Rejoice, The Lord Is King!

For Advent, For Christmas

Words: Charles Wesley, Moral and Sacred Poems, 1744

Music: TBD

Meter: 66.66.88

Source: G. Osborn, ed., The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley. Vol. 4. (London: Wesleyan-Methodist Conference Office, 1869), pp. 140-141.

HYMN VIII.

1 Rejoice, the Lord is King!
Your Lord and King adore,
Mortals, give thanks, and sing,
And triumph evermore:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice,
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

2 Jesus the Saviour reigns,
The God of truth and love,
When He had purged our stains,
He took His seat above:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice,
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

3. His kingdom cannot fail,
He rules o'er earth and heaven,
The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus given:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice,
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

4. He sits at God's right hand,
Till all His foes submit,
And bow to His command,
And fall beneath His feet:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice,
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

5. He all His foes shall quell,
Shall all our sins destroy,
And every bosom swell
With pure seraphic joy:
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice,
Rejoice, again I say, rejoice.

6. Rejoice in glorious hope,
Jesus the Judge shall come;
And take His servants up
To their eternal home:
We soon shall hear the' archangel's voice,
The trump of God shall sound, Rejoice.

Note:

First appeared in John Wesley's Moral and Sacred Poems in 1744, and two years later in Charles Wesley's collection, Hymns for our Lord's Resurrection. The First Edition. (Bristol: Felix Farley, 1746). The Third Edition is found in Vol. 4, The Poetical Works of John and Charles Wesley.

Often altered, as, for example, in Rejoice! the Lord is King from The Book of Christmas Hymns (London: T. Nelson and Sons, 1868), pp. 115-116, and music from Henry Sloane Coffin and Ambrose White Vernon, eds., Hymns of the Kingdom of God. New York: The A. S. Barnes Company, 1910, #96.

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