Following on from Good Friday, here’s another hymn from John Newton for Easter Sunday. This was published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Bk. i., No. 116, under the title ‘The Resurrection and the Life’.
Notice the first three stanzas are set around by quotation marks, with Christ addressing the believer, to which the rest of the hymn then provides a response.
“I am,” says Christ, “your glorious Head,”
(May we attention give,)
“The Resurrection of the dead,
The life of all that live.
“By faith in me the soul receives
New life, though dead before;
And he that in my name believes,
Shall live to die no more.
“The sinner sleeping in his grave
Shall at my voice awake,
And when I once begin to save,
My work I’ll ne’er forsake.”
Fulfil thy promise, gracious Lord,
On us assembled here;
Put forth thy Spirit with the word,
And cause the dead to hear.
Preserve the power of faith alive
In those who love thy name;
For sin and Satan daily strive
To quench the sacred flame.
Thy power and mercy first prevailed
From death to set us free;
And often since our life had failed,
Had it not been in thee.
To thee we look, to thee we bow,
To thee for help we call;
Our Life and Resurrection thou,
Our Hope, our Joy, our All.
