PSALM 72

Jesus shall reign where’er the sun

with
DUNSTAN
TRURO
DUKE STREET 

I. Text: Origins

This paraphrase of Psalm 72 is by nonconformist minister Isaac Watts (1674–1748), first published in his Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament (1719 | Fig. 1). At the time, English congregational worship was still dominated by the singing of metrical Psalms, for over 150 years exemplified by the collection pioneered by Sternhold & Hopkins (1562), then replaced by A New Version by Tate & Brady (1696, rev. 1698). In his preface, Watts mentioned some other attempts at publishing psalters, but he felt these were all insufficient for the well-rounded diet of a congregation, for multiple reasons. In an epilogue he wrote for his collection Hymns and Spiritual Songs (1707), “A short essay toward the improvement of psalmody,” he explained what he felt was necessary to properly make use of Old Testament language in a New Testament, Christian context, on the other side of Christ’s redemptive work:

Wheresoever he finds the person or offices of our Lord Jesus Christ in prophecy, they ought rather to be translated in a way of history, and those evangelical truths should be stript of their vail of darkness, and drest in such expressions that Christ may appear in ’em to all that sing (p. 247).

In the preface to his 1719 collection, he thus indicated he had injected the Psalms with New Testament language, as “David would have done, had he lived in the days of Christianity.” Here in this paraphrase of Psalm 72, loosely covering verses 5–19, he has boldly and unapologetically inserted the name Jesus into a psalm about King Solomon, “the royal son,” thus seeing Solomon as a typological foreshadowing of Christ. The original text was given in eight stanzas of four lines, headed “Christ’s kingdom among the Gentiles,” without music.

II. Text: Analysis

As a psalm paraphrase, Watts took many liberties, but he did incorporate elements from the original Psalm, starting in verse 5 and continuing to the end. The first stanza includes the sun and moon of verse 5, and “so long as the moon endureth” from verse 7 (KJV), along with dominion “from sea to sea” as in verse 8. In stanzas 2 and 3, Watts replaced the nations listed in verse 10 (Tarshish, Sheba, etc.) with Europe, Persia, and India. Verses 12–14, describing the plight of the needy, were refashioned into stanza 6. Stanza 4 utilizes the prayer and praise of verse 15. Hymnologist Carl Daw noted the interesting turn in “the vignette that grows out of ‘daily’ [v. 15]: ‘His name, like sweet perfume, shall rise / With every morning sacrifice’; in other words, the beginning of every day will be marked by a prayer for him.”[1] Daw and others have also noted how the phrase “For him shall endless pray’r be made” (as in “for his sake”) is often altered to read, perhaps more sensibly, “To him . . .”

The final four stanzas appear to be an extended elaboration on the idea of “all nations shall call him blessed” in verse 17, plus an insertion of Adam’s curse in stanza 7, and Watts included the Amens of verse 19 in his stanza 8. Regarding the presence of Adam in Watts’ rendering, J.R. Watson believed this “recalls Milton’s Paradise Lost, with its portrayal of the Fall as a ‘fortunate fall,’ because it was followed by the Redemption,”[2] whereas David W. Music connected this to 1 Corinthians 15:22,45.[3] Frank Colquhoun saw this as an allusion to Romans 5:19, which says, “For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous”:

This is the truth that Watts is asserting here. And he even goes a step further than the apostle. He declares not only that Christ restores sinful man’s lost fortunes. He asserts that in Christ redeemed humanity can actually boast more blessings than Adam enjoyed before the fall.[4]

In liturgical churches, Psalm 72 is associated with Epiphany, so this hymn is sometimes used in that context. Laura de Jong, in writing for Hymnary.org, noted potential uses for New Year “as a hymn of assurance,” Advent, Ascension, and Christ the King Sunday.[5] Given its global scope, the hymn is often used as a hymn for missions. John Julian (1892) credited the popularity of the hymn to the rise of English missionary efforts. Albert Edward Bailey called it “the most widely used and probably the finest missionary hymn ever written,” although he also felt, pertaining to stanzas 2–3, “his imagination has run away with his good sense,” and the reference to Adam was “lugged in by the heels.” Remove those three stanzas, he said, and “what is left is pure gold.”[6] Lutheran scholar David R. Schmitt summarized the text well:

