This hymn traces its roots to a late fourteenth-century Latin song from Bohemia, Surrexit Christus hodie. After passing through several German translations, the English version of the first stanza appeared in an anonymous 1708 London collection called Lyra Davidica, which also introduced the famous triumphant melody known as EASTER HYMN. The original 1708 printing ended each line with a prolonged “Halle—Halleluiah” rather than the standard “Alleluia” we sing today. The fourth stanza, a Trinitarian doxology, was penned by Charles Wesley in 1740 and attached in the nineteenth century. The text brilliantly alternates between statements about the resurrection and invitations to sing praise, confessing that the Christ who suffered to “redeem our loss” has now risen in triumph.