Lent
When I Survey the Wondrous Cross
- Words:
- Isaac Watts, 1707.
- Music:
- 'O Waly Waly' or 'The Water Is Wide', traditional English.
- Setting:
- Tobin Strong, 2013.
- Metre:
- 8 8 8 8
- 1When I survey the wondrous crossOn which the Prince of Glory died,My richest gain I count but loss,And pour contempt on all my pride.
- 2Forbid 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.
- 3See 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?
- 4His 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.
- 5Were 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.
Scripture
Topics
In the hymnals
- Written in 1707, the words are in 2,204 hymnals indexed by Hymnary.org. Their history →
- The tune, O Waly Waly, is in 234 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. 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.