I am the Living One; I was dead, and now…I am alive for ever and ever…and I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Revelation 1:18
Words: Emma F. Pitt, in Biglow & Main’s Easter Annual No. 4 (New York, 1880).
Music: C. Fitzsimmons (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know Fitzsimmons’ full name, or where to get a good photo of him or Pitt (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Ring out the anthem, Jesus lives,
No more to shed His blood;
His death to us salvation gives,
And now He reigns with God.
Then ring the church bell,
The happy news tell
The wide world abroad.
He lives to hear the children’s prayer,
To wake the children’s song;
He listens to its music there
Amid the heav’nly throng.
Then ring the church bell,
The happy news tell
The glad sound prolong.
He lives to plead when children sin,
To wash away each stain,
Their souls from Satan’s grasp to win,
Saved from eternal pain.
Then ring the church bell,
The happy news tell
While earth shall remain.
He lives to bless each little heart
Which rests on Jesus’ love,
His grace and mercy to impart,
And every fear remove.
Then ring the church bell,
The happy news tell
Till the Easter above.
Upon each little restless head
To lay His unseen hand,
And guide the wandering little feet
To Canaan’s promised land.
Then ring the church bell,
The happy news tell
A Heaven-bound band.
He now prepares the children’s home,
Way up beyond the sky,
Where sin and sorrow never come,
And children never die.
Then ring the church bell,
The happy news tell,
Let the echo reply.
Ring out the anthem, Jesus lives!
Repeat the joyful lays
Till every child on earth believes
And sings the Savior’s praise.
Then ring the church bell,
The happy news tell
Throughout endless days.