Scripture Verse

I was dead, but look—I am alive forever and ever. Revelation 1:18

Introduction

Words: Su­san K. Bourne, 1892. Ap­peared in Glo­ria Deo, ed­it­ed by Sam­uel M. Bix­by (New York: Funk & Wag­nalls, 1901), num­ber 714.

Music: Kimp­ton E. P. Tate, 1900 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Tate’s full name, or where to get a good pho­to of him or Bourne (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

The East­er li­lies shed their rich per­fume,
And greet the morn­ing of the re­sur­rect­ion;
So let our spir­its sweet­ly bud and bloom,
And yield the of­fer­ing of a pure af­fect­ion.

Refrain

We ring the bells of East­er­tide!
We sing the praise of Him who died!
We hail the day when He arose,
Triumphant ov­er all His foes.

Let hap­py child­ren hail their ris­en Lord,
And in­fant voices soft­ly sing His glo­ry;
Let every Chris­tian spread the heav’n­ly word,
And tell again the bless­èd East­er sto­ry!

Refrain

Today, ye bells, ring out a joy­ful chime,
With cheer­ful tones and mer­ry notes of glad­ness;
And greet once more the hap­py East­er time,
And bid each mourn­ing heart dis­pel its sad­ness.

Refrain

O Lord of Life! on this bright East­er morn,
Accept the tri­bute of our ado­ra­tion;
May life di­vine in ev­ery soul be born,
And rise from sin and death to full sal­va­tion.

Refrain

illustration