Hymn 127. Hymn to Jesus

Shall loyal nations hail the day,*

That crowns their king with loud acclaim?

And shall not saints their homage pay,

To their beloved Saviour’s name?

Ye saints, resound in joyful strains,

Jesus, the King of glory reigns!

Jesus who vanquish’d all your foes,

Who came to save, who reigns to bless,

From him your every comfort slows,

Life, liberty, and joy, and peace.                                                           

Resound, resound in joyful strains,

Jesus, the King of glory reigns!

Yes, thou art worthy dearest Lord,

Of universal endless praise;

With every power to be ador’d,                                                             

That men or angels e’er can raise.

Let Heaven and earth unite their strains,

Jesus, the King of glory reigns!

But earth, nor Heaven can e’er proclaim,

The boundless glories of their king;

Yet must our hearts adore his name,

Dear name, whence all our blessings spring!

Resound, resound in joyful strains,

Jesus, the King of glory reigns!

How mean the tribute mortals pay,

How cold the heart, how faint the tongue;

But Lord thy coronation day,

Shall tune a more exalted song:

Resounding in immortal strains,

Jesus, the King of glory reigns!                                                             

He comes, he comes, with triumph crown’d,

In dazzling robes of light array’d,

Faith view the splendor dawning round,

Earth’s fairest lustres sinks in shade.

Resound, resound in joyful strains,                                                                  

Jesus, the King of glory reigns!

                                                     *  The coronation of King George III [Steele’s note in Poems; the date was 22 September 1761].

Text: Timothy Whelan, gen. ed., Nonconformist Women Writers, 8 vols. (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2011), vol. 2, pp. 87-88; Collection of Hymns Adapted to Public Worship, no. 127 (all stanzas); Poems, 1780, vol. 3, pp. 134-36; no MS copy, Angus Library, Regents Park College,  Oxford.