Early Ere the Dawn of the Morning

Early ere the dawn of the morn­ing

After the earth­quake thun­der—

By the tomb

now emp­ty and op­en

Jesus had burst asun­der—

Angels of light sat cloth­èd in white

And sing­ing with all their might—

He that was slain

now ris­en again

Forever shall reign

Al­le­lu­ia.

Weeping now the wo­men draw nigh them

Spices and oint­ment bring­ing;

See them start

and

thrill­ing with rap­ture

List to the an­gels sing­ing—

Be of good cheer

for He is not here

But ris­en and stand­eth near.

Go

say they

and tell the Ele­ven

If they would glad­ly greet Him

Soon from hence to Ga­li­lee go­ing

There shall they sure­ly meet Him.

Hearing it

lo! with joy they o’er­flow

And sing as they home­ward go—

Wond’ring

doubt­ing

hop­ing and fear­ing

All the day long they trem­bled;

Till His Peace be with you was breath­èd

On the Ele­v’n as­sem­bled;

Joyfully then they wor­ship again

And swell the loud East­er strain:

Easter day is come in its glo­ry;

Sing

bro­thers

Al­le­lu­ia;

Saints tri­umph­ant join in the chor­us

Echoing

Al­le­lu­ia.

Angels on high re­sound thro’ the sky

Eternally Al­le­lu­ia.