I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Revelation 1:18
Words: George P. Grantham (1833–1885).
Music: Herzegovina George B. Lissant (1823–1899) (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Grantham or Lissant (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
A rhyme, a rhyme, for Easter time
Come sing with mirth and glee;
Come youth and age, with sire and sage,
And join in harmony!
For Christ hath burst His prison gate,
Whose bars before Him fell,
Aloft He fares, and with Him bears
The keys of Death and Hell!
No powers of night can keep His soul
Its prison bournes within;
Corruption foul can ne’er control
His form unstained by sin.
His three days o’er, He comes once more
To tread the hallowed sod
By Sion’s gate, where hellish hate
Had slain the Son of God.
And so, through Him who conquered Death,
May we, too, upward press
From death of sin sweet life to win
Of truth and holiness!
And, like the saints returning home
With Christ, we pray that we
May to God’s holy city come
And true Mount Sion see!