Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head,
Alleluia!
Made like Him, like Him we rise,
Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies,
Alleluia.”
“This hymn by Charles Wesley ... has long been accepted as the best English Easter Hymn” was the positive statement made by W. T. Stead. Unquestionably it is also sung more frequently than any other selection in our American churches on Easter Sunday. The author once went through the published Easter Sunday morning programs of twenty-nine churches of various denominations of a city near his home at that time. This hymn appeared in all but three of the programs, and mostly it was the opening selection. Poetic language asks the question:
“Where’s thy victory, boasting grave?”
Then it gives the assuring reply: