After reading Ecclesiastes chapter 6 mgpc sang ‘When I Survey The Wondrous Cross’. I liked the contrast between the futility of an earthly focus with the cross centered testimony of the hymn.
Isaac Watts is the father of hymnody in the English language. Read about him on the Christian Classics Ethereal Library here.
It is included in The Psalms and Hymns Of Isaac Watts as a hymn prepared for ‘the holy ordinance of the Lord’s Supper’.
Here are the lyrics:
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.
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.
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a offering far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
Here is a largely unused fourth verse:
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.
The hymn is set to a number of different tunes. We sing it to the tune Rockingham. The tune Hamburg seems to be the more prevalent US tune. This is the melody which Chris Tomlin adapted and, along with an added refrain, released as ‘The Wonderful Cross’, which has given the hymn a new lease of life among Christians whose musical choices are more contemporary.
If you want to look any of them up you’re more than welcome. This youtube uses a third traditional tune. I actually think this is my favourite. I first encountered it in Sydney. (Where else?) It’s tuneful, but not mournful, reflective but not stodgy.
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