Early ere the dawn of the morn­ing,
After the earth­quake thun­der—
By the tomb, now emp­ty and op­en,
Jesus had burst asun­der—
Angels of light sat cloth­èd in white,
And sing­ing with all their might—

Refrain

He that was slain, now ris­en again,
Forever shall reign, Al­le­lu­ia.

Weeping now the wo­men draw nigh them,
Spices and oint­ment bring­ing;
See them start, and, thrill­ing with rap­ture,
List to the an­gels sing­ing—
Be of good cheer, for He is not here,
But ris­en and stand­eth near.

Refrain

Go, say they, and tell the Ele­ven,
If they would glad­ly greet Him,
Soon from hence to Ga­li­lee go­ing,
There shall they sure­ly meet Him.
Hearing it, lo! with joy they o’er­flow,
And sing as they home­ward go—

Refrain

Wond’ring, doubt­ing, hop­ing and fear­ing,
All the day long they trem­bled;
Till His Peace be with you was breath­èd
On the Ele­v’n as­sem­bled;
Joyfully then they wor­ship again,
And swell the loud East­er strain:

Refrain

Easter day is come in its glo­ry;
Sing, bro­thers, Al­le­lu­ia;
Saints tri­um­phant join in the chor­us,
Echoing, Al­le­lu­ia.
Angels on high re­sound thro’ the sky
Eternally Al­le­lu­ia.

Refrain