October 27, 2018 (Saturday)
Ethel Taylor passed away in 1950. This song was apparently written by her in 1934. She and her husband, Walter, affectionately known as Pa and Ma Taylor, were directors of Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago when an entertainer attended the worship services there for several nights. As she approached him about his relationship with the Lord, she could see he struggled with his past. “You don’t understand,” he prayed. “You don’t know how bad I am, Lord. Really I’m the worst man in the world. You can’t save me; I’m too bad.” Mrs. Taylor had heard an evangelist’s testimony recently, and he told of how he had the same feelings of condemnation before he understood that “Calvary covers it all.” She quoted those words to the man, and he accepted Christ as his Savior, telling her, “Oh! Mrs. Taylor, I’m so glad it’s true, and you told me. Calvary does cover it all! My whole past of sin and shame.” Over the following few days, she wrote this hymn.
Ethel Taylor
1934
CHORUS:
Calvary covers it all,
My past with its sin and shame;
My guilt and despair Jesus took on Him there,
And Calvary covers it all.
VERSES:
Far dearer than all that the world can impart
Was the message came to my heart;
How that Jesus alone for my sin did atone,
And Calvary covers it all.
The stripes that He bore and the thorns that He wore
Told His mercy and love evermore;
And my heart bowed in shame as I called on His name,
And Calvary covers it all.
How matchless the grace, when I looked in the face
Of this Jesus, my crucified Lord;
My redemption complete I then found at His feet,
For Calvary covers it all.
How blessed the thought that my soul by Him bought,
Shall be His in the glory on high;
Where with gladness and song,
I’ll be one of the throng
For Calvary covers it all.