February 9, 2018 (Friday)
The words of this hymn, written by Isaac Watts, begin with, “Alas, and did my Savior bleed,” and the hymn was known by that title for 178 years before Ralph Hudson added the refrain with the words, “At the cross,” and today the hymn is known by many of us as, “At the Cross.”
Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed
Isaac Watts, pub.1707
ref. by Ralph E. Hudson, 1885
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
‘Tis all that I can do.
Refrain (Hudson):
At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!
A second refrain (anonymous) appeared during the nineteenth century:I do believe, I do believe
That Jesus died for me;
And through His blood, His precious blood
I am from sin set free.
Isaac Watts, pub.1707
ref. by Ralph E. Hudson, 1885
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sov’reign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For such a worm as I?
Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.
Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:
Here, Lord, I give myself away,
‘Tis all that I can do.
Refrain (Hudson):
At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light,
And the burden of my heart rolled away,
It was there by faith I received my sight,
And now I am happy all the day!
A second refrain (anonymous) appeared during the nineteenth century:
That Jesus died for me;
And through His blood, His precious blood
I am from sin set free.
Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed? Old tune