“Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.” Psalm 33:1.
Processional.
“In the name of our God we will set up our banners.” (Psalm 20:5)
Rejoice, give thanks, and sing;
Your orient* banners wave on high, *[festal, in most modern hymnals]
The cross of Christ your King.
2. Bright youth and snow-crowned age,
Strong men and maidens meek,
Raise high your free, exulting song,
God’s wondrous praise to speak.
3. Yes, onward, onward still,
With hymn, and chant, and song,
Through gate, and porch, and columned aisle
The hallowed pathways throng.
4. With ordered feet pass on;
Bid thoughts of evil cease,
Ye may not bring the strife of tongues
Within the Home of Peace.
5. With all the angel choirs,
With all the saints on earth,
Pour out the strains of joy and bliss,
True rapture, noblest mirth.
6. Your clear Hosannas raise,
And Hallelujahs loud,
Whilst answ’ring echoes upward float,
Like wreaths of incense cloud.
7. With voice as full and strong
As ocean’s surging praise,
Send forth the hymns our fathers loved,
The psalms of ancient days.
8. Yes, on through life’s long path,
Still chanting as ye go,
From youth to age, by night and day,
In gladness and in woe.
9. Still lift your standard high,
Still march in firm array;
As warriors through the darkness toil
Till dawns the golden day.
10. At last the march shall end,
The wearied ones shall rest;
The pilgrims find their Father’s home,
Jerusalem the Blest.
11. Then on, ye pure in heart,
Rejoice, give thanks, and sing:
Your orient* banner wave on high, *[festal, in most modern hymnals]
The cross of Christ your King.
12. Praise him who reigns on high,
The Lord whom we adore;
The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
One God for evermore.
May, 1865.
Edward Hayes Plumptre (1821–1891) wrote this hymn in May 1865. It was first published in the third edition of his Lazarus and Other Poems (1868). It is headed with a reference to Psalm 20:5, “In the name of our God we will set up our banners” The hymn has twelve stanzas of four lines, in short meter (6.6.8.6.). In his words-only book and in Hymns Ancient and Modern, this hymn/song is headed “Processional.” At the Peterborough Choir Festival, it was used as a “Processional,” that is, sung while the choirs walked down the aisle to take their places at the front. Its length of twelve stanzas is very appropriate for such an occasion. Most modern hymnals include only a portion of the stanzas.
E. H. Plumptre was an English scholar, theologian, and preacher. He was born August 6, 1821, in London, the son of Edward Hallows Plumptre. Plumptre was ordained in 1847, and served King’s College, London until 1881. He was Professor of Exegesis at King’s College, London, at the time he wrote the hymn. He wrote the commentary on the book of Acts that appears in A Bible Commentary for English Readers. E. H. Plumptre served as Dean of Wells, 1881-1891 (Wells Cathedral, or Cathedral Church of St Andrew). He married Harriet Theodosia Maurice. They had no children. Plumptre died February 1, 1891 in Wells. Somerset, England. He and his wife are interred at the Wells Cathedral at Wells.
In Hymns Ancient & Modern with Appendix (London: William Clowes & Sons, 1868), this is Hymn No. 393, below the hymn tune Peterborough by William Henry Monk.
This is song No. 645 in Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs. It includes all 12 stanzas by Plumptre (some slightly arranged), paired with the tune Marion, by organist and choirmaster Arthur Henry Messiter (1834-1916). There it has a refrain, probably added by Messiter.
Rejoice, give thanks and sing.
No comments:
Post a Comment