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When I Survey The Wondrous Cross

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Words: Isaac Watts (b. July 16, 1674; d. Nov. 25, 1748)
Music: Hamburg, by Lowell Mason (b. Jan. 8, 1792; d. Aug. 11, 1872)

Note: The Cyber Hymnal includes six stanzas of this hymn, but hymn books that I’ve seen use only four or five. Though it makes a valid point, the last one seems rather anticlimactic, but here it is.

(6) To Christ, who won for sinners grace
By bitter grief and anguish sore,
Be praise from all the ransomed race
Forever and forevermore.

(Stanza numbers in brackets below refer to the stanza number in The Cyber Hymnal. Find the link at the bottom of the article.)

Lowell Mason indicated that the source of his tune, Hamburg, was a Gregorian chant or plainsong. The beautiful tune Rockingham also fits this hymn. (You can hear it played at the Cyber Hymnal link below.)

This hymn deserves a place in the top ten of anyone’s list. Personally, I’d place it in the top three or four hymns in the English language. In over 300 years since it was written, it has hardly been surpassed. Charles Wesley was himself an outstanding hymn writer, with at least a couple of his songs worthy of inclusion in the top ten. But Wesley is reputed to have said he’d give up all that he’d written to have been the author of this one.

We can no longer “survey the wondrous cross” of Christ in a physical sense. There is even some doubt as to where it was located. We know the place of execution was outside the walls of Jerusalem (Heb. 13:12). But the walls have been destroyed and rebuilt several times, and the city enlarged. We simply don’t know the exact location of Calvary (kranion, in Greek, meaning skull), or Golgotha (from the Aramaic word gulgoleth, meaning skull).

Our visit there must consist of an envisioning of the scene in our mind’s eye, based on the Word of God, and energized by faith. And when we do that, sincerely, and thoughtfully, we’re overwhelmed by what “the Prince of Glory” did for us (cf. I Cor. 2:7-8). How could we exchange the wealth of all the world for the eternal salvation wrought for us there? How could we ever take pride in our own achievements, when compared to Christ’s? With the Apostle Paul we say, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14).

(1) When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

(2) Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

As we see Christ’s bleeding form, and are gripped by the reason for His agony, the holy hush is broken only by our own weeping–not so much for His approaching death, because we know how the story ends. But for our own folly and sin that made the cross necessary. How can we cling to all this sinful world has to offer, if it will mean abandoning Him (cf. I Jn. 2:15-17).

(3) See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

(4) His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

What can I give Him in return? Salvation is ours by the grace of God. We can do nothing to earn it or pay for it. And yet, love responds to love, and we readily pledge Him our love and loyalty, and our sacred service.

(5) Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

There are echoes of Romans 12:1 here. And some worship leaders suggest, as a variation, that the congregation sing the last two lines:

Love so amazing, so divine,
Shall have my soul, my life, my all.

Questions:

  1. The Apostle Paul speaks of “the offense of the cross” (Gal. 5:11). In what sense is the cross offensive to some?
  2. Of all the hymns in the English language, what are the top ten, in your view? (Not just your favourites, but the ones you consider the best hymns of all.)
  3. What qualities should we look for, in determining the worthiness of a hymn?

Links:

Today in 1674 – Isaac Watts Born

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lamb

Watts is notable for the high quality of his hymns. But it is more than that which gained him the reputation of being the Father of English Hymnody. In the established English church of his day, only the Psalms were sung. The creation and use of new hymns was looked upon by some as an attempt to add to the Bible, and it was therefore considered off limits. There was some openness to change in the nonconformist church the Watts family attended, but the old tradition still hung on.

However, a young Isaac Watts argued with his father Enoch, a deacon in the church, that if they only sang the Old Testament Psalms they were missing a lot of New Testament truth. Finally, his father told him that if he thought he could produce something suitable to go ahead and try. Watts was only in his mid-teens at the time, but he had a sound grounding in Bible knowledge and a gift for poetry. With his father’s encouragement, he set to work.

The next Sunday morning, the congregation had a new hymn to sing, prophetic of much more to come. It began:

Behold the glories of the Lamb
Amidst His Father’s throne.
Prepare new honours for His Name,
And songs before unknown.

(You can see all eight stanzas of this ground-breaking hymn on the Cyber Hymnal.) The assembled believers were delighted with the new song, and asked for more. The young man began producing a new hymn each week, and did so for a couple of years. He made an even stronger contrast between Old Testament and New, between the far side of the cross and today, with the following hymn. It is based on several verses of Scripture.

Not all the blood of beasts
On Jewish altars slain
Could give the guilty conscience peace
Or wash away the stain.

But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb,
Takes all our sins away;
A sacrifice of nobler name
And richer blood than they.

My faith would lay her hand
On that dear head of Thine,
While, like a penitent, I stand,
And there confess my sin.

The Old Testament sacrifices were accepted by God, when offered in faith, but they were not the final answer to sin. The shed blood of an animal could not pay our debt (Heb. 10:11). These offerings pointed forward to Christ, who came to do just that (Jn. 1:29; Heb. 9:12). The third stanza of Watts’s hymn alludes to the way the offerer placed his hand on the sacrifice as a sign of identification with it (Lev. 1:4). It was a way of saying, “This innocent substitute is dying instead of me.” We do the same, when we identify ourselves with Christ on the cross, by faith.

