There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men.
1 Timothy 2:5–6
Words: Isaac Watts, Hymns and Spiritual Songs 1707–09, Book 2, number 9. Godly sorrow arising from the sufferings of Christ.
Ralph E. Hudson wrote the refrain in 1885.
Music: Martyrdom Hugh Wilson, 1800 (🔊 pdf nwc) (does not use the refrain).
Alternate Tunes:
[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
Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
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!
Thy body slain, sweet Jesus, Thine,
And bathed in its own blood,
While all exposed to wrath divine,
The glorious Sufferer stood!
Refrain
Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!
Refrain
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
Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.
Refrain
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