The head that once was crowned with thorns

with
[KELLY]
ST. MAGNUS

I. Text: Origins

This hymn was written by the Irish dissenting minister Thomas Kelly (1769–1855), first printed in the fifth edition of his Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture (1820 | Fig. 1), given in six stanzas of four lines, headed “Perfect through sufferings. Heb. ii. 10.” At the time, Kelly shepherded and funded network of independent churches, spending his summers in Athy and his winters in Dublin.

II. Text: Analysis

Although the hymn is sometimes associated with the crucifixion and could be used in that capacity, it is written from a post-crucifixion, victorious perspective, and thus it accords more closely to the celebration of Ascension or services associated with Christ’s kingship and eternal reign. The key to the text is in the way Kelly sets up the contrast, according to literary hymnologist J.R. Watson:

Kelly was very strong in his verses because of his firm use of metre, and his juxtaposition of “then” and “now”: the two crowns symbolize the great transition from earth to heaven, and those who suffer in this world will find joy in the next.[1]

Elsewhere, Watson expanded on this idea:

Thorns lead to glory; suffering below leads to reigning above. These reach a climax in the final verse, in which the pattern is reversed, “life and health” preceding “shame and death”; as though the final ending is now dominant, and the suffering leading up to it is in the past. The hymn thus becomes a vivid recognition of the Passion of Christ (signalled instantly by the “thorns” of the first line), seen through the knowledge of His final triumph.[2]

A similar expression of Christ’s reversal of position from abject humility to highest honor is found in Philippians 2:8–10.

Kelly’s stated scriptural basis for the hymn is Hebrews 2:10; this and the preceding verse say:

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Regarding those last three words, pastor Robert Cottrill was careful to note their meaning:

“Perfect through sufferings,” of course, cannot mean that Christ was before that morally deficient. He “committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth” (I Pet. 2:22; cf. II Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26). The statement means that Christ, through His suffering became a perfected, or perfectly adequate “Captain” (Author, Originator) of salvation. By His death, the Lord Jesus be an abundantly sufficient Saviour.

For the opening lines of the hymn, Kelly owes much to John Bunyan (1628–1688), from his extended poem One Thing Is Needful, or Serious Meditations upon the Four Lasting Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell (ca. 1665), from the 39th quatrain of part 3:

That Head that once was Crown’d with Thorns,
Shall now with Glory shine,
That heart that broken was with Scorns,
Shall flow with Life Divine.

The third line of the second stanza is quoted from Revelation 19:16, while the first two lines of the fifth stanza are a paraphrase of 2 Timothy 2:12. For some additional Scripture references, see Robert Cottrill (2014).

This hymn was a great favorite of hymnologist Erik Routley, who gave it pride of place at the end of his book Hymns and Human Life (1952):

And lastly, here is what is perhaps the finest of all hymns; Thomas Kelly has here comprehended the whole Gospel, and he tells of the Good News and of the mysterious mercy by which we may lay hold on it. It forms a fitting conclusion to this story of hymns and human life.[3]

III. Tunes

1. [KELLY]

Very few hymn writers of this time period wrote texts and tunes, but Thomas Kelly had the skill and desire to do both. Not all of his texts were given tunes, but in this case “The head that once was crowned with thorns” was included in his music edition, vol. 8 (no date). Kelly’s tune includes repetitions of the third and fourth textual phrases. The tune has not received much attention; in hymnals, it is usually replaced by other options.

2. ST. MAGNUS

“The head that once was crowned with thorns” is most commonly paired with ST. MAGNUS, a tune generally attributed to Jeremiah Clarke (1674–1707). Hymn scholar J.R. Watson said, “It is a magnificent tune, rising to a wonderful climax at the beginning of the last line.”[4] The credit for pairing Kelly to Clarke is usually cited as Hymns Ancient & Modern with Appendix (1868), where it appeared with a harmonization by William H. Monk.

Some hymnals use a harmonization by William H. Havergal from his Old Church Psalmody (1847 | Fig. 4). In that collection, the tune was called NOTTINGHAM and it was set to a paraphrase of Psalm 89, “To sing the mercies of the Lord,” by John Hopkins.

by CHRIS FENNER
for Hymnology Archive
31 March 2022

Footnotes:

1. J.R. Watson, The English Hymn (Oxford: University Press, 1997), p. 396.

2. J.R. Watson, An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), p. 259.

3. Erik Routley, Hymns and Human Life (London: John Murray, 1952), p. 315.

4. J.R. Watson, An Annotated Anthology of Hymns (Oxford: University Press, 2002), p. 259.

Related Resources:

Albert Edward Bailey, “The head that once was crowned with thorns,” The Gospel in Hymns (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), p. 153.

Robert Cottrill, “The head that once was crowned with thorns,” Wordwise Hymns (15 Sept. 2014):
https://wordwisehymns.com/2014/09/15/the-head-that-once-was-crowned-with-thorns/

Christopher I. Thoma, “The head that once was crowned with thorns,” Lutheran Service Book Companion to the Hymns, vol. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia, 2019), pp. 511–512.

“The head that once was crowned with thorns,” Hymnary.org:
https://hymnary.org/text/the_head_that_once_was_crowned_with_thor