I’ve been exploring some of the very modern worship songs as an old guy 😀. But now, I’ve decided to alternate between very modern hymns, old hymns, and in-between hymns, namely the worship songs from the 60s to the 90s that feature in hymnbooks such as Mission Praise. Today it’s the turn of the old hymns.
Today’s song is Praise My Soul the King of Heaven from around 1834.
They played this for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. Perhaps they were emphasizing that there was a greater, glorious king. The writer, Henry Francis Lyle, was Scottish, but served in Brixham, Devon. I remember spending Easter 1983 in Brixham with a good friend from our London City Mission Voluntary Evangelist team.
I think that I first learned the hymn back in 1981. I bought a tape of Anglican hymns. Many independent evangelicals dislike hymns that are associated with Anglican rituals. And a lot of the very modern churches avoid any of the old hymns. But I like most Anglican hymns. I discovered over 500 hymns on YouTube from the New English Hymnal a few years ago, and I bought the hymn book so that I could become more familiar with them. This is one that you’ll find in many evangelical hymnbooks. I don’t know how evangelical the writer was, but he underwent a major “conversion experience” in 1818, and he also wrote Abide with Me. So he certainly had evangelical leanings. It’s among my favourite hymns.
It’s also nice to know that he spent some time in Ireland. He attended Trinity College in Dublin, and his first curacy was in Wexford.
The hymn is widely known around the world. Here are some other versions:
Hibernia Gospel 