"Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing", originally titled "Good Christian Men, Rejoice", is an English Christian hymn written by Cyril Alington. It was first published in 1931 and is mostly used as an Easter hymn.
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History
In 1931, Alington was the headmaster of Eton College and had been writing hymns in English and Latin since becoming ordained as a Church of England vicar in 1901. He wrote "Good Christian Men, Rejoice" to be published in "Songs of Praise", set to the tune of Melchior Vulpius' "Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thron". The hymn was later altered and renamed "Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing" to avoid confusion with the earlier Christmas carol, "Good Christians All, Rejoice". The hymn also ceased using "Good Christian Men" as a result of ecumenism which started a trend of altering older hymns to use inclusive language. Alington wrote the hymn with four stanzas but a fifth verse focussing on the Trinity was later added by Norman Mealy in 1982 and confirmed in the Episcopal Church's "The Hymnal 1982" in 1986.
Critical analysis
In 1965, hymnologist Austin C. Lovelace praised "Good Christians All, Rejoice and Sing" for being a good example of a contemporary hymn (as it was recent to him at the time of writing and not related to Contemporary Christian music) that used the older 8/8/8 triple metre in the alleluia refrain. Stanley L. Osbourne also praised the hymn stating that the verses "They vibrate with excitement, they utter the encouragement of victory, and they stir the heart to praise and thanksgiving". The Presbyterian Church described that the first three verses of the hymn are directed at the congregation as a song of encouragement while the final verse is focussed on the Resurrection of Jesus.