1. Rejoice, ye pure in heart; Rejoice, give thanks and sing. Your festal banner wave on high, The cross of Christ your King. 2. With all the angel choirs, With all the saints on earth, Pour out the strains of joy and bliss, True rapture, noblest mirth! 3. Yes, on through life's long path, Still chanting as we go; From youth to age, by night and day, In gladness and in woe. 4. Still lift your standard high, Still march in firm array; As warriors through the darkness toil Till dawns the golden day. Chorus: Rejoice, rejoice, Rejoice, give thanks, and sing!
Lyrics: Edward Hayes Plumptre
Music: Arthur Henry Messiter
Tune: MARION
Meter: S.M. with Refrain
Edward H. Plumptre, 1821–1891
Edward H. Plumptre, the author of this hymn, was a graduate of Oxford University and a minister in the Anglican state church. He was recognized as a brilliant scholar and was appointed to be a member of the Old Testament Committee for the revision of the Authorized Version of the Bible. He authored a number of scholarly works, translated numerous Latin hymns, and had several volumes of his own poetry published.
This hymn was written for the annual choir festival at Peterborough Cathedral, England, May, 1865. It was used as a processional when the choirs from a number of different communities entered and sang in the great cathedral. The hymn first appeared in the 1868 appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern, a 19th century Anglican hymnal.