Good Thursday
'Twas On That Dark, That Doleful Night
- Words:
- Isaac Watts, 1709.
- Music:
- 'St. Cross' John Bacchus Dykes, 1861.
- Setting:
- "Hymns Ancient and Modern", 1869.
- Metre:
- 8 8 8 8
- 1'Twas on that dark, that doleful nightWhen pow'rs of earth and hell aroseAgainst the Son of God's delight,And friends betrayed Him to His foes:
- 2Before the mournful scene began,He took the bread, and blessed, and brake:What love through all His actions ran!What wondrous words of grace He spake!
- 3"This is My body, broke for sin;Receive and eat the living food:"Then took the cup, and blessed the wine;"'Tis the new cov'nant in My blood."
- 4For us His flesh with nails was torn,He bore the scourge, He felt the thorn;And justice poured upon His headIts heavy vengeance in our stead.
- 5For us His vital blood was spilt,To buy the pardon of our guilt,When, for black crimes of biggest size,He gave His soul a sacrifice.
- 6"Do this," He cried, "till time shall end,In memory of your dying friend;Meet at My table, and recordThe love of your departed Lord."
- 7Jesus, Thy feast we celebrate,We show Thy death, we sing Thy name,Till Thou return, and we shall eatThe marriage supper of the Lamb.
More sheet music
Scripture
Topics
In the hymnals
- Written in 1707, the words are in 384 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
- The tune, St. Cross, is in 163 hymnals. The tune →
Words, music and setting are in the public domain. The score is from the Open Hymnal Project (Brian J. Dumont), which places its own work in the public domain. Further sheet music is from PDHymns.com. The piano is the FluidR3 General MIDI sound font (MIT licence). How many hymnals print a hymn, and when it was written, is from Hymnary.org.