Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart

• Psalm 9:2
  (hymns)
• Psalm 20:4-5
  (hymns)
• Psalm 24:3-6
  (hymns)
• Psalm 32:11
  (hymns)
• Psalm 33:1-3
  (hymns)
• Psalm 40:3
  (hymns)
• Psalm 48:14
  (hymns)
• Psalm 60:4
  (hymns)
• Psalm 66:6
  (hymns)
• Psalm 68:3
  (hymns)
• Psalm 71:1-24
  (hymns)
• Psalm 93:4
  (hymns)
• Psalm 100
  (hymns)
• Psalm 105:1-3
  (hymns)
• Psalm 118:24-26
  (hymns)
• Psalm 137:3
  (hymns)
• Psalm 147
  (hymns)
• Psalm 148:12-13
  (hymns)
• Isaiah 51:11
  (hymns)
• Isaiah 61:3
  (hymns)
• Isaiah 61:10
  (hymns)
• Isaiah 62:10
  (hymns)
• Zephaniah 2:17
  (hymns)
• Matthew 5:4
  (hymns)
• Matthew 5:8
  (hymns)
• Acts 16:25
  (hymns)
• 2 Corinthians 2:14
  (hymns)
• Galatians 5:22
  (hymns)
• Ephesians 4:4-7
  (hymns)
• Ephesians 5:19
  (hymns)
• Philippians 4:4-7
  (hymns)
• Philippians 4:9
  (hymns)
• Philippians 4:14
  (hymns)
• Colossians 3:12-17
  (hymns)
• 1 Timothy 6:12-14
  (hymns)
• Titus 2:1-15
  (hymns)
• Hebrews 13:14
  (hymns)
• James 1:27
  (hymns)
• James 5:13-20
  (hymns)
• Revelation 19:7
  (hymns)
• Revelation 21:2-3
  (hymns)

Text:

Edward H. Plumptre is the author of this pilgrimage hymn. It was written as a processional for the 1865 Peterborough Choir Festival at the Peterborough Cathedral in England. Plumptre published it in his Lazarus and Other Poems in 1865 or 1868. Its first inclusion in a hymnal was in the Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern in 1868.

The text originally had eleven stanzas. Typically four or five stanzas are included in a modern hymnal, but there is little agreement between hymnals on which to include, and there is also a good deal of variation in the wording. All hymnals include the first stanza and omit the original third (“Yes, onward, onward still”), and most include the original seventh (“Yes, on through life’s long path”). The first line of the hymn is usually given as “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart,” but a few hymnals give it as “Rejoice, O Pilgrim Throng.” The themes of the text are rejoicing and pilgrimage. It was based on Philippians 4:4.

Tune:

MARION is the most common tune used with this text. It was written for Plumptre’s text in 1883 by Arthur H. Messiter, who added the refrain. Messiter published the tune in a hymnal that he edited in 1893. The tune was named by the composer, but it is not clear for whom it was named. The word “Rejoice” is traded antiphonally between the men and women in the refrain.

An alternative modern tune, included in a few hymnals alongside MARION, is VINEYARD HAVEN, composed by Richard Dirksen as a processional for the installation of John M. Allin as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church at Washington National Cathedral in 1974. This tune has a modern approach to tonality, and congregations may find it difficult to sing. It is named after a town on Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, to which a close friend of the composer retired.

When/Why/How:

The hymn was written as a processional hymn, and may be sung at any time of year. A festival setting of “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart” with accompaniment for organ and optional instruments could be used for a grand processional; congregational participation is optional. For an instrumental prelude that fits the joyful mood of the hymn, try a setting such as the duet on MARION in “Hymn Settings for Organ and Piano.” To brighten the accompaniment for congregational singing, add a brass quartet to accent the standard hymnal setting of “MARION.”

Tiffany Shomsky,
Hymnary.org

FlexScores are available in the Media section below.