Edward Perronet's All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name has been called 'the coronation hymn of Christendom' - a title that captures both its musical character (it has been set to multiple majestic tunes including 'Miles Lane,' 'Coronation,' and 'Diadem') and its theological content, which is nothing less than the universal Lordship of Christ over all creation. Published in 1779 in the Gospel Magazine with the tune by William Shrubsole, the hymn draws from Revelation 19:16 and Philippians 2:9-11 to construct the most comprehensive declaration of Christ's kingship in the English hymn tradition.
Philippians 2:9-11 provides the hymn's theological spine: 'Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' Paul's Christ-hymn, itself drawing from Isaiah 45:23's great monotheistic claim, declares the enthronement of the crucified Jesus as the answer to the question of ultimate sovereignty. Perronet's first line - 'All hail the power of Jesus' name!' - is an invocation of this Philippian reality.
Revelation 19:16 adds the apocalyptic dimension: on the robe of the rider on the white horse is written 'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.' This title, echoing 1 Timothy 6:15, represents the final disclosure of what has been true all along - that the Jesus who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, who was crucified between two thieves, is the sovereign of the universe. The cosmic scale of Revelation's vision gives the hymn its particular quality of grandeur, the sense that the praise it calls for exceeds the capacity of any single congregation and must ultimately be taken up by the entire cosmos.
Perronet had a complicated relationship with John Wesley, whose Methodist movement he was part of before a falling-out over whether lay preachers should administer the sacraments. But the hymn transcended these controversies to become a global anthem of evangelical worship, translated into dozens of languages for missionary use. The story - possibly apocryphal but long circulated - that it was sung in a remote mission station where a recently converted chief attended his first service wearing his crown for the first time, captures something true about the hymn's function: it is sung in the moment of recognition that Christ, not the powers of this world, holds ultimate sovereignty.
Each stanza of the hymn addresses a different category of worshippers: the 'seed of Israel's chosen race,' the 'sinners o'er whose abysses dark the consummating trump shall roar,' 'ye exiled sons of Adam,' the angelic host. The successive stanzas build a congregation that spans creation, reaching from the angelic throne-room to the depths of human need. Each group is invited to 'crown him Lord of all' - the repeated imperative of the chorus that gives the hymn its cumulative power.
The tune 'Miles Lane' by William Shrubsole, the original setting, gives the phrase 'all hail' a dramatic upward leap that is almost impossible to sing without feeling the physical dimension of acclamation. Later settings - particularly 'Coronation' by Oliver Holden (1793), written in America - gave the hymn tunes of equal grandeur. In each setting, the music participates in the theological claim: this is not modest praise but coronation, not private devotion but public proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord.