Crown Him with Many Crowns

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Matthew Bridges/Godfrey Thring

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.

Crown Him the Lord of love; Behold His hands and side,

Rich wounds, yet visible above,

In beauty glorified;

No angel in the sky Can fully bear that sight,

But downward bends His wondering eye At mysteries so bright.

Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o'er the grave.

Who rose victorious to 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.

Crown Him the Lord of heaven: One with the Father known,

One with the spirit Through Him given From yonder glorious throne.

All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou hast died for me;

Thy praise and glory shall not fail Throughout eternity.

Matthew Bridges, a Catholic, wrote this hymn based on Revelation 19:12. He called it, "The Song of the Seraphs." However, in 1874, Godfrey Thring who was a staunch Anglican, thought some of the verses were based a little too much on Catholic doctrine. He wrote six new verses so the hymn now has 12 verses that hymnal writers pick and choose from.
*Hymn history taken from Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan.