Wesley's hymn is sung--with or without the hallelujah interludes--to "Telemann's Chant," (Zeuner), to an air of Mendelssohn, and to John Stainer's "Paschale Gaudium." Like the old New England "Easter Anthem" it appears to have been suggested by an anonymous translation of some more ancient (Latin) antiphony. Jesus Christ is risen to day, Hallelujah! Our triumphant holy day, Hallelujah! * * * * * Who endured the cross and grave. Hallelujah! Sinners to redeem and save, Hallelujah! AN ANTHEM FOR EASTER. This work of an amateur genius, with its rustic harmonies, suited the taste of colonial times, and no doubt the devout church-goers of that day found sincere worship and thanksgiving in its flamboyant music. "An Anthem for Easter," in A major by William Billings (1785) occupied several pages in the early collections of psalmody and "the sounding joy" was in it. Organs were scarce, but beyond the viols of the village choirs it needed no instrumental accessories. The language is borrowed from the New Testament and _Young's Night Thoughts_. The Lord is risen indeed! Hallelujah! The Lord is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Following this triumphant overture, a recitative bass solo repeats I Cor. 15:20, and the chorus takes it up with crowning hallelujahs. Different parts, _per fugam_, inquire from clef to clef-- And did He rise? And did He rise?-- Hear [the answer], O ye nations! Hear it, O ye dead! Then duet, trio and chorus sing it, successively-- He rose! He rose! He rose! He burst the bars of death, And triumphed o'er the grave! The succeeding thirty-four bars--duet and chorus--take home the sacred gladness to the heart of humanity-- Then, then _I_ rose, * * * * * And seized eternal youth, Man all immortal, hail! Heaven's all the glory, man's the boundless bliss. "YES, THE REDEEMER ROSE." In the six-eight syllable verse once known as "hallelujah metre"--written by Dr. Doddridge to be sung after a sermon on the text in 1st Corinthians noted in the above anthem-- Yes, the Redeemer rose, The Saviour left the dead, And o'er our hellish foes High raised His conquering head. In wild dismay the guards around Fall to the ground and sink away. Lewis Edson's "Lenox" (1782) is an old favorite among its musical interpreters. "O SHORT WAS HIS SLUMBER." This hymn for the song-service of the Ruggles St. Church, Boston, was written by Rev. Theron Brown. O short was His slumber; He woke from the dust; The Saviour death's chain could not hold; And short, since He rose, is the sleep of the just; They shall wake, and His glory behold. * * * * *