Give Ear, Give Ear, Good Christian Men

Give ear

give ear

good Christ­ian men!

The lay is worth a hear­ing:

We tell how grief hath end­ed woe

And fear hath fin­ished fear­ing:

And pain that last­ed for a day

Hath brought eter­nal cheer­ing!

Was ev­er bat­tle won like this—

Where He that lost was gain­ing:

And He that fell was tri­umph­ing

And He that died was reign­ing:

And He that held the reed of scorn

A scepter was ob­tain­ing?

The win­ner then had such a foil

As crushed him down for ev­er:

The wise was taken in his craft

The strong in his en­dea­vor:

And He

the slain

was vic­tor still

And he that slew Him

nev­er!

Give ear

give ear

good Christ­ian men!

The rid­dle is ex­pound­ed:

From north to south

from east to west

Its mean­ing shall be sound­ed:

On East­er Day was fought the fight

Whereon the crown is found­ed!