Crown Him with Many Crowns

Representative Text

1 Crown him with many crowns,
the Lamb upon his throne.
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing
of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless king
through all eternity.

2 Crown him the Lord of life,
who triumphed o'er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife
for those he came to save;
his glories now we sing
who died and rose on high,
who died eternal life to bring,
and lives that death may die.

3 Crown him the Lord of love;
behold his hands and side,
rich wounds, yet visible above,
in beauty glorified;
no angels in the sky
can fully bear that sight,
but downward bends their burning eye
at mysteries so bright.

4 Crown him the Lord of years,
the potentate of time,
creator of the rolling spheres,
ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail!
for thou hast died for me;
thy praise shall never, never fail
throughout eternity.

Worship and Rejoice, 2003

Author : Matthew Bridges

Matthew Bridges Go to person page >

Alterer: Godfrey Thring

Godfrey Thring (b. Alford, Somersetshire, England, 1823; d. Shamley Green, Guilford, Surrey, England, 1903) was born in the parsonage of Alford, where his father was rector. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, England, he was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1847. After serving in several other parishes, Thring re­turned to Alford and Hornblotten in 1858 to succeed his father as rector, a position he retained until his own retirement in 1893. He was also associated with Wells Cathedral (1867-1893). After 1861 Thring wrote many hymns and published several hymnals, including Hymns Congregational (1866), Hymns and Sacred Lyrics (1874), and the respect­ed A Church of England Hymn Book Adapted to the Daily Services of the Church… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Crown Him with many crowns
Title: Crown Him with Many Crowns
Author : Matthew Bridges (1851)
Alterer: Godfrey Thring (1871)
Meter: 6.6.8.6 D
Place of Origin: England
Language: English
Notes: French translation: "À l'Agneau sur son trône" by R. Saillens; Spanish translation: See "A Cristo coronad" by E. A. Strange
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Crown Him with many crown. [Christ the King.] Four hymns are found in common use, each of which opens with this stanza. They are:—
1. By Matthew Bridges, which appeared in his Hymns of the Heart, 2nd ed., 1851, p. 58, in 6 stanzas of 8 lines, and headed, "In capito ejus diademata multa. Apoc. xix. 12." This was repeated in his Passion of Jesus, 1852, p. 62, where the title runs, "Third Sorrowful Mystery, Song of the Seraphs. Apoc. xix. 12." In treatment and expression it has a more than slight resemblance to Kelly's "Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious" (q. v.). With alterations, and sometimes abbreviations, it appeared for congregational use in the People's Hymnal, 1867; Hymns Ancient & Modern, 1868 and 1875; Sarum, 1868; Hymnary, 1872; Hymnal Companion, and others.
2. In the Appendix to the Society for Promoting Christian KnowledgePsalms and Hymns, 1869, there aro 10 stanzas of 4 lines, of which 8 stanzas are from M. Bridges, and 2, i.e. stanzas vii. and viii., "Crown Him the Lord of Might," &c, are by another hand.
3. In S. P. C. K. Church Hymns, 1871, we have a cento based upon Bridges's text, and thus composed, i. Bridges; ii.-iii. Bridges altd.; iv. Rev. G. Thring; v. Bridges altd.; vi. from S. P. C. K. as above; vii. 11. 1-4, Rev. G. Thring; lines 5-8, Bridges.
4. The hymn opening with the same stanza in Thring's Collection, 1882, is practically new, the first stanza and line1 of the 5th being all that have been adopted from M. Bridges. Its original form in which it first appeared was, "Crown Him with crowns of gold." (In the American College Hymnal, N.Y., 1876.) This was in Mr. Thring's Hymns and Sacred Lyrics, 1874, p. 75, that portion of it contained in the Church Hymns, as noted above, having previously appeared in that collection. In 1880, on being transferred to Mr. Thring's Collection, M. Bridges's opening stanza was substituted for the original in order to retain those fine lines:—

"Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns
All music but its own."

A portion of the original hymn is sometimes given in American hymnals as, "Awake, my soul, and sing." It begins with line 5 of stanzas i., and is No. 272 in the Baptist Hymn and Tune Book Philadelphia, 1871

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Tune

DIADEMATA (Elvey)

Composed for Bridges's text by George J. Elvey (PHH 48), DIADEMATA was first published in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern. Since that publication, the tune has retained its association with this text. The name DIADEMATA is derived from the Greek word for "crowns." The tune is lively an…

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