"EASTER ANTHEM" (1787)

"But now is Christ risen from the dead,
and become the firstfruits of them that slept."
 - I Cor. 15:20.

Words by Edward Young (1681-1765)
Music by William Billings (1746-1800), 1787

[Source: pages 236-239 from
"The Sacred Harp" ([1844 1869, 1911, 1936] 1991 Edition)]

The Lord is ris'n indeed!
Hallelujah!
The Lord is ris'n indeed!
Hallelujah!
Now is Christ ris'n from the dead,
and becomes the first-fruits of them that slept.

||: Now is Christ ris'n from the dead,
and becomes the first-fruits of them that slept. :||

||: Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! :||

||: And did he rise? :||(6 times)

||: Did he rise?
Hear it, ye nations!
Hear it, O ye dead!
He rose, he rose, he rose,he rose,
He burst the bars of death.
He burst the bars of death.
And triumphed o'er the grave. :||

Then, then, then I rose,
then I rose, then I rose, then I rose.
Then first humanity triumphant
passed the crystal ports of light.

||: and seized eternal youth. :||

||: Man all immortal hail, hail,
heaven, all lavish of strange gifts to man,
Thine's all the glory, man's the boundless bliss;
Thine's all the glory, man's the boundless bliss. :||