Hymn Highlight: "Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart"

A Simple Refrain of How Christians Should Respond in 'Gladness and in Woe'

“Simple and direct,” to steal a phrase from Jacques Barzun, a French-American philosopher of education, is how I would describe the refrain Edward H. Plumptre penned in his 1865 hymn, Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart. There’s the blueprint for how we as Christians should reply in joy and sorrow—rejoice, give thanks, and sing!

Here’s the text as it appears in the 1961 Trinity Hymnal:

Rejoice, ye pure in heart, 
   rejoice, give thanks, and sing; 
      your festal banner wave on high, 
   the cross of Christ your King.

REFRAIN: Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks, and sing. 

Bright youth and snow-crowned age, 
   strong men and maidens meek, 
      raise high your free, exulting song, 
   God's wondrous praises speak. [Refrain] 

With all the angel choirs,
   with all the saints on earth,
      pour out the strains of joy and bliss,
   true rapture, noblest mirth! 

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. [Refrain] 

At last the march shall end; 
   the wearied ones shall rest, 
      the pilgrims find their Father's house, 
   Jerusalem the blest. [Refrain]

Then on, ye pure in heart, 
   rejoice, give thanks, and sing; 
      your glorious banner wave on high,
   the cross of Christ your King. [Refrain]

Moving Fourth Verse

The line that moves me comes from the fourth stanza: “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.” May that be true of all Christians. May we be quick to sing in gladness and in woe, in morning and in night, in youth and in old age.