When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Words: Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707. Charles Wesley reportedly said he would give up all his other hymns to have written this one.

Music: “Ham­burg,” Lowell Mason, 1824; first appeared in The Boston Handel and Haydn Society Collection of Church Music, third edition, 1825 (MIDI, score). Alternate tunes:

• “Eucharist,” Isaac B. Woodbury (1819-1858) (MIDI, score)
• “Rockingham (Miller),” arranged by Edward Miller, 1790 (MIDI, score)

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.

To Christ, Who won for sinners grace
By bitter grief and anguish sore,
Be praise from all the ransomed race
Forever and forevermore.