Eventually, in his lifetime, Watts would create over 600 hymns. Still today, 300 years later, most hymn books contain quite a number of them. Here is a sampling of the songs of Isaac Watts still in use:

Alas, and Did My Saviour Bleed? (At the Cross)
Am I a Soldier of the Cross?
Begin, My Tongue, Some Heavenly Theme
Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove
Come, We That Love the Lord (We’re Marching to Zion)
I Sing the Mighty Power of God
Jesus Shall Reign
Join All the Glorious Names
Joy to the World
Not All the Blood of Beasts
Not What These Hands Have Done
O God, Our Help in Ages Past
Sweet Is the Work
There Is a Land of Pure Delight
When I Can Read My Title Clear
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

A brilliant scholar, Dr. Watts was a master of Greek, Hebrew, and Latin. He authored about 60 books on a variety of subjects, but the work for which he is justifiably remembered today is the writing of his hymns. And hymn historians are in general agreement that the best of these–judged by some to be the greatest in the English language–is When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. There is little that can match, or even approach, the sublime poetry of the third stanza, with its imagery of the blood of Christ representing an outpouring of sorrow and love.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

The hymn was published in 1707, and was particularly intended for use at the Lord’s Supper. The author based his thoughts on Galatians 6:14, “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Paul means there that this sinful world had lost its attraction for him and, for their part, the world of unsaved men and women had broken fellowship with Paul, sensing he was no longer one of them. The cross is a great dividing line in the Christian’s life.

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Here is an earnest choir of high schoolers singing a beautiful arrangement of this superb hymn. Though at some points, the voices show an understandable lack of maturity, they do a fine job. But I pray that, as you listen, you will realize far beyond that what a wonderful Saviour we have!

Top Hymns of 1899

Louis Fitzgerald Benson (1855-1930) was a pastor, music historian and author. In 1899 he compiled a list of the hymns that appeared most often in 107 hymn books published in the late nineteenth century. The hymnals came from several denominations, in both North America and Great Britain. The list says nothing about the quality of the hymns, but it does suggest they were known and used by many. Each of the 32 songs below appeared in at least 86 out of 107 hymnals. They are listed from the most frequently published down to the least.

1. Rock of Ages (106)
2. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross (104)
3. Jesus, Lover of My Soul (104)
4. All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night (103)
5. Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken (103)
6. Sun of My Soul (103)
7. Awake, My Soul, and with the Sun (101)
8. Hark! the Herald Angels Sing (101)
9. Abide with Me (101)
10. Jerusalem, My Happy Home (101)
11. How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds (101)
12. Nearer, My God, to Thee (100)
13. From Greenland’s Icy Mountains (100)
14. O God, Our Help in Ages Past (100)
15. Jerusalem the Golden (99)
16. Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending (94)
17. Jesus Shall Reign (94)
18. Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (93)
19. Hark! the Glad Sound, the Saviour Comes (92)
20. Come, Let Us Join Our Cheerful Songs (92)
21. All Hail the Pow’r of Jesus’ Name (92)
22. Hail to the Lord’s Anointed (91)
23. O Worship the King (91)
24. Christ the Lord is Ris’n Today (90)
25. Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah (90)
26. Just as I Am, Without One Plea (90)
27. God Moves in a Mysterious Way (90)
28. Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee (89)
29. Children of the Heavenly King (87)
30. There is a Land of Pure Delight (87)
31. Thou Whose Almighty Word (86)
32. Brief Life Is Here Our Portion (86)

Hymns: Using the Metrical Index

Many standard hymn books, in addition to having an alphabetical listing of each hymn, and other indices, provide a valuable index of the metre of each hymn. This is usually accompanied by an alphabetical listing of the tunes by name. (Not only the words have a name; many times the tunes do as well.) If you are leading a service, you may find this information helpful.

Metrical Index

For example, the name of the tune for “The Church’s One Foundation” is “Aurelia,” and the metre is 7.6.7.6 D. (The “D” stands for doubled.) This tells us each verse of the hymn contains 8 lines of verse (4 x 2), and each line contains 7 or 6 sounded syllables, alternately, as follows:

The Chur-ch’s one foun-da-tion =7

Is Je-sus Christ her Lord =6

She is His new cre-a-tion =7

By wa-ter and the Word =6

From heav’n He came and sought her =7

To be His holy bride =6

With His own blood He bought her =7

And for her life He died =6

The metre of “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” is 8.7.8.7. D. (Count out the syllables and see.)

With that kind of information, it is possible for you to combine a tune with different words, or sing the words to a different tune. Perhaps the words you want to sing have an unfamiliar tune, or one that is difficult to sing. But, knowing the metre, you often can make a switch. It also gives a new feel to old hymns and helps us to appreciate the message all over again. Example: Try using the tune “Aurelia” with the hymn “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.” Both have the metre 7.6.7.6. D, so we know there are the same number of lines and the same number of syllables per line.

A couple of cautions are in order when it comes to switching tunes. 1) Sometimes, you’ll find that the em-PHA-sis is not on the right syl-LA-ble! You will have to check that out. 2) The other thing is that the mood of the tune may not fit the words you want to put it with. A bright or martial tune will not likely fit as well with lyrics about the suffering of Christ on the cross (or vice versa).

Sometimes a tune with a slightly different metre will still fit. For instance, consider “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” (the usual tune of which is “Hamburg”). This is a “Long Metre” hymn (LM), all of which use the pattern 8.8.8.8. But it can be sung effectively to the tune “Appalachia” (8.8.9.8), if some notes in the line with 9 sounded syllables are sung on the same word. (Try it and see!) Do a bit of experimenting. You may well discover a wonderful combination that will bless your congregation.