ALAS! AND DID MY SAVIOR BLEED?
AT THE CROSS
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For sinners such as I?
[originally, For such a worm as I?]
Refrain
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!
Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine—
And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood.
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 my self away
’Tis all that I can do.
Words:
Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707;
Ralph E. Hudson wrote the refrain in 1885.
Music: Martyrdom,
Hugh Wilson, 1800
(MIDI, score) (does not use the refrain). Alternate tunes:
- Hudson, (uses refrain above)
Ralph E. Hudson, Songs of Peace, Love and Joy (Alliance, Ohio: 1885)
(MIDI, score). It is with this tune that the hymn is known as “At the Cross.”
Liberty Hall, in Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, by
John Wyeth, 1810
(MIDI, score)
