The Lord is King! Lift up thy voice

The Lord is King! Lift up thy voice. Josiah Conder* (1789-1855). First published in Conder’s The Star in the East; with Other Poems (1824), with the heading ‘“Hallelujah! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.” – Rev.xix.6.’ It was then included in The Congregational Hymn Book (1836), edited by Conder. It had eight stanzas, which have usually been shortened to six or five. The stanza most frequently omitted is the original verse 6: O when his wisdom can mistake, His might decay, his love forsake, Then may his children cease to sing ‘The Lord omnipotent is King!’ Other stanzas have been altered. Even in the 19th century some books were printing ‘your voice’ in line 1, and there have been...