Scripture Verse

The Lord reigneth; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad thereof. Psalm 97:1

Introduction

Words: W. G. Brown, in The Bap­tist Har­mo­ny, ed­it­ed by Staun­ton S. Bur­dett (Phi­la­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: T. W. Us­tick, 1834).

Music: Hetch Het­chy Will­iam T. Ro­gers, in The Pearl, by J. M. Kief­fer (Cleve­land, Ohio: S. Brain­ard & Sons, 1871), num­ber 51 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know Brown’s full name, or where to get a good pic­ture of him or Ro­gers,

Lyrics

Isles of the south, awake!
The song of tri­umph sing;
Let mount, and hill and vale,
With hal­le­lu­jahs ring:
Shout, for the id­ols ov­er­thrown,
And Is­ra­el’s God is God alone.

Wild wastes of Af­ric, shout!
Your shac­kled sons are free;
No mo­ther wails her child
’Neath the ba­na­na tree:
No slave ship dash­es on thy shore;
The clank of chains is heard no more.

Shout, vales of In­dia, shout!
No fu­ne­ral fires blaze high;
No id­ol song sings loud,
As rolls the death-car by:
The ban­ner of the cross now waves
Where Chris­tian her­alds made their graves.

Shout, roc­ky hills of Greece!
The cres­cent head lies low;
No Mos­lem flings his chain
Around the Chris­tian now;
But Greek and Mos­lem join in one
To praise the Sav­ior, God the Son.

Shout, hills of Pa­les­tine!
Have you for­got the groan,
The spear, the thorn, the cross,
The wine press trod alone,
The dy­ing pray­er that rose from thee,
Thou gar­den of Geth­se­ma­ne?

Hail, glad mil­len­ni­al day!
O, shout, ye hea­vens above!
Today the na­tions sing
The song, re­deem­ing love:
Redeeming love the song shall be:
Hail, bless­èd year of ju­bi­lee!