Scripture References:
st. 2 = Rev. 1:18
st. 3 = Acts 5:31, Heb. 1:3
st. 4 = 1 Cor. 15:52, 1 Thess. 4:16, Rev. 20:11-15
ref. = Phil. 4:4
Charles Wesley (PHH 267) wrote this text for Easter and Ascension in six stanzas. First published in John Wesley's Moral and Sacred Poems (1744), the text was also published in Charles Wesley's Hymns for our Lord's Resurrection (1746). The original stanzas 2 and 5 are not included.
The text rejoices in the kingship of Christ (st. 1) whose rule extends "o'er earth and heaven" (st. 2). All will bow the knee to Christ (st. 3) when he returns in glory to judge "the living and dead" (st. 4). The refrain line based on Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice,” is the keynote of the entire text.
Liturgical Use:
Ascension; Easter; a great hymn of praise suitable for any worship service (fits well with the royal psalms in the Old Testament); funeral or memorial service.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook
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Rejoice, the Lord is King. C. Wesley. [Easter or Ascension.] This is No. viii. of 16 hymns printed in 1746 as Hymns for Our Lord's Resurrection. It is in 6 st.anzas of 6 lines. It had previously appeared in J. Wesley's Moral and Sacred Poems, 1744. (P. Works, iv. p. 140.) It has been included, either in full or in part, in most hymnbooks of any moment from Whitefield’s, in 1753, to Thring's, in 1882, with the result that it is in extensive use in all English-speaking countries. Curiously enough, however, it was not given in the Wesleyan Hymn Book until the revised ed. of 1875.
A cento for harvest beginning with the first stanza is found in some Unitarian hymnbooks both old and new, including Ellen Courtauld's Psalms, Hymns and Anthems, 1860. It is in 5 st., the first stanza and lines5,6, of each of the others being from this hymn, whilst the rest are by John Taylor in Enfield's Norwich Selection of Hymns, 1795. In R. Bingham's Hymno. Christ. Latina, 1871, st. i., ii., iv., vi., slightly altered, are rendered into Latin as, "Rex est Dominus! Laetantes."
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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