What the hymn explicitly celebrates is God’s reign in Jesus, His love, and His blessing, which provide release, rest, and restoration of those in need. . . . [T]he hymn gives voice to the wonder and praise that God’s people have when they humbly witness how God in Christ brings salvation to the ends of the earth and will do so until the end of time.[7]

III. Tunes

1. DUNSTAN

Initially, Watts’ text was set to many different tunes. In the United States, it was most commonly set to DUNSTAN, which is from Martin Madan’s Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1769 | Fig. 2), where it originally appeared with “Glory and honour be to thee,” a hymn of unknown authorship from A Collection of Hymns for the Use of Those that Seek (Kendal: Ashburner, 1757). DUNSTAN was only printed a few times in England, but it was printed extensively in the United States into the nineteenth century.

Madan’s tune and Watts’ text were first paired in Andrew Law’s Christian Harmony, vol. 1 (Cheshire: William Law, 1794 | Fig. 3).

2. TRURO

In England, Watts’ text is commonly sung to TRURO, a tune of unknown authorship, first printed in Musica Sacra, Being a Choice Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes . . . As They Are Used in . . . the Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapels (Bath: W. Gye, ca. 1778 | Fig. 4). It appeared there with “Zion, awake; arise, arise!” which, like Figure 2, is a text from A Collection of Hymns for the Use of Those that Seek (Kendal: Ashburner, 1757). The tune later appeared in Thomas Williams’ Psalmodia Evangelica (1789), and it is often erroneously reported as originating from that collection.

TRURO was most likely named after the city in Cornwall, England. TRURO and Watts were first paired in a broadsheet ca. 1810 in Dublin, where the tune was called “Missionary Hymn,” attesting to the hymn’s prominent association with missions. Of this tune, Erik Routley said, “It is typical of the less ornamental style of writing which during the period went alongside the florid Methodist style.”[8] Carl Daw offered this comparative description:

The character of TRURO can be appreciated better by comparing with another LM tune from the 18th century, DUKE STREET, which opens with the same four intervals and has a similar range (an octave rather than a ninth). But the numerous dotted rhythms in TRURO give it a more martial and urgent quality, and these are accentuated because the harmonization adopts the same rhythm rather than moving on the beat.[9]

3. DUKE STREET

In modern times, the most common tune setting for Watts’ text has been DUKE STREET, which was first published uncredited in Henry Boyd’s Select Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (Glasgow, 1793 | Fig. 5). In this initial printing, the tune was labeled “Addison’s 19th Psalm,” which refers to the psalm paraphrase by Joseph Addison, “The spacious firmament on high,” from The Spectator, No. 465, 23 August 1712. Addison’s paraphrase was originally printed in Long Meter Double, but in the Scottish Translations and Paraphrases (Edinburgh: J. Dickson, 1781), for example, the stanzas were divided into Long Meter quatrains.

The identification of the composer John Hatton and the name DUKE STREET come from William Dixon’s Euphonia . . . for the Congregation of All Saints Church Liverpool (undated, ca. 1805–1808 | Fig. 6, image pending). What little is known about Hatton comes from the Biographical Index to The Evangelical Hymnal (1883), and repeated nearly verbatim elsewhere, which said he was “of Warrington; afterwards of St. Helens, there resident in Duke Street, in the township of Windle; composed several hymn tunes; died 1793; his funeral sermon was preached at the Presbyterian Chapel, St. Helens, Dec. 13.”[10] St. Helens is not far from Liverpool, so it’s possible Dixon knew Hatton or had good reason to credit the tune to him. Duke Street is also a prominent street in Liverpool, so the tune name could very well have been assigned by Dixon for local reasons. The dating of Dixon’s collection is based on a copy in the British Library, with a watermark of 1805, and a copy in the National Library of Scotland, with an owner’s inscription of 1808.

Around the same time DUKE STREET appeared in Dixon’s undated collection, it also appeared in Edward Miller’s Dr. Watts’s Psalms and Hymns, Set to Music (London, 1805), where it was unattributed and called TAYLORSON; and it appeared in volume 2 of James Steven’s Selection of Sacred-Music (Glasgow, n.d.), unattributed and called DUKE STREET. With Dixon’s and Steven’s collections being undated, the exact sequence of appearance is difficult to determine, as is the rationale for how a tune attributed to Hatton was first published in Glasgow, Scotland.

Paul Westermeyer published this helpful description of the tune:

DUKE STREET opens with the same four pitches as TRURO and is cut from the same musical cloth, exploring a major scale and arpeggio. . . . Like TRURO, this is a relatively short Long Meter tune, though it manages to be spacious within, rather than just over, an octave. It combines disjunct arpeggiated passages with conjunct scales to form a contrasting yet well-constructed ride.[11]

For the gospel adaptation of this tune by Roberta Martin, see “Roberta Martin’s Doxology.”

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
28 April 2020

Footnotes:

1. Carl P. Daw Jr., “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), p. 268.

2. J.R. Watson, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), p. 142.

3. David W. Music, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Repeat the Sounding Joy (2020), p. 126.

4. Frank Colquhoun, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Hymns that Live (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980), p. 74.

5. Laura de Jong, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun: Worship Notes,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_shall_reign_whereer_the_sun

6. Albert Edward Bailey, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” The Gospel in Hymns (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), p. 53.

7. David R. Schmitt, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Lutheran Service Book Companion, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), p. 1266.

8. Erik Routley, “TRURO,” Companion to Congregational Praise (London: Independent Press, 1953), p. 37.

9. Carl P. Daw Jr., “TRURO,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), p. 94.

10. “John Hatton,” The Evangelical Hymnal, ed. Charles C. Hall & Sigismond Lasar (NY: A.S. Barnes & Co., 1883), p. 610: Archive.org

11. Paul Westermeyer, “Jesus shall reign,” Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2010), p. 255.

Related Resources:

John Julian, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” A Dictionary of Hymnology (London: J. Murray, 1892), p. 601.

Albert Edward Bailey, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” The Gospel in Hymns (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), pp. 53–54.

Erik Routley, “TRURO,” Companion to Congregational Praise (London: Independent Press, 1953), p. 37.

Erik Routley, “‘Jesus shall reign’—A matter of punctuation,” HSGBI Bulletin, vol. 5, no. 7 (Spring 1962), pp. 105–106: Website

Frank Colquhoun, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Hymns that Live (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1980), pp. 68–75.

Carlton R. Young, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993), pp. 446–447.

J.R. Watson, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), pp. 142–143.

Paul Westermeyer, “Jesus shall reign,” Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2010), p. 255.

Carl P. Daw Jr., “TRURO,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 93–94.

Carl P. Daw Jr., “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016), pp. 267–268.

David R. Schmitt & Joseph Herl, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Lutheran Service Book Companion, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 1265–1267.

Robert Cottrill, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Wordwise Hymns (13 June 2019): https://wordwisehymns.com/2019/06/13/jesus-shall-reign-2/

Leland Ryken, “Jesus shall reign,” 40 Favorite Hymns on the Christian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2019), pp. 111–114: Amazon

David W. Music, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Repeat the Sounding Joy: Reflections on Hymns by Isaac Watts (Macon, GA: Mercer, 2020), pp. 119–128: Amazon

Alan Gaunt, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun,” Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology: http://www.hymnology.co.uk/j/jesus-shall-reign-where’er-the-sun

Laura de Jong, “Jesus shall reign where’er the sun: Worship Notes,” Hymnary.org: https://hymnary.org/text/jesus_shall_reign_whereer_the_su

Nicholas Temperley, Hymn Tune Index: https://hymntune.library.uiuc.edu/