Psalter Hymnal (Gray) ‎#470

470. All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name

1 All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall.
Bring forth the royal diadem,

Refrain:
and crown him, crown him, crown him,
crown him Lord of all!

2 O seed of Israel's chosen race
now ransomed from the fall,
hail him who saves you by his grace, Refrain

3 Let every tongue and every tribe
responsive to his call,
to him all majesty ascribe, Refrain

4 Oh, that with all the sacred throng
we at his feet may fall!
We'll join the everlasting song. Refrain

Text Information

• First Line: All hail the power of Jesus' name
• Title: All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
• Author (st. 4): John Rippon (1787, alt,)
• Author (st. 1-3): Edward Perronet (1780, alt.)
• Refrain First Line: and crown him, crown him
• Meter: 868 with refrain
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1987
• Scripture:
  Revelation 19:11-16
  ;
  Revelation 5:6-14
  ;
  Philippians 2:11
  ;
  Revelation 5:14
  ;
  Revelation 19:16
• Topic: Ascension & Reign of Christ; Election; King, God/Christ as; Praise & Adoration; Redemption

Tune Information

• Name: MILES LANE
• Composer: William Shrubsole (1779)
• Meter: 868 with refrain
• Key: A Major

Text Information:

Scripture References:
st. 1 = Rev. 7: 11
st. 2 = 1 Tim. 2:5-6
st. 3 = Isa. 66:18
st. 4 = Rev. 7: 11-12

Edward Perronet began writing this text in 1779. Its first stanza was published with the MILES LANE tune later that year in the November issue of the Gospel Magazine without attribution. The completed eight-stanza text was published with Perronet's name as author in the April 1780 edition of that magazine. John Rippon revised parts of the original text and replaced some stanzas with new ones that he wrote; his version was published in his Selection of Hymns (1787). Perronet's stanzas 1, 5, and 8, and Rippon's stanza 7 are included with minor alterations.

Originally headed "On the Resurrection, the Lord Is King," this fine coronation hymn affirms the kingship of Christ and calls on all creatures to "crown him Lord of all." The "power of Jesus' Name" is hailed by angels (st. 1), by converted Jews (st. 2), by all humankind (st. 3), and by ourselves (st. 4). (Rippon actually entitled each stanza "Angels," "Converted Jews," "Sinners of Every Nation," "Ourselves," etc.) The middle stanzas highlight redemption and conversion from sin as the grounds for the exuberant refrain.

Edward Perronet (b. Sundridge, Kent, England, 1726; d. Canterbury, England, 1792) came from a family of Huguenots who had fled from France to England around 1680. His father was sympathetic to the cause of the Wesleys, and in 1746 Perronet and his brother became Methodist itinerant preachers. Too independent and irascible to function under anyone's supervision, Perronet differed with the Wesleys about the Methodists' relationship to the Church of England: the Wesleys wished to remain in the church and did not permit their unordained itinerant preachers to administer the sacraments. Perronet, however, did administer communion and urged the people to shun the Anglican Church. Matters became worse when he published a scathing attack on the Church of England in the satiric poem The Mitre (1757). The Wesleys were able to suppress the book and avoid wide circulation, but the damage had been done. Soon after, Perronet left the Methodists and later became the pastor of a Congregational chape1 in Canterbury. During his ministry he wrote a number of hymns and Scripture versifications, which were published anonymously in three small volumes: Select Passages of the Old and New Testament, Versified (1756), A Small Collection of Hymns (1782), and Occasional Verses (1785). His "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" is the only hymn that remains in common use.

John Rippon (b. Tiverton, Devonshire, England, 1751; d. London, England, 1836) was pastor of the Baptist Church in Carter Lane, London; he began in 1772 as an interim pastor and then stayed for sixty-three years as head pastor. He also edited the Baptist Annual Register (1790-1802). His main contribution to hymnody was his compiling of A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors, Intended As an Appendix to Dr. Watts’ Psalms and Hymns (1787) and A Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1791). These publications became popular in both England and America. However, later hymnologists have often been frustrated by Rippon's work because he frequently did not indicate the authors of the hymns and often altered the texts without acknowledging his changes.

Liturgical Use:
Useful for many different services as a great hymn of praise for redemption in Christ; a doxology; a processional or recessional hymn for Ascension Day or similar worship services that emphasize the kingship of Christ.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook

Tune Information:

MILES LANE is one of three tunes that are closely associated with this well-known and beloved text; CORONATION is found at 471. Other hymnals also include the more florid DIADEM, composed by James Ellor in 1838 and noted for its elaborate choral harmo¬nization.

MILES LANE was published anonymously with Perronet's first stanza in the November 1779 issue of the Gospel Magazine. The tune appeared in three parts with the melody in the middle part. Each "Crown him" was meant to be sung by a different part, first by the bass, then by the treble, and finally by the tenor. Thus MILES LANE was a fuguing tune. Stephen Addington identified William Perronet as the composer in his Collection of Psalm Tunes (1780). The tune's title comes from the traditional English corruption of St. Michael's Lane, the London street where the Miles' Lane Meeting House was located, of which Addington was minister.

William Shrubsole (b. Canterbury, Kent, England, 1760; d. London, England, 1806) composed MILES LANE when he was only nineteen. A chorister in Canterbury Cathedral from 1770 to 1777, Shrubsole was appointed organist at Bangor Cathedral in 1782. However, he was dismissed in 1783 for associating too closely with religious dissenters. In 1784 he became a music teacher in London and organist at Lady Huntingdon's Spa Fields Chapel, Clerkenwell, a position he retained until his death.

Shrubsole is the subject of a famous essay (1943) by Ralph Vaughan Williams (PHH 316): who called MILES LANE a "superb" tune and composed a concertato arrangement of it in 1938. Edward Elgar called it "the finest tune in English hymnody." MILES LANE has a wide melodic range and a most effective climax in the refrain, which could benefit from some rubato, especially at the end of stanza 4. Accompany and sing in a majestic manner.

--Psalter Hymnal Handbook