The foe behind, the deep before. J. M. Neale. [Easter Carol.] This carol for Easter was published in his Carols for Eastertide, 1854, p. 55, in 12 stanzas. It is found in several modern hymn-books, but usually in an abbreviated form. It reads like an Ode from a Greek Canon, and is sometimes taken for one. As Dr. Neale translated the Canon for Easter by St. John of Damascus, "Tis the day of resurrection" in 1853, and this Carol for Easter was published in 1854, it is not improbable that the direct source of inspiration was the Greek of St. John, although many of Neale's carols for Eastertide are “free imitations" of Latin Sequences.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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The foe behind, the deep before, p. 1148, ii. The melody in Dr. Neale's Carols for Eastertide, 1854, No, xxii., is taken from the Piae Cantiones, 1582 (p. 211, ii.), where it is set to "Auctor humani generis"; the part used beginning at the words "Sic morte mortem destruis." Dr. Neale only takes a few phrases from the Latin, and his Carol is practically original. [Rev. James Mearns, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)