All Hail the Power of Jesus's Name

DESCRIPTION: "All hail the power of Jesus's name, Let angels prostrate fall, Bring for the royal diadem And crown him lord of all." The "chosen seed of Israel's race" and "sinners" are urged to "spread your trophies at his feet."
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Perronet (1726-1792), adapted by John Rippin (1751-1836)
EARLIEST DATE: 1779 (Gospel Magazine, according to Julian; see notes)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 283, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name (Old Coronation)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warren-EveryTimeIFeelTheSpirit, p. 196-197, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rodeheaver-SociabilitySongs, p. 94, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" (1 text, 1 tune)
BoyScoutSongbook1997, p. 116, "All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name" (1 text, with the tune listed as "Coronation")
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp, 68-70, "All Hail The Power Of Jesus' Name" (1 text, 1 tune)
John Julian, editor, _A Dictionary of Hymnology_, 1892; second edition 1907 (I use the 1957 Dover edition in two volumes), pp. 41-42, "All hail! the power of Jesus' Name" (1 text plus some additional stanzas)
Roud #17726
SAME TUNE:
1892 Populist Campaign Song ("All hail the power of the People's name, Let autocrats prostrate fall") (Paul F. Boller, Jr., _Presidential Campaigns_, second revised edition, Oxford University Press, 1984-2004, p. 163)
NOTES [923 words]: Warren-EveryTimeIFeelTheSpirit, p. 197, quotes someone who called this the "national anthem of Christendom" -- which, of course, it is not, since Christendom is not a nation. But it is very significant in some denominations; Reynolds, p. 30, reports that "This hymn by Edward Perronet has become the traditional opening hymn for the meetings every five years of the Baptist World Alliance," and it is actually referred to in another song in the Index, "The Model Church." Rudin, p. 17, calls it "The most inspiring and triumphant hymn in the English Language."
This is one of those texts that ends up with a zillion tunes. Oliver Holden (1765-1844) wrote what was probably the first one to be widely used, in the process making the song popular. Holden's tune is usually published under the title "Coronation." It has been called "the oldest American hymn tune in common use today" (Davidson, p. 181). This was the only tune I found in an early twentieth century Lutheran hymnal I checked, although the 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship also uses "Miles Lane." I also found "Coronation" used in H. S. Perkins's The Climax (1893?), p. 212.
A Methodist hymnal had two other tunes: "Miles' Lane" (listed as by William Shrubsole, 1760-1806) and "Diadem" (as by James Ellor, 1819-1899); the same three tunes appear in a Baptist hymnal, though without the detailed attributions. My 1871 Original Sacred Harp has it to "Coronation," "Cleburne" (as by S. M. Denson), and "Green Street" (as by J. J. Husband c. 1809).
The 1926 Lutheran songbook The Parish School Hymnal has "Miles' Lane" as the first tune and "Coronation" as the third; for its second, it has "Laud," by John B. Dykes (1862). The 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal uses "Coronation" and "Diadem." And so forth. Hymnary.org, which says this song is found in more than 3100 hymnals, shows slightly more than half using the tune "Coronation. It shows not quite a quarter of its sources using "Miles Lane" and slightly fewer using "Diadem," with 5% or so using a tune other than "Coronation," "Diadem," or "Miles Lane."
According to Stulken, Rudin, and Reynolds, "Miles Lane" was the melody used in the original publication. Similarly Julian, p. 41: "In the Nov. number of the Gospel Magazine, 1779, the tune by Shrubsole, afterward known as 'Miles Lane,' appeared" with the first verse; the rest of the words appeared in 1780. Reynolds, p. 31, quotes Ralph Vaughn Williams as noting that Shrubsole modified the text to repeat the words "Crown him," which became standard and helped establish the hymn. Reynolds also notes that the name "Miles Lane" was given by Stephen Addington, and that it is a shortened version of "St. Michael's Lane."
It should be noted that there were TWO hymn-writers named William Shrubsole (Julian, p. 1589), who were roughly contemporary; the composer was a Canterbury organist; the other one lived 1759-1829, and wrote several lyrics that had some popularity (Julian, p. 1056) in their time but now are mostly forgotten.
The "Coronation" tune has been used for other texts. such as "The heav'ns declare thy glory, Lord, Which that above can fill."
Holden, the composer of "Coronation," according to Fisher, pp. 14-15, was a carpenter and joiner who settled in Charleston, Massachusetts in 1788, and turned to composing and teaching music. He was also a successful store-owner and real estate agent who spent a decade and a half in the Massachusetts legislature, according to Reynolds, p. 338. "Coronation" appeared in his book The American Harmony in 1792. He published The Worcester Collection of Sacred Harmony -- one of eight hymn books he was responsible for -- in 1797. He became famous enough that the organ on which he composed "Coronation" is still preserved (Reynolds, p. 339).
Ellor, the composer of "Diadem," according to McKim, pp. 117-118, was born in England, and was a Methodist who worked as a hatmaker. He migrated to the United States as a teenager, and wrote his tune in 1838, teaching it to the factory workers in Droylsden with whom he was employed. McKim reports that his tune is the standard one for South American versions of this song, and that there are translations into both Spanish and Portuguese.
Julian, pp. 41-42, shows the modifications by Rippon that apparently are now the standard version. The first two verses are largely unchanged from Perronet's original, but the remaining five are about half Rippon's work.
There is also an authorship claim by John Duncan, but Julian, p. 42, shows strong evidence of its falsehood.
According to Reynolds, p. 399, author Edward Perronet was born in Kent in 1726 to a Huguenot family. He was friends with Charles and John Wesley, although he came to quarrel with them, and ended up heading a small independent (I'm tempted to say "schismatic") congregation, dying in Canterbury in 1792. Rudin, p. 18, says that all his works were published anonymously.
John Rippon, who modified the text, was born in Tiverton, Devonshire, in 1751, joined a Baptist church at age 16, and then studied for the ministry. He took over a congregation in Longon in 1772, serving there for the rest of his life. He published many sermons and hymn texts, plus edited others' theological works. He died in London in 1836. (Reynolds, p. 412.) To the best of my knowledge and recollection, however, he never published anything of long-term significance except for what he did to this song.
The song has been translated into many languages, including Latin, where it is called "Salve, nomen potestatis." - RBW
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