Crown Him with Many Crowns
...and on His head were many crowns...Revelation 19:12. The original form of this hymn was written by Matthew Bridges and consisted of six eight-line stanzas. He thought of his hymn as a sermon in song, based on Revelation 19:12. "...and on His head were many crowns." He called his hymn, "The Song of the Seraphs." Matthew, who once wrote a book condemning Roman Catholics, ended up converting to Catholicism in 1848. He followed John Henry Newman out of the Church of England. In 1874, Godfrey Thring, a staunch Anglican clergyman feared that some of Bridges' verses smacked too much of Catholic doctrine. Verse two, for example, said: Crown Him the virgin's Son, the God incarnate born, Whose arm those crimson trophies won which now His brow adorn; Fruit of the mystic rose, as of that rose the stem; The root whence mercy ever flows, the Babe of Bethlehem. It seems odd to us now that such a verse would cause controversy, but in the end Godfrey wrote six new verses for the same song, "Crown Him with Many Crowns," therefore became a six-verse hymn that was written twice! Over the years, these twelve stanzas have become intermingled in the hymn-books, with editors mixing and matching the verses. Here are the first lines of all twelve verses, the first six by Bridges, the last six by Thring:
Stanza 1: Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne... Stanza 2: Crown Him the virgin's Son, the God incarnate born... Stanza 3: Crown Him the Lord of love, behold His hands and side... Stanza 4: Crown Him the Lord of peace, Whose power a scepter sways... Stanza 5: Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time... Stanza 6: Crown Him the Lord of Heaven, one with the Father known... Stanza 7: Crown Him with crowns of gold... Stanza 8: Crown Him the Son of God, before the worlds began... Stanza 9: Crown Him the Lord of light... Stanza 10: Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over the grave... Stanza 11: Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all doth reign... Stanza 12: Crown Him the Lord of heaven, enthroned in worlds above...
Excerpt from "Then Sings My Soul" by Robert J. Morgan
Thomas Nelson Publishers
Nashville |
|
|
