Crown Him with many crowns, The Lamb upon His throne;
Hark! how the heav’nly 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,
Those/rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified.
No angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,
But downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.
Crown Him the Lord of life, who triumphed over 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.
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.
Crown Him the Lord of lords, who over all doth reign,
Who once on earth, the incarnate Word, for ransomed sinners slain,
Now lives in realms of light, where saints with angels sing
Their songs before Him day and night, their God, Redeemer, King.
Crown Him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time,
Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail! For Thou has died for me;
Thy praise and glory shall not fail throughout eternity.
Alternative verses
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 Tree, As of that Tree the Stem;
The Root whence flows Thy mercy free, The Babe of Bethlehem.
Crown Him the Lord of peace, Whose power a scepter sways
From pole to pole, that wars may cease, And all be prayer and praise.
His reign shall know no end, And round His pierced feet
Fair flowers of glory now extend Their fragrance ever sweet.
The full 12 verses can be found here.
Matthew Bridges originally penned this hymn in 1851, he was a man who disliked the catholic church, wrote a book listing it's faults, yet later found himself a member of it. But by then, this hymn was a rather popular one being sung in protestant churches as well. So Godfrey Thring grew concerned that protestant churches were learning Catholic theology through this hymn and wrote six new verses to it, in1874 these verses were written. Overtime the verses have become confused until the most popular verses remain sung regularly.
Go figure eh? I found this whole thing just fascinating. In the end we ended up with a hymn that uses three verses from one author and three verses from another, in a hymn that is just a great one full of the doctrine of God. Isn't it great how it all works out?