Scripture Verse

Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 1 Corinthians 15:20

Introduction

Words: Will­iam J. Ir­ons, 1873, alt. This hymn was sung at the 2004 fu­ner­al of Am­eri­can pre­si­dent Ron­ald Rea­gan.

Music: Ode an die Freude from the 9th Sym­pho­ny of Lud­wig van Beet­ho­ven, 1824. Ar­ranged by Ed­ward Hodg­es, 1864 (🔊 pdf nwc).

Alternate Tune:

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Ir­ons (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

portrait
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

Lyrics

Sing with all the saints in glo­ry,
Sing the res­ur­rect­ion song!
Death and sor­row, earth’s dark sto­ry,
To the for­mer days be­long.
All around the clouds are break­ing,
Soon the storms of time shall cease;
In God’s like­ness we, awak­ing,
Know the ev­er­last­ing peace.

O what glo­ry, far ex­ceed­ing
All that eye has yet per­ceived!
Holiest hearts, for ag­es plead­ing,
Never that full joy con­ceived.
God has pro­mised, Christ pre­pares it,
There on high our wel­come waits.
Every hum­ble spir­it shares it;
Christ has passed th’eter­nal gates.

Life eter­nal! Heav’n re­joic­es;
Jesus lives, who once was dead.
Join we now the death­less voic­es;
Child of God, lift up your head!
Patriarchs from dis­tant ag­es,
Saints all long­ing for their heav’n,
Prophets, psalm­ists, seers, sag­es,
All await the glo­ry giv­en.

Life eter­nal! O what won­ders
Crowd on faith; what joy un­known,
When, amidst earth’s clos­ing thun­ders,
Saints shall stand be­fore the throne!
O to en­ter that bright por­tal,
See that glow­ing fir­ma­ment;
Know, with Thee, O God im­mor­tal,
Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent.