Low in the grave he lay

with CHRIST AROSE

I. Origins

This resurrection hymn by Robert Lowry (1826–1899) was first published in a small, promotional collection, Biglow & Main’s Easter Annual No. 1 (Chicago: Biglow & Main, 1874 | Fig. 1), in three stanzas with a refrain.

The song was published more widely the following year in Brightest and Best for the Sunday School (Chicago: Biglow & Main, 1875 | Fig. 2). Little is known about the circumstances of the hymn’s composition, except Lowry was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lewisburg (Lewisburg, PA) and professor of belles lettres (fine writing, literature) at the University of Lewisburg (now Bucknell University). The hymn quite possibly had its premiere at the Lewisburg church on Resurrection Sunday, 5 April 1874.

II. Analysis

Biographer J.H. Hall said of Lowry, “Very few men had greater ability in painting pictures from the imagination. He could thrill an audience with his vivid descriptions, inspiring others with the same thoughts that inspired him.”[1] This hymn is a good example of musical illustration. The melody for the stanzas is relatively static, hovering around the fifth scale degree, moving in simple rhythm, but the chorus, with its declaration “Up from the grave he arose,” is more exuberant and ambitious, with its martial rhythms, soaring melody, and echoing figures. The text helps to serve this musical distinction in the way the stanzas focus on the grave and anticipation, whereas the chorus is allowed to declare resurrection, triumph, and victory.

In the refrain, the phrase “dark domain” could simply be a synonym for “grave,” but it could also be an allusion to Colossians 1:13–14 (“He [the Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins,” ESV; see also Luke 22:53). In the third stanza, the concept of Christ breaking iron bars draws partly from Psalm 107:10-16, where it speaks of people being redeemed from iron shackles and bars, or Isaiah 45:2, God’s prophecy to King Cyrus, “I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron” (ESV).

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
9 April 2020
rev. 29 July 2020

Footnotes:

1. J.H. Hall, “Rev. Robert Lowry, D.D.” Biographies of Gospel Song and Hymn Writers (NY: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1914), p. 72: 

Related Resources:

Donald C. Brown, “Low in the grave he lay,” Handbook to the Baptist Hymnal (Nashville: Convention Press, 1992), p. 186.

Carlton R. Young, “Up from the grave he arose,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), p. 672.

Bert Polman, “Low in the grave Christ lay,” Psalter Hymnal Handbook (Grand Rapids: CRC, 1998), pp. 554–555.

“Low in the grave he lay,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/low_in_the_grave_he_lay_jesus_my_savior