I didn’t grow up in a hymnal singing church and only recently discovered hymns of the faith. I have been enthralled with their beautiful melodies and rich biblical truths.
As I learn new hymns, I will post them on the blog with the lyrics, music, and stories. In sharing these hymns, I hope you will discover or rediscover this beautiful heritage of Christianity and that it will inspire your faith in Christ.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross was written by Isaac Watts in 1707. Watts was a prolific English hymn writer who wrote over 750 hymns in his lifetime and was hailed as the Father of English Hymnody.
During Watts’s time, the Church of England almost exclusively sang the Psalms during worship. But Watts believed this practice restricted the Church from singing about New Testament’s gospel truths. So he published a collection of hymns called Hymns and Spiritual Songs.
Watts wrote in the preface, “Far be it from my Thoughts to lay aside the Psalms of David in public Worship; few can pretend so great a Value for them as my self . . . But it must be acknowledged still, that there are a thousand Lines in it which were not made for a Saint in our Day, to assume as his own; There are also many deficiencies of Light and Glory which our Lord Jesus and his Apostles have supplied in the Writings of the New Testament; and with this Advantage I have composed these spiritual Songs which are now presented to the World.”
Included in the volume was When I Survey the Wondrous Cross which was initially titled “Crucifixion to the World, by the Cross of Christ.” It is based on Galatians 6:14 which says, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross became Watts’s greatest hymn, and many consider it the finest hymn in English church history. It is even said that Charles Wesley, another giant hymn writer, said he would have given all his hymns for writing this one.
With its rich theology, poetic brilliance, powerful imagery, and lyrical beauty, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross remains one of the most popular hymns among Christians today and a personal favorite of mine.
Full lyrics of When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
Lyrics and story from: Morgan, Robert. Then Sings My Soul,vol 2. Nashville, Thomas Nelson.
