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LOW IN THE GRAVE HE LAY

Scripture Verse

You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. Mark 16:6

Introduction

portrait
Robert Lowry (1826–1899)

Words & Mu­sic: Ro­bert Low­ry, 1874. Pub­lished in Bright­est and Best, by Ro­bert Low­ry & W. How­ard Doane (New York: Big­low & Main, 1875) (🔊 , ).

Lyrics

illustration
Lamentation over the Dead Christ
Andrea Mantegna, 1490

Low in the grave He lay, Je­sus my Sav­ior,
Waiting the com­ing day, Je­sus my Lord!

Refrain

Up from the grave He arose,
With a migh­ty tri­umph o’er His foes,
He arose a vic­tor from the dark do­main,
And He lives for­ev­er, with His saints to reign.
He arose! He arose!
Hallelujah! Christ arose!

Vainly they watch His bed, Je­sus my Sav­ior;
Vainly they seal the dead, Je­sus my Lord!

Refrain

Death can­not keep its prey, Je­sus my Sav­ior;
He tore the bars away, Je­sus my Lord!

Refrain

Poem

The Empty Cross

The eve of Gol­go­tha had come,
And Christ lay shroud­ed in the gar­den tomb,
Among the olives, oh, how dumb,
How sad the sun incarnadined the gloom!

The hill grew dim—the plead­ing cross
Reached empty arms toward the clos­ing gate.
Jerusalem, oh, count thy loss!
Oh, hear ye! hear ye! ere it be too late!

Reached bleeding arms—but how in vain!
The murmurous multitude with­in the wall
Already had forgot His pain—
Tomorrow would forget the cross—and all!

They knew not Rome, be­fore its sign,
Bending her brow bound with the na­tion’s threne,
Would sweep all lands from Nile to Rhine
In servitude unto the Na­za­rene.

Nor knew that mil­lions would for­sake
Ancestral shrines great with the glow of time,
And lifting up its token shake
Æons with thrill of love or bat­tle’s crime.

With empty arms aloft it stood:
Ah, Scribe and Pharisee, ye build­ed well!
The cross emblotted with His blood
Mounts, highest hope of men, against earth’s hell!

Cale Young Rice
Plays and Lyrics, 1906