Sealed was the tomb, guard­ed by sol­diers,
Brightly the moon­light shone around;
Roadway and hill gleamed in the bright­ness,
Flooded with light the gar­den’s bound.
Brighter the light seen ’neath the ol­ives;
Forms bright as sun­light, ’mid the trees,
Soldiers were there, clad as for war­fare;
Lo! they are gone, and who are these?
See yon­der, hast­en­ing to the ci­ty,
The trem­bling sold­iers in ter­ror go!
Earthquake as­tound­ing, strange light sur­round­ing,
Drive them away these things to show.

Refrain

O won­der­ful light in the gar­den,
That fad­eth not away!
The King who was laid in the sha­dow
With vic­t’ry is crowned this glo­ri­ous day.

Darkly they plan; false­ly as dark­ly,
Stories that He was borne away—
Borne by His friends, poor weak dis­ci­ples,
Stol’n when the moon was bright as day!
Soldiers of Rome ne’er slept on du­ty,
False was the tale for sil­ver told;
Death could not hold that migh­ty Vic­tor!
Lift up your heads, ye gates of gold!
The morn of glo­ry hath awak­en­ed,
And death no long­er holds bound­less pow’r;
Empty the pri­son, Je­sus has ris­en;
Time hath no rich­er, grand­er hour.

Refrain