Читать книгу Best Loved Hymns and Readings - Martin Manser - Страница 31

In its original form this hymn, initially entitled ‘The Song of the Seraphs’, was the work of Matthew Bridges, who became a Roman Catholic at the age of 48. Some 30 years later, however, an Anglican clergyman named Godfrey Thring felt the need to add new lines referring specifically to the resurrection and, with Bridges’ blessing (although it seems the two men never actually met), added a new verse describing Christ’s triumph over death. Like many other hymns, this appears in a number of variant forms, sometimes including alterations made subsequently by Percy Dearmer (1867-1936).

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 Son of God

Before the worlds began;

And ye who tread where He hath trod,

Crown Him the Son of Man,

Who every grief hath known

That wrings the human breast,

And takes and bears them for His own,

That all in Him may rest.

Crown Him the Lord of love,

Behold His hands and side,

Those 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 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.

Crown Him the Lord of peace,

Whose power a sceptre 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 paradise extend

Their fragrance ever sweet.

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.

Matthew Bridges (1800-94) and Godfrey Thring (1823-1903)