Scripture Verse

If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out. Luke 19:40

Introduction

Words: Grace H. Horr, in Aug­sburg Songs No. 2 (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: Lu­ther­an Pub­li­ca­tion So­ci­ety, 1893), num­ber 136.

Music: King­man Park J. P. Vance, 1893 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Horr or Vance’s full name, or where to get good pho­tos of them (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

illustration

Could we re­fuse a song of praise,
This East­er morn to sing?
Should we re­fuse, the ve­ry stones
A song of praise would ring.
The earth has brok­en win­ter’s thrall,
The birds begin to sing;
The trees put forth their ten­der shoots,
And thus their prais­es bring;
The ve­ry air is puls­ing, too,
With mu­sic all around;
The flow­ers look from gras­sy nooks
As wak­ened by the sound.

The sun rolls high­er on his path,
Rejoicing in his ways;
The streams have burst their icy bonds
To join the song of praise.
For O, one far off East­er morn,
Christ cleft the realms of night;
He gained the vic­tor’s glo­ri­ous crown,
And gave us life and light;
He broke the bonds of death and hell,
The world has suf­fered long,
And gave us themes of life and love,
For each new East­er song.