The Cyber Hymnal ‎#77

77. Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed?

1. 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!

2. Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine—
And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood. [Refrain]

3. Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree! [Refrain]

4. Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin. [Refrain]

5. Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears. [Refrain]

6. 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. [Refrain]

Text Information

• First Line: Alas! and did my Savior bleed
• Title: Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed?
• Author: Isaac Watts (1709)
• Author (refrain): Ralph E. Hudson (1885)
• Refrain First Line: At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light
• Meter: CM
• Language: English
• Source: Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1707-9, Book II, number 9
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Alternate tunes: HUDSON, Ralph E. Hudson, Songs of Peace, Love and Joy, (Alliance, Ohio: 1885) (uses refrain). 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. [In] the autumn of 1850...revival meetings were being held in the Thirtieth Street Methodist Church. Some of us went down every evening; and, on two occasions, I sought peace at the atlar [sic], but did not find the joy I craved, until one evening, November 20, 1850, it seemed to me that the light must indeed come then or never; and so I arose and went to the altar alone. After a prayer was offered, they began to sing the grand old consecration hymn, "Alas, and did my Saviour bleed, And did my Sovereign die?" And when they reached the third line of the fourth stanza, "Here Lord, I give myself away," my very soul was flooded with a celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting "hallelujah," and then for the first time I realized that I had been trying to hold the world in one hand and the Lord in the other. Crosby, p. 24

Tune Information

• Name: MARTYRDOM
• Composer: Hugh Wilson (1800)
• Arranger: Ralph E. Hudson (1885)
• Meter: CM
• Incipit: 51651 23213 53213
• Key: G Major
• Copyright: Public Domain