4 Life eternal! O what wonders

Crowd on faith; what joy unknown,
When, amidst earth's closing thunders,
Saints shall stand before the throne!
O, to enter that bright portal,
See that glowing firmament,
Know, with Thee, O God immortal,
"Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent!"
Rev. William J. Irons, 1873.

He, who on the cross a Victim For the world's salvation bled, Jesus Christ, the King of Glory Now is risen from the dead.

2 Now the iron bars are broken, Christ from death to life is born, Glorious life, and life immortal,

On this holy Easter morn: Christ has triumph'd, and we conquer By His mighty enterprise, We with Him to life eternal

By His resurrection rise.

3 Christ is risen, Christ the first-fruits Of the holy harvest-field, Which will all its full abundance

At His second coming yield, When the golden ears of harvest

Will their heads before Him wave, Ripened by His glorious sunshine, From the furrows of the grave.

4 Christ is risen; we are risen;
Shed upon us heavenly grace,
Rain and dew, and gleams of glory
From the brightness of Thy face,
That we, with our hearts in heaven,
Here on earth may fruitful be,
And by angel-hands be gathered,
And be ever, Lord, with Thee.

Bishop Christopher Wordsworth, 1862.

Of an

e ter nal spring.

2 0 Love! which lightens all distress,
Love, death cannot destroy:

O grave! whose very emptiness
To Faith is full of joy;

Let but that Love our hearts supply
From heaven's exhaustless spring,
Then, grave, where is thy victory?
And, death, where is thy sting?

3 The shade and gloom of life are fled
This resurrection-day;
Henceforth in Christ are no more dead,

The grave hath no more prey: In Christ we live, in Christ we sleep, In Christ we wake and rise; And the sad tears death makes us weep, He wipes from all our eyes.

127

4 And every bird and every tree
And every opening flower
Proclaim His glorious victory,
His resurrection-power:
The folds are glad, the fields rejoice,
With vernal verdure spread:
The little hills lift up their voice,
And shout that death is dead.

5 Then wake, glad heart! awake! awake! And seek thy risen Lord,

Joy in His resurrection take,

And comfort in His word;

And let thy life, through all its ways,
One long thanksgiving be,

Its theme of joy, its song of praise,
"Christ died, and rose for me."

Rev. John S. B. Monsell, 1863.

2 Our enemy is put to shame,

His short lived triumph o'er; Our God is with us, we exclaim, We fear our foe no more.

3 The dwellings of the just resound With songs of victory;

For in their midst Thou, Lord, art found, And brightest peace with Thee.

4 O let Thy conquering banner wave O'er hearts Thou makest free:

And point the path that from the grave Leads heavenward up to Thee.

193 BRADFORD. C. M.

5 We bury all our sin and crime Deep in our Saviour's tomb,

And seek the treasure there, that time Nor change can e'er consume.

6 Fearless we lay us in the tomb,
And sleep the night away,

If Thou art there to break the gloom,
And call us back to day.

7 Death hurts us not: his power is gone,
And pointless all his darts:
God's favor now on us hath shown,

Joy filleth all our hearts.

Benjamin Schmolck, 1712.

Tr. Catharine Winkworth, c. 1855.

Georg Friedrich Händel, 1741.

Rev. Charles Wesley, 1742.