Crown Him With Many Crowns is one of those rousing hymns that seem to demand an organ accompaniment. It is an echo of the praise directed even now in heaven to our Lord and Savior. Written by Matthew Bridges in 1851, the fourth stanza has two great phrases: ‘Potentate of time,’ meaning ruler of all eternity, and ‘ineffably sublime,’ expressing the indescribable supremacy of God.

The gospel is clear as praise for the ‘one who died for thee’ and the ‘Redeemer’; all of creation worships him – angels, flowers, souls of mankind. And he is acknowledged as the ruler of all creation.

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 they 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 burning eye at mysteries so bright.

 

Crown him the Lord of peace; whose pow’r a scepter sways

from pole to pole, that wars may cease, absorbed in prayer and praise:

his reign shall know no end; and round his pierced feet

fair flow’rs 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.