以撒·华兹（Isaac Watts，1674-1748）. Explore “Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun”: song information and official sources.
The pilgrim journey · Mission and the gospel
Watts’s paraphrase of Psalm 72 is often called one of the earliest English mission hymns. It predates the modern Protestant missionary movement by well over half a century—more than seventy years if Carey in 1792 marks the start, less if the Moravian missions of 1732 do. Different periodisations yield different descriptions. Psalm 72 originally prays for Solomon: “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.” (Psalm 72:8), and “Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him.” (Psalm 72:11). Watts identifies the King as Christ, making the whole psalm a worldwide proclamation. Children and prisoners benefit within this Kingdom, unusual details in mission hymns that attend to people as well as territory. Later hymn histories report about five thousand singing it when Tonga proclaimed emancipation in 1862. No contemporary record confirms the number and scene, so retain caution over those details. That year was not Tonga’s constitutional founding; the formal constitution came in 1875.
Mission Sundays, annual mission gatherings and commissioning; teaching on Psalm 72.