Cleft are the rocks, the earth doth quake. [Good Friday.] This hymn is sometimes attributed to Bishop Heber, but in error. It appeared in his posthumous Hymns, &c., 1827, pp. 64-5, in 7 stanzas of 5 lines, and as “Anon." Two centos therefrom have come into common use:—
1. "Cleft are the rocks," &c, in Alford's Psalms & Hymns, 1844, and his Fear of Praise, 1867. This is composed of stanzas i., ii., iv., vii.
2. ”Despised is the Man of grief," in Dr. Martineau’s Hymns, &c, 1840; and his Hymns of Praise and Prayer, 1873, being stanzas iii., v., and vi. considerably altered.
These centos are usually ascribed to "C. Dawson," but upon what authority we cannot determine.